October Employment No Big Deal

Popular Economics Weekly

MarketWatch.com

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 128,000 in October, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 3.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in food services and drinking places, social assistance, and financial activities.

But most were not the good-paying jobs that will support a household, or buy a home. Restaurants and bars led the way in hiring by adding 48,000 jobs. Professional jobs rose by 22,000, social-assistance providers added 20,000 jobs, and financial companies increased employment by 16,000.

Payrolls fell by 36,000 in manufacturing that mostly reflected the GM strike, and government employment slipped by 3,000.

Just the 22,000 Professional jobs are considered middle-class, white collar jobs. In fact, most consumers and jobs are stuck with low-paying service sector jobs in retail, warehousing, and even healthcare.

This is a major reason U.S. economic growth is gradually slowing, as many economists reported last week. Hence the uncertainty about an upcoming recession, since consumers are still optimistic about job prospects and flush with earnings from the very low unemployment rate.

But ‘very low’ unemployment has been masking the real problem with this recovery. Wages and salaries have not been rising fast enough, in jobs that support an adequate standard of living, to bring back anything close to boom times again for most Americans.
Why not? We have to look at the history of economic recoveries.

The Obama administration’s one-time American Recovery and Reconstruction Act of 2009 (ARRA) put some $850 billion back into governments to end the Great Recession, which boosted a flurry of infrastructure improvements, and helped to balance some state budgets, but it didn’t even begin to catch up to the $2 trillion plus shortfall in outmoded infrastructure that included not only roads and bridges, but airports, the energy grid, water and sanitation facilities (e.g., Flint, Michigan and Newark, NJ), and a K-12 elementary education system ranked at the bottom in the developed world.

This is what any responsible governance policies should continue to do. The current economic recovery has benefited just the top 10 percent in income-earners, which is the reason for so much discontent among blue collar, working folk.

It was called the New Deal when we had a leader capable of answering the call, as did a President named Roosevelt, who said just prior to his reelection in 1936: "the old enemies of peace: business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism…are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred." 

Livingnewdeal.org

In fact, President Roosevelt did falter in 1937, when Republican’s won a congressional majority and he agreed to attempt to rebalance the federal budget while the Federal Reserve reduced the money supply as it had in 1930; which helped to precipitate the original downturn. The U.S. economy then dropped back into a second recession, which is why it was called the Great Depression; before Roosevelt reinstituted New Deal spending programs that brought growth back to pre-Great Depression levels.

“The New Deal ushered in a Golden Age for public works, as Washington at last took a leading role in funding infrastructure,” said one study of the New Deal. “The federal government, working hand-in-hand with state and local agencies, financed (and provided relief labor for) a huge array of projects. These emphasized the newest forms of technology and infrastructure, including highways, airports, dams, and electric grids, as well as more traditional public works, such as libraries, schools and parks.”

Those same policies need to be enacted today to bring back this recovery from the Great Recession, and keep it from becoming another Great Depression.

Harlan Green © 2019

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The Economic Consequences of Too Much Inequality

Financial FAQs

A new report released by the World Economic Forum, ranks rising inequality as the top trend facing the globe in 2015, according to a survey of 1,767 global leaders from business, academia, government and non-profits, many of whom convened recently in Dubai.

Its effects are barely known to economists, much less politicians. The U.S. has far and above the greatest income inequality in the developed world, as well as the highest crime and prison incarceration rates. Yet even economists such as Nobelist Paul Krugman can’t agree that this has had a measurable effect on economic growth!

Graph: The Spirit Level

Then what economic growth are we discussing when so many working age men (and women) are in prison, 2,300,000 at last count, the minimum wage is still $7.25 in most states, and we have had 5 recessions since 1980? Economists can’t be looking at the 90 percent of Americans that haven’t experienced any economic growth since 2009, and the recovery from the Great Recession.

The soaring inequality today matches that of 1928 before the Great Depression, and it is causing irreparable damage to our economy. Yet very little has been done about it, other than the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s $835 billion stimulus package of 2009 that saved or created some 3 million jobs according to the Congressional Budget Office, but whose effect petered out quickly in 2010 and reduced GDP growth to 2 percent until recently.

