We’ll have gained more, in fact, than if 2.5 percent of U.S GDP were invested in the energy transition during the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, which ended abruptly in March. Back then, building out clean energy infrastructure would have meant pulling workers from one line of work to another, or “job shifting,” says Josh Bivens, director of research for the Economic Policy Institute. And that would have been fine, “but you’d only be solving the one problem,” which is climate change. “Now you’d solve that problem and create a bunch of jobs for people who actually need them because they’re unemployed.”
And don’t fear debt or deficits, Bivens says. Even in a strong economy, government borrowing “puts upward pressure on interest rates,” which makes private investment more expensive, crowding out investors who would build inefficient office parks or back conventional energy production. “And that’s actually the whole point,” Bivens says. “One reason why the climate situation is so grim is that we’re bequeathing into the future this conventional capital stock” – coal plants, drafty buildings, oil production – “that is way too dirty. We want to crowd that out with green capital, and that’s exactly what deficit-financed green public investments would do.”
Capital and Main
June 4, 2020
They argue the pandemic inordinately affects both the health and paychecks of African Americans, who have suffered record job losses in recent months, according to new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute think tank.
Those who have kept their jobs are often in positions that make them vulnerable to the virus, it found.
Reuters
June 4, 2020
I wanted this post to center on black voices, so all the authors are Black. However, if you’re gonna read two things by white people, I’d suggest reading The Making of Ferguson, a report by Richard Rothstein for The Economic Policy Institute, which is incredibly thorough as it sets up the historical and cultural forces that made Ferguson such a ripe epicenter for this current conflict. I also found Why It’s Impossible To Indict A Cop very educational.
Autostraddle
June 4, 2020
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute delves into the myriad ways racial and economic inequality have exacerbated the impact of the coronavirus crisis on black communities.
Millions of black workers have lost their jobs during the pandemic, putting them at a high degree of economic insecurity, in part because they’ve had lower incomes and less savings already.
Of those who’ve kept their jobs, many more are putting their health at risk — black workers are less likely to have jobs that allow them to work from home — a risk magnified by inequalities in the health care system and a higher prevalence of underlying health conditions.
Daily Kos
June 4, 2020
When the Economic Policy Institute looked at the effects of the Great Recession of 2008, it found that between 2005 and 2009, the median net worth of black households plummeted down 53%. For white households, on the other hand, the median net worth only declined by 17%.
Forbes
June 4, 2020
Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the progressive Economic Policy Institute and a former chief economist at the Labor Department, suggested that more government aid will be necessary to keep consumers and businesses afloat so that many laid-off workers will have jobs to return to.
“Those jobs are not going to come back if the federal government doesn’t do the things it needs to do to stimulate the economy, so that the demand and confidence is going to be there, so that those businesses will need to call workers back,” Shierholz said.
AP News
June 4, 2020
They argue the pandemic inordinately affects both the health and paychecks of African Americans, who have suffered record job losses in recent months, according to new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute think tank.
Those who have kept their jobs are often in positions that make them vulnerable to the virus, it found.
Reuters
June 4, 2020