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Why the Decline of Organized Labor Makes it Harder to Revive Growth

With unemployment above 9 percent, creating more jobs is an urgent priority for the United States. But it is difficult to have a sensible debate on how to spark job growth given the myths and misinformation that surround this issue. Specifically, many political leaders and analysts wrongly point to three culprits in explaining weak job growth: government regulations, the new healthcare law, and taxes. None of these explanations hold up under closer scrutiny.

Regulation Isn’t Stopping Job Growth

The biggest domestic policy failure has been the refusal of top officials in the White House and in Congress to recognize the severity of the employment crisis that has settled like a plague over American workers.

Last month, the White House introduced a program that would effectively overhaul the tax code and, as Robert Kuttner put it, "locked [Obama] in as a defender of social insurance and working Americans." The five-pronged tax plan would cut rates and inefficient and unfair tax breaks, increase investment and growth in the United States, reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years and -- most contentiously -- institute the "Buffett rule."

Population levels will continue to increase consumption levels don't have to.

Do Republicans in Congress care about creating jobs -- which polls say is the number one issue for voters -- or about ideological purity? The ongoing debate on Capitol Hill over President Obama’s $447 billion jobs package offers a crystal clear answer to that question.

Blatant redistribution, the argument goes, may fly in Europe with its strong class identity, but is a non-starter here, where the value of individual self-reliance is dominant. Is this really true?

We are at a crossroads: do we choose economic growth or environmental sustainability?

The new IRS report on the "tax gap" is a good news, bad news story -- although mostly bad news.

It’s not often that good news comes out of Washington. Today is an exception: the Obama Administration is expected to deny TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sand pipeline application.

A few weeks ago, Desmogblog.com released a series of internal documents from the Heartland Institute, one of the leaders of the climate denial movement, which shows the Institute’s strategy for pushing their climate denying message.

Progressives both in and outside New York City are super excited about Bill de Blasio running City Hall. President Obama summed up those feelings in his endorsement yesterday of de Blasio, saying that his ideas for universal pre-K and affordable housing could make him a "great mayor." 

Philadelphia Council authorized a public vote on Bill 130532 last Thursday. The bill amends the city charter to provide better wage protections and benefits for subcontracted city workers. The referendum will appear on the Spring 2014 ballot. Council supported this item unanimously.

According to attorney Steve Masters of JustLaws,

Growth doesn't work. It doesn't deliver the claimed social and economic benefits. 

The CATO Institute styles itself as the nation's leading defender of personal liberty, but don't count on these libertarians to watch your back in the face of any threats you may face from powerful private actors. No, CATO is only worried about threats posed by public entities. 

Suppose we think income redistribution is a good idea -- given near-record corporate profits at a time when wages for most workers are stagnant. There are two main ways to achieve this goal: We could make business pick up the tab directly by raising the minimum wage, making it easier for workers to form unions, and mandating more employee benefits, such as paid vacation time. Or, we could leave business alone, but give poorly paid workers public benefits like tax refunds, free health insurance, food assistance, and so on. 

Generational theft has occurred on a massive scale.