300 Economists Warn Obama: Grave Danger Ahead

[FORD]

300 Economists Warn Obama: Grave Danger Ahead
Thursday, 09/16/2010 - 2:37 pm by Bryce Covert


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.”

The storyline that we have out of control government spending right now is “one hundred eighty degrees from reality,” said Dean Baker, ND20 contributor and co-director of Center for Economic and Policy Research on the call. What is the real problem here? Long-term, it’s spiraling health care costs. Without getting those under control, no matter what else happens the US will have a huge financial burden in the long run. “It’s not the deficit; it’s health care,” he warned.

Robert Kuttner 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. Want a great example? Look no further than World War II. The modest deficit spending of the New Deal was no match for the spending in the run-up to war, which thrust the economy back into recovery.

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.” There are only four sources of economic demand, three of which — consumers, businesses, and export countries — have problems of their own, he reminds us. Government is the last source when all else fails — and all else IS failing. If we can’t learn the lesson from these facts, Reich thinks we risk repeating 1937, when FDR listened to budget balancers and deficit hawks. His move “plunged us back into depths of very deep depression,” and he says we’re in danger of doing the same thing all over again unless we can “stop our obsession with short-term deficits and understand both economic logic and history.”

Other economists are also making noise about this issue. The New America Foundation recently released “Plan B for Economic Recovery“, which included a statement from ND20 contributors Marshall Auerback and James K. Galbraith, called for a focus on jobs and progressive ideas to get the economy back on track. And Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein just ran an interview series, “Blue Skies,” that lays out different ideas to kick-start job creation from Dean Baker, Heather Boushey, Michael Lind, and others. Moral of the story: this recession demands creative and bold action, not a resort to fear.

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

[FORD]

Here's the letter.....

In the fall of 2008 the U.S. and other major economies were in a free fall in the wake of a global financial crisis. Emergency stimulus policies here and around the world broke the fall, but brought us only part way to full recovery.

Today there is a grave danger that the still-fragile economic recovery will be undercut by austerity economics. A turn by major governments away from the promotion of growth and jobs and to premature focus on deficit reduction could slow growth and increase unemployment – and could push us back into recession.

History suggests that a tenuous recovery is no time to practice austerity. In the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal generated growth and reduced the unemployment rate from 25 percent in 1932 to less than 10 percent in 1937. However, the deficit hawks of that era persuaded President Roosevelt to reverse course prematurely and move toward budget balance. The result was a severe recession that caused the economy to contract sharply and sent the unemployment rate soaring. Only the much larger wartime spending of the early 1940s produced a full recovery.

Today, the economy is growing only weakly. 7.8 million jobs have been lost in the recession. Consumers, having suffered losses in home values and retirement savings, are tightening their belts. The business sector, uncertain about consumer spending, is reluctant to invest in expansion or job creation, leaving the economy trapped on a path of slow growth or stagnation. Over 20 million American workers are now unemployed, underemployed or simply have given up looking for a job.

The President and Congress should redouble efforts to create jobs and send aid to the states whose budget crises threaten recovery by forcing them to lay off school teachers, public safety workers, and other essential workers. It also makes sense to invest in public service jobs – and in infrastructure projects for transportation, water, and energy conservation that will make our economy more productive for years to come.

to be continued....

[FORD]

...continued...

Austerity advocates confuse two different issues—short term deficits generated by the recession and long term projections of deficits and debt. Deficits rose last decade largely due to the Bush tax cuts and the unfunded wars and prescription drug program, but they exploded as a result of the economic crisis. Once prosperity is restored, deficits will be reduced substantially. Over the long term, projections of rising deficits and debt are mainly due to one fundamental factor: rising health care costs.

Contrary to the claims of many deficit hawks, America does not have an entitlement crisis. America has a broken health care system. Efforts to reduce public sector costs without fixing the health care system, such as caps on Medicare and Medicaid spending or replacing them with vouchers, will undermine the effectiveness of these programs, but won’t fix the broken health care system. The health care reform bill passed earlier this year may be a first step towards repairing the health care system, but much more will need to be done.