Economic growth has resumed with 321,000 nonfarm payroll jobs created in November, but 8 million jobs and at least $6 trillion in economic output were lost during the Great Recession, and . And with a Republican congress taking over in January, economic forecasters such as Macroeconomic Advisors are not optimistic about more job creating programs in the works due to a resumption of the budget battles soon to come, in spite of Republican protestations from new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that there will be no more government shutdowns.

Joel Prakken, a Macroeconomic Advisors co-founder, cited the effect further budget battles could have on growth in the New York Times. Past fights and the ensuing downgrade of U.S. government debt has cost approximately 1 percent in economic growth, which means instead of the 2.15 GDP growth average since Republicans took over the House in 2011, we could have had 3 percent plus growth and many more jobs.

How does inequality most affect growth? The classic answer is that since consumers power some 70 percent of economic activity, their spending power must be the driver of growth, and they cannot spend or save more with declining incomes, as the graph should make abundantly clear.

But it must be a quality of life issue, as well. How can we continue to live well in the most violent society in the developed world, with outmoded public infrastructure and educational facilities?

Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s The Spirit Level, a 30-year study of the effects of inequality, has said it best.

“Research has shown that greater inequality leads to shorter spells of economic expansion and more frequent and severe boom-and-bust cycles that make economies more vulnerable to crisis,” say Wilkinson and Pickett. “The International Monetary Fund suggests that reducing inequality and bolstering longer-term economic growth may be "two sides of the same coin". And development experts point out how inequality compromises poverty reduction.”

The consequences of growing inequality are too great to ignore.  We now know from history what they are—two great economic downturns that can only be corrected with a return to the values that have made the U.S. great—economic justice for all.

Harlan Green © 2014

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Government Wasn’t the Problem

Popular Economics Weekly

If the latest unemployment report tells us anything, it is that government isn’t the problem that has caused the weak U.S. recovery, but a private sector that is focused solely on maximizing profits for their investors and CEOs, rather than creating more jobs. And private sector corporations have succeeded in maximizing their record profits, as a percentage of GDP.

Friday’s Labor Department report showed just 142,000 net nonfarm payroll jobs created, far below the estimates, while the unemployment rate barely fell to 6.15 percent. There were 134 private payroll jobs (vs. 213 private sector jobs in July) and just 8,000 government jobs added. But stay tuned for revisions when seasonal corrections are made, as we said.

Graph: Econoday

Nor was government the problem that caused the Great Recession and housing bubble in the first place; but the lack of it—of government legislation and regulations that could rein in the excesses of a shadow banking system that hid so much debt.

In fact, growth did surge just as the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009, because of the $835B 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), but it wasn’t enough, and the economy soon reverted back to its ‘new normal, 2 percent GDP growth rate.

Graph: Trading Economics

A majority of economists now agree ARRA did create jobs and prevented a Greater Recession, or even another Great Depression, which Europe is currently going through for a third time since 2008.

The Initiative on Global Markets at the University of Chicago — hardly a hotbed of liberal or Keynesian thought — regularly surveys a number of the leading American economists about a variety of policy issues. And the results from their 2014 survey, as reported by economist Justin Wolfers, overwhelmingly conclude that government ARRA stimulus spending was beneficial to both growth (benefits exceeded its costs) and jobs (more jobs were created or saved).

In fact, it is private sector growth that has been lacking in both job creation and investment in plants and equipment over the past 5 years since the official end of the Great Recession. Private sector capital stock, at 22 years of age, is the oldest it has been since 1958, said economist David Rosenberg, and is strongly suggestive of an upgrade cycle (not to mention the fact that America's spending on public infrastructure at a 20-year low!).

But will that happen? It seems the private sector would rather create jobs overseas than in the USA that has caused the weak recovery. The so-called ‘underemployment rate’ of part timers and those who quit looking for work dropped to 12 percent from12.2 percent in the August report—big deal.

