Economist Dr. Richard Levins, with whom I wrote my first book, Getting America Back to Work, says that economics is called the dismal science.
I keep up with the thinking of all kinds of economists as best I can, and sometimes write about their thinking in this space.
Every economist I read, including those I know and those I’m most likely to agree with, have very incomplete solutions to the real dangers of the economic crisis America is in.
When Dr. Levins and I sent out the galleys of our book for feedback and reviews, one liberal economist asked me why we stressed manufacturing and fair trade. I responded that manufacturing is how you create wealth and fair trade with enforceable labor and environmental standards is the first step toward stopping the global economic race to the bottom. Relying on a paper economy instead of a real economy is why Wall Street up and threw us into the Great Economic Recession.
Now almost all economists say the answer is better education. There is no doubt that more and better education is important to individuals, but we are cutting education at all levels and education by itself doesn’t create jobs.
Every HONEST economist knows we need to raise the minimum wage. All the research is clear. Raising the minimum wage puts more money in the bottom of the economy, generating consumer demand and more economic activity.
Most rational economists know we need more direct government investment to create more jobs–particularly in infrastructure and green, sustainable energy just to keep up with the rest of the world. Every dollar spent on infrastructure like railroads, highways, bridges, and public transit makes us more efficient and productive. Every dollar spent on green energy creates jobs and makes us all healthier.
But what very few practitioners of the dismal science will say is that the most natural, organic, cheap way to get out of our economic ditch is to give every worker the free, unmitigated right to organize a union and bargain collectively.
We can:
• Raise wages by bargaining.
• Increase staffing by fighting to do jobs well — like the 1199 nurses in Santa Fe, New Mexico where I’ve spent much of the summer and where I’m going back.
• Bargain for decent benefits.
• Build worker power and a commitment to the common good–something we trade unionists call #solidarity making all the other solutions more likely to happen.
Image source: www.workerscenter.org