Social Security has nothing to do with our current deficit. It is supported by its own dedicated payroll taxes (which were increased to build up a trust fund to cover the baby boomers’ retirement). Social Security has actually reduced the unified budget deficit for the most of the last three decades and will continue to do so for most of the next decade. Making sure Social Security is solvent for the next century should be dealt with separately from any process set up to address short or long-term deficits, and can be accomplished with minor adjustments.

....to be continued

[FORD]

...continued

The President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has set a goal of reducing the Federal deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2015. It is not clear that this arbitrary target can be met without damaging our recovery. In any case, the goals of economic policy must be far broader.

The most important question is this: What will drive economic growth, job creation and prosperity in the years to come? Conservatives argue that we should simply reduce deficits and wait for the next economic boom. But the last boom was built on a bubble, inflated by unsustainable household debt and financial speculation. If we focus merely on cutting spending and raising taxes, the economy could shrink again – or stay stuck in a permanently low level of growth and high levels of unemployment.

President Barack Obama has called on us to build a new foundation for the economy. This requires making investments vital to our future – in education and training, in research and development, in a modern infrastructure for the 21st century. It requires ending our addiction to oil, and capturing a lead role in the green industrial revolution, creating the next generation of green jobs.

Study after study demonstrates that America has a huge “public investment deficit” in areas vital to our economy. Some estimates suggest a shortfall in public investment of as much as $500 billion a year. As long as we have unacceptably high unemployment, outlays for additional investment can be deficit-financed. But once we achieve a robust recovery, our country should continue to pay for productive public investment, while acting to bring down public deficits. This will require new revenues.

We must have the confidence to forge our future. At the end of World War II, the US was burdened with debt that totaled over 120% of GDP. But we made the investments vital to a new economy – the GI Bill, housing subsidies, the interstate highway system, the conversion of military plants, and the Marshall plan. We ran annual deficits over most of the next three decades and the debt grew in absolute size, but the economy and the broad middle class grew faster. By 1980, the debt had been reduced to barely 30% of GDP. The better way to reduce the deficit as a percent of GDP is to increase GDP.

Even with a growing economy, increased investment and deficit reduction will require new sources of revenue, new priorities and a crackdown on wasteful subsidies.
Below are a range of measures which could be used to reduce the deficit and finance needed investments. Not all signers endorse every one of these options:

Any effort to cut spending should address the military budget, which consumes over half of discretionary spending. Much of our huge military spending is devoted to weapons designed to counter a Soviet Union that is no more. Defense experts estimate we could achieve significant Pentagon savings – in the range of $100 billion per year – while still sustaining the most powerful military in the world. We can use funds freed up to invest in new manufacturing industries that make our nation more secure.

Second, we should cut back the massive amounts wasted on outmoded subsidies – billions to the oil industry, to wasteful farm subsidies, and tax loopholes benefitting a few, with little productive return.

On the revenue side, in an era of Gilded Age inequality, progressive tax reform is long overdue. Revenue for reducing deficits and increasing investment can be raised by making taxes more progressive and by taxing activities we want to discourage. Some examples:


* A small tax on financial transactions (e.g. 0.025 percent on credit default swaps) would reduce high volume speculation and would produce revenues of about $100 billion per year.
* The Wyden-Gregg corporate loophole-closing proposals produce $1.078 trillion over ten years.
* Taxing hedge fund mangers’ “carried interest” income as regular income gains $3 billion per year.
* End special tax treatment of capital gains income. Revenue: $480 billion over ten years.
* A 5.4 percent surcharge on high incomes (passed by the House) produces $500 billion over ten years.
* A carbon tax would help reverse climate change. Revenue: $500 billion over ten years.
* End Bush tax cuts for people making more than 250k. Revenue: $37 billion per year.
* One version of a progressive estate tax on large fortunes would generate $50 billion per year.

Any value-added tax that amounts to a regressive sales tax on the working middle class should not be part of this package. There may be a future case for a VAT, perhaps to fund progressive social programs or replace even more regressive taxes, but not for deficit reduction.

.....tbc

[FORD]

.....continued

There are two alternative paths to long-term fiscal balance.