Graph: Econoday

There is much evidence of the out sourcing of jobs. U.S. multinationals shifted millions of jobs overseas in the 2000s, says data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. “U.S. multinational corporations, the big brand-name companies that employ a fifth of all American workers… cut their work forces in the U.S. by 2.9 million during the 2000s while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million,” said a recent report by the Center for American Progress.

That is why ARRA worked, and similar government stimulus programs would work. The bottom line is there are certain times, as well as sectors that only governments can fund and so create jobs.

Harlan Green © 2014

Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen

Jobs Recession Finally Over?

Financial FAQs

Is the jobs recession finally over? It’s taken this long to bring employment back to pre-Great Recession levels. Overall employment is still slightly below the pre-recession peak (437 thousand fewer total jobs).  But private employment is now above the pre-recession peak by 110 thousand and at a new all-time high.

Calculated Risk

Total nonfarm payroll jobs rose 192,000 in March after a 197,000 boost in February and a 144,000 increase in January. The net revision for the prior two months was up 37,000. Expectations for March were for 206,000. Private payrolls gained 192,000, following an increase of 188,000 in February. Analysts projected 215,000 for March.

We can now see where many of the missing jobs remain—in governments. Although state governments added 8,000 net jobs in March, the federal government shed another 9,000 jobs, according to the just released Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Over the past year, employment in the federal government has fallen by 85,000, so we know the major reason we are barely back to the 2007 level of employment. In fact, some 700,000 state and federal jobs were lost during the Great Recession.

Unfortunately, political gridlock has caused so many essential government, or government-sponsored jobs to be lost.  There shouldn’t be a debate over what federal, state and local government expenditures are necessary to maintain decent economic growth. Can one imagine what it would do to economic growth if the $2.2 trillion in deferred infrastructure building—in roads, bridges, electrical and energy distribution networks had been done, not to speak of the additional jobs created?

Or, instead of losing 300,000 teachers and the lost education opportunities to students, education spending had been expanded? A good comparison is with the GW Bush administration, when Republicans were in power. Then they were for much more government spending.

The public sector grew during GW Bush's term (up 1,748,000 jobs), but the public sector has declined since Obama took office (down 718,000 jobs). These job losses have mostly been at the state and local level, but they are still a significant drag on overall employment.

The private sector is the main jobs provider, of course.  The single area that could provide the most bang for the buck is the construction industry. Since construction employment bottomed in January 2011, construction payrolls have increased by 532 thousand - but there are still 1.76 million fewer construction jobs now than at the peak in 2006, per an excellent analysis by Calculated Risk.

That also means the building-construction industry and all its ancillary services—such as mortgages, insurance, home furnishings—has much more room to grow. Private residential construction is returning to normal levels at last, but not public (which has fallen since ‘shovel-ready’ ARRA stimulus money ran out in 2010, which created or saved some 3 million jobs) and non-residential spending.

Calculated Risk

The bottom line is that all construction sectors have to improve to bring enough jobs back. These are mainly blue collar workers that lost badly during the Great Recession, due to the housing bubble. The good news is that professional and business services jobs grew double any of the other job categories in the March payroll survey.

Professional and business services added 57,000 jobs in March, in line with its average monthly gain of 56,000 over the prior 12 months. Within the industry, employment increased in March in temporary help services (+29,000), in computer systems design and related services (+6,000), and in architectural and engineering services (+5,000).

This should give a large boost to construction jobs this year and next.

Harlan Green © 2014

Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen

January Housing Inventory Declines 24 Percent

The Mortgage Corner

The surest sign that property values will increase this year is the large decline in homes for sale. This is in part due to increasing sales, with existing-home sales up some 6 percent, year-over-year. But there is also a sharp decline in the so-called shadow inventory of homes in mortgage default, as well as outright foreclosures.

According to the deptofnumbers.com for (54 metro areas), overall inventory is down 23.9 percent year-over-year in early January, and probably at the lowest level since the early '00s. This Calculated Risk graph shows the NAR estimate of existing home inventory through November (left axis) and the HousingTracker data for the 54 metro areas through early January.

