Co-Host on Ebru TV's Fresh Outlook: Rolling Jubilee, Obamacare, the Fiscal Cliff and European Austerity

Recently, Ebru TV gave me the opportunity to co-host their one-hour weekly politics and economics show. We discussed the Occupy Movement's Rolling Jubilee, Europe's Austerity, the U.S.'s Fiscal Cliff, and Obamacare. I hope to serve as co-host in the near future.

“Fresh Outlook,” Co-host, Ebru TV, (11/17/12),

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxttrvVM8QI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCf102a_DRk 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXfRAB_sYBA 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cNFC80IR1Q 

 

Meet ALICE, NJs 1.1 Million Vulnerable Households

I introduce viewers to NJ's 1.1 million households who are A.L.I.C.E (Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed). I discuss the causes and consequences of having one-third of your state's residents vulnerable to economic shocks and natural disasters.

"A.L.I.C.E." (11/23/12),
http://ebrutoday.com/topics/finance/956-a-l-i-c-e.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3UGB2ig4YI.

Recent Thoughts on the Job Market and Fiscal Cliff

The 6 point drop in December's Consumer Confidence should cause Congress and the Administration to re-dedicate themselves to forging a short-term compromise.

Here are three pieces where I describe the impacts on Main Street if we don't get to "YES".

Would Fiscal Cliff Stall Job Growth? (12/27/12)
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2059100488001/would-fiscal-cliff-stall-job-growth/?playlist_id=937116503001.

“America’s Fiscal Cliff,” Ebru Today, (11/14/12),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bt81MTqZyI&feature=g-all-u.

“Hiring Rally Ahead?” Fox Business News, (11/8/2012), http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1956162854001/hiring-rally-ahead/.

What’s at Stake Tomorrow? An Economist’s Perspective

Tomorrow your vote will determine whether we continue a thirty-year trend toward an “à la carte society.”

What is an à la carte society? It is a society where goods are priced, ordered, and purchased separately. Participation in an à la carte society is based on having the income, and for some items the wealth to purchase what you want. Of course, as a Ph.D. carrying economist, I believe that people should be able to purchase the type and amount of goods that they need and want.

My concern is that the goods which encompass the building blocks of life, such as access to basic education, quality health, and child care and soon, elder care, and a safe neighborhood are increasingly being priced and provided separately in the market place.

The decoupling of health insurance from one’s place of employment is well documented. Increased residential segregation based on race, ethnicity and class has reduced access to quality schools and safe neighborhoods. Republicans are proposing to remove the guarantee of Medicare and replace it with a voucher, and privatize Social Security. During the first Presidential debate, Governor Romney said that he will reduce funding to PBS, a long-time leader in providing early childhood education and truly “balanced and thoughtful” news.

Many low-income families and an increasing number of middle-income families don’t have the income and wealth to privately purchase these basic needs.

When and how did the à la carte society emerge? It emerged in the 1980s when we allowed policy makers to roll back worker protection laws, deregulate the economy, and privatize public goods that historically had provided Americans with a basic set of protections.

These policy shifts coincided with two investment slowdowns (the 1980s and 2000-2007) in the building blocks of life or what the United Nations call human priorities: public investments in education and training, social safety nets, income maintenance programs, community centers and parks.

The problem with placing more human priority investments on the à la carte portion of the menu is that we will not be equipping people with the tools to compete. The two surges in income equality that resulted during these periods are well documented.

The “Great Recession”, the weak jobs recovery, our past choices to slow human priority investments, and the potential to trend further toward an à la carte society has sown the seeds for a new surge in income inequality.

Today, over 40 percent of unemployment spells remain long-term. Over 8 million Americans work part-time, but want full-time employment. Another 2 million have stopped searching but would take a job if one was offered.

If these seeds of inequality germinate, it will mean on November 6th, we chose to trend further toward an à la carte society. It will mean that we chose to structurally disconnect the underemployed and long-term unemployed from the economy. It will mean that in the future, we have to invest even more resources to reconnect them.

What’s an American to do? Vote. Why?

The policies being offered provide very different visions for America. Both will generate economic growth, but have very different approaches on how to create “broad-based prosperity.” The Republican’s vision wants more of the building blocks to economic security to be à la carte, while the Democrat’s vision wants them to be widely available.

We must stop kicking the can down the road on health and retirement security. By delaying reform, we are losing the flexibility that would allow changes that have smaller adjustment costs for current and future generations. Stalling will raise the likelihood that these guarantees become à la carte options.

President Obama needs a mandate to break Washington’s partisan budget logjam. In 2008, many thought that just electing Obama would bring change. Democrats forgot about the “blue dogs”. They forgot about the number of Democrats in competitive districts. Further, Senate Democrats did not have a filibuster proof majority. Continued stalemate will slow economic growth.

Finally, former Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill coined the phrase that “all politics is local.” Today, “all economics is local.” The “downstream” impacts of efforts to place more human priority investments on the à la carte portion of the menu will be greater as you move down the ballot from the presidential election to your local town council and school board elections.

Make sure that you and your friends are engaged at all levels of the ballot. Vote.

The August Jobs Report: Are we better off than 4 years ago? 1 year ago?

Here are links to my commentary on last Friday's jobs report. Is the
US economy better off than four years ago? Than 1 year ago?

New York Times - Conversation with Catherine Rampell
http://www.nytimes.com/video/playlist/business/1194811622255/index.html#100000001766564

EBRU TV - Conversation with Bryan Jenkins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad2X14ppoaY&feature=plcp

Getting to "Yes", Living United, and helping the Long-Term Unemployed

Even though I don't post frequently (I only post when I have something significant to say), I have been active. Here are several links to three recent conversations that I have been apart:

A Newark Star-Ledger Op-Ed that I wrote the urgency for Congress to foster broad-based prosperity.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2012/08/the_urgency_for_congress_to_fo.html

A United Way Worldwide blog posting on why we must "Live United". http://www.unitedway.org/blog/

An amazing conversation on the challenges that the long-term unemployed face.
http://www.knpr.org/son/archive/detail2.cfm?SegmentID=9132&ProgramID=2566