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Robert Reich

Photo by P. Flaherty

Robert B. Reich, one of the nation’s leading experts on work and the economy, is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton.

Time Magazine has named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including his latest best-seller, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future; The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism which has been translated into 22 languages; and his newest, an e-book, Beyond Outrage. His syndicated columns, television appearances, and public radio commentaries reach millions of people each week. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and Chairman of the citizen’s group Common Cause. His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org.

Robert Reich: Pyromaniacs on the Potomac

May 2013

The problem with Obama’s second term.

Robert Reich: Working Mother’s Day

May 2013

In 1966, only 20 percent of mothers with young children worked outside the home. By the late 1990s, 60 percent did.

Robert Reich: The Hollowing Out of Government

May 2013

When Republicans can’t repeal laws they don’t like, they hollow them out, deny funds to fully implement them, and reduce funds to enforce them.

Robert Reich: A Story for May Day

May 2013

The Fed, Apple, and Trickle-Down Economics.

Robert Reich: Public Debt and Economic Growth

April 2013

Government should fuel growth by spending more—at least in the short run.

Robert Reich: The Xenophobe Party

April 2013

Can we just get a grip? Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a naturalized American citizen.

Robert Reich: Why This is the Worst Recovery on Record

April 2013

Wages keep dropping and government debt keeps growing. Simply arguing “more” won’t cut it.

Robert Reich: The Stealth Sequester

April 2013

Americans are starting to feel the pain. They just don’t know it yet.

Robert Reich: What Immigration Reform Could Mean for American Workers

April 2013

And why the AFL-CIO is embracing it.

Robert Reich: The Morality Brigade

March 2013

The right regulates the bedroom before the banks.

Robert Reich: Selling the Store

March 2013

Why Democrats shouldn’t put Social Security and Medicare on the table.

Robert Reich: Ryan the Redistributionist

March 2013

Paul Ryan’s budget proposal sends wealth straight to the top of the economic hierarchy.

Robert Reich: Why There’s a Bull Market for Stocks And Bear Market for Workers

March 2013

Investment in technology, unemployment, globalization, and the “Fed’s easy-money policies” all contribute to widening inequality.

Robert Reich: Sequestration Nation, and Remembering Robert Kennedy

March 2013

Politics today is still a fight for social justice.

Robert Reich: Why Obama Must Meet the Republican Lies Directly

February 2013

The sequester won’t hurt most Americans directly. Trickle-down and austerity economics, in the long run, will.

Robert Reich: The Minimum Wage, Guns, Healthcare, and the Meaning of a Decent Society

February 2013

The critical questions we face call for us to think about the kind of society we want to have.

Robert Reich: The Biggest Republican Lie

February 2013

Fixing unemployment, not reducing the deficit, should be first on our agenda.

Robert Reich: Why We Need an Investment Budget

February 2013

A budget that makes needed public investments is crucial to prosperous future.

Robert Reich: Coming Tuesday (Hopefully)—The State of the Union’s Economy

February 2013

Obama should focus on the predominant concerns of most Americans—joblessness, economic insecurity, and the fall of real wages.

Robert Reich: The Real Debate Over American Citizenship

February 2013

From voting rights to corporate personhood, the conversation is broader and more nuanced than we acknowledge.

Robert Reich: The Jobs Report, and Why the Recovery Has Stalled

February 2013

Without more customers—public or private—employers can’t hire.

Robert Reich: Why Consumers are Bummed Out

January 2013

Profits are high, wages are low, and the imbalance can’t last.

Robert Reich: The Non Zero-Sum Society

January 2013

America must unionize to combat rampant inequality.

Robert Reich: The GOP Crackup

January 2013

How Obama is unraveling Reagan Republicanism.

Robert Reich: The Neocons vs. Chuck Hagel

January 2013

The neocons hate Chuck Hagel. That’s a sign he’s qualified for the job.

Robert Reich: Debt Ceiling and Guns: Using Presidential Authority to the Fullest

January 2013

President Obama should take full advantage of his power to avoid the debt ceiling and curb gun violence.

Robert Reich: TARP is Over, But the Bailouts Will Continue Until the Big Banks are Broken Up—And Washington Knows It

January 2013

Now is the time to start breaking up the financial giants.

Robert Reich: The Hoax of Entitlement Reform

January 2013

Cutting entitlements ignores the real problems behind the deficit.

Robert Reich: The Ongoing War

January 2013

After the battle over the cliff, the battle over the debt ceiling.

Robert Reich: The Only Way Left to Beat Republican Fanatics

December 2012

We should call the Republicans’ bluff and and go over the fiscal cliff.

Robert Reich: The Billionaires’ Long Game

December 2012

America’s rich may have lost this round, but they’ll be back.

Robert Reich: The Inequality Battle in the Heartland

December 2012

The fiscal debate distracts from the power struggle underlying American politics.

Robert Reich: Today’s Job Numbers Show Why Job-Creation Must Take Precedence Over Deficit Reduction

December 2012

Yes, unemployment is down, but don’t believe all the hype coming out of Wall Street.

Robert Reich: Cliff Notes on the Three Real Perils Ahead

December 2012

Forget the fiscal cliff, there are three other, bigger dangers.

Robert Reich: Understanding the Fiscal Cliff

December 2012

Democrats, here are eight principles to guide you in the coming showdown over the fiscal cliff.

