Larry Summers, Obama's Top Economic Adviser, Makes The Case For Another Round Of Stimulus Spending

Larry Summers, Obama's Top Economic Adviser, Makes The Case For Another Round Of Stimulus Spending

Huffington Post | Ryan McCarthy First Posted: 05-25-10 01:20 PM | Updated: 05-25-10 01:24 PM

In a speech yesterday at Johns Hopkins University, Larry Summers, President Obama's top economic adviser, made the case for increased spending to stimulate the economy, arguing that paying down the U.S. deficit in the near term could pose serious economic risks.

At the Atlantic, Derek Thompson quipped that the Obama administration was finally explaining Keynesian economics, and suggested that Summers's speech was part of a larger strategy to reassure those concerned by the $1.5 trillion budget deficit. The Financial Times calls Summers's pitch a case for a "mini-stimulus."

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Posted by Chuck Bell at 3:40 AM    

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House Passes Watered-Down Jobs Bill

AFL-CIO NOW BLOG:

House Passes Watered-Down Jobs Bill, Too Late to Help Jobless

by Tula Connell, May 28, 2010

By 215-204, the U.S. House today passed a watered-down version of H.R. 4213, “The Promoting American Jobs, Closing Tax Loopholes and Preventing Outsourcing Act of 2010.” The bill extends unemployment insurance (UI) for six months. But the Senate, now on vacation, will not even consider the bill until the week of June 7, a week after UI expires for millions of jobless workers.

The bill that passed today did not include the COBRA extension or Medicaid assistance to the states. It does include $23 billion in funding to put off 21 percent cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors for 19 months and ensures that Medicare beneficiaries have access to quality and affordable medical care. It also includes subsidies for local infrastructure projects by extending the Build America Bonds program and funds for summer job creation.

Earlier this week, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told members of Congress, “If you’re not for this bill, you’re not for jobs.” Today, Trumka says: "We are profoundly disappointed and angry with representatives in Congress—Democrats as well as Republicans—who refused to support health care for the unemployed and job-saving critical aid to cash-strapped states in the original version of H.R. 4213. Working family voters will not forget who sided with them and who did not. "

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Posted by Chuck Bell at 3:27 AM    

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AUDIT THE FEDERAL RESERVE!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2010

CONTACT: Mary Bottari at (608) 260-9713 or mary [at] prwatch.org

AUDIT THE FEDERAL RESERVE!
SEND A MESSAGE TO YOUR SENATOR AT WWW.BANKSTERUSA.ORG

This week, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and a tripartisan list of colleagues introduced an amendment to the financial reform bill being debated in the Congress to audit the Federal Reserve.

According to the Center for Media and Democracy's recent accounting of the bailout, cited on CNN, Bill Moyers and MSNBC, $4.7 trillion was disbursed to prop up the financial system and $2 trillion of that is still outstanding, mostly in the form of loans from the Federal Reserve. (See Total Wall Street Bailout Cost table). While the Treasury Department is posting TARP bailout recipients and amounts on their web page (approximately 10% of the bailout total), the Federal Reserve is still refusing to tell us the details about where Fed money went and what U.S. taxpayers received in collateral.

This is why taxpayers deserve a full, and public audit of the secretive Federal Reserve. Even after two federal court decisions ruling that the Fed needs to make public key information on their emergency lending programs, the Fed has failed to comply and is fighting to keep its books in the dark.

The Senate financial reform bill does provide for an audit of the Federal Reserve, but the audit provisions PROHIBIT the GAO from making public key pieces of information for extended periods of time. The bill would turn this information over to Congressional committees, but not the public.

That is why Senator Sanders is rallying the troops behind a much stronger amendment that parallels the Ron Paul-Alan Grayson audit language from the House financial reform bill. Now if Senate leaders would only put the amendment to a vote, we might find out where this money is going and if the taxpayers are getting a raw deal.

EMAIL YOUR SENATOR AT WWW.BANKSTERUSA.ORG AND TELL THEM TO AUDIT THE FED!

Posted by Chuck Bell at 9:19 AM    

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