Report Warns Austerity Will Block Recovery, Risk
Recession. Launches Campaign on Real Causes of Deficit

        Members of "Citizens' Commission on Jobs,
        Deficits and America's Economic Future" Demand
        Equal Media Coverage for Middle Class Economic
        Agenda, Growth Strategy for Deficits

Center for Economic & Policy Research November 30, 2010

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/citizens-commision-jobs-deficits-americas-future

Washington, D.C.

A new report from the Citizens' Commission on Jobs,
Deficits and America's Economic Future demonstrates
that the White House deficit commission proposals are
"fundamentally misguided" and take the economic debate
in the dangerous direction of austerity. The group of
well-known experts and leaders of civic organizations
released their own "Report and Recommendations of the
Citizens' Commission on Jobs, Deficits and America's
Economic Future," on Tuesday, November 30.

The report, written by Jeff Madrick, a member of the
commission and Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt
Institute, with contributions from Dean Baker of the
Center for Economic and Policy Research, Roger Hickey,
Robert Borosage and Richard Eskow of the Institute for
America's Future, Robert Kuttner of The American
Prospect and Demos, and Robert Pollin of the Political
Economy Research Institute, and additional work by
other members of the commission.

The 36-page report contains a plan to maintain
investments needed to speed up economic growth and
produce jobs while lowering the federal deficit to a
sustainable level in the long term. The report and
links to related materials are posted at
ourfuture.org/citizenscommission.

The release of the paper coincides with the
announcement of a nationwide campaign to oppose the
job-killing, middle-class-devastating austerity
measures proposed by Republicans in Congress, President
Obama's deficit commission co-chairs, and perennial
deficit hawks such as Peter G. Peterson, and some
Democrats.

__________________

Report And Recommendations Of The Citizens' Commission
On Jobs, Deficits And America's Economic Future

        November 2010, Jeff Madrick, Roger Hickey,
        Robert Borosage, Richard Eskow, Dean Baker,
        Robert Kuttner and Robert Pollin

The United States continues to suffer the aftereffects
of the worst economic recession since the Great
Depression, triggered by a financial crisis whose
causes were ignored or made worse by elite policymakers
for decades. Today, more than 25 million Americans who
are ready and willing can't find full-time work.
Personal wealth has declined sharply, creating an
especially uncertain future for people approaching
retirement age. Confidence is down for both consumers
and businesses, which prevents sustained economic
growth.

At the same time, largely due to the severity of the
recent recession, a federal government that enjoyed
record surpluses just 10 years ago now faces record
deficits that are spreading alarm and confusion across
the land. Moreover, this severe downturn comes after a
decade that featured the worst job creation in the
post-war period, declining wages for most Americans,
weaker unions confronted by employer attacks on rights
to organize, continued decay of basic infrastructure,
an ongoing crisis in public education, record trade
deficits and job loss abroad, and extreme inequality.

Despite the ongoing pain that unemployment is still
inflicting on individuals and families, despite the
slow growth in demand that is hurting small business,
despite the wrenching budget crisis hitting most state
governments, and despite the longer term decline that
can no longer be ignored, the debate in Washington is
now dominated by conservative cries for immediate
reduction of the federal deficit. Several elite
"commissions"-two privately financed, and one created
by the president and Congress-have effectively shifted
the attention of the media to deficits as the primary
focus for public action.

One voice has been conspicuously absent from most
discussion of deficits-that of the American people.
Polls have shown that the public's opinion and that of
many leading economists are surprisingly well aligned.
The public agrees with economists who warn that deficit
reduction must be performed judiciously, without
restricting government's ability to create jobs and
without damaging needed social programs. Both agree
that that we must make investments vital to reviving
America's long-term prospects.

[The Report:
http://www.ourfuture.org/report/citizenscommission] 

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