*300 Economists Warn Obama*: Grave Danger Ahead (NewDeal2.0)

[chill_wind]

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.

more at the link:



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

[WhiteTara]

1. We can only hope he will read this letter

himself...not his staff.

[chill_wind]

6. Let's hope some DUers read it too. n/t

[FreakinDJ]

7. You mean exporting our industries to China doesn't work any more

Ronnie RayGuns and his trickle down bullshit must be spinning in his grave

[chill_wind]

2. Link to the statement- help pass it on.

"Show your support for this statement, link to it on your website, and use it, along with the other resources on this page, to advocate for policies that will revive growth and jobs."

http://dontkilljobs.org/


The full statement: Pdf (10 pages)
http://ourfuture.org/files/documents/don%27t-kill-growth-and-jobs.pdf

[CurtEastPoint]

3. And earlier someone posted the US's Infrastructure scores. If we invested in that

we could get a top-notch infrastructure (again) and put people to work at the same time.
No brainer.

[notesdev]

4. You can't run an economy on public investment

The public investment trick works only as long as massive borrowing can continue, and collapses the moment it is withdrawn.

We have to bring industry home, and that means reform of the tax system (with lobbyists not in the room) and repudiation of free trade policy.

[xchrom]

5. Recommend - instead of blowing rain bow bubbles

Getting Behind this would be more helpful.

[housewolf]

8. They ought to be sending it to Michael Steele, McConnell, Baehmor, all the media

every single Repub and every single media outlet. They ought to "take it on the road" and educate the American public. These are the folks who really need their message.

[girl gone mad]

9. Debbie Downers.

[chill_wind]

10. Thoughts on a Plan B: James Galbraith and others

Thoughts on a Plan B

* By James K. Galbraith, University of Texas at Austin

September 6, 2010 |

* New America Foundation

In July 2008, in a memorandum for the Obama campaign team and later published in Challenge, I wrote as follows:

If the above analysis is correct, the political capital of the new presidency risks being depleted, quite quickly, in a series of short-term stimulus efforts that will do little more than buoy the economy for a few months each. Since they will not lead to a revival of private credit, every one of those efforts will ultimately be seen as “too little, too late” and therefore as ending in failure.

Painful though it is to repeat those words, the question remains: what can be done now?

1. First of all, do not rely on the Federal Reserve. Quantitative easing is eyewash - a fantasy solution. And the zero interest policy is also not expansionary. These policies relieve banks of bad assets, provide them with cheap funds, and make them seem profitable in spite of the fact that they are doing nothing constructive. They do not increase lending to the public and therefore have no effect on spending. Further, the zero interest rate policy reduces total spending, since it cuts interest incomes and therefore spending from interest income.

more: http://growth.newamerica.net/publications/policy/thoughts_on_a_plan_b

Readying a Plan B for Economic Recovery
* By Marshall Auerback, Senior Fellow, Roosevelt Institute

September 6, 2010 |

* New America Foundation



President Obama, his economics team, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve continue to display a curiously detached view of the economy. Just the other day, the president indicated that “it took nearly a decade to dig the hole that we’re in” as if that provided an excuse for the lassitude he continues to display in regard to the problem of unemployment. By the same token, Ben Bernanke essentially admitted that monetary policy alone cannot keep economic growth moving, but seems curiously resistant to additional fiscal policy measures on the grounds that “fiscal impetus and the inventory cycle can drive recovery only temporarily.” He is wrong about that.

Essentially, our policy makers are making the case that the US government is not able to fill a greater proportion of aggregate demand with public spending on the grounds of “national solvency” and the corresponding need to “retain the credibility of the bond market”, as if the daily vicissitudes of the bond gods constitutes a rational basis for employment policy. Neither the administration, nor the Fed provide any substance to the now recurrent refrain that the government is “running out of money”. The mainstream debate chooses to focus on the “financial” aspects of these projected changes arguing that they will imply rising budget deficits which they define as being unsustainable. The “budget costs or outlays” are financial not real constructs. The relevant issue relates to real resource availability in the future or inflation, NOT national “insolvency”.

more: http://growth.newamerica.net/publications/policy/readying_a_plan_b_for_economic_recovery

Plan B for Obama

* By Thomas Palley,
* New America Foundation

September 6, 2010 |
* New America Foundation



Mr. President:

With hopes of a V- or U-shaped recovery fading, there is the increasing prospect of an L-shaped future of long stagnation, or even a W-shaped future in which W stands for something worse. The reason for this dismal outlook is economic policy is trapped by failed conventional thinking that can only deliver wage stagnation and prolonged mass unemployment.