Robert Reich: Organizing McDonalds and Walmart, and Why Austerity Economics Hurts Low-Wage Workers the Most

December 2012

Low-income workers will face even harder times if deficit hawks have their way.

Robert Reich: Opening Positions on the Cliff Deal: Déjà Vu All Over Again

November 2012

The President lays out his plan for America’s fiscal future.

Robert Reich: Bungee-Jumping Over the Fiscal Cliff

November 2012

This fear-mongering won’t help anything. It’s time to jump.

Robert Reich: Why is the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers Helping the Republicans?

November 2012

Panic over a looming fiscal crisis plays directly into the Republicans’ hands.

Robert Reich: Why We Should Stop Obsessing About the Federal Budget Deficit

November 2012

Focusing on the federal deficit only distracts from creating growing economy.

Robert Reich: The Upcoming Mini-Deal on the “Fiscal Cliff”

November 2012

For those newly in office, the easiest route is that of least resistance.

Robert Reich: The President’s Opening Bid on a Grand Bargain (II): Put a Trigger Mechanism in the Legislation

November 2012

Robert Reich weighs in for strategies for getting the economy under control.

Robert Reich: The President’s Opening Bid on a Grand Bargain (III)

November 2012

The difference between “broadening the tax base” and raising taxes on the rich.

Robert Reich: The President’s Opening Bid on a Grand Bargain

November 2012

The administration should aim high when it begins its negotiations on deficit reduction.

Robert Reich: The Next Game of Economic Chicken

November 2012

The election hasn’t put an end to the wrangling over taxes and spending in Washington.

Robert Reich: Why John Boehner May Have More Leverage Over the Tea Partiers in Congess

November 2012

Tea Partiers may be more amendable to compromise now than ever before.

Robert Reich: Obama’s Next Economy: Why He Must Take This Opportunity to Reframe the Economic Debate

November 2012

With the fiscal cliff approaching, it’s time for Obama to make some big decisions. Here’s what he should do.

Robert Reich: We the People, and the New American Civil War

November 2012

Amidst an election that has us feeling like a divided nation, the challenge is to rediscover the public good.

Robert Reich: My Plane Out of NYC in Advance of Sandy, and Mitt Romney’s America

October 2012

Is a $4000 airline ticket a vision of Romney’s America?

Robert Reich: If You Succumb to Cynicism, the Regressives Win It All

October 2012

Dear progressives: You may think there’s not a huge difference between Obama and Romney. But there is, and you should still vote.

Robert Reich: Mitt Romney’s Question-Mark Economy

October 2012

Mitt Romney’s election campaign is rife with questions, and wholly uncertain answers.

Robert Reich: Romney the Detail Man?

October 2012

Why it’s decidedly ironic that the New York Times ran a story about Romney being a man of details.

Robert Reich: Obama is Back

October 2012

President Obama’s performance in Tuesday’s debate was a significant improvement.

Robert Reich: How January’s Fiscal Cliff Turns Into a Gentle Hill by February

October 2012

The so-called fiscal cliff might not turn out as dramatic as we imagine.

Memo to Joe, Re: Debate

October 2012

What Joe Biden needs to know before the vice presidential debate.

Robert Reich: The Politics of the Jobs Report

October 2012

Media headlines are crowing over the drop in the unemployment rate—but we need to look closer.

Robert Reich: Romney Wanted to “Harvest [Companies] at Significant Profit”

October 2012

No one should be surprised by this video of Romney talking about Bain’s business goals.

Robert Reich: Repackaging Mitt as a Compassionate Conservative? It’s Too Late

September 2012

No amount of packaging can change what we already know about Mitt Romney.

Robert Reich: The Two Major Views About Why Romney is Losing, and Why the Second is More Convincing

September 2012

For one, Americans are finally beginning to see how radical the GOP is becoming.

Robert Reich: Four Reasons Romney Might Still Win

September 2012

The election’s not over yet, and rumors of Romney’s demise are premature.

Robert Reich: The Wrong Way to Save Money on Healthcare

September 2012

Shifting healthcare costs to the workers is not the answer.

Robert Reich: Moody’s in a Mood

September 2012

After warning the U.S. about the deficit, rating agencies are now concerned that “fiscal cliff” cuts will be too steep.

Robert Reich: The Biggest Economic Challenge of Obama’s Second Term

September 2012

The debate on the campaign trail has focused on Obama’s past economic policies, but the real question is what will be done after January.

Robert Reich: The Jobs Report and the Election

September 2012

Obama’s speech was missing the one thing it needed most: an economic plan.

Robert Reich: The Real Importance of Bill Clinton’s Wonderfully Long Speech

September 2012

Clinton’s speech has given Americans just what they need: facts.

Robert Reich: The Most Important Political Week

September 2012

The most important news won’t be anything coming from the Democratic National Convention.

Robert Reich: It’s Inequality, Stupid

August 2012

Income inequality is one of the most pressing issues facing the country, but you wouldn’t know it from watching the RNC in Tampa.

Robert Reich: How Romney Keeps Lying Through His Big White Teeth

August 2012

How are patently false statements permissible in political ads?

Robert Reich: George W. Bush as Hurricane Isaac

August 2012

Hurricane Isaac may end up reminding voters of the legacy of George W. Bush.

Robert Reich: Romney’s Lying Machine

August 2012

Every campaign is guilty of exaggerations, but Romney’s lies are another thing altogether.

