This paper examines three sets of major questions regarding the current US government's fiscal deficit and outstanding debt, tied to the 2009 economic stimulus programme, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). First, I consider the claim that high levels of government borrowing drive...

Full employment used to be an explicit goal of economic policy in most of the industrialized world. Some countries even achieved it. In Back to Full Employment, economist Robert Pollin argues that the United States--today faced with its highest level of unemployment since the Great...

The 2008-09 Great Recession has created an ongoing severe fiscal crisis for state and local governments throughout the United States. Republican leaders are now advancing an agenda to radically downsize state and local governments by cutting taxes, slashing wages and benefits for public workers,...

In December 2010, the FAO food price index surpassed its previous peak of June 2008, and prices have been maintained at this high level through September 2011 (i.e. as of this writing). This pattern in food prices is creating justified fears of a renewal or intensification of the global food...

Ever since John Maynard Keynes, deficit spending has been a practical way to minimize the pain of recession and launch a recovery. But with deficits running high, those who believe deficits should be reduced right now are gaining in influence. Does austerity at this point make any sense? This...