Samuel Sherraden: All Publications, Events and Press

Charity Is an Insult to Small Business

Kate Schuler — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:12:00 -0500

Goldman Sachs, the most profitable firm on Wall Street, announced last week that it will set aside $500 million for "10,000 Small Businesses," a charity co-sponsored by famed investor Warren Buffett and devoted to helping small American businesses survive the economic crisis.

While Goldman may see this as a generous move, its charity is an offense to struggling entrepreneurs and a symbol of failed government policy.

Landing a Job Like Getting into Harvard

Erin Drankoski — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:50:00 -0500

The 650,000 jobs created or saved by the stimulus package so far make up only a small step toward correcting the gap between the tens of millions of unemployed people and the few openings that those people are fighting over.

Even the administration's goal of creating 3.5 million jobs is far below what the economy really needs. With an official unemployment rate of 10.2 percent, the gap between the number of full-time job openings and the number of people who are unemployed has widened.

The Jobs Deficit

Economic Growth — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:06:00 -0400

The economy has lost 8 million jobs since the beginning of the recession. But because the population is growing, we need to create over 9.6 million jobs. Due to severe job loss and steady population growth, the unemployment rate has soared to 9.8%, nearly as high as during the early 1980s.

To read more, click on the slideshow below.

America's Debt Overhang

Kate Schuler — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:00:00 -0400

The bursting of the housing and credit bubble has left the United States with a large debt overhang. America’s total debt is at a historical high of 373% of GDP and has more than doubled since 1980, when it stood at 161%. Household and financial sector debt has accounted for the lion’s share of the increase.

To read more, click on the slideshow below.

State Predicts Bright Future for Jobs in Solar Energy | Boston Globe

Cecille Isidro — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:06:00 -0400

Samuel Sherraden, a policy analyst at the nonpartisan New America Foundation in Washington, DC, said the industry is too new to benefit from job creation ... and more »

Rush to Renewables Threatens to Blow Another Bubble | The National

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:04:00 -0400

Another recent study, by Samuel Sherraden and Jason Peuquet of the New America Foundation, a public policy institute in Washington found that America's ...

Green Jobs Can't Save The Economy | Forbes

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:03:00 -0400

Indeed a recent study by Sam Sherraden at the center-left New America Foundation finds that, for the most part, green jobs constitute a negligible factor in ...

Overselling the Green Recovery | Fox News

Erin Drankoski — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:39:00 -0400

Samuel Sherraden from New America Foundation on why the government's $60 billion stimulus for green job creation hasn't worked. Original clip

Watch the latest business video at FOXBusiness.com

Green Jobs: Hope or Hype?

Kate Schuler — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:57:00 -0400

After the release of a miserable June jobs report, President Obama stood with a group of green company CEOs and told reporters that "men and women like these will help lead us out of this recession and into a better future."

But if the White House puts too many eggs in the green recovery basket, we may all be disappointed. The green sector is simply not large enough or competitive enough to be a major engine of job creation.

From California Roll to US Casserole | Financial Times

Cecille Isidro — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:05:00 -0400

From Mr Samuel Sherraden: "Sir, Richard Bernstein (“America is for now still blowing bubbles”, July 21) is correct that the US economy looks like a California roll: fundamentally Japanese but with American characteristics. But the answer to this bubble dependency is not to choose austerity. A better policy response would make the transition away from the Japanese-American “California roll” economy to the old-fashioned, productive, investment-based US casserole economy...

Manufacturing and the U.S. Economy

Economic Growth — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:51:00 -0400

Click here to download the full report.

Green Trade Balance

Communications — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:12:00 -0400

Green Trade Balance

Economic Growth — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0400

Green investment is a major pillar of the president's economic recovery plan. Yet, America's dependence on foreign countries to produce green technologies may undermine this recovery strategy. Using a list of green goods derived from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), we have determined that the United States ran an overall green trade deficit of -$8.9 billion in 2008, including a deficit of -$6.4 billion in the critical category of renewable energy, one of the main targets of the Obama administration's green agenda. The U.S. economy also suffered a significant deficit in the pollution management category. On the positive side, the United States ran modest surpluses in two categories--energy efficiency and a grouping of other environmental goods related to water purification and sustainable agriculture.