Robert Reich: The Fanatical GOP

August 2012

In its stance on everything from Medicaid to millionaires, the new Republican platform shows the growing extremism within the party.

Robert Reich: The Five Reasons Why the Ryan-Romney Economic Plan Would Be A Disaster for America

August 2012

Introducing the so-called bold, marvelous, and much-needed Ryan-Romney economic plan.

Robert Reich: Mitt’s 13-Percent Tax

August 2012

Romney’s alleged 13% tax rate violates the core principles of tax fairness and equal sacrifice.

Robert Reich: Whose Plan Destroys Medicare — Obama’s or Romney-Ryan’s?

August 2012

Mitt Romney has charged that the Affordable Care Act will make massive cuts in Medicare. Is he right?

Robert Reich: The Ryan Choice

August 2012

By selecting Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney has provided a stark contrast for voters.

Robert Reich: A Bold Proposal

August 2012

Robert Reich returns from vacation strongly in favor of vacations.

Robert Reich: The Terrible Economy and the Anti-Election of 2012

July 2012

Facing the worst economy in at least a generation, both presidential candidates are hamstrung by the machines that would elect them

Robert Reich: The Man Who Invented “Too Big to Fail” Recants

July 2012

Sanford Weill brought about banks that were too big to fail, but now he’s changed his tune.

Robert Reich: The Problem isn’t Outsourcing

July 2012

Outsourcing isn’t our problem, it’s that the needs of American businesses are disconnected from the needs of Americans.

Robert Reich: The Perfect Storm for Selling American Democracy

July 2012

Our democracy is for sale. And people are buying.

Robert Reich: The Truth About Obama’s Tax Proposal

July 2012

There’s the media portraying President Obama’s tax proposal, and then there’s the real thing.

Robert Reich: The Wall Street Scandal of All Scandals

July 2012

Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, here’s the insider-trading Libor scandal.

Robert Reich: How Not to Get Big Pharma to Change Its Ways

July 2012

It’s time to crack down on the advertising and marketing of pharmaceuticals.

Robert Reich: Patriotism

July 2012

There are two competing visions of patriotism in America today.

Robert Reich: Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age

July 2012

America’s multimillionaires are buying the 2012 election—and with it, American democracy, taking us back to the Gilded Age.

Robert Reich: Roberts’ Switch

June 2012

Why did Chief Justice Roberts choose to uphold the Affordable Care Act, alone amongst Republican appointees?

Robert Reich: Why the Supreme Court Will Uphold the Constitutionality of Obamacare

June 2012

Robert Reich predicts that the Supreme Court will come down six to three in favor of the Affordable Care Act.

Robert Reich: What’s the True Meaning of Patriotism?

June 2012

Does loyalty to Grover Norquist count as patriotism?

Robert Reich: Dimon in the Rough

June 2012

Banks don’t want Dodd-Frank regulations extended to their foreign branches and overseas subsidiaries. Should we listen?

Robert Reich: Corporate Feelings

June 2012

Mitch McConnell takes the corporations-are-people ethos to a new level. Now, corporations can do more than speak—they can feel.

Robert Reich: Ponderings on the New Politics of Extremism

June 2012

Washington feels under siege. Who’s outside the walls?

Robert Reich: A Back Door to the Public Option

June 2012

Many have said a Supreme Court strike-down of the individual mandate could be the end of Obamacare, but it might be what’s needed to revive the public option.

Robert Reich: Why the Economy Can’t Get Out of First Gear

June 2012

The problem isn’t taxes or Wall Street. It’s that we just don’t have enough money.

Robert Reich: Why the Public’s Growing Disdain for the Supreme Court May Help Obamacare

June 2012

Less than half of Americans believe that the Supreme Court is doing a good job. Here’s what that may mean.

Robert Reich: Why We Have To Raise Taxes on the Rich

June 2012

President Clinton’s recent comments on the Bush tax cuts have set off another fight over taxes and spending.

Robert Reich: The Big-Lie Coup d’Etat

June 2012

There is a massive campaign to discredit President Obama in advance of the 2012 election, and thanks to the Citizens United decision, there is no way of telling who’s behind it.

Robert Reich: The Job Stall

June 2012

What’s behind the lackluster new jobs report?

Robert Reich: U.S. Wages and European Austerity

May 2012

We may be about to enter the worse of both worlds.

Robert Reich: Romney-Trump in 2012

May 2012

The Romney campaign is getting very close to Donald Trump, but why?

Robert Reich: True Patriotism

May 2012

True patriotism means taking your share of America’s burden.

Robert Reich: Why Obama Should Be Attacking Casino Capitalism

May 2012

Are the recent controversies surrounding JPMorgan Chase and Bain Capital isolated incidents, or symptomatic of a single, larger problem?

Robert Reich: How Odd that Mitt’s Smitten With Clinton

May 2012

Mitt Romney has spoken highly of the Clinton administration. Is it pandering, or could he really mean it?

Robert Reich: The Dog that Didn’t Bark

May 2012

President Obama could differentiate himself in an election year by coming out strong against the excesses of Wall Street.

Robert Reich: How J.P. Morgan Chase Made the Case for Breaking Up Big Banks and Resurrecting Glass-Steagall

May 2012

J.P. Morgan’s mounting losses and poor monitoring reveal the ongoing fragility of the U.S. banking system.