Graph: Calculated Risk

According to the NAR, national inventory declined to 2.03 million in November down from 2.11 million in October. This is the lowest level of inventory since December 2001. Inventory is not seasonally adjusted, and usually inventory decreases from the seasonal high in mid-summer to the seasonal lows in December and January as sellers take their homes off the market for the holidays.

Gary Wood’s December Santa Barbara MLS data also show signs of less inventory for sale. In December 2012 escrows remained strong with about 90 down from 98 in November and the median list price on those escrows went up from $811,850 the previous month to over $900,000, so we may be seeing prices rising substantially this year. But closing periods are falling. For instance, the $550,000 to $599,999 price average sale period averaged just 9 days, while 6 other price ranges closed within 20-30 days.

Continued price improvement is dependent on interest rates maintaining their record lows through 2013, of course. But Fed Chairman Bernanke has promised to maintain such low rates until the unemployment rate has declined to 6.5 percent, which won’t probably happen until 2015. So that will also stimulate the building of more new housing. Some of it will be rentals, as vacancy rates are tumbling. It is also depending on more new households forming. And economists are predicting that household formation could almost double in coming years from its low during the recent recession.

Harlan Green © 2012

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Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.7 Percent

Popular Economics Weekly

Economists are rubbing their eyes with the November jobs report. It seems stimulus spending works. Obama’s $830 Billion ARRA stimulus + the Federal Reserve’s QE efforts to hold down interest rates has now created almost 6 million jobs since the Great Recession, and in spite of Hurricane Sandy.

The plunge in November unemployment was good news in several sectors. Firstly, Hurricane Sandy didn’t have much of an effect. In fact, it will stimulate more job formation in the coming months during the reconstruction. We know this because it mostly affected the goods-producing sector, which posted a 22,000 drop in jobs after an 18,000 gain the prior month. In November, manufacturing jobs slipped 7,000, construction fell 20,000.

Had there been no Hurricane Sandy, payroll jobs would have increased more than 200,000—back up to early 2012 levels. Private service-providing jobs rose 169,000 in November after a 171,000 increase in October. For November, notable gains were in retail trade (up 53,000), professional & business services (up 43,000), and health care (up 20,000).

Secondly, the retail trade numbers are particularly encouraging as these jobs have risen 140,000 over the past three months, suggesting healthy holiday sales this year.

Graph: Econoday

That is why consumers are spending more. Consumer credit is a very good indicator of spending and outstanding debt in September rose $11.4 billion, following August's very large revised gain of $18.4 billion. The non-revolving component, inclusive of the student loan category and auto sales, rose $14.3 billion in the month on top of August's $14.1 billion gain. Revolving credit, where credit card debt is tracked, actually fell, down $2.9 billion for the third decrease in four months.

Graph: Calculated Risk

And lastly, state and local governments are hiring again, a sign that lingering effects of the Great Recession might be over. Calculated Risk’s graph shows total state and government payroll employment since January 2007. State and local governments lost 129,000 jobs in 2009, 262,000 in 2010, and 230,000 in 2011. So far in 2012, state and local governments have actually added a few jobs, and state and local government employment increased by 4,000 in November.

We know that some of the lower unemployment rate was due to discouraged workers leaving the work force, and that is the tragedy of still timid efforts to stimulate job growth. It is a fact that almost any infrastructure stimulus spending, such as in President Obama’s original $4B budget offer, would not only create many more jobs, but more than pay for itself in added revenues.

Harlan Green © 2012

How Do We Boost Economic Growth?

Popular Economics Weekly

There is a tremendous misunderstanding of how to boost economic growth, and this is hurting the recovery. Conservative politicians want to cut taxes and government services, while progressives want to use government to boost growth. Yet it really doesn’t matter who does the boosting. The results are the same.

