All Robert Reich
The invisible sequesterAmericans are starting to feel the pain from the sequester's $85 billion in federal spending cuts between March and September 30, Reich writes. They just don鈥檛 know it yet.
What's behind the bad March job numbers?Companies won鈥檛 hire if consumers aren鈥檛 buying enough to justify the new hires, Reich writes. And consumers don鈥檛 have enough money, or credit, or confidence to buy enough.
Chained CPI for Social Security would hurt seniorsUsing a chained consumer price index to adjust Social Security benefits for inflation would make it even harder for seniors to keep up with the cost of health care. So why are Democrats proposing it?聽
What immigration reform could mean for US workersImmigration reform is part of organized labor's long-term strategy, Reich writes.
Why don't politicians listen to public opinion on the economy?Why are politicians so sensitive to public opinion on equal marriage rights, immigration, and guns 鈥� Reich asks 鈥� and so tone deaf to what most Americans want on the economy?
Why Democrats should protect Social Security and MedicareSocial Security and Medicare are the most popular programs ever devised by the federal government, Reich writes. If average Americans have trusted the Democrats to do one thing it has been to guard these programs from the depredations of the GOP.聽
Deficits are not the real economic problemThe biggest economic problems we face are unemployment, stagnant wages, slow growth, and widening inequality, Reich writes, not deficits.
Paul Ryan's budget and austerity economicsThe White House鈥檚 and the Democrat鈥檚 continuing failure to reshape that debate has lead directly and logically to Paul Ryan鈥檚 budget plan this week, Reich writes, which is a more regressive version of the same plan American voters resoundingly rejected last November.聽
Why stocks are up while wages are downReich offers four reasons why聽the stock market is doing so well, while most Americans are doing so poorly.
With sequester underway, what should Obama do next?With the sequester enacted, President Barack Obama must reframe the public debate around the future of the country and the investments we must make together in that future, rather than austerity economics, Reich writes.
The sequestration nationThe austerity economics on which we鈥檝e embarked is a cruel hoax 鈥� Reich writes 鈥� cruel because it hurts those who are already hurt the most; a hoax because it doesn鈥檛 work.
President Obama vs. GOP in a sequester showdownPresident Obama must demonstrate why聽the Republicans鈥� austerity economics and trickle-down economics are dangerous, bald-faced lies, Reich writes.
Where have all the customers gone?It used to be that when consumers spent less, government stepped into the breach and spent more in order to keep people employed, Reich writes. No longer is that the case, he adds.
Entitlement reform and immigration reform: How are they connected?One logical way to help deal with the crisis of funding Social Security and Medicare is to have more workers per retiree, Reich writes, and the simplest way to do that is to allow more immigrants into the United States.聽
Guns, healthcare, and the meaning of a decent societyGun control, healthcare, and countless other issues inevitably require us to define what we mean by a decent society, Reich writes.
Why the budget deficit is not 'the transcendent issue of our time'The Republican鈥檚 biggest economic lie is that the budget deficit is, in Sen. Mitch McConnell's words,聽鈥渢he transcendent issue of our time,鈥� Reich writes.聽The transcendent issue is jobs and wages, he adds.
Why we need an investment budgetA rational federal budget would allow additional borrowing for public investments whenever the expected return on those investments is higher than the cost of the borrowing.
State of the Union address: Why Obama should focus on the economyPresident Obama's State of the Union address聽should center on the joblessness, falling real wages, economic insecurity, and widening inequality that continue to dog the nation, Reich writes.
Jobs and growth over deficit reductionRight now the central challenge is to reignite the economy, Reich writes, getting jobs back, improving wages, and restoring growth.聽
Immigration, corporations, and the real debate over US citizenshipImmigration is just one part of the conversation over US citizenship, Reich writes. The immigration debate is also a question of who we want to join us.
