Historians who look back to our time will surely conclude that our problem was not that we didn’t know where we were headed, it was that we didn’t act on what we knew. Before the financial crash of 2008-2009 and…
Paul Ryan’s Wink
by jeff.faux •
Many Democrats turned away from the Republican convention both incredulous and optimistic. As one put it: “How do these guys think they can win with a such an out-of-touch hard right platform?” The answer is, they don’t. History tells us…
Servant Economy: Interview with Diane Rehm, NPR
by jeff.faux •
MS. DIANE REHM Thanks for joining us. I’m Diane Rehm. The middle class, as we have known it, is on the way out. That’s according to Jeff Faux, founding president at the Economic Policy Institute. In the new book, he…
Servant Economy: Interview at AFL-CIO
by jeff.faux •
Jeff Faux, Distinguished Fellow at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), joined us here today at the AFL-CIO to discuss his new book, The Servant Economy: Where America’s Elite is Sending the Middle Class. The event launches the AFL-CIO summer book series, which includes discussions with noted economists who will…
The Elites Are Unanimous: Lower Everyone’s Wages and Standard of Living
by jeff.faux •
Calls for a bipartisan “Grand Bargain” on taxes and spending for the next decade ring out daily, if not hourly, from the politicians and pundits who dominate our political media. But the national discourse is silent on the tacit agreement…
The Hunger Games Economy
by jeff.faux •
In the eyes of most of the world and in our own, to be an American is to be an optimist—entrepreneurial, positive-thinking, and future-oriented. It is not surprising, then, that our politics has not come to grips with the question…
A Tough Choice For Mexico
by jeff.faux •
It may barely make a blip on our political radar screen, but on July 1 Mexico is slated to elect a new president for the next six years. Plagued by out-of control violence and chronic poverty, the country is in…
Grasping At Chinese Straws
by jeff.faux •
The Commerce Department released another depressing report on the U.S. trade deficit this morning, our monthly reminder of the huge gap between globalization’s economic reality and American economic policymaking. In March, we bought about $52 billion (28 percent) more from the rest…
The Myth Of The Level Playing Field
by jeff.faux •
“Our workers are the most productive on Earth, and if the playing field is level, I promise you: America will always win.” —Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, January 24, 2012 The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the latest act…
A Cheaper Dollar Is Not Enough
by jeff.faux •
My colleague Josh Bivens is right to call Christina Romer on her failure to note the importance of currency manipulation on the plight of U.S. manufacturing. But, he leaves us with the impression that the story ends there, and that a…