300 Economists Warn Obama: Grave Danger Ahead

[Techn0Girl]

Friday 9/16

"Three hundred economists released a letter to President Obama today with one message: focus on jobs, not on the deficit. Robert Borosage, co-director of the Institute for America’s Future and one of the authors of the statement, said the letter is “a call for action on the economy and a return to economic common sense” in a conference call with the media this morning. This is not the time for balancing the budget and slashing the deficit, he pointed out; rather, it is “the time for bold initiatives to rebuild America and to generate jobs and growth.”"

...

"Robert Kuttner (ed.: co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect magazine ) laid it all out plainly: it’s “really about a high road to recovery versus a low road to fiscal balance.” The high road: increased public investment, leading back to easy fiscal balance. The low road: fiscal austerity now, at the cost of whacking the economy"

...

"And finally Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor, was perfectly clear on where he stands: “There is a serious danger that if we continue with the policies that we are now seeing in Washington, we’re going to have not just a double dip recession, but we are toying with the possibility of much more serious deflation and a US lost decade analogous to Japan’s lost decade.”

http://www.newdeal20.org/2010/09/16/300-economists-warn-obama-grave-danger-ahead-20341/


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No comment really needed here by me

[L0oniX]

1. K & R

[Mefistofeles]

2. Obama is doing the right thing. He's focused on jobs

He proposed a stimulus but Republicans just won't help. They want to lock the government.

[Nite Owl]

3. I hope he listens

and disbands the catfood commission. Deflation is a far more serious problem than inflation.

[Exilednight]

4. That stupid commission is the worst idea he has ever had .......

I never understood why he put together a commission to fix something that is not broke.

[Skittles]

5. HELLO

they're not trying to "fix" it - they're trying to GUT it

[Boxerfan]

6. CCC/WPA

Waaaay overdue IMHO...

[Kolesar]

9. CCC was for getting young men off the streets so they won't rob and burgle

Which makes it even more important, IMHO.

[KakistocracyHater]

7. I actually consider calling it the low road-creating jobs & regenerating

alot of lost growth, simply because it seems more settled & stable to be lower. Aside from labels, there is already a known blueprint to job generation in a time of extreme economic hardship, that would be FDR's well-known moves in the 1930s; it's time to rescind Reagan's blockade of the Federal Government's ability to create jobs.

[progressoid]

8. Unfortunately there isn't much he or Congress will do right now.

First, because it is election season and nobody wants to further jeopardize their office at this point.

Secondly (and more to the point), we only try to deal with problems after the fact.

[OhioChick]

10. K&R n/t