We can’t afford to do too little. View this in your browser and share with your friends. <[link removed]>



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People Need Stimulus



COVID-19 cases are rising. Job growth is slowing <[link removed]>. As CDC Director Robert Redfield describes it <[link removed]>, this winter could be “the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.”

Yet nearly nine months after the CARES Act’s passage, Americans continue to wait for new stimulus and fear the end-of-year expiration <[link removed]> of vital benefits—from unemployment assistance to eviction bans. 



People need stimulus now. And the greatest risk—as a groundswell of economists argue—is doing too little and causing harm that lasts well beyond this crisis. 



“The risk of overdoing it is less than the risk of underdoing it,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress <[link removed]> this week. “People are always worried about doing too much, and you look back in hindsight and say, 'Well, we didn’t do too much. We might’ve done a little more and a little sooner.’”



In a Project Syndicate op-ed, Roosevelt Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz explains <[link removed]> why debt shouldn’t be a concern: “The US desperately needs large rescue programs . . .”



“The resulting debt from increased spending should not be viewed as a hindrance, given the enormous cost of doing too little. Besides, with interest rates near zero and likely to stay there for years to come, the costs of servicing new debt are exceedingly low.”



If this Congress (or the next) fails to act, President-elect Joe Biden still has a powerful option to provide relief and reduce racial inequities <[link removed]>. “Executive action on student debt cancellation feels like one of the most accessible executive actions to stimulate the economy at the moment,” Roosevelt’s Suzanne Kahn tells Time magazine <[link removed]>. 











Employer Power and Employee Skills



With millions at risk of long-term unemployment, some policymakers and practitioners have prioritized workforce training to address what they describe as a “skills gap.” But as Roosevelt Fellow Suresh Naidu and labor economist Aaron Sojourner explore in a new report <[link removed]>, that premise is flawed.



“Employers’ complaints about ‘skills gaps’ may be better explained by their power in the labor market (‘monopsony’) and resulting unwillingness to raise wages to increase supply. Just as monopolists look for more customers while reducing quantity and raising prices, monopsonists look for more and better workers while paying low wages and refusing to raise them.”



Next Thursday, December 10, join the authors for a webinar discussion <[link removed]> about their research and findings. 



- Featured panelists: Amanda Cage (President & CEO, National Fund for Workforce Solutions; Member, WorkRise Leadership Board), Lenore Friedlaender (Assistant to the President, 32BJ SEIU), and Howard Rothschild (President, Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations)

- Moderator: Elisabeth Jacobs (Acting Executive Director, WorkRise; Senior Fellow, Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, Urban Institute) 











Public Investment Reimagined



In a roundtable published by The American Prospect this week, Roosevelt experts reacted to Saule Omarova’s proposal for a National Investment Authority <[link removed]>, which “would be charged with devising, financing, and executing a long-term national strategy of economic development and reconstruction.” Read more:



- How a New RFC Connects to a Green New Deal <[link removed]> by Ilmi Granoff, Douglass D. Sims, and Roosevelt Director of Governance Studies Todd N. Tucker

- Nicky Mac: A ‘Public Option’ for Workers’ Capital <[link removed]> by Roosevelt Fellow Lenore Palladino

- The New Economy Will Be Built by Movements <[link removed]> by Isabel Estevez, Ben Beachy, and Roosevelt Director of Climate Policy Rhiana Gunn-Wright

- Why Muddle the Public Side of the Green New Deal? <[link removed]>- Roosevelt Fellow Mark Paul











Catch Up



If you missed this week’s Roosevelt webinar, watch the full recording now:



Meeting the Moment: Bold Ideas to Transform the Economy <[link removed]>



- Featured panelists: Roosevelt President & CEO Felicia Wong, Gunn-Wright, and Roosevelt Managing Director of Corporate Power Bharat Ramamurti

- Moderator: CNN legal analyst andMade to Fail <[link removed]>host Elliot Williams







What We’re Reading

The Death of the Department Store and the American Middle Class <[link removed]> - Vox



How Climate Change Could Spark the Next Home Mortgage Disaster <[link removed]> [feat. GDI’s Lindsay Owens] - Politico



Up to 30 Million in US Have the Skills to Earn 70% More, Researchers Say <[link removed]> - New York Times











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