Robert Reich

Robert Reich has been writing a series on “the Grand Bargain” and the “fiscal cliff.” In this post, I'll do a commentary on his “The President's Opening Bid on a Grand Bargain (II): Put a Trigger Mechanism in the Legislation”, because I think it's more »

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Like many others, I'm not worried about the so-called fiscal “cliff,” and the ravages to the economy that are likely to occur if Congress doesn't do something about it before the end of the year. more »

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Robert Reich says the economy's problem is that regular working people are not sharing in the gains that the economy makes. He says the idea that bringing back manufacturing will fix this is an illusion. I agree and disagree. more »

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Celebrate Labor Day. Really, celebrate. It’s important. more »

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Why are people still interested in what Jamie Dimon has to say? As CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Mr. Dimon presides over a serial corporate criminal whose long list of misbehaviors[1] got longer only last week. As an investment and economics "expert" he failed to anticipate the worst financial crisis in modern history.

Now Jamie Dimon's come up with a list of economic concerns for the economy that would be amusingly clueless, if it weren't such a sad example of the Marie Antoinette-like detachment and hauteur of our financial leaders.

Dimon had a lengthy interview with an Australian newspaper, which Business Insider distilled into five reasons why (according to Mr. Dimon) people are negative about the economy: more »

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Now that Larry Summers is leaving, the President has a decision to make. His choice of a replacement will send a signal about the next two years of economic policy. That signal can restore consumer confidence and reinvigorate the electorate, or it can lead to even more discouragement and despair. Today unnamed Administration officials floated the idea of naming a corporate executive to the position. That's a trial balloon that should be punctured immediately.

The thirty-year-old law school graduate who asked the President yesterday, "Is the American dream over for me?" might interpret a choice like that as a 'yes' - unless he also happens to be a Fortune 500 CEO. Fortunately, there are much better candidates to be found elsewhere. more »

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Sometimes our political commentariat seems to go fashion-crazy. When a new trend gets popular it overwhelms everything in its path: logic, poltical divisions, even expert opinion. The latest vogue is deficit reduction, and our nation's Anna Wintours tell us we simply have to have it. In Washington, screaming about being in the red is the new black. more »

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