The less desirable path is austerity economics: government sharply cuts spending long before full employment is reached; production stagnates; revenues decline. We might reach budget balance but at a lower level of economic output, with increased taxes on working Americans and reduced public services.

The alternative high road path would increase public spending financed by deficits for a year or two, until unemployment is definitely on a downward trend and GDP is rising rapidly. We then collect more revenues from a stronger economy. By identifying investments vital to our future, and paying for them with targeted spending cuts and progressive tax reforms, our country provides the basis for new private-sector investments that help fuel growth, generating greater revenues while reducing the deficit. The benefit of this second path is that government moves towards a reduction in annual deficits and a lowering of the debt-to-GDP ratio, at a higher level of economic output, while building a new basis for long term prosperity.




Institutional affiliations are provided for identification purposes only.

Statement Authors
Robert Borosage and Roger Hickey, Institute for America's Future
Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect and Dēmos

Endorsers

Economists

Tanweer Akram | Senior Economist, ING Investment Management

Randy Albelda | University of Massachusetts Boston

Sylvia Allegretto | University of California, Berkeley

Gar Alperovitz | University of Maryland

Nancy Altman | Social Security Works

Eileen Appelbaum | Rutgers University

Diane Archer | Institute for America’s Future

Michael Ash | University of Massachusetts Amherst

Nahid Aslanbeigui | Monmouth University

Marshall Auerback | Roosevelt Institute

Reuven Avi-Yonah | University of Michigan

Hillel Bachrach | 20/20 HealthCare Partners LLC

M. V. Lee Badgett | University of Massachusetts Amherst

Ron Baiman | Center for Tax and Budget Accountability

Dean Baker | Center for Economic and Policy Research

Radhika Balakrishnan | Rutgers University

Nesecan Balkan | Hamilton College

Nina Banks | Bucknell University

William Barclay| Chicago Political Economy Group

Chuck Barone| Dickinson College

Michael Belzer| Wayne State University

Lourdes Beneria| Cornell University

Barbara R. Bergmann| American University

Alexandra Bernasek| Colorado State University

Cihan Bilginsoy| University of Utah

Cyrus Bina| University of Minnesota (Morris Campus)

Angela Glover Blackwell| PolicyLink

Howard Botwinick| State University of New York , Cortland

Roger Bove| West Chester University (Retired)

Paula Braveman| University of California, San Francisco

Clair Brown| University of California Berkeley

E. Richard Brown| University of California Los Angeles

Robert Buchele| Smith College

Cruz Bueno| University of Massachusetts–Amherst

Jim Campen| University of Massachusetts Boston (emeritus)

Colin S. Cavell, Ph.D.| University of Bahrain American Studies Center

John Chasse| Association for Evolutionary Economics

Howard Chernick| Hunter College CUNY

Paul Christensen| Hofstra University

Steve Clemons| New America Foundation

Anne Cobb| Empire State College

Lizabeth Cohen| Harvard University

James Crotty| University of Massachusetts Amherst

James Cypher| California State University Fresno

Diana Da| Diana Dai Communications Inc.

Peter Damiano| The University of Iowa

Anita Dancs| Western New England College

Jane D’Arista| PERI/SAFER

Paul A David| Stanford University

Paul Davidson| University of Tennessee

Susan M. Davis| Buffalo State College

Charles Davis| Indiana University

John Davis| Marquette University

Anthony D’Costa| Asia Research Centre

Amy B. Dean| Author, “A New New Deal”

Gregory DeFreitas| Hofstra University

James Devine| Loyola Marymount University

Ranjit Dighe| SUNY College at Oswego

David Doane| Oakland University

Karen Dolan| Institute for Policy Studies

G. William Domhoff| University of California, Santa Cruz

Peter Dorman| Evergreen State College

Amitava Dutt| University of Notre Dame

Gary Dymski| University of California Riverside

Todd Easton| University of Portland

Gary Edelman| Edelman & Associates

Barbara Ehrenreich| Author, “Nickeled and Dimed”

Justin Elardo| Portland Community College

Zohreh Emami| Alverno College

Brian England| University of Utah

Gerald Epstein| University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Jeff Faux| Economic Policy Institute