The best way to understand growth is with a concept used by economists, aggregate demand, that we have mentioned in past columns. Aggregate demand can be thought of as income and assets earned by consumers, private business, the financial sector and government. And it can be either hoarded in mostly MZM accounts (Money at Zero Maturity—i.e., earning 0 interest), as it is now, spent on things, or invested in facilities that produce more things.

Our economy has become seriously skewed during the past 10 years because corporate profits zoomed, while household incomes have not even kept up with inflation.

This is not the column to discuss the whys, including why so much income has migrated to the top 1 percent income bracket. But the result has been that most corporations haven’t invested in their employees. Which is why aggregate demand—the source of economic growth—has suffered mightily.

We know that consumers make up 70 percent of GDP growth, for example. So because their incomes were stagnant, they had to borrow to maintain their standard of living. And because they indebted themselves so heavily while their incomes remained stagnant, most have not been able to boost their spending during the recovery.

So business spending, which makes up the other part of aggregate demand (along with government spending) hasn’t been expanding because of so much excess industrial capacity. We know that excess capacity is still a problem today, as evidenced by the latest industrial production numbers.

Overall capacity utilization is improving, rising to 76.0 percent in December from 75.0 percent in November.  It is at its highest since a reading of 77.9 percent for August 2008, but is still far below the 82 percent long term average.

Industrial production posted a healthy 0.8 percent gain in December, following a 0.3 percent rebound in November.  However, the boost was led by a monthly 4.3 percent surge in utilities output, following a 1.5 percent increase in November.  By market groups, strength was widespread.  Production of consumer goods increased 1.0 percent in December; business equipment, 0.6 percent; nonindustrial supplies, 0.1 percent; and materials, 1.0 percent.

And because most profits have not been flowing back to average consumers, employers are not producing enough to warrant hiring more workers. That is the major reason for the entire government stimulus—to boost aggregate demand. The $787 Billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was in fact not enough to bridge the so-called lost output gap between potential and actual GDP growth over the past 2 years. The Fed’s purchase of government securities has held down interest rates, enabling businesses to borrow cheaply, and preventing real estate values from going into free fall.

Then what is the answer on how to create sustainable aggregate demand? The major push should be reestablishing the middle class that has been so decimated by loss jobs and much of its wealth—both in stocks and real estate. New York Times’ David Leonhardt is one of the few pundits to voice this concern in his most recent column, “In Wreckage of Lost jobs, Lost power,” in which he laments the loss of labor’s bargaining power.

Whereas employment in most other developed countries, including Japan and Russia, is much higher than in the U.S., corporate profits are lower. This is because U.S. domestic workers’ bargaining power has been severely diminished, in part because of laws that give employers the advantage in hiring and firing. And Germany and Canada, who barely had a recession, encourage companies to cut work hours for all during slowdowns—called ‘short work’—rather than lay off some, so that the pain of reduced incomes is spread over the entire workforce.

There are many other ways to cure insufficient aggregate demand, such as more progressive taxation. For instance, the top income tier during the Eisenhower years had a 95 percent tax rate on its top income bracket. This had the effect of siphoning off money from the wealthiest who spend the least percentage of their income, and putting it into the more productive use of building infrastructure, such as the interstate highway system, or education, or into more research and development.

Also, a better-run health care system would reduce health costs, which are double per capita in the U.S. vs. other developed countries. This would have several benefits, including increasing the competitiveness of U.S. made products, while boosting workers’ benefits and incomes.

There is still almost $3 trillion in lost output—the difference between actual and potential GDP growth caused by the recession, as we said. But unless we get over the conservative-progressive divide on how to bridge that gap, we won’t be able to generate sufficient aggregate demand that will bring back the jobs and salaries lost during the worst downturn since the Great Depression. U.S. workers don’t care which sector generates jobs during recessions, so neither should politicians.

Harlan Green © 2011

What is Pent-up Demand?

Financial FQs

We are now hearing that pent up demand is growing as the economic recovery takes its time. What is it, and what would it mean for an earlier recovery? Fed Chairman Bernanke mentioned that ‘demand’ could grow in a recent speech to South Carolina’s legislators.

