Media

In the wake of the S&P downgrade, the Federal Reserve announced yesterday that it would keep short-term interest rates near zero for two years. This was a departure from the Fed's previous language, which did not offer a specific timeline. These rock-bottom rates can't continue indefinitely, and the Fed has the power to raise them at any time. As well, further downgrades of the U.S. credit rating could work to push interest rates up.

In an op-ed in today's New York Times, Jeffrey Ganns provides the most insightful explanation yet of why S&P downgraded the U.S. credit rating even though there is no evidence that the United States would ever not make good on its debts.

The cascade of budget cuts continues. The National Employment Law Project (NELP) reported last week that several states, including Michigan, South Carolina, and Florida, were cutting unemployment benefits. For over 50 years, there had been a national consensus that state unemployment benefits should last 26 weeks.

WASHINGTON DC-- In the wake of an austerity debt ceiling deal that will cost 1.8 million jobs in 2012 and do nothing to address inequality and the decline of the American middle class, today the Rebuild the Dream Campaign – with the support of partner organization Demos – announced a new Contract for the American Dream. 

Among the many questionable assertions in Drew Westen's Times article yesterday was that Obama's "half-stimulus" was "diluted" with "tax cuts that had already been shown to be inert."

Like many progressives, I have been disappointed by President Obama for not staking out more aggressive negotiating positions and being a more forceful leader overall.

Imagine an America that boldly undertakes a major effort of unprecedented scale. Now imagine that no one knows how much it will cost or when it will end, only that it is imperative to act if we are to live consistent with our nation’s core values of freedom AND unity. Imagine now that this grand and unpredictable endeavor has to be financed with a surge in national debt and that securing such debt will require a new, reliable and substantial source of new revenue.

With 25 million people still unable to find full-time jobs and unemployment insurance close to running out, it's shameful that Republicans in Congress waged ideological warfare over what is typically a pro forma exercise of the Congress.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 26, 2011

CONTACT:

Lauren Strayer, [email protected], (212) 389-1413

Anna Pycior, [email protected], (212) 389-1408

"Pay America's Bills, Put Americans Back to Work"