Turn off the TV, put down the newspaper, and stop doomscrolling. During the past three years, we've made progress on some of our most intractable economic problems. Protect it and push forward.
Funny thing! The demands by the Republicans for raising the debt ceiling would repeal most of the laws and actions which created such effective public policy and social progress for the whole country.
Great piece--let me quote you: "If we don’t talk about the good from the recovery, it could slip through our fingers...." In very large part the Democrats haven't done it nor have the media and as a result, in part, the Republicans have gotten away with their "Trojan Horse" threats to the American public about the upcoming votes on increasing the debt level. Public good consumption is not costless and the real economic question is "fairness" in how we all share in covering those costs.
As a local, I appreciate that you periodically include photos like these from the Pike, which is probably more of a bellwether of what is happening (for working people at least) in the broader economy than places like Clarendon or Ballston.
Good news is always welcome. The threat of significant spending cuts coming from the Congress is politically self serving and I'm sure many rejoice at the rhetoric. I'm no economist, but I think the philosophical rigidity of the Fed and many elected officials overlooks the value of Keynes's economic policies. For them it is more more comfortable and politically beneficial to sacrifice the American laborer at the alter of "Free Markets", lest you be branded as a Socialist.
And still, in a larger context, income inequality grows.
Thank you for a great piece. As always, I learned!
Why is there such a verbal incontinence of euphemisms in re food:
“food insecurity” “food deserts” etc.
Please cal it what it is “malnutrition.” My mother works in the FDR White House. I remember hearing that 25% of people drafted into the U.S. military were officially “malnourished.” They weren’t afraid to acknowledge short-fallings in blunt terms. They were proud of the fact that military conscription guaranteed three meals a day for previously malnourished people. Most of these WWII conscripts saw a physician and dentist for the first time in their lives. Yet Reagan said government was the problem. He hoped we’d forget. I remember Reagan claimed poor eyesight in order to avoid serving in combat. (Anyone remember bone spurs?) But Reagan didn’t have any trouble reading those cue cards when making Army training films in Hollywood. And he didn’t have any trouble reading from note cards or teleprompters when he was president. Again, who was the problem? Government isn’t the problem. Go big or go home. When President Eisenhower chose to build the Interstate Highway System, nobody whined about government intervention. When the military and government funded the build-up of Silicon Valley, nobody whined about government intervention. Nor when we decided to put a man on the Moon. Nor when the government funded the build-out of railroads. Nor when the government funded the land-grant university system. Selective memories spawn false perspectives The U.S. economy is still the envy of the world. I learned this quickly during 12 years of international business travel. End of rant/homily.
This is 100% correct as pushback against the narrative that ARA and IRA and CHIPS were mistakes and that inflation is out punishment for making them. Low unemployment is great thing; Progressives often overlook how important vigorous growth is to reducing inequality along many dimensions. [I was already persuaded, but the datum on the Black male LFPR was a pleasant shock!]
I’m not questioning your rhetorical stance, but conceptually we should be thinking about finding the trajectory of inflation rate that maximizes real income. Inflation that is too high AND too low is bad for real income growth: too low and markets don’t clear = unemployed resources; too high and it’s harder to find the most efficient relative prices to guide investment. Balancing inflation against unemployment is a poor approximation to this.
The solutions to not losing the fruits of the recovery are good-- especially extending Medicaid -- depending on how they are designed, but not fundamental. We really ought to focus on the same old boring stuff as always: lowering structural deficits (mainly with higher personal income taxes), increasing high-skilled, educated immigration, less restriction on international trade and investments (except crafted restriction on China), tax on net CO2emissions, regulatory reform especially of NEPA and urban land use restrictions.
It would also be good to be ready for the next recession (the Fed will make a mistake someday even if we hope it hasn’t already) by creating a national unemployment insurance system that replaces a percent of lost income.
Apr 23, 2023·edited Apr 24, 2023Liked by Claudia Sahm
Very important post and solutions suggested make a lot of sense. I think the Californian government did a good job in automatically extending UI and MediCal for many who were trapped at home and gave out money to pay for some gas. When people feel safer with basic necessities met, places are safer, productivity higher, people healthier resulting in much fewer wasteful activities - still a longer way to go but the progress is very real!!
Great post. I was thinking about Jared Bernstein and Dean Baker’s book Getting back to Full Employment. .They quipped that unemployment hadn’t been low since the hit song “Age of Aquarius.” The Temps also had a song with the line “ birds are singing the children are playing there’s plenty of work and the bosses are paying.”
Let’s all stay MMT informed! Claudia’s insightful updates provide the perfect evidence to persuade the Congressional skeptics to author policy to raise all citizens living standards, create a job guarantee for every American and resource Earth saving climate proposals like the powerful global fiat currency we remain....to quote President Biden, “...for God’s sake!”
Very insightful article. One comment for now: I'm still reading it, and perhaps I'm missing something, but looking at the referenced source from the sentence "Another important milestone: Black employment hit a record high of nearly 70% in March." it looks like the March rate is 60.9%, near the high of 61.4% in 2000. It is indeed near-record high, but just wanted to point out that I'm not seeing 70% in the source.
3 of the ten states without Medicaid expansion: Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi have lower life expectancy than Cuba, Paraguay, Slovenia and Uruguay. Source world population review
Funny thing! The demands by the Republicans for raising the debt ceiling would repeal most of the laws and actions which created such effective public policy and social progress for the whole country.