Your administration’s current economic recovery program has been marked by four major failings:

1. Inadequate fiscal stimulus.

2. Failure to cauterize the housing market.

3. Failure to cauterize the trade deficit.

4. Failure to restore the link between wage and productivity growth.

If your policy team remedies these four failings our economy will quickly begin robust recovery. However, the longer you wait, the greater the challenge because recession creates new facts in the form of bankruptcies, foreclosures, destroyed credit histories, job losses, and factory closures.

more: http://growth.newamerica.net/publications/policy/plan_b_for_obama

[chervilant]

21. hmm...

I would add to Palley's list:

5. The longer this drags out, the more our unemployed citizens will become suicidal or angrily reactionary.

I know whereof I speak, since I've been unemployed or underemployed for almost two years. Some days I'm so despondent I can barely function...

I have lost the fillings in two of my teeth, so that I now have gaping holes in one molar and a bicuspid (oh, and one side of the bicuspid has sheared off). I live in fear that these teeth will become painful, and I'll have to find a way to get them pulled. I used to go to the dentist regularly...

I have an old back injury that causes debilitative pain if I move the wrong way or lift anything. The last doctor I saw about it said I need an MRI. That's over $1000 without health insurance. I used to power walk four miles a day...

I have tinnitus, carpal tunnel, arthritis in my right hip, and a host of other irritating discomforts. Thankfully, I have a big bottle of aspirin left over from the days when I was solvent...

I am one of millions of US citizens facing homelessness--or dependence on family members (who can ill afford another mouth to feed).

I am astonished that Mr. Obama has done so little in response to this crisis. I am ashamed of him, and the hedonistic politicians and corporatists who have not a bit of compassion for those of us who are suffering.

Although I've continued my internet service because I've been selling stuff on eBay, I'll not be able to afford this much longer. Soon, I'll be forgotten, just like millions of others. History (if our species survives this) will remember us as a collective, not unkindly. Obama and the wealthy elite...not so much.

[fasttense]

26. Good point.

I wonder how many tea-baggers would be out there if the economy were doing fine? Probably fewer than they already have.

[amandabeech]

34. A lot of bad stuff wouldn't be going on if people were employed,

thought that they would stay employed, had health insurance that they could afford to lose,.and thought that their kids would do the same.

People would be out socializing with their family and friends and smiling a lot more.

Even if they couldn't indulge in as much capitalist therapy as before (ie. shopping), they'd still feel better.

If you are healthy and financially safe, you can still hang out with your buds, go for a walk, throw a group bar-b-cue, spend time doing your hobbies, and generally return to a normal life.

Now, you have to put all your effort into getting and keeping a job, trying to figure out your housing situation and for some, keeping food in your tummy.

I'm watching Face the Nation. The Big Dog was on TV moaning about the mortgage crisis and the problems in finance. He made a passing reference to small business financing as the road to job creation. He doesn't look well at all and he just seems completely out of touch.

[chervilant]

36. Thank you

for clarifying how a 'fix' would work in actuality. I think Big Dog and his ilk are forced to 'see' the crass injustice of radical income inequity, now that our economy is deep in the crapper--and, I can hope they are seeing how their personal amassing of wealth perpetuates that inequity and relegates the vast majority of us to an angst-driven hand-to-mouth survival in these trying economic times.

[amandabeech]

38. The Big Dog is far from seeing the injustice or the remedy.

He hasn't changed and he won't until something in his life forces him to, and his near death experience doesn't seem to have been it.

I'm not holding out a lot of hope right about now for those in power.

[chervilant]

39. Goodness,

I did not mean to imply he has changed. I meant that the corporatists and their ilk (eg. Big Dog--because, despite his wealth, Big Dog isn't even CLOSE to uber wealth) are being FORCED to see what radical income inequity is doing to this planet. Our nation is beginning to experience what significant percentages of people in Africa, Asia and South America have been experiencing for the past fifty years.

