Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2014 4:06:54 GMT -8
Uneasy Days for the Economy
What happens when a nation with a "bootstrap" self-image settles into a state of uncertainty?
by Charlie Cook
Listening the other day to discouraging economic forecasts from Alan Greenspan and Larry Summers, I was reminded of the many polls showing that Americans worry their children won't have the same opportunities they did. To be clear, neither the former Fed chairman nor the former Treasury secretary was predicting recessions or even downturns. But there was little in their words to the National Association for Business Economics to suggest that brighter days are on the immediate horizon.
Their diagnoses and suggested treatments of the economy weren't exactly the same, but both nonetheless left the listener deeply unsettled. Summers argues that it's been a long time since the United States had "healthy, strong economic growth in a full-capacity economy." He argues against current government austerity measures, particularly at a time when the country—he asserts—desperately needs an increase in consumer demand. He also complains that regulatory and policy restraints have restrained economic growth, specifically pointing to the fact that no new oil refineries have been built in the United States in decades. Meanwhile, austerity has led us to a lack of public investment; Summers gives the example of the currently dilapidated Kennedy airport in New York, at a time when borrowing rates are under 3 percent, which would normally be the perfect situation for government to rebuild infrastructure.
Greenspan argued for the need for immigration reform, saying that deporting illegal immigrants would lead to our economy "falling apart." On the other end of the immigration spectrum, he said, the H-1B program for admission of highly skilled workers is important because "we can't staff the high-tech needs of our country with the kids coming out of our high schools." Yet, the prospects for immigration reform in the House, despite the backing of leading Republicans, are problematic at best, due to entrenched opposition within the GOP base.
more: www.nationaljournal.com/the-cook-report/uneasy-days-for-the-economy-20140227
I think the most pathetic thing Greenspan said was "we can't staff the high-tech needs of our country with the kids coming out of our high schools". We can't? Why not? And why not in spite of all the billions of dollars spent on education?
This is a failure of governmet on every level. To hear someone say we must import people to do the jobs our kids are not well-educated enough or competent to do is an admission of the complete collapse of the public education system.
What happens when a nation with a "bootstrap" self-image settles into a state of uncertainty?
by Charlie Cook
Listening the other day to discouraging economic forecasts from Alan Greenspan and Larry Summers, I was reminded of the many polls showing that Americans worry their children won't have the same opportunities they did. To be clear, neither the former Fed chairman nor the former Treasury secretary was predicting recessions or even downturns. But there was little in their words to the National Association for Business Economics to suggest that brighter days are on the immediate horizon.
Their diagnoses and suggested treatments of the economy weren't exactly the same, but both nonetheless left the listener deeply unsettled. Summers argues that it's been a long time since the United States had "healthy, strong economic growth in a full-capacity economy." He argues against current government austerity measures, particularly at a time when the country—he asserts—desperately needs an increase in consumer demand. He also complains that regulatory and policy restraints have restrained economic growth, specifically pointing to the fact that no new oil refineries have been built in the United States in decades. Meanwhile, austerity has led us to a lack of public investment; Summers gives the example of the currently dilapidated Kennedy airport in New York, at a time when borrowing rates are under 3 percent, which would normally be the perfect situation for government to rebuild infrastructure.
Greenspan argued for the need for immigration reform, saying that deporting illegal immigrants would lead to our economy "falling apart." On the other end of the immigration spectrum, he said, the H-1B program for admission of highly skilled workers is important because "we can't staff the high-tech needs of our country with the kids coming out of our high schools." Yet, the prospects for immigration reform in the House, despite the backing of leading Republicans, are problematic at best, due to entrenched opposition within the GOP base.
more: www.nationaljournal.com/the-cook-report/uneasy-days-for-the-economy-20140227
I think the most pathetic thing Greenspan said was "we can't staff the high-tech needs of our country with the kids coming out of our high schools". We can't? Why not? And why not in spite of all the billions of dollars spent on education?
This is a failure of governmet on every level. To hear someone say we must import people to do the jobs our kids are not well-educated enough or competent to do is an admission of the complete collapse of the public education system.