“While the support to economic activity from stimulative fiscal policies and firms' restocking of their inventories will diminish over time, rising demand from households and businesses should help sustain growth…In particular, in the household sector, growth in real consumer spending seems likely to pick up in coming quarters from its recent modest pace, supported by gains in income and improving credit conditions. In the business sector, investment in equipment and software has been increasing rapidly, in part as a result of the deferral of capital outlays during the downturn and the need of many businesses to replace aging equipment.”

Demand usually refers to aggregate demand, a key concept of Keynesian economic theory. The theory being that if consumers, businesses and governments have growing incomes/revenues, then their ‘demand’ for more goods and services will increase. Pent-up demand is comprised of the elements that must grow to stimulate aggregate demand.  This might seem obvious to anyone who has taken Economics 101, but how to measure aggregate demand is not so obvious.

We know several factors that can stimulate demand. For instance, the 2010 Harvard Joint Housing Taskforce Study estimates that 15 million new households will be formed over the next decade, including immigrants. Yet new home growth has slowed drastically. And there are maybe 1 million surplus existing homes, due to the housing collapse. Yet even with the overhang, the demand for housing is bound to grow exponentially over the next decade.

New home sales in June actually rebounded 23.6 percent after plunging a revised 36.7 percent in May. The June pace recovered to an annualized 330,000 from a revised 267,000 for May and revised 422,000 for April. While the comeback is welcome, the bad news is that May's record drop was revised down notably from the initial estimate of a 33.0 percent decline. The latest figure is down 16.7 percent on a year-ago basis.

Another factor that suppresses demand is surprise, deflation. We are now in a deflationary environment, and studies show that consumers hold back from purchases if they believe prices can fall further—which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. So rising prices also will signal increasing demand.

For instance, the just released second quarter Gross Domestic Product report showed falling prices. Though economy-wide inflation accelerated in the second quarter as the GDP price index rose an annualized 1.8 percent, following a 1.0 percent in the first quarter.

The acceleration in prices was due to the impact from higher imports—which signals greater domestic demand. But the price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by U.S. residents, increased a bare 0.1 percent annualized in the second quarter, following a 2.1 percent boost in the first quarter. The core rate excluding food and energy prices increased just 0.9 percent in the second quarter, compared with a rise of 1.6 percent in the previous quarter.

So despite all of the doomsayers, the recovery continued in the second quarter but at a moderate pace. Yes, growth is still below par but not into a double dip, thanks mainly to the TARP and ARRA programs’ stimulus spending. Second quarter GDP came in at an annualized 2.4 percent growth, following a revised first quarter gain of 3.7 percent.

The latest quarter was led by a rebound in residential investment, a jump in investment in equipment & software, and by inventories. Personal Consumption Expenditures also posted a moderate gain along with government purchases.

In fact, the best measure of pent-up demand, is what is called the “output gap”.  The San Francisco Federal Reserve puts out that calculation. It was minus 6.1 percent in Q1 2009, but would have been as high as 19 percent without the TARP and ARRA stimulus spending, says the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a non-partisan think tank.

The output gap measures how far the economy is from its full employment or "potential" level that depends on supply-side factors of the economy: the supply of workers and their productivity. During a boom, economic activity may for a time rise above this potential level and the output gap is positive. During a recession, the economy drops below its potential level and the output gap is negative. In theory, the output gap can play a central role in monetary policy deliberations and strategy.

In fact, one of the goals of the Federal Reserve is to maintain full employment, which corresponds to an output gap of zero. And it is the employment rate that best determines output, so we know that the Fed isn’t going to begin to raise interest rates, until the unemployment rate declines substantially, which means that pent-up demand will begin to kick in.

Was Bernanke being too optimistic? We don’t think so, nor does the stock market, which continues to rally.

Harlan Green © 2010

The Debt Fallacy

Financial FAQs

The European debt crisis has re-triggered the debate over budget deficits, and even whether Europe’s problems could trigger a ‘double-dip’ return to recession in our own economy. The contention is that Europe will be burdened with debt for years to come, which slows their economic growth.