Sustaining an Infrastructure for Success

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:34:00 -0400

In the wake of infrastructure related tragedies that struck Minnesota and New Orleans, political leaders have demonstrated once again that they do not understand the benefits of public investment. Mistakenly seeing only the financial burden of public investment and ignoring the future returns, they have failed to allocate enough public funds to adequately repair America’s roads, bridges, railways and electric grids. As a consequence, America is stopped short of reaching its full economic potential.

The costs of our crumbling infrastructure include wasted fuel, traffic delays and clogged ports. Congestion on America’s roads results in losses between $70 to 78 billion every year in wasted fuel. The U.S. Transportation Department estimates freight bottlenecks waste $200 billion per year in inefficiency. While demand for infrastructure has increased, we have not only failed to expand capacity, but also failed to adequately maintain existing transportation networks. Poor road conditions alone cost the average American $275 dollars a year in repairs, and according to the Highway Economics Requirements System (HERS) of the Federal Highway Administration, over $460 billion should be spent today on roads and highways due to current poor conditions and operational performance. Based on savings from transportation costs alone, public infrastructure investment would save Americans hundreds of billions of dollars every year.

Not only would robust infrastructure investment shed the dead weight of infrastructure problems, it would also propel the economy forward by attracting business investment, stimulating job creation and generating tax revenue. Failure to maintain roads, railways, seaports and airports has increased the cost of moving goods around the U.S. and made delivery less reliable.

Thomas Donohue, the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has voiced his concern about America’s failure to provide world-class infrastructure and has warned that should we fail to invest, our economy will not achieve its full potential. If we ignore Mr. Donohue’s warning, inadequate infrastructure will further depress business investment in the United States and companies will seek opportunities abroad.

As we linger, competition to U.S. manufacturing and other industries from developing countries is mounting. For the first time, high-tech corporations such as Intel are moving full operations to China to take advantage of lower wages and infrastructure tailored to attract private investment. We must compete not by resorting to protectionist measures or by depressing U.S. wages, but by pursuing a high-road investment strategy in public infrastructure. Bernard Schwartz and Sherle Schwenninger argue in a recent piece in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, "By providing businesses with a better high-tech infrastructure, more skilled workers, and access to cheaper and cleaner energy, it lowers the cost of doing business and increases the efficiency of investment in the United States."

With a well-maintained world-class infrastructure, firms will onshore high-tech manufacturing and advanced services. Technology firms have swarmed to the Columbia River Gorge, where they have access to large amounts of cheap, clean, reliable electricity. Similar investment in bridges and roads today will give business the capacity to profit and pay us returns tomorrow. Stimulated private business investment will increase corporate revenues, create jobs, increase American exports and ease the U.S. trade deficit.

Investment in the productive capacity of American business has defined our historic economic development. Projects like the Interstate Highway System returned six dollars for every dollar invested. It would be a mistake for modern political decision makers to abandon a tried and true, business-oriented public investment strategy.

Unequal distribution of infrastructure across the United States also disrupts business development and investment. For example, the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband penetration, a measure of access and affordability to high-speed Internet. In neglecting information-age infrastructure such as Internet access, we are sacrificing enormous productivity gains for large regions of the country.

Recent growth in Southern California illustrates the vast potential of infrastructure investment. Urban affairs expert Joel Kotkin points to the example of Orange County, San Diego, and the Inland Empire, where local leaders made the decision to invest heavily in infrastructure and have accordingly reaped substantial economic benefits. The region added 1.1 million jobs from 1994-2005. In contrast, the San Francisco Bay Area, notorious for having the worst infrastructure in the state, suffered dismal job growth of 93,000 during the same time period -- just one twelfth that of their Southern California neighbors. For cities across America this trend holds true. Those that invest in infrastructure, such as Dallas, Houston, Charleston and Phoenix, have enjoyed strong job growth and equitable economic development. Meanwhile, those that have failed to invest, such as New York, Boston and Baltimore, have experienced dismal job growth and greater inequality.

Public investment will attract corporations to onshore production, reinvigorate the work force, and generate strong tax revenue. We must move beyond the nickel-and-diming attitude we have taken toward our productive capacity; we must think bold and basic, and invest in public infrastructure. Finally, we must abandon our present misconception that financing public investment is a burden. Rather, it is the best chance for us to re-stake our claim in America’s future economic growth.