South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Around The Dial – July 24, 2012

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• Andrew Zimbalist explains “why hosting the Olympics is a loser’s game.”
• Paul Krugman worries about action on climate change.
• Neil Barofsky deconstructs the “bungled bank bailout.”
• Larry Mishel previews new data on upward wealth redistribution.
• Jared Bernstein rounds up new data on small business job growth.

Explaining The Fiscal Cliff

In under two minutes, Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains the significance of the “fiscal cliff” facing the country at the end of the year.

Losing The Toolbox

Louis Uchitelle of The New York Times worries that the United States has become “a nation that’s losing its toolbox.”

Craft work has higher status in nations like Germany, which invests in apprenticeship programs for high school students. “Corporations in Germany realized that there was an interest to be served economically and patriotically in building up a skilled labor force at home; we never had that ethos,” says Richard Sennett, a New York University sociologistwho has written about the connection of craft and culture.
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The damage to American craftsmanship seems to parallel the precipitous slide in manufacturing employment. Though the decline started in the 1970s, it became much steeper beginning in 2000. Since then, some 5.3 million jobs, or one-third of the work force in manufacturing, have been lost. A stated goal of the Obama administration is to restore a big chunk of this employment, along with the multitude of skills that many of the jobs required.
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And there is an incipient upturn in the monthly employment data, although the president will almost certainly finish his first term with the manufacturing work force well below the 12.6 million it was when his administration began. (It was nearly 11.9 million last month.)

Around The Dial – July 23, 2012

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• The New York Times reports on an effort to better community colleges.
• Robert Reich sees even bigger economic problems than outsourcing.
• Jonathan Cohn mulls “the Bain economy and what to do about it.”
• Policy Shop wonders who are the winners from the Great Recession.
• Paul Krugman plumbs the “pathos of the plutocrat.”

The Plight Of The Post Office

Felix Salmon nicely explains “how Congress is killing the Post Office.”

What does make a lot of difference is the degree to which the Post Office is hamstrung by Congress. There’s still room for the Postal Service to reorient itself and become a successful 21st-century utility — but there’s no way that’s going to happen if it’s constantly on the back foot and if Congress prevents it from entering new businesses, possibly including banking.
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To put it another way: the Post Office is broken, in large part thanks to unhelpful meddling by Congress. And it won’t get fixed unless and until Congress gets out of the way and stops forcing it into the corporate equivalent of ketosis, essentially consuming its own flesh in order to survive.