Great piece--let me quote you: "If we don’t talk about the good from the recovery, it could slip through our fingers...." In very large part the Democrats haven't done it nor have the media and as a result, in part, the Republicans have gotten away with their "Trojan Horse" threats to the American public about the upcoming votes on increasing the debt level. Public good consumption is not costless and the real economic question is "fairness" in how we all share in covering those costs.
As a local, I appreciate that you periodically include photos like these from the Pike, which is probably more of a bellwether of what is happening (for working people at least) in the broader economy than places like Clarendon or Ballston.
Good news is always welcome. The threat of significant spending cuts coming from the Congress is politically self serving and I'm sure many rejoice at the rhetoric. I'm no economist, but I think the philosophical rigidity of the Fed and many elected officials overlooks the value of Keynes's economic policies. For them it is more more comfortable and politically beneficial to sacrifice the American laborer at the alter of "Free Markets", lest you be branded as a Socialist.
And still, in a larger context, income inequality grows.
Thank you for a great piece. As always, I learned!
Why is there such a verbal incontinence of euphemisms in re food:
“food insecurity” “food deserts” etc.
Please cal it what it is “malnutrition.” My mother works in the FDR White House. I remember hearing that 25% of people drafted into the U.S. military were officially “malnourished.” They weren’t afraid to acknowledge short-fallings in blunt terms. They were proud of the fact that military conscription guaranteed three meals a day for previously malnourished people. Most of these WWII conscripts saw a physician and dentist for the first time in their lives. Yet Reagan said government was the problem. He hoped we’d forget. I remember Reagan claimed poor eyesight in order to avoid serving in combat. (Anyone remember bone spurs?) But Reagan didn’t have any trouble reading those cue cards when making Army training films in Hollywood. And he didn’t have any trouble reading from note cards or teleprompters when he was president. Again, who was the problem? Government isn’t the problem. Go big or go home. When President Eisenhower chose to build the Interstate Highway System, nobody whined about government intervention. When the military and government funded the build-up of Silicon Valley, nobody whined about government intervention. Nor when we decided to put a man on the Moon. Nor when the government funded the build-out of railroads. Nor when the government funded the land-grant university system. Selective memories spawn false perspectives The U.S. economy is still the envy of the world. I learned this quickly during 12 years of international business travel. End of rant/homily.
This is 100% correct as pushback against the narrative that ARA and IRA and CHIPS were mistakes and that inflation is out punishment for making them. Low unemployment is great thing; Progressives often overlook how important vigorous growth is to reducing inequality along many dimensions. [I was already persuaded, but the datum on the Black male LFPR was a pleasant shock!]
I’m not questioning your rhetorical stance, but conceptually we should be thinking about finding the trajectory of inflation rate that maximizes real income. Inflation that is too high AND too low is bad for real income growth: too low and markets don’t clear = unemployed resources; too high and it’s harder to find the most efficient relative prices to guide investment. Balancing inflation against unemployment is a poor approximation to this.
The solutions to not losing the fruits of the recovery are good-- especially extending Medicaid -- depending on how they are designed, but not fundamental. We really ought to focus on the same old boring stuff as always: lowering structural deficits (mainly with higher personal income taxes), increasing high-skilled, educated immigration, less restriction on international trade and investments (except crafted restriction on China), tax on net CO2emissions, regulatory reform especially of NEPA and urban land use restrictions.
It would also be good to be ready for the next recession (the Fed will make a mistake someday even if we hope it hasn’t already) by creating a national unemployment insurance system that replaces a percent of lost income.
Very important post and solutions suggested make a lot of sense. I think the Californian government did a good job in automatically extending UI and MediCal for many who were trapped at home and gave out money to pay for some gas. When people feel safer with basic necessities met, places are safer, productivity higher, people healthier resulting in much fewer wasteful activities - still a longer way to go but the progress is very real!!
Great post. I was thinking about Jared Bernstein and Dean Baker’s book Getting back to Full Employment. .They quipped that unemployment hadn’t been low since the hit song “Age of Aquarius.” The Temps also had a song with the line “ birds are singing the children are playing there’s plenty of work and the bosses are paying.”
Every now & again, It's nice to hear some optimistic stuff
Great investigation, thanks for the article!
Let’s all stay MMT informed! Claudia’s insightful updates provide the perfect evidence to persuade the Congressional skeptics to author policy to raise all citizens living standards, create a job guarantee for every American and resource Earth saving climate proposals like the powerful global fiat currency we remain....to quote President Biden, “...for God’s sake!”
Very insightful article. One comment for now: I'm still reading it, and perhaps I'm missing something, but looking at the referenced source from the sentence "Another important milestone: Black employment hit a record high of nearly 70% in March." it looks like the March rate is 60.9%, near the high of 61.4% in 2000. It is indeed near-record high, but just wanted to point out that I'm not seeing 70% in the source.
Wonderful skit, submit it to Sat. Night Live!
3 of the ten states without Medicaid expansion: Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi have lower life expectancy than Cuba, Paraguay, Slovenia and Uruguay. Source world population review
Four out of five of these proposed solutions are based on government.
Bureaucratic organizations don't solve problems.
Correction: 331 people to 331 million people per Census Bureau