Robert Reich: On Bedrooms and Boardrooms

May 2012

The latest election controversies are over gay marriage and abortions, but we’re not in trouble because of what goes on in the bedroom. We’re in trouble because of the CEOs in the boardrooms.

Robert Reich: We Don’t Need Socialism

May 2012

What America needs isn’t socialism, but a revitalized, more equitable brand of capitalism.

Robert Reich: Why the Economy is Heading for a Stall

May 2012

It’s a bad idea to enact cuts in government spending right when consumers can’t spend more.

Robert Reich: The Tinder-Box Society

May 2012

Austerity economics is wreaking havoc on world economies, despite gains on Wall Street.

Robert Reich: How Europe’s Double Dip Could Become America’s

April 2012

The danger here for the United States is clear, but there’s also a clear lesson.

Robert Reich: Thoughts on Tax Day 2012

April 2012

Robert Reich on why being a class worrier is nothing to be ashamed of.

Robert Reich: Why a Fair Economy Is Not Incompatible with Growth but Essential to It

April 2012

Robert Reich on how economic fairness encourages growth, not stifles it.

Robert Reich: Why the Buffett Rule Sets the Bar Too Low

April 2012

Robert Reich on three reasons why Obama’s plan to reduce income equality will not do enough.

Robert Reich: What Today’s Job Numbers Mean

April 2012

The numbers suggest our economic recovery may be stalling, and it’s for the simplest of reasons.

Robert Reich: Whose Recovery?

By Robert Reich
April 2012

The numbers make it look like our economy is getting better, but the recovery is lopsided, and most Americans are rapidly losing ground.

Robert Reich: Healthcare Jiujitsu

March 2012

With a bit of political jujitsu, the President could turn any such defeat into a victory for a single-payer healthcare system—Medicare for all.

Robert Reich: Why Mitt Won’t Be Able to Hide From His Primary Self

March 2012

Mitt Romney needs to learn that we’re no longer in an Etch-a-Sketch world.

Robert Reich: Why We Need a Surtax on the Super Wealthy

March 2012

With the wealth gap so large, shouldn’t we be aiming higher than a “Buffet tax” on the incomes of millionaires?

Robert Reich: The Challenge of the Productivity Revolution

March 2012
  Bye bye American Pie: How the technology boom has impacted our economy.

Robert Reich: The Ongoing Housing Crisis and the End of an Era

February 2012
  It looks like the economy is starting to recover, but this is actually the start of a fundamental change in how we think about homes.

Robert Reich: Manufacturing Illusions

February 2012
  The problem here is the declining power of American workers to share in the gains of the American economy.

Robert Reich: America’s Jobs Deficit, and Why It’s Still More Important than the Budget Deficit

February 2012
  Jobs first, budget austerity second.

Robert Reich: Who is Sheldon Adelson and What Has Newt Promised Him?

January 2012
  Do you know who Sheldon and Marian Adelson are? Do you know what Newt Gingrich has promised them, or what they think they’ll get out of a Grinch presidency?

Robert Reich: The State of Our Disunion

January 2012
  Why the government allows itself to be overwhelmed by corporate money.

Robert Reich: The Romney Tax Loophole

January 2012
  Don’t call it the Romney tax, as Newt wants to do. Call it the Romney tax loophole. And let him explain why he thinks it’s justified.

Robert Reich: Free Enterprise on Trial

January 2012
  The higher you go in the economy, the easier it is to make money without taking any personal financial risk at all.

Robert Reich: How a Little Bit of Good Economic News Can Be Bad for the President

January 2012
  Don’t expect the unemployment rate to stay down

Robert Reich: The Decline of the Public Good

January 2012
  Even Margaret Thatcher would be appalled by the privatization of American society.

Robert Reich: The Defining Issue

December 2011
  Mo’ money, mo’ problems. Why “big government” isn’t the problem.

Robert Reich: The Remarkable Political Stupidity of the Street

December 2011
  It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. How Wall Street is its own worst enemy.

Robert Reich: The Most Important Economic Speech of His Presidency

December 2011
  Barack Obama channels Theodore Roosevelt as he addresses America’s “gaping inequality” as the “defining issue of our time” and lays out the possible layout for his 2012 reelection platform.

Robert Reich: The Jobs Report: Don’t Break Out the Champagne

December 2011
  Why it’s too early to celebrate November’s job growth.

Robert Reich: A Thanksgiving Reflection: Looking Beyond Election Day

November 2011
  Why we should be worrying less about how America’s economy will influence Obama’s reelection and more on how to solve the problems with which whoever wins in 2012 will have to deal with.

Robert Reich: The First Amendment Upside Down

November 2011
  Why we must occupy democracy.

Robert Reich: Occupiers Occupied

November 2011
  Occupy Wall Street and the hijacking of the First Amendment.

Robert Reich: Why We May Be In Store for a Passionless Presidential Race

November 2011
  Only a couple of months before the presidential race begins. Don’t expect any surprises.

Robert Reich: Trigger Happy

November 2011
  Why deficit cuts should be triggered only when unemployment reaches 5 percent.

Robert Reich: A Corporate Pledge of Allegiance

November 2011
  If corporations do not take the pledge, we should boycott them. (Occupiers—are you listening?)

Robert Reich: Washington, Pre-Occupied

November 2011
  Until we reverse the trend toward inequality, the economy can’t be revived.

Robert Reich: Greece’s Choice—and Ours: Democracy or Finance?