Now, whether or not these corporatists, et. al, will change, well, that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish. The kind of change necessary would mandate that the uber wealthy could no longer inflict radical income inequity on the rest of the planet. And, what despot do you know who's willing to cede that kind of power (and wealth)?

I am not hopeful either, particularly since so many of the hoi polloi are eagerly snarfing the partisan red herrings, and clinging greedily to the corporatists' wealth carrot meme. As Walt Kelly sagely observed, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

[jannyk]

11. I have 300 new Heroes!!! nt

[Sherman A1]

12. A simple fix would be Social Security

lower the retirement age to 55 with full retirement at 62. This opens up jobs for laid off workers, would increase spending in some industries that relate to vacations and recreation and alike. It would require some additional government spending, but that is going to have to happen anyway I believe, it's just a matter of how it occurs.

[chill_wind]

14. That's one of Galbraith's recommendations, too

in his "Thoughts on a Plan B" (linked above):

"4. Let people retire! Full employment is the right goal but job losses have been so severe that practically we are not going to get there by any known measures. So we need to choose who gets the first crack. The right thing is to allow older workers who wish to exit the labor force to do so, opening jobs for younger people. Enact a three-year window during which workers aged 62 and older could retire on full Social Security. Enact Medicare at 55, allowing workers with health problems but sufficient resources otherwise to escape into a comfortable retirement."

[Sherman A1]

17. I would like to see such a program

linked to a community service effort. So that those that are able (not with severe medical issues) and retire through something such as you describe participate in a community service plan for the period of the "early retirement".

Things that come to mind just off the top of my head are
Museum Docents
Animal Shelters
Meals on Wheels programs
Library Assistants
Parks Departments Activity Programs
OASIS Programs
and alike

I would think this would be a great boon to the local communities, open up jobs and offer some fulfilling options for the newly retired.

Anyway just my thoughts.

[chill_wind]

18. I like them.

Too bad there isn't a Citizens' Commission to restore fiscal sanity instead of the present Simpsons.

[Fire1]

27. People at 62 can't afford to retire! Full SS benefits are just

not enough, especially if they've got a mortgage.

[Hawkowl]

28. Perfect idea

Because if you are 55 and laid off, it is probably permanent, and companies have been deliberately targetting older workers for years because they cost more. It would indeed also allow younger workers access to jobs. At the very least those 55 and older should be allowed into medicare which would reduce costs to businesses, insurers and the rest of the risk pool.

[Recursion]

13. Madness? THIS! IS! KEYNESIANISM!

[Uncle Joe]

16. That's exactly what I was thinking after reading jannyk's post 11.

:D :thumbsup:

[JohnWxy]

15. RECOMMENDED. As Jon Stewart said last night on his show: "It's time to resore sanity" ..and reason!

The most effective policy to address the deficit is to do whatever it takes now (stimulus spending to get more people working) to stimulate economic activity by getting money in the hands of the greatest number of people. This is needed to as rapidly as possible get out of the REPUBLICAN DYSTOPIA we are in and get job growth going again. The best weapon against the Republican Debt Monster is economic growth achieved as quickly as possible.

recommended!

[Douglas Carpenter]

19. kick and recommend!!

[chervilant]

20. Are we waking up?

I've been a closet economic anthropologist since my days at University. I assert that we humans are our own worst enemy, because we blithely and greedily engage in economic behaviors without examining the import or the impact of such behaviors. Our economic behaviors have become more important and more influential than ALL of our other behaviors, comprising the framework within which we do all things political or spiritual. Please note that I mean WE as in our entire species.

Humans are now a systems-stressing economic resource, yet we seem incapable of seeing the forest for the trees. All other economic resources are being taxed beyond the system's capacity, yet we sustain a rhetoric that smacks of the blame and shame game--warring with one another, blaming others without examining our own roles--when we should be seeking ways to fix the problem.