What has Europe to do with our own economy? It is mainly the relationship between currencies. When the euro is high, then our exports are cheaper, helping manufacturing employment in particular. So the reverse case boosts European exports and reduces ours. And the euro’s value has plunged as investors fled to dollar denominated investments.

But a more general debate is whether governments should incur additional debts to cure such financial crises as we are now weathering. Keynesian economists say that government stimulus spending is crucial to any recovery, since it boosts demand for new products and services. But that only happens if it is directed to consumers—who account for up to 70 percent of economic activity.

So-called supply-side policies boost the producers by giving tax cuts directly to investors and businesses, in the hopes that it will induce businesses to expand and create more jobs. However, that didn’t happen during the last recovery. The 5 million jobs created from 2000-08 was the lowest total since WWII.

Nobelist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman came up with an interesting conclusion on just that subject. Were we better off under the supply-side policies of President Reagan in the 1980s who wanted to funnel more money to the supply-side, or of Clinton in the 1990s who wanted it to go to consumers, was his question.

“Here’s what I think,” said Krugman, “inflation did have to be brought down — and Paul Volcker, not Reagan, did what was necessary. But the rest — slashing taxes on the rich, breaking the unions, letting inflation erode the minimum wage — wasn’t necessary at all. We could have gone on with a more progressive tax system, a stronger labor movement, and so on.”

The stimulus spending is definitely working. The Congressional Budget Office reported the latest results of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) under this headline:

New CBO Report Finds ARRA has Preserved or Created up to 2.8 Million Jobs

While the report focuses primarily on the first quarter of 2010, CBO also includes new projections of the Recovery Act’s jobs impact through 2012. It finds that in the current quarter (the second quarter of 2010), there are 1.4 million to 3.4 million more jobs in the economy because of ARRA, and it predicts that ARRA’s jobs impact will peak this fall, when there will be 1.4 million to 3.7 million more jobs because of the legislation.

This is in line with the latest unemployment report, which showed 290,000 payroll jobs created in April, following a revised 230,000 advance in March, and 39,000 rise in February. April's boost topped the market estimate for a 200,000 gain. Net combined revisions for March and February were up a 121,000-including turning February from negative to positive. But the key number is private payrolls as Census hiring added 66,000 to April's jobs, compared to adding 48,000 the prior month. Private nonfarm employment increased 231,000, following a 174,000 rise in March.

The real key to refuting the ‘debt fallacy’ is the benefit government stimulus does for consumers’ pocketbooks, and that is also looking better. Consumers are getting healthier— at least financially, as income gains enable them to spend and save more, with inflation almost non-existent. The headline PCE price index was unchanged in April-easing from up 0.1 percent in March. The core rate also was soft, gaining only 0.1 percent and matching both March and the consensus forecast.

Personal income posted a solid 0.4 percent increase for April, matching the gain the month before. The April figure came in slightly lower than the market forecast for a 0.5 percent boost. Importantly, the latest increase is in what really counts as the wages & salaries component advanced 0.4 percent after rising 0.3 percent in March.

The good news is that consumers are finding more greenbacks in their wallets and this should support additional spending and the recovery. The consumer on average is now pulling its weight in the recovery, while inflation remains benign.

What about paying back the $11 trillion in public debt? We can follow the post-WW II scenario, when it was 120 percent of GDP. That debt was paid down quickly in the post-war recovery. Today it is approaching 90 percent, because this was the worst downturn since the Great Depression. So once again the key to a recovery is keeping consumers healthy with more jobs and higher incomes.

Among ARRA’s most effective provisions for saving and creating jobs, according to CBO’s estimates, are direct purchases of goods and services by the federal government, transfer payments to states (such as extra Medicaid funding), and transfer payments to individuals (such as increased food stamp benefits and additional weeks of unemployment benefits). CBO’s estimates indicate that tax cuts are less effective job producers, and tax cuts for higher-income people and corporations have very low bang for the buck.

Harlan Green © 2010