November 2011
  Rule by democracy or by financial markets? Based on what’s happened in America, choose the former.

Robert Reich: The Triumph of Dogma, and a Sad Goodbye to David Frum

October 2011
  Was it David Frum’s responsibility to “represent” the views of conservative Republicans? He thought so, at least.

Robert Reich: The American Jobs Depression, and How to Get Out of It

October 2011
  We’re in a deep hole—and the hole is deepening.

Robert Reich: Why This is Exactly the Time to Rebuild America’s Infrastructure

September 2011
  If Washington only had a brain…

Robert Reich: How to Create More Jobs By Lowering Wages: Texas and America

September 2011
  The productivity of American workers continues to soar. The problem is fewer and fewer Americans are sharing the gains.

Robert Reich: Why Inequality Is the Real Cause of Our Ongoing Terrible Economy

September 2011
  Historian James Truslow Adams coined the American Dream as “a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone;” however, unless you’re one of the 5 percent of Americans with the highest incomes, this land is still merely a dream.

Robert Reich: This Labor Day We Need Protest Marches Rather than Parades

August 2011
  The ratio of corporate profits to wages is now higher than at any time since just before the Great Depression. It’s time for the American worker to do something about it.

Robert Reich: Stock Tip: Be Worried. Workers Are Consumers

August 2011
  Corporate earnings are the highest they’ve been relative to worker wages and benefits since just before the Great Depression. It was only a matter of time before the boom on Wall Street turned into a bust.

Robert Reich: How Austerity Is Ushering in a Global Recession

August 2011
  When economies stop growing or contract, economies can fall into vicious cycles of slower growth, lower tax revenues, spending cuts, and even slower growth. Welcome to our current reality.

Robert Reich: Slouching Toward a Double Dip, For No Good Reason

August 2011
  If our lawmakers continue to obsess about the wrong thing and fail to do what must be done, Americans will only become more fearful, insecure, and angry.

Robert Reich: The Empty Bully Pulpit

July 2011
  Cat got your tongue? Why Obama isn’t telling America the truth.

Robert Reich: The Biggest Driver in the Deficit Battle: Standard & Poor’s

July 2011
  Who is Standard & Poor’s to tell America how much debt it has to shed in order to keep its credit rating?

Robert Reich: The Shameful Murder of Dodd-Frank

July 2011
  The real reason Wall Street has spent the last year bludgeoning Dodd-Frank into meaninglessness.

Robert Reich: Can Obama Pull a Clinton on the GOP?

July 2011
  If Obama wants a second term, he’ll have to come out swinging on jobs.

Robert Reich: The Swamp of Washington and the Morass of the Economy

June 2011
  There’s no way out of this mess without bold leadership from Washington to rekindle consumer demand. Americans are scared. With reason.

Robert Reich: The Stalled Recovery, Smoke and Mirrors, and the Carnage on the Street

June 2011
  What happens when the real economy catches up with the financial economy?

Robert Reich: Jamie Dimon’s Bizarre Idea About Why The Recovery Has Stalled

June 2011
  Someone should remind Jamie Dimon that a few years ago he and his colleagues on the Street almost eviscerated the American economy.

Robert Reich: Why Washington Isn’t Doing Squat About Jobs and Wages

June 2011
  Washington doesn’t want to admit the economy recovery has stalled, so it’s time for the unemployed to speak up.

Robert Reich: Back Toward Double Dip

June 2011
  Will the stalling economy finally wake Washington up from the games being played over the debt ceiling?

Robert Reich: The Truth About the American Economy

June 2011
  Robert Reich traces the history of the economy, from Depression to prosperity and now to stagnation.

Robert Reich: The Unbearable Lightness of Being Mitt

May 2011
  Robert Reich on Mitt Romney, the political chameleon that says nothing in a crowd-pleasing way.

Robert Reich: Why Washington Should Listen to the Economy Here and Now

May 2011
  As the economy slows and we head toward recession, Washington needs to increase public spending, not fight over how to cut.

Robert Reich: The Wageless Recovery

April 2011
  Corporate profits for the first quarter of the year are way up. That’s largely because corporate payrolls are down.

Robert Reich: Beware the “Middle Ground” of the Great Budget Debate

April 2011
  If Americans knew what we were really getting with each side of the budget debate, they wouldn’t be so quick to advocate moving to the center.

On the Fly: Robert Reich

Mark Dowie interviews Robert Reich
April 2011

The former Secretary of Labor on the Great Recession, class warfare, and why President Obama must challenge right-wing distortions with a counter-narrative.

Robert Reich: Paul Ryan’s Plan, the Coming Shutdown, and What’s Really at Stake

April 2011
  We are the richest nation in the world, richer than we’ve ever been. We can afford to remain a society whose members are in it together.

Robert Reich: Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich

April 2011
  Today’s working and middle-class taxpayers are shelling out a bigger chunk of income in payroll taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes than thirty years ago. It’s just the opposite for super rich.

Robert Reich: The Truth About the Economy: We’re Heading Back Toward a Double Dip

March 2011
  Watch out. The economy is slowing ominously, and the booster rockets are disappearing.

Robert Reich: Why Governor LePage Can’t Erase History, and Why We Need a Fighter in the White House

March 2011
  Pro-business goals are breaking out all over. House and Senate Republicans are intent on deregulating, privatizing, and cutting spending and taxes…But most Americans are still in desperate trouble.

