Obama's Stimulus Finally Gets Some Respect

But problem may be too big to fix

(NEWSER) - As he announced the appointment of Alan Krueger yesterday, President Obama promised a speech outlining his new jobs agenda next week—but behind the scenes, Obama and company haven’t actually agreed on that agenda yet, the Washington Post reports. The president is considering a number of options, including a tax credit for companies hiring new workers, an infrastructure bank, clean-energy tax cuts, and revamping the unemployment system so that it pays companies to hire out-of-work people. More»

African-Americans, Hispanics pummeled by recession

(NEWSER) - With unemployment at 14.7% among African Americans and 12.2% among Hispanics, the recession is hitting minority communities particularly hard. But as is often the case with so-called “colorblind” spending, stimulus funds, intended to be equal-opportunity, aren’t making it to these groups. The government must “start targeting recovery efforts toward communities that the recession itself is already targeting,” writes Angela Glover Blackwell in Salon. More»

Jobs report offers scary echoes of 1930s stagnation

(NEWSER) - Yesterday's grim jobs report is the clearest sign yet that the US desperately needs another fiscal stimulus, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times. This is 1930s redux: a Democratic president has pushed through an insufficient program, while strapped state governments cancel out federal spending with their own budget cuts. If President Obama doesn't act, he'll be facing his "personal 1937." More»

Obama's economic policy is falling behind the curve

(NEWSER) - Pundits are constantly complaining that Barack Obama’s stimulus is too big and too ambitious, but Paul Krugman has a different complaint: It’s too small. Obama’s promise that the bill will create or save 3.5 million jobs by 2010 “looks underwhelming to say the least,” given that the economy is already down 4.4 million jobs, and losing another 600,000 by the month. More»

(AP) - President Barack Obama promised today to end the cycle of US job losses. Addressing a graduating class of police officers in Ohio, Obama called today’s unemployment report “astounding,” noting that, were it not for his stimulus package, the recruits would be among the 8.1% of Americans out of work. “That is not a future I accept for the United States of America,” Obama said. More»