Article Link: Robert Reich (The American Jobs Emergency Requires Action)

Another important article from Robert Reich with his solutions for a true economic recovery.

This is not a recovery. It’s a continuing jobs emergency and it demands action

via Robert Reich (The American Jobs Emergency Requires Action).

Article Link:Robert Reich (Why the Tax Deal Confirms the Republican Worldview)

Mr. Reich has some very good ideas. Please read the rest of the article at the link below.

Here’s the real story. For three decades, an increasing share of the benefits of economic growth have gone to the top 1 percent. Thirty years ago, the top got 9 percent of total income. Not they take in almost a quarter. Meanwhile, the earnings of the typical worker have barely budged.

The vast middle class no longer has the purchasing power to keep the economy going. (The rich spend a much lower portion of their incomes.) The crisis was averted before now only because middle-class families found ways to keep spending more than they took in – by women going into paid work, by working longer hours, and finally by using their homes as collateral to borrow. But when the housing bubble burst, the game was up.

The solution is to reorganize the economy so the benefits of growth are more widely shared. Exempt the first $20,000 of income from payroll taxes, and apply payroll taxes to incomes over $250,000. Extend Medicare to all. Extend the Earned Income Tax Credit all the way up through families earning $50,000. Make higher education free to families that now can’t afford it. Rehire teachers. Repair and rebuild our infrastructure. Create a new WPA to put the unemployed back to work…

But here’s the obstacle. As income and wealth have risen to the top, so has political power. Money is being used to bribe politicians and fill the airwaves with misleading ads that block all of this.

via Robert Reich (Why the Tax Deal Confirms the Republican Worldview).

Post-Meltdown, Banks Still Rule Derivatives Trade – NYTimes.com

On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan.

The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable — and controversial — fields in finance. They also share a common secret: The details of their meetings, even their identities, have been strictly confidential.

via Post-Meltdown, Banks Still Rule Derivatives Trade – NYTimes.com.