A great philosopher once predicted that capitalism would eventually collapse, and that economic behavior would evolve into a more egalitarian, cooperative means of production. Capitalists, politicians, and others with a vested interest in maintaining an oppressive status quo promoted a pejorative meme that taints this great man's scholarship to this very day. We should take note of the enormous energy expended to denigrate this man's collected works.

We too can attack Karl Marx on the strength of his detractors' red herring meme, or we can emulate his courageous endeavor to examine human economic behavior as it exists today and envision the changes that MUST occur if we are to progress as a species. Do we have to throw out the baby (capitalism) with the bath water (Corporate Megalomaniacs)? Is communism the inevitable alternative to capitalism, and would that really be a bad thing? Can we continue to subsume our spiritual selves in servitude to the almighty dollar?

Change is often a big scary barrier to personal growth, isn't it?

Still, as another great philosopher said, "We MUST be the change we wish to see in the world."

So, this starts with me. My awareness of the core issues described herein above shapes and informs my activism every day. I refuse to buy into the divisiveness that the Corporate Megalomaniacs promote to keep us from examining these real issues, and that includes divisiveness predicated by education, status, or any other hierarchical measure. We The People are on the verge of a major change--perhaps cataclysmic--and we have the intellectual capacity and the spiritual framework within which to propel ourselves into an amazing future.

FURTHERMORE, to those who vilify, parody, ridicule, or otherwise denigrate the unfortunates among us who are factually challenged, please bear in mind that at least 40% of our adult population is functionally illiterate. Of those who can 'read,' another 60% cannot comprehend what they've read, nor can they give a defensible synopsis of the material they've read. Many of these unfortunates cling tenaciously to their world views, because fear--and the other visceral emotions that drive them--is a great motivator. Furthermore, any measurable self esteem in these pitiful individuals is often a thin veneer over a seething cauldron of insecurity and doubt.

The Corporate Megalomaniacs know this and use it well, both through their propaganda tools (the MSM, lobbyists, and paid political hacks) and through their skilled sustenance of the 'wealth carrot meme.' Moreover, the Corporatists continue to divide and conquer, regularly promulgating their partisan red herrings (which quite a number of us snarf regularly--regardless of party affiliation).

That old chestnut, "Ignorance is Bliss" carries new meaning for me. Perhaps, "controlled ignorance is bliss" might be a better way to look at it. I beg the non-ignorant among us to focus your energy and your analytical skills on ways we can help the unfortunates among us (variously labeled Teh Stoopid, teabaggers, right-wingers, DINOs and blue-dogs) to understand who is the real threat to their financial and social well-being.

Oh, and--at the risk of getting more backlash from some for whom this post resonates--our networking efforts need to intensify. Our efforts to work together to effect change MUST focus on stopping the exponential success of the Corporate Megalomaniacs, or we'll find ourselves hiding behind closed doors, avoiding any mention of a world view that challenges the controlling uber wealthy elite. Actually, how many of us are already there?

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

(These 300 economists are not the only ones who see the writing on the wall...)

[Snarkoleptic]

22. Republiclowns feign concern that we don't have enough gas to drive out of the ditch...

while they openly discuss using the gas money (and maxed out credit card) to order caviar.

Mebbe it's time to move to Canada...

[Tutankhamun]

23. The problem isn't that he doesn't know this. It's that he's being

pressured to govern as a conservative/corporatist. Obama doesn't like conflict or confrontation. He would have a big fight brewing with his corporate DLC inner circle (Emanuel, Geithner, etc.) if he undertook anything resembling a liberal domestic agenda -- the kind that favors average people over corporations and the uber wealthy. The kind that would create jobs, make health care affordable and reliable, return our manufacturing base and raise our atrophied standard of living.

Even so, if the left can make enough noise pressuring him, confronting him at every turn, he would govern responsibly. If Obama thought the best way to avoid confrontation was to give in to the demands of an aggressive, demanding progressive base, he would do so. It will take enormous pressure -- enough to drown out the RW media/Faux/M$M noise machine (and their teabagger dupes).

This is a tall order, but not impossible. We ended slavery, Vietnam, the civil rights movement succeeded. Ironically, Obama's election was a similarly large undertaking and an ostensibly huge and improbable victory for progressivism.