Steven Fazzari| Washington University

Rashi Fein| Harvard University

Susan Feiner| University of Southern Maine

Thomas Ferguson| University of Massachusetts, Boston and Roosevelt Institute

Rudy Fichtenbaum| Wright State University

David Fields| University of Utah

Catherine Finnoff| University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Richard Flacks| University of California, Santa Barbara

Nancy Folbre| University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Robert Francis| Shoreline Community College

Robert Frank| Cornell University

Gerald Friedman| University of Massachusetts at Amherst

James K. Galbraith| University of Texas, Economists for Peace and Security

John Gallup| Portland State University

William Ganley| Department of Economics & Finance, Buffalo State College

Angel Garcia Banchs| Universidad Central de Venezuela

David George| La Salle University

Christophre Georges| Hamilton College

Arthur Gerds| Unaffilliated

Teresa Ghilarducci| New School for Social Research

Helen Ginsburg| Brooklyn College and National Jobs for All Coalition

Lonnie Golden| Penn State Abington

Stephen Gorin| Plymouth State University

Ulla Grapard| Colgate University

Carole Green| University of South Florida

Daphne Greenwood| University of Colorado-Colorado Springs

Karl D. Gregory| Oakland University and KDG & Associates

Lawrence Grossberg| University of North Carolina

Robert Guttmann| Hofstra University

Jacob Hacker| Yale University

Robin Hahnel| Portland State University

John Battaile Hall| Portland State University

Lori Hansen| Former Member, Senate Democrats Social Security Advisory Board

Martin Hart-Landsberg| Lewis and Clark College

Heidi Hartmann| Institute for Women’s Policy Research

John Harvey| Texas Christian University

Carol Heim| University of Massachusetts, Amherst

James Heintz| University of Massachusetts

Susan Helper| Case Western Reserve University

John Henry| University of Missouri–Kansas City

Conrad Herold| Hofstra University

Adam Hersh| University of Massachusetts

Gillian Hewitson| University of Sydney

Joan Hoffman| John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Michael Intriligator| University of California Los Angeles

Dorene Isenberg| University of Redlands

Ken Jacobs| University of California Berkeley

Peter Jacobson| University of Michigan

Robert Johnson| Roosevelt Institute

Helene Jorgensen| Author, Sick and Tired

Arne Kalleberg| University of North Carolina

J. K. Kapler| University of Massachusetts Boston

Victor Kasper Jr.| Buffalo State College

Jeffrey Keefe| Rutgers University

Mary King| Portland State University

Eric Kingson| Syracuse University

Andrew Kohen| James Madison University (emeritus)

Ben Kohl| Temple University

Gerald F. Kominski| University of California Los Angeles

Brent Kramer| City University of New York

Peter Karl Kresl| Bucknell University (emeritus)

Robert Kuttner| The American Prospect

Supriya Lahiri| University of Massachusetts Lowell

Thomas Lambert| Indiana University Southeast

Dr. Tom Larson| California State University, Los Angeles

Keith Leitich| Central & East Asian Affairs Analyst

Margaret Levenstein| University of Michigan

Charles Levenstein| University of Massachusetts Lowell

Henry Levin| Columbia University

Marc Levine| University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Mark Levinson | Service Employees International Union

Victor Lippit| University of California, Riverside

Robert Lynch| Washington College

Catherine Lynde| University of Massachusetts Boston

Arthur MacEwan| University of Massachusetts Boston (emeritus)

Christopher Mackin| Ownership Associates, Inc.

Yahya Madra| Gettysburg College

Jeff Madrick| Roosevelt Institute; Schwartz Center, The New School

Mark Maier| Glendale Community College

Jean Maier| US Society for Ecological Economics

Julianne Malveaux| Bennett College for Women

Arindam Mandal | Siena College

John Mannah| New School for Social Research

Theodore Marmor| Yale University

Julie Matthae| Wellesley College

Peter Matthews| Middlebury College

Daniel McFadden| University of California, Berkeley

Hannah McKinney| Kalamazoo College

Walter W. McMahon| University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Joseph Medley| University of Southern Maine

Michael Meeropol| Western New England College (emeritus)

Martin Melkonian| Hofstra University

John Messier| University of Maine Farmington

Peter Meyer| The E.P. Systems Group, Inc.