Robert Reich: The Republicans’ Big Lies About Jobs (And Why Obama Must Repudiate Them)

March 2011
  [N]othing is more central to average Americans than jobs and wages. Unless the President forcefully rebuts Republican’s big lies, they’ll soon become conventional wisdom.

Robert Reich: As the Global Economy Trembles, Our Nation’s Capital Fiddles

March 2011
  The U.S. economy is flirting with another dip, but nothing is being done because knaves and fools are in charge.

Robert Reich: Why Obama Isn’t Fighting the Budget Battle

March 2011
  [M]any in the Obama White House have concluded that the president should follow Clinton’s campaign script… If it worked for Clinton, it must work for Obama—or so it’s supposed.

Robert Reich: Governor Walker’s Coup D’Etat

March 2011
  Wisconsin Republicans have made it crystal clear that their goal has had nothing whatever to do with the state budget. It’s been to bust the unions.

Robert Reich: Why The Street’s Euphoric Birthday Has Almost Nothing to Do with a Buoyant Economy

March 2011
  Happy Birthday Wall Street. Party away. Just know that most Americans aren’t joining the celebration.

Robert Reich: The Birth of the People’s Party

March 2011
  The People’s Party may not yet be recognized by the mainstream media, but it’s growing in numbers and in intensity. And it’s starting to push elected officials—first at the state level—to listen and respond.

Robert Reich: The Real News on Jobs

March 2011
  Conservative economists have it wrong. The underlying problem isn’t that so many Americans have priced themselves out of the global/high-tech labor market. It’s that they’re getting a smaller and smaller share of the pie.

Robert Reich: Clarence Thomas and the Politicization of the Supreme Court

March 2011
  While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.

Robert Reich: How Democrats Can Become Relevant Again (And Rescue the Nation While They’re At It)

March 2011
 

Teachers are being fired, Pell grants for the poor are being slashed, energy assistance for the needy is disappearing, other vital public services shriveling. Regulatory agencies don’t have the budgets to pay the people they need to enforce the law.

Where are the Democrats?

Robert Reich: The Republican Shakedown

February 2011
  If America had higher marginal tax rates we wouldn’t be firing teachers or slashing Medicaid or hurting the most vulnerable members of our society.

Robert Reich: The Coming Shutdowns and Showdowns: What’s Really at Stake

February 2011
  The problem isn’t that “we’ve” been spending too much. It’s that most Americans have been getting a steadily smaller share of the nation’s total income.

Robert Reich: Why We Should Raise Taxes on the Super-Rich and Lower Them on the Middle Class

February 2011
  For years progressives have whined that Democratic presidents compromise with Republicans while Republican presidents stand their ground. Isn’t it about time progressives had the courage of our conviction and got behind what we believe in?

Robert Reich: Obama Shouldn’t Allow Republicans to Frame the Spending Cuts Debate

February 2011
  This brouhaha over spending cuts is the wrong debate about the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Robert Reich: Why the Republican Attack on “Job-Killing Regulations” is Dumb

February 2011
  Here’s another instance of where the White House’s attempt to preempt Republican rhetoric ends up legitimizing it—and reframing the public debate around an issue that’s hardly central to what ails America.

Robert Reich: Obama’s Deal with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

February 2011
  Obama and the Chamber of Commerce promise to abide by the deep, abiding beliefs of America, but after following the Chamber for years, Robert Reich just thinks it has a deep, abiding belief in cutting taxes on the wealthy and taking the nation back to the days before the New Deal.

Robert Reich: The Individual Mandate in the Health Care Bill: Why We Should Trade Broccoli and Asparagus for Hot Dogs and Apple Pie

February 2011
  Social Security and Medicare aren’t broccoli or asparagus. They’re as American as hot dogs and apple pie.

Robert Reich: Why the Republican Budget Plan Is a Hairball

February 2011
  What happened to John Boehner’s $100 billion budget-cutting commitment? What became of Paul Ryan’s big ideas? Where did all the roaring and raging on the right during the 2010 election go?

Robert Reich: Stocks Up, Houses Down, And What This Means for Most Americans

February 2011
  Don’t be fooled. The American economy isn’t back.While Wall Street’s bull market is making America’s rich even richer, most Americans continue to be mired in a worsening housing crisis.

Robert Reich: The President Ignored the Elephant in the Room

February 2011
  Investing in education and technology are all well and good, but what about our nation’s biggest problem, the scourge of high unemployment?

Robert Reich: The State of the Union: What the President Should Say

January 2011
  Most Americans no longer have the purchasing power to get the economy moving again. Once the debt bubble burst, they were stranded.

Robert Reich: American Competitiveness, and the President’s New Relationship with American Business

January 2011
  The Obama administration is trying to make American products more competitive; Robert Reich explains the ways we can measure what that really means.

Robert Reich: How the Republican Assault on Health Care Could Backfire On Them

January 2011
  The Republicans wanted controversy over the health-care law, now let’s see how the White House showdown will pan out.

Robert Reich: The Shameful Attack on Public Employees

January 2011
  The Republican version of class warfare is to pit private-sector workers against public servants. They’d rather set average working people against one another. (And they also would rather you didn’t know they want to cut taxes on the rich even more.)

Robert Reich: The Big Lie

January 2011
  George Orwell once explained that when a public is stressed and confused, a Big Lie told repeatedly can become the accepted truth. Only the President has the bully pulpit. But will he use it to tell the Big Truth?

