>... Speaking at the university in Nashville on Tuesday, Romer called > 8.9 percent unemployment "an absolute crisis," adding that there > were fiscally responsible ways to help unemployed Americans, > without adding to the deficit, Politico reported. > > As she was leaving the Obama administration last September, Romer, > now professor of economics at the University of California, > Berkley [sic], called for more government spending and fewer taxes. She > also called on the government to invest in infrastructure and make > new trade agreements.
In today's political climate, most politicos would see raising the government's deficit by cutting taxes and/or raising spending (purchases and transfers) as "fiscally irresponsible." But there's a kind of unemployment insurance -- seen, for example, in Germany -- that might help without significantly raising the government's deficit, i.e., job sharing between the employed and unemployed, perhaps by limiting hours per worker. Of course, that would be "irresponsible" too, because it would reduce the impact of the (currently quite large) reserve army of labor on the bargaining power of working people, both individually and collectively. A lot of politicians have vested interest in keeping unemployment high, since it allows them to call for the creation of jobs by giving tax cuts to the rich and powerful, ending government regulations that save human lives and health, etc. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
