by Leo Gerard | Jul 27, 2011 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America
Written with Leo Hindery Jr., Chair of the Smart Globalization Initiative at the New America Foundation America is facing a catastrophic jobs crisis. Not since the Great Depression has official unemployment hovered above nine percent – where it is today – for more...
by Steven Capozzola | Jul 25, 2011 | Blog, Making it in America
Both the U.S. and Germany are high-wage economies with a substantial union workforce. However, Germany is an export powerhouse, while the U.S. runs massive annual trade deficits. Why is this the case? Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson suggests that...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 12, 2011 | Blog, Making it in America
There was (yet more) bad economic news this morning. Reuters: US trade deficit grows to 31-month high. While oil takes part of the blame, the problem is not all oil: Oil imports helped widen the U.S. trade deficit to $50.2 billion in May from $43.6 billion in April,...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 10, 2011 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America
Negotiating with crazy people is always a bad idea and negotiating with hostage-takers is dangerous. But negotiating with crazy hostage-takers is worse than dangerously bad. The “debt-ceiling” deal being negotiated to keep the economy from being crashed could crash...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 24, 2011 | Blog, Making it in America
President Obama today announced a new Advanced Manufacturing Partnership that will bring together industry, universities and the federal government to invest in emerging technologies. This is nuts-and-bolts government work, to help American manufacturing and American...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 23, 2011 | Blog, Making it in America
I watched a Congressional hearing yesterday (webcast), examining why we need a national industrial strategy. There were a few pro-manufacturing voices. But in a surprise move, Republicans and representatives of Wall Street & giant multinationals opposed such a policy...