Robert Reich

Listen to Wall Street analysts and you’d think the American economy was on the rebound. Yes, profits are up a bit for the first quarter and companies are beating earnings expectations. But profits and earnings are up because companies are cutting jobs. Listen to Main Street and you hear a different and truer story about […]

Not only are American corporations continuing to lay off workers, but a new analysis by the Economic Policy Institute shows that for first time since the 1980s, the pay of almost all employees at all income levels has been dropping. Even professional salary workers in the top 10 percent are losing ground. It’s true that […]

The American dream is owning your own home, and for more than half a century the government has encouraged home ownership through low-interest loans and taxbreaks. Today about two-thirds of American households own their homes. Or I should say, partly own them. Banks and other mortgage lenders own the other part. And here’s the potential […]

The first President George Bush won the first Gulf War. A year later he lost the presidency because the economy was in the tank. Will the second George Bushsuffer the same fate? There’s one big difference. The first Bush’s recession started after the first Gulf War, while the second Bush’s recession started before the second […]

So now America’s policy in Iraq comes down to the most basic question of capitalism: Who owns what? That is, who has the right to sell Iraqi oil? And who has the right to decide which of the world’s big oil companies can invest in developing Iraq’s oil wells and making a profit off those […]

Los Angeles Times, 04/18/2003 To: The President From: Karl Rove The Iraqi war gave us a big boost, but election day is still 19 months away. Although I have the highest respect for your dad, I think it fair to say he squandered his victory in the 1991 Gulf War vis-a-vis the election in1992. You […]

The Financial Times, April 21, 2003 The first President George Bush won the first Gulf War. A year later helost the presidency because the economy was in the tank. Will the second GeorgeBush suffer the same fate? There is one big difference that should work in hisfavour. The first Bush’s recession started after the first […]

Weeks ago, during tense negotiations at the United Nations and uncertainty overwhether there would be a war in Iraq, stocks came close to their lowest level in four years. Then with the start of the invasion of Iraq, when victory seemedonly days away, the Dow scored its best performance in 20 years, advancing about 1,000 […]

The White House insists that American taxpayers won’t be paying to rebuild Iraq. Mitchell Daniels, Jr., the President’s budget director, says Iraq will bepaying for these repairs itself, out of future oil revenues. Okay, so if Iraq is going to foot the bill, who exactly is going to make money doing all this repair work? […]