Thomas Michl| Colgate University

Marcelo Milan| University of Wisconsin Parkside

William Milberg| New School for Social Research

Lawrence Mishel| Economic Policy Institute

Vernon Mogensen| Kingsborough Community College, CUNY

Michael Morrill| Keystone Progress

Philip Moss| University of Massachusetts Lowell

Tracy Mott| University of Denver

Jamee Moudud| Sarah Lawrence College

Dedrick Muhammad| Institute for Policy Studies

Kevin Murphy| Oakland University

Michael Murray| Bates College

Michele Naples| The College of New Jersey

Julie Nelson| University of Massachusetts Boston

Immanuel Ness| Brooklyn College/CUNY

Katherine Newman| Princeton University

Eric Nilsson| California State University–San Bernardino

Laurie Nisonoff| Hampshire College

Jack Norman| Institute for Wisconsin’s Future

Michael Nuwer| State University of New York Potsdam

Paulette Olson| Wright State University

Mary Orisich| Holyoke Community College

Pierre Ostiguy| Bard College

Christine Owens| National Employment Law Project

Aaron Pacitti| Siena College

Spencer Pack| Connecticut College

Thomas Palley| New America Foundation

Robert Pandolfo| DBA/Analyst, self-employed

Dimitri Papadimitriou| Levy Economics Institute

Richard Parker| Harvard University

James Parrott| Fiscal Policy Institute

M. Stephen Pendleton| Buffalo State College

Michael Perelman| California State Universty–Chico

Tova Perlmutter| Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice

Rick Perlstein| Author, "Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America"

Joseph Persky| University of Illinois at Chicago

Mark Peterson| University of California Los Angeles

Karl Petrick| Western New England College

John Philo| Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice

Paul Pieper| University of Illinois at Chicago

Bruce Pietrykowski| University of Michigan–Dearborn

Karen Rosel Polenske| Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Robert Pollin| University of Massachussets Amherst

Marilyn Power| Sarah Lawrence College

Thomas M. Power| University of Montana

Mark Price| Keystone Research Center

Edith Rasell| United Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries

Michael Reich| University of California Berkeley

Robert B. Reich| University of California Berkeley; former Secretary of Labor

Cordelia Reimer| Hunter College - CUNY

Joseph Ricciardi| Babson College

Malcolm Robinson| Thomas More College

John Roche| St. John Fisher College

James Rock| University of Utah

Charles Rock| Rollins College

John Roemer| Yale University

Sergio Romero| Boise State University

Jaime Ros| University of Notre Dame

Batt Rosemar| Cornell University

Michael Rosen| Milwaukee Area Technical College

Sam Rosenberg| Roosevelt University

Joshua Rosenbloom| University of Kansas

David Rosnick| Center for Economic and Policy Research

Lynda Rush| California State Polytechnic University

Hector Saez| Beyond Growth

Anandi Sahu| Oakland University

John Sarich| Institute of Global Communications

Lisa Saunders| University of Massachusetts–Amherst

Harwood Schaffer| University of Tennessee

Helen Scharber| University of Massachusetts–Amherst

Ted Schmidt| Buffalo State College

John Schmitt| Center for Economic and Policy Research

Victor Schoenbach| University of North Carolina

Sanford Schram| Bryn Mawr College

Sherle R. Schwenninger| New America Foundation

Elliott Sclar| Columbia University

Stephanie Seguino| University of Vermont

Jean Shackelford| Bucknell University

Sumitra Shah| St. John’s University

Derek Shearer| Occidental College

Kristen Sheeran| Economics for Equity and Environment Network

Heidi Shierholz| Economic Policy Institute

Richard Shirey| Siena College

Laurence Shute| California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Alexandra Sidiropoulos| Miskin & Tsui-Yip LLP

Mark Silverman| Steptoe & Johnson LLP

Peter Skott| University of Massachusetts Amherst

Lewis Smith| Economist, retired

Vince Snowberger| Economist, retired

Case Sprenkle| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

James Ron Stanfield| Colorado State University (emeritus)

