Robert Reich

Why This Is the Worst Recovery on Record

The biggest economic debate is between Keynesians (who want more government spending and lower interest rates in order to fuel demand) and supply-side “austerics” (who want lower taxes on the wealthy and on corporations to boost incentives to hire and invest, and who see government deficits crowding out private investment). Both approaches have problems.

Posted on Apr 16, 2013

Bipartisanship We Don’t Need

John Boehner, speaker of the House, revealed why it’s politically naive for the president to offer up cuts in Social Security in the hope of getting Republicans to close some tax loopholes for the rich.

Posted on Apr 11, 2013

The Stealth Sequester

So far, the much-dreaded “sequester”—some $85 billion in federal spending cuts between March and Sept. 30—hasn’t been evident to most Americans. Take a closer look, though, and many people are starting to feel the pain. They just don’t know it yet.

Posted on Apr 10, 2013

Advertisement

The Big Economic Stall

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of all this is that we’re in the fifth year of a supposed economic recovery from the second-worst economic downturn of the past century, and we’re still not nearly back on track. Instead, we’ve had the most anemic recovery in history.

Posted on Apr 7, 2013

What Immigration Reform Could Mean for American Workers

Their agreement is very preliminary and hasn’t yet even been blessed by the so-called Gang of Eight senators working on immigration reform, but the mere fact that AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Chamber of Commerce President Thomas J. Donohue agreed on anything is remarkable. 

Posted on Apr 3, 2013

Why Politicians Listen to Public Opinion on Gay Marriage and Guns but Not the Economy

Recent polls show Americans would rather reduce the deficit by raising taxes than by cutting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, education and transportation. Yet Congress seems incapable of making that kind of deal. Some 65 percent of Americans want to raise taxes on large corporations, but both parties are heading in precisely the opposite direction.

Posted on Mar 31, 2013