Daily digest – The Great American Gloom
What you need to know to navigate today’s most critical debates.
The silence of the elites (WaPo)
Katrina vanden Heuvel writes that as the economy continues to implode, policymakers seem content to either sit on their hands and see what happens or actively make things worse.
Occupy Protesters’ One Demand: A New New Deal—Well, Maybe (MoJo)
What does OWS want? A new public jobs program like the WPA! Or a commitment to urban farming! They’re still working out the details, but the protest is young.
From OWS to OSCOTUS (Slate)
Dahlia Lithwick notes that the Citizens United ruling is a natural target for Occupy Wall Street’s anger, but why stop there? The Roberts Court’s track record offers plenty for everyone to hate unless they work for a Fortune 500 company.
GOP: ‘Deregulate Wall Street!’ (WaPo)
In the first Republican presidential primary since the financial crisis, the emerging consensus is that we should pretend not only that the crisis never happened, but that the Enron scandal didn’t either. Also, the Great Depression? Not so great.
Gloom Grips Consumers, and It May Be Home Prices (NYT)
The economy is still buried under the rubble of the housing market, and many Americans who saw their personal wealth vanish in the collapse have lost faith that there are better days ahead.
Romney’s Foreclosure Plan: Faster Foreclosures (FDL)
Luckily, the Republican front-runner has an answer to all that doom and gloom: forget “the law” or “fraud” or whatever it is that liberals complain about and start throwing more people out on the street so we can rent their property.
9-9-9: The Most Massively Regressive Redistribution of Taxes Ever Seriously Considered (On the Economy)
Under Herman Cain’s revolutionary plan, instead of having to fill out complicated tax forms every April 15, America’s millionaires will simply receive a coupon for free pizza and a note that reads “Do u like me? Check yes or no. -Herm”
There is no sunlit future for the euro (FT)
Martin Wolf writes that Europe’s leaders are still treating the symptoms rather than the disease, and the only prescription they’ve come up with is to throw more money around and hope the banks sort themselves out.
Bernanke says Fed should keep a sharper eye on financial bubbles (WaPo)
The Fed chairman says central bankers may want to worry a little bit less about preserving the value of the dollar and a little bit more about making sure the rest of the economy isn’t burning to the ground. Just throwing ideas out there.
Richard Fisher Wants To Make You Poor (Think Progress)
The president of the Dallas Federal Reserve thinks it’s better if the economy is weaker so that politicians are forced to make tougher choices. Don’t think of it as a devastating recession; look at it as a fun learning experience!
Short URL: http://aworldofprogress.com/readingroom/?p=1249
Posted by New Deal 2.0
on Oct 19 2011. Filed under New Deal 2.0, the reading room.
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