Debt Relief for Whom? Part II

Christopher Leonard explains how Federal Reserve bailouts “went to large corporations that used borrowed money to buy out their competitors; it went to the very richest of Americans who owned the majority of assets; it went to the riskiest of financial speculators on Wall Street, who use borrowed money to build fragile positions in global markets;and it went to the very largest of U.S. banks, whose bigness and inability to fail was now an article of faith.” . . . → Read More: Debt Relief for Whom? Part II

Debt Relief for Whom? Part I

The student debt burden has grown from about $481 billion in 2006 to $1,476 billion in 2022. Just wiping it all out would be unfair, because more than half is owed to relatively-high income professionals. Richard Vague proposes that the federal government should expand an existing program, to allow such students “work off” their debt in public service such as providing health care in under-served areas. READ MORE about Vague’s Debt Jubilee proposals for student debt, medical debt, mortgages that exceed home values, bankruptcy reform, and more on Dollars & Sense. . . . → Read More: Debt Relief for Whom? Part I

How to (Really) End This Depression: a Response to Paul Krugman

In the May 24 New York Review of Books, Paul Krugman writes, “The truth is that recovery would be almost ridiculously easy to achieve; all we need is to reverse the austerity policies of the past couple of years and temporarily boost spending.” He continues, “… The strong measures that would all go a long . . . → Read More: How to (Really) End This Depression: a Response to Paul Krugman

Deficit Hawk, Progressive Style, Part II

As I wrote in Part I, the deficit hawks legitimately claim that huge deficits will hinder investment and kill jobs. But their solutions would make matters worse. What are those solutions? What are alternatives? A leading hawk, C. Fred Bergsten of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, proposes three control measures: containing Medicare and Medicaid . . . → Read More: Deficit Hawk, Progressive Style, Part II

Deficit Hawk, Progressive Style, Part I

Deficit hawks are justifiably concerned about ballooning national debt. But their solution–cutting social spending–would make matters worse. . . . → Read More: Deficit Hawk, Progressive Style, Part I