Casey Stanton| Transportation Equity Network

Howard Stein| University of Michigan

Mary Stevenson| University of Massachusetts Boston

James Stewart| Penn State University

Jeffrey Stewart| University of Cincinnati

Frank Stricker| California State University–Dominguez Hills

Peter Temin| Massachusetts Institute of Technology

David Terkla| University of Massachusetts Boston

Mark Thoma| University of Oregon

Frank Thompson| University of Michigan

Chris Tilly| University of California Los Angeles

Jim Tober| Marlboro College

John Tower| Oakland University (Retired)

Scott Trees| Siena College Economics Department

Dale Tussing| Syracuse University

Leanne Ussher| Queens College, City University of New York

David Vail| Bowdoin College

Marjolein van der Veen| The Nation

Bryan Van Name| Economics Blogger

Matt Vidal| King’s College London

Rudiger von Arnim| University of Utah

Valerie Voorheis| Marlboro College Graduate Center

Paula Voos| Rutgers University

Steven Wallace| University of California Los Angeles

Paul Wallace| Retired

Joseph Washington| Unaffilliated

Lucy Law Webster| Economists for Peace and Security

John Weeks| University of London (emeritus)

David Weiman| Barnard College, Columbia University

Scott A. Weir| Unaffilliated

Mark Weisbrot| Center for Economic and Policy Research

Charles Weise| Gettysburg College

Thomas Weisskopf| University of Michigan

Ralph Whitehead| University of Massachusetts–Amherst

Jeannette Wicks-Lim| University of Massachusetts Amherst

Roger Wilkins| Campaign for America’s Future

John Willoughby| American University

Martin H. Wolfson| University of Notre Dame

Yavuz Yasar| University of Denver

June Zaccone| National Jobs for All Coalition

Ajit Zacharias| Levy Economics Institute

David Zalewski| Providence College

James M. Zelenski| Regis University

Michael Zimmerman| University of Colorado

Frederick Zimmerman| University of California Los Angeles

Ben Zipperer| University of Massachusetts–Amherst


Civic and Labor Leaders

Deepak Bhargava| Center for Community Change

Jeff Blum| USAction

James Boland| International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers

Robert Borosage| Campaign for America’s Future

Anna Burger| Former Secretary-Treasurer, SEIU

Darcy Burner| Progressive Congress Action Fund

Nancy Duff Campbell| National Women’s Law Center

Rea Carey| National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund

Ashley Carson| Older Women’s League

Larry Cohen| Communications Workers of America

Darryl Fagin| Americans for Democratic Action, Inc.

Rabbi Michael Feinberg| Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition

Mark Friedman| Third Culture

Leo Gerard| United Steelworkers of America

Robert Greenwald| Brave New Films

Mary Kay Henry| Service Employees International Union

Roger Hickey | Campaign for America’s Future

Michael Huttner| ProgressNow

Rev Jesse Jackson| Rainbow-PUSH Coalition

Avis Jones-DeWeever| National Council of Negro Women

Bob King| United Auto Workers Union

Joan Kuriansky| Wider Opportunities for Women

Antonio Lodico| Mon Valley Unemployed Committee

Meizhu Lui| Closing the Racial Wealth Gap, Insight Center for Community Economic Development

