If votersstill feel the same way a year from now, the midterm consequences for theDemocrats will be severe, and deservedly so. Yet that same poll, conducted forthe Economic Policy Institute, showed that most Americans would support theonly action that might relieve the lingering pain of recession: more and fasterspending.
Theconventional viewpointrepeated incessantly on talk radio, cable television andnewspaper columns, as well as by politicians of both partiesis that thecountry cannot afford to further increase the public deficit. According tothose savants, the stimulus package passed last winter spent too much andachieved too little; the deficit and debt are just too high; and there issimply nothing more that can be done except to wait for jobs to return sometimenext yearor the year after that, or maybe someday in the distant future.
Among therespondents to the Hart poll, however, 53% named unemployment as the nation'smost serious economic problem, with only 27% saying that the most seriousproblem is the federal budget deficit. The poll found that support for acontinuing policy of public investment in job creation, energy independence andimproved education is even more emphatic. Fully 73% believes that investmentshould be the first priority, and only 24% said that cutting governmentspending should take precedence.
SpendMoney During Bad Times
In short,public spending in bad times is good politics. But is it good policy?
The samethink tank that sponsored the Hart poll insists that the answer is yes. Theeconomists at Economic Policy Institute say that spending now will not onlyprovide relief in the near term but improve America's economic prospects longinto the future, as well. Armed with copious data, they argue that the negativeimpact of substantial, prolonged unemployment is broad, deep and enduringandthat the issue of the deficit recedes when measured on that scale.
Theinstitute's study, released last week, shows how lost jobs and income aresimply ruinous to families struggling to find their way into the middle class,because of the effect on children's educational progress.
Meanwhile,diminished economic demand cuts investment, leading to reduced productivecapacity that can hinder growth for yearsand delay the introduction of new technologyeven as competitors abroad surpass us.
Although theObama stimulus package stopped the worst recession from turning into a globaldepression, the nation's working families and small businesses have gotten toolittle help so far. Even if Congress is not yet ready to pass a secondstimulus, which will ultimately prove necessary, the president should proposeother actions.
Extendingcurrent unemployment, food stamp and health insurance benefits past the year'send is the first and most obvious step. The second is to extend federalassistance to first-time home-buyers and to families facing mortgageforeclosures and evictions.
Beyond that,the president should employ conservative means to meet progressive ends. Heshould increase the Small Business Administration's lending programs bybillions of dollars, redirect stimulus and bailout funds toward public servicesand demand a "payroll tax holiday" on the first $20,000 of income, assuggested by Robert Reich, the former labor secretary.
All of thoseobjectives could be achieved without passing a second stimulus bill. All ofthem would advance the public interest as well as the political interests ofthe president and his party. And none of them would be so easy for theRepublicans to reject with their usual petulant "no."
%uFFFD 2009 Creators.com.