And that is what makes that progressive "victory" so immensely disheartening -- progressives fought, clawed and scratched, building an enormous base that was energized and invigorated, ready to usher in a long overdue progressive new era in American politics. People who cared little about and knew nearly nothing of politics suddenly became involved and aware.

Now, sadly, that once fresh new base feels betrayed and disillusioned. These are the people we need to bring back into the fold, but it won't be easy. They've been burned before.

[The Wizard]

25. The people who have the President's ear

are DLC (Republicans disguised as Democrats) and there isn't much we can do but bitch on places like Democratic Underground. If the corporate shysters get their way, and they usually do, the last remnant of democratic principles, net neutrality, will go down the shitter with democracy.
"Say goodbye to America, and say hello to the world."
(Tim Buckley, "Goodbye and Hello")

[PurityOfEssence]

30. Once again, HE is the problem, too

The argument that he's princely in his ways, yet befouled by creepy corporatist operatives really doesn't hold any water after any real observation. Even if true, it makes him little more than a vacillating waffler of a figurehead who's being controlled by others. I credit him with much more character and strength than that, and this leaves one with the unmistakable conclusion that HE IS AT LEAST A BIG PART OF THE PROBLEM HIMSELF.

Personally, I think he's far too concerned with how he comes off to critics and far too Clintonian in his baffling need to be loved by all.

Sorry to be shrill, but the apologists have been there since early on in the primary race, dispelling any irritating accommodation or enabling of the powers-that-be with sops of "it's just his bad advisers" and other flimsy excuses.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I think he actually believes the need to allow unfettered power-mongering by the very few, but that doesn't dismiss the culpability. The studied silence and evasiveness about things like the whole health care embarrassment is hard to swallow, yet the true believers have truckloads of excuses at every turn.

It is impressive how he has inculcated the feeling in so very many that we deeply owe him something and that we must all fling ourselves into the fire to save his beatific being; his legislative and political record is simply not impressive when viewed through the prism of the common good. He's the ultimate inside straight, and somehow we are constantly harassed into not only betting the farm on him, but to shut the hell up and not even make suggestions.

This isn't meant to be an attack on you; it's just frustration at a tiresome and accepted "truth" that he's all for us and anything bad is from others. He's the man. He's the boss. It's his administration, and with all of the benefits of the doubts he's been given, it's his responsibility.

Hell, the world gave this man a Nobel Peace Prize on the strength of nothing more than vague suggestions of possible neighborliness, and that says a lot.

[chill_wind]

40. "He's the man. He's the boss. It's his administration,

and with all of the benefits of the doubts he's been given, it's his responsibility."

Perfect and to the point. Great post. Thank you.

[truedelphi]

31. + My household. n/t

[Hawkowl]

29. +1

[Hell Hath No Fury]

37. OBAMA brought onboard Rubin --

Summers, Geitner, Rahm -- the whole lousy lot who helped get us in this mess. He made that choice.

The one person on his team who agreed with these economists left because she was completely ignored by him and marginalized.

It begind and ends with Obama. This is HIS fuck-up.

[The Wizard]

24. As usual

the Republicans have it backwards again. Their trickle down principle is a proven loser designed to keep a permanent underclass in place to ensure the wealthy continue to fill GOP Swiss bank accounts.

[Jefferson23]

32. Excellent!!! K&R n/t

[scentopine]

33. Kick and list of endorsers

From
http://dontkilljobs.org/

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.

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

[KoKo]

41. That's an Impressive List of People and Organizations who are sending that Statement

and these are people from universities and Colleges and Organizations all over the Country... This is Mainstream America speaking. Let's hope he listens. I think he's in a Harvard/Chicago/Beltway/Wall St. Business BUBBLE!

If he's the fairminded President that I voted for, then hopefully he will listen to these people.

In his Business Forum Today on CNBC he said: "I am open to ANY IDEAS on how to get this Economy back on track." However he repeated that "all is on the table for cutting" to reduce the deficit. Even SS, Medicare and Medicade which he claimed is 75% of our budget. He also repeated everything is on the table to reduce the deficit "except cuts to defense spending."

This is an impressive list of economists and organizations who are telling him to focus not on Deficit but on Stimulous.

[emilyg]

35. k/r