Ben Manski| Liberty Tree Foundation

Don Mathis| Community Action Partnership

Gerald McEntee| American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees

Brian Miller| United for a Fair Economy

Terry O’Neill| National Organization for Women

Robert Patrician| Communications Workers of America

Miles Rapoport| Dēmos

Charles Rodgers| New Community Fund

Justin Ruben| MoveOn.org

Steven Schwartz| Ballot Initiative Strategy Center

Karen See| Coalition of Labor Union Women

Hilary Shelton | NAACP

Curtis Skinner| National Center for Children in Poverty

Ted Smukler| Interfaith Worker Justice

Margery Tabankin| The Streisand Foundation

Scott Wallace| Wallace Global Fund

Deborah Weinstein| Coalition on Human Needs

Michael J. Wilson| Americans for Democratic Action


State Civic Leaders

Betty Ahrens| Iowa Citizen Action Network

Gerard Bradley| New Mexico Voices for Children

Linda Brown| Arizona Advocacy Network

Bless Burke| Western North Carolina Workers' Center

Simone Campbell| NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

Sarah Chaisson Warner| New Hampshire Citizens Alliance for Action

Melba Collins| Arkansas Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice

Lynda DeLaforgue| Citizen Action/Illinois

Rion Dennis| Progressive Maryland

Adrienne Evans| United Action for Idaho

Linda Garding| North Dakota People.org

Debra Gardner| Public Justice Center

Rebekah Gienapp| Workers Interfaith Network (Memphis, Tenn.)

Jesse Graham| Maine People's Alliance

Jill Harrington| Ocean State Action

Alice Hoffman| Pa. Alliance of Retired Americans

Nancy Holle| Community, Faith and Labor Coalition

Janice "Jay" Johnson| Viginia Organizing

Jonathan Klein| Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE-LA)

Robert Kraig| Citizen Action of Wisconsin

Mary Mancini| Tennessee Citizen Action

Craig McMahon| Step Safe

Bill Moyer| Backbone Campaign

Bill Newton| Florida Citizen Action Group

Anne Nolan| Candidate for Minnesota State Representative, District 15A

Brian O'Shaughnessy| Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State

Will Pittz| Washington Community Action Network

Tom Rankin| California Alliance for Retired Americans

Brian Rothenberg| ProgressOhio

Phyllis Salowe-Kaye| New Jersey Citizen Action

Joel Scott| Detroit Federation of Teachers

Nicholas Segura Jr.| International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers LU569

Eric Sklar| Vice Mayor, St. Helena, Calif.

Marc Stier| Penn Action

Tom Swan| Connecticut Citizen Action Group

Linda Teeter| Michigan Citizen Action

Ron Williams| Oregon Action

Gary Zuckett| West Virginia Citizen Action Group

[FORD]

*hic*

[sadaist]

revenue can be raised by taxing activities we want to discourage.

Fuck off!

[GAR]

I'd say at this point, let's fuck up the banks and raise the interest rates instead on the lending.

But Obama won't do it, that's why he's got Geithner in there so he doesn't go down like Jimmy Carter hiking that shit up to 20 percent. He wants the Republicans to take the hit for jacking the interest rates and I told you all this shit would happen back in 2008 on DDLR and all I got from you was "racist."

Fix it: vote independant every chance you get and don't buy all that fear-shit off Fox and PMSNBC

[vh rides again]

Damn! all that and not one word about the failed programs like THE WAR ON DRUGS, IMMIGRATION/ILLEGALS, NAFTA.

[ZahZoo]

Got to agree... jobs growth should be the top priority. Extending the Bush tax cuts or even cutting taxes further is another key factor.

Job growth will increase tax revenue faster than anything. Thus helping the deficit. Tax cuts will spur investment and spending... which generally leads to job growth.

Simple logic... you don't make an engine run faster and more efficiently by starving it of fuel...

[BigBadBrian]

Got to agree... jobs growth should be the top priority. Extending the Bush tax cuts or even cutting taxes further is another key factor.

Job growth will increase tax revenue faster than anything. Thus helping the deficit. Tax cuts will spur investment and spending... which generally leads to job growth.

Simple logic... you don't make an engine run faster and more efficiently by starving it of fuel...

Well said! Somebody with some common economical sense.

[ELVIS]

I'd say the information above is not out of reach for Obama to understand and implement, he's a smart guy, no doubt...

But I don't think his administration or the powers that be are interested in any of this...

[ELVIS]

you don't make an engine run faster and more efficiently by starving it of fuel...

Liberal spending and policies suggest that you do...

[BigBadBrian]

I'd say the information above is not out of reach for Obama to understand and implement, he's a smart guy, no doubt...

But I don't think his administration or the powers that be are interested in any of this...

Joe Biden believes we should spend, spend, spend.

$111 million of Stimulus money was spent in LA to produce a whopping 55 jobs. Smart use of our tax dollars, Barack!

[ELVIS]

Distributing wealth...