Robert Reich: New Year’s Prediction II: The U.S. Economy in 2011

December 2010
  Whether 2011 is a great year economically depends which economy you’re in—the one that’s rising with the profits of big business and Wall Street, or the one that will continue to struggle with few jobs and lousy wages.

Robert Reich: New Year’s Prediction I: The Tea Party Conservative Strategy for 2011

December 2010
  Next week starts the new Congress, and with it the Tea Party conservatives. What’s their strategy? What will they rally around?

Robert Reich: The Year Washington Became “Business Friendly”

December 2010
  Washington may be more “business friendly,” but there’s one problem. America’s big businesses are less and less American.

Robert Reich: The New Tax Deal and Reaganomics Redux

December 2010
  Why the new tax deal is a copy of Reagan’s notorious, and failed, “starve the beast” campaign.

Robert Reich: America’s Two Economies Are Getting Wider Apart

December 2010
  Big Money is booming and Wall Street is back, but American workers are losing even more bargaining power as profit goes into software that can do what people used to do — but more cheaply. Why?

Robert Reich: The Big Economic Story, and Why Obama Isn’t Telling It

December 2010
  Unless the President and Democrats explain why the economy still stinks for most Americans and offer a plan to fix it, the Republican explanation and solution will prevail.

Robert Reich: Why the Lame Duck Congress Must Extend Jobless Benefits For Hard-Hit Families But Not Tax Cuts For the Rich

November 2010
  As jobless benefits begin to lapse in two weeks, we must ask ourselves why reward the people at the top with an extension of the Bush tax cut that will blow a hole in the budget deficit? And why fail to extend jobless benefits to hardworking Americans who got the boot?

Robert Reich: The Failure of the G-20 Summit

November 2010
  It’s always nice to talk about international cooperation, but the truth is much more needs to be done to ease tensions that are moving the global economy closer to the brink of outright protectionism. The key responsibility falls to China and America—both internationally and domestically.

Robert Reich: America’s Two Economies and Why One is Recovering While the Other Isn’t

November 2010
  While the economy of Wall Street big-wigs and corporate execs is recovering nicely, the economy of the average American worker continues to plummet. Here’s why.

Robert Reich: The Real Center of American Politics: A Reflection on Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert

November 2010
  The political center isn’t about what we decide. It’s about how we decide.

Robert Reich: The Fed’s New Bubble (Masquerading as a Jobs Program)

October 2010
  When our elected representatives can’t and won’t come up with a real jobs program, the Fed feels pressed to come up with a fake one that blows another financial bubble.

Robert Reich: The Perfect Storm

October 2010

“It’s a perfect storm. And I’m not talking about the impending dangers facing Democrats. I’m talking about the dangers facing our democracy.”

Robert Reich: Why Democrats Should Not Join in Economic Scapegoating

October 2010

Though the economic crisis has bred xenophobia in our political climate, Democrats should know better than to blame China for our woes.

Robert Reich: Wall Street’s Global Race to the Bottom

October 2010

Wall Street will set up its casino wherever financial gambling is least regulated. The race to the bottom is now official.

Robert Reich: The President’s Backyard Discussion of the Economy (as It Could Be)

September 2010

An imagined conversation between Obama and a middle class resident from Des Moines, Iowa about the state of the economy.

Robert Reich: Republicanism as Social Darwinism

September 2010

Herbert Hoover and Andrew Mellon thought their economic policies would purge the rottenness out of the system. Instead, it purged morality out of the system and lead to strife for millions of Americans. Current Republican House leader John Boehner could do the same.

Robert Reich: Why No Amount of Fiscal or Monetary Stimulus Will Be Enough, Given How Small A Share of Total Income the Middle Now Receives

September 2010

After three decades of flat wages during which almost all the gains of growth have gone to the very top, the middle class no longer has the buying power to keep the economy going. All the coping mechanisms are exhausted.

Robert Reich: The Defining Issue: Who Should Get the Tax Cut—The Rich or Everyone Else?

September 2010

Extending tax cuts to the top 2 percent richest Americans didn’t work for Bush, and certainly won’t work now. This is Reich’s call to arms for democrats to jump on the issue.

Robert Reich: The Republican Threat to Shut Down the Federal Government

September 2010

The framers of the Constitution developed checks and balances to assure one branch didn’t accumulate too much power. But they never contemplated that one party could shut down the entire governmental system if it didn’t get what it wanted.

Robert Reich: Why Obama Is Proposing Whopping Corporate Tax Cuts, and Why He’s Wrong

September 2010

The economy needs two whopping corporate tax cuts right now as much as someone with a serious heart condition needs Botox.

Robert Reich: The Stock Market Rally Versus the World’s Economic Fundamentals

September 2010

The stock market has as much to do with the real economy as the weather has to do with geology. Day by day there’s no relationship at all. Over time, weather and geology interact but the results aren’t evident for many years.

Robert Reich: Why A Civil Society Extends Unemployment Benefits

September 2010

With the economy so bad that the social fabric is coming undone, it is to the nation’s credit that many of the unemployed are receiving benefits.

Robert Reich: Tax Jujitsu: Why Democrats Should Propose a “People’s Tax Cut”

August 2010

Republicans are calling the Democrat’s proposal to end the Bush tax cuts on the richest 3 percent a “tax increase,” and demagoging that it will hurt the economy and small business. This is baloney, to put it politely.

