cross-posted from Working America's Main Street blog where I am a featured guest blogger
What do I mean? Specifically, the U.S. private sector currently needs substantial, publicly-funded direct job-creation programs in order to get private employers to hire again on the scale needed to significantly reduce unemployment and promote a robust economic recovery.
It's an argument that I don't think has been made, at least not adequately, to help advance the debate in favor of large-scale stimulus to create jobs.
Part of the problem is the almost religious belief that the private sector, and only the private sector, can be the engine of job creation. As James Kwak wrote recently, in a somewhat different context:
... the belief that the private sector is the answer to all our problems remains deeply rooted. One might even call it an ideology.
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