President Barack Obama talks with, from left, Senior Advisor David Plouffe, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, and Chief of Staff Bill Daley in the Oval Office, Sept. 1, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Archive for September 1st, 2011
01
Sep
11
‘the recovery act worked’
Jared Bernstein: …. Republicans constantly ply the talking point “discredited stimulus” in the interest of blocking any similar ideas … but the evidence shows the stimulus worked, but ended too soon, before the private sector was ready to walk on its own. The evidence shows we need to do more of these sorts of policy interventions.
…. The first graph shows the growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) from 2007 up until the last quarter. The next picture shows job growth over the same period in both the total job market and excluding government jobs, since the temporary influx of Census working in 2010 distorts the overall series for a few months.
…. they a) present remarkably compelling evidence against the “failed stimulus” case, and b) show that we need to do more of these types of interventions.
…. As the stimulus fades, the positive trends begin to falter: both GDP and job growth slow significantly, and unemployment stagnates at a highly elevated level.
The message of these three simple graphs is itself disarmingly simple: the stimulus worked. It prevented recession from becoming depression. It just ended too soon.
And that’s why the President’s new jobs agenda is so damn important.
Full post here
Fawn Johnson (The Atlantic): The president has asked federal agencies to find solutions on their own. His message to lawmakers: We can do this without you.
President Obama is either fed up with Congress or he’s testing his own administration’s mettle. Or both.
On Wednesday, Obama took a now-familiar path in adopting a program - this time a jobs and infrastructure effort - that can happen entirely within his domain. Obama directed several federal agencies to identify “high-impact, job-creating infrastructure projects” that can be expedited now, without congressional approval.
One week before he will make a major address to Congress on jobs, Obama is making sure they know he plans to move forward without them. The president has also directed the Education Department to come up with a “Plan B” updating the 2001 No Child Left Behind law in the absence of congressional action. The message to Congress is clear: Do your work or we’ll do it for you.
Under Wednesday’s order, the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, and Transportation will each select up to three high-priority infrastructure projects that can be completed within the control and jurisdiction of the federal government. The effort is labeled as a “common-sense approach” to spurring job growth “in the near term.”….
Full article here
01
Sep
11
‘the gop war on voting’
Here
Ari Berman (Rolling Stone): As the nation gears up for the 2012 presidential election, Republican officials have launched an unprecedented, centrally coordinated campaign to suppress the elements of the Democratic vote that elected Barack Obama in 2008.
Just as Dixiecrats once used poll taxes and literacy tests to bar black Southerners from voting, a new crop of GOP governors and state legislators has passed a series of seemingly disconnected measures that could prevent millions of students, minorities, immigrants, ex-convicts and the elderly from casting ballots. “What has happened this year is the most significant setback to voting rights in this country in a century,” says Judith Browne-Dianis, who monitors barriers to voting as co-director of the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C.
…. the GOP’s effort to disrupt voting rights has been more widespread and effective than ever. In a systematic campaign orchestrated by the American Legislative Exchange Council – and funded in part by David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who bankrolled the Tea Party – 38 states introduced legislation this year designed to impede voters at every step of the electoral process…..
Full article here
