- Outlining a fiscal plan that walks and chews gum: eat first, then we talk — or, more technically, current law, but alongside a 2013 stimulus package.
- Considering poverty rates and market failure: we’re stuck with high poverty rates due to a market failure policymakers won’t address, and the official rates miss some important information on how the safety net has helped partially offset hardship for poor families.
- Thinking about the tragedy in Aurora: you don’t have to get wound up in constitutional debates or social justice or even common sense to make the case for some action here — you just have to believe that there is a role for public policy to insure the safety of its citizens.
- Analyzing a smart renters’ credit plan from CBPP colleagues: the American Dream supports homeownership, and our housing policies subsidize the dream — a new tax credit for renters could add some balance.
- Confirming that Medicaid coverage has a positive impact: But really, how big a surprise is this? If you’re poor in America, even with a job, your access to health care is, absent Medicaid, severely constrained.
- Offering a bit of background on the New York Times’ new series on middle class decline: focusing on the importance of full employment.
- Examining the GDP report: a first look at the second quarter numbers, and analyzing the relationship between GDP growth and unemployment.
- Assigning some timely weekend reading: a historical review by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on the role that government has played in key areas of our economy and society.
- Emphasizing what’s so great about SNAP: it’s strongly countercyclical, highly effective against poverty, and has strong multiplier effects.
Music: Chick Corea and Taylor Swift on this week’s Friday Musical Interlude.
Bonus: Highlighting a profile of John Arensmeyer, the founder of the Small Business Majority, an important alternative to the NFIB: I’m glad to see a group on the scene who really represents the interests of small business.