Robert Reich: Corporate Rotten Eggs

August 2010

Years before Wright County Egg had to recall of millions of rotten eggs for fear of salmonella, the company was an awful corporate citizen.

Robert Reich: Mitt Romney’s Wet-Noodle Economics

August 2010

While Mitt Romney is right to focus his political efforts on the economy, Reich argues that Romney’s loony, wet-noodle economics won’t create American jobs.

Robert Reich: Forget a Double Dip: We’re Still in One Long Big Dipper.

August 2010

In a follow-up to a previous post, Robert Reich urges us to forget the Neo-Hoover deficit hawks who say we have to cut government spending and to distrust the supply-siders who say we have to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

Robert Reich: America’s Biggest Jobs Program—The U.S. Military

August 2010

If we didn’t have the military jobs program, the U.S. unemployment rate would be over 11.5 percent today. But wouldn’t it be better to have a jobs program that created things we really need?

Robert Reich: Why the Views of the Wall Street Journal’s Letter Writers Are Far From This World

August 2010
  Reich responds to the “rhetorical vacuity” in the Wall Street Journal’s Letters to the Editor.

Robert Reich: We’re In A One-and-a-half Dip Recession

July 2010

Herbert Hoover’s ghost seems to have captured the nation’s capital, and the prevailing sentiment is government can’t and mustn’t do anything but aim to reduce the deficit, even though the economy is going down.

Robert Reich: Why We Can’t Rely on Foreign Consumers to Rescue American Jobs, and Why the “Jobs for America Summit” is a Bad Joke.

July 2010

We can’t expect foreign consumers to fill the shortfall in demand left by American consumers who can no longer maintain their pre-recession standard of living. The only answer is to lift the standard of living of Americans. But how?

Robert Reich: The Vanishing American Consumer and the Coming Trade War

July 2010

When the world’s productive capacities exceed the buying power of the world’s consumers, every government wants to increase exports and discourage imports. That spells trade war.

Robert Reich: Slouching Toward a Double Dip or a Lousy Recovery at Best

July 2010

The bank bailout, the stimulus, and the Fed brought us back from the brink just enough to dampen zeal for anything more. As a result, we are now heading for a weak comeback.

Robert Reich: Why China’s Currency Announcement is Hokum

June 2010

Don’t be fooled. China’s decision to allow its currency to rise against the dollar is nothing to get excited about.

Robert Reich: My Father and Alan Greenspan

June 2010

In this belated Father’s Day post, Alan Greenspan may have sired today’s “federal debt explosion.”

Robert Reich: Why the United States Can’t Get BP to Do What’s Necessary

June 2010

UK pensioners versus American workers. Who wins?

Robert Reich: Fraud on the Street

April 2010

Where on earth has the SEC been?

Robert Reich: The Final Health Care Vote and What it Really Means

March 2010

Sunday’s vote confirms our hope that we can have both strength and competence in Washington. It is an audacious hope, but we have no choice.

Robert Reich: The Sham Recovery

March 2010

So what happens when the stimulus is over and the Fed begins to tighten again? Where will demand come from to get Main Street back, create jobs, raise middle class wages?

Robert Reich: Bail Out Our Schools

March 2010

Over the longer term, incentives must be shifted away from financial capital toward human capital.

Robert Reich: Why the Continuing Bad Job Numbers Make it Harder (But Even More Important) To Pass Health Care Reform

March 2010

Americans desperately need health care reform. They also desperately need jobs. Even if it’s difficult for many to make the connection, it’s still possible for the nation to try to do two important things at the same time.

Robert Reich: A Thought on Evan Bayh and Partisan America

February 2010

Partisan anger undermines the capacity of American democracy to do the public’s business.

Robert Reich: Who’s Killing Financial Reform?

February 2010

Congress isn’t doing a thing about Wall Street because it’s in the pocket of Wall Street.

Robert Reich: Our Incredible Shrinking Democracy

February 2010

It seems as if more and more decisions that should be made democratically are being shunted off somewhere to a few people who make them in back rooms.

Robert Reich: Obama Needs To Teach the Public How To Get Out Of the Mess We’re In

January 2010

If the public learns the wrong set of lessons, there’s no hope for getting wise policies out of Congress.

Robert Reich: Obama’s Tiny Jobs Ideas for Main Street, A Big Spending Freeze for Wall Street

January 2010

Like Clinton’s, Obama’s package of middle class benefits is small potatoes. They’re worthwhile but they pale relative to the size and scale of the challenge America’s middle class is now facing.

Robert Reich: Bad Job Numbers and the Secret Second Stimulus

January 2010

The president should spend more time talking about creating jobs. How issues are framed for the public makes all the difference.

Robert Reich: Why Obama Must Take On Wall Street

January 2010

What happened to all the tough talk from Congress and the White House early last year? Why is the financial reform agenda so small, and so late?

Robert Reich: The Last Big Question: Will Health Care Reform Be Paid For By The Rich or the Middle Class?

January 2010

It’s bonus time on Wall Street again. But the middle class is taking a beating.

Robert Reich: What’s Ahead for the Economy and Politics in 2010

January 2010

If it looks like jobs aren’t coming back, that we may be stuck with a high level of joblessness for years, voters will take out even more of their anxieties on Democrats next November.

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