CEPR Policy Proposals for Rapid Pandemic Response
The federal government has meaningful tools available to turn a terrible situation into one that is meaningfully less terrible. CEPR experts Eileen Appelbaum, Dean Baker, Jeff Hauser, and Shawn Fremstad drew up a broad list of practical, doable solutions to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. They also call out corporate welfare schemes dressed up as economic stimulus.
Mark Weisbrot and Dean Baker were joined by economists Jeffrey Sachs and Francisco Rodríguez and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes in calling for the US government to immediately lift economic sanctions against Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and other countries to avoid unnecessary deaths and spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The OAS’s Final Report’s authors “misrepresent data and evidence."
Despite claims to the contrary, the OAS has yet to provide evidence that irregularities altered the outcome of the October Bolivian elections, or were part of an actual attempt to do so. A new 82-page paper by Jake Johnston and David Rosnick examines the OAS’s Final Report on its audit of the elections and shows how that report’s authors misrepresent data and evidence found in the audit in an attempt to further bolster claims of intentional manipulation. Our study examines factors such as irregular tally sheets and the presence of “hidden servers” in detail, providing a comprehensive rebuttal to the OAS’s Final Report.
“This time, the IMF should forget about conditionality or loan-facilities and should straight up issue 10 times the amount of SDRs that were issued in the midst of the Global Financial Crisis a decade ago.” In a piece originally for FT Alphaville, Andrés Arauz writes that the IMF should issue 3 trillion in SDRs to help Global South economies stay afloat during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“In raw numbers, the Haitian diaspora in Florida is more than double the size of the Venezuelan diaspora. And it is not limited solely to Florida; there are significant population centers of Haitian diaspora in … New York and Massachusetts.” Jake Johnston writes for the Haitian Times on the important role the Haitian diaspora will play in the 2020 US elections.
“Even in the face of this pandemic, Congress is reluctant to permanently mandate a paid sick leave program.”
Today, CEPR released a timely update, Contagion Nation 2020: United States Still the Only Wealthy Nation without Paid Sick Leave. This update of our similarly named 2009 report reveals that in just over a decade, the US has fallen even further behind our peer nations. Earlier today, a watered-down version of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act was signed. This only temporarily grants paid time off for some threatened by the coronavirus, but leaves out covering workers with 500 or more employees. “Even in the face of this pandemic, Congress is reluctant to permanently mandate a paid sick leave program,” said Hye Jin Rho, the report’s co-author.
CEPR experts are examining the fast-moving policy shifts in the wake of this pandemic. "It is encouraging that the Trump administration is now taking steps to respond to the economic damage, but from what has been disclosed, its plan is poorly designed,” Dean Baker, Eileen Appelbaum, Jeff Hauser, and Mark Weisbrot write. Baker sent out this warning when Trump announced he planned a temporary cut in the Social Security payroll tax to stimulate the economy: “Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress cannot be trusted to protect the Social Security trust fund.”
Consider following Dean Baker’s commentary in Beat the Press, for more timely and fresh perspectives on economic and policy ideas. In addition to Beat the Press, in this New Republic piece, Baker unveils how patent monopolies turn scientists from all over the world into coronavirus profiteers as they compete, rather than cooperate, in the race to discover a COVID-19 vaccine.
First, it was Senate Republicans who blocked the passage of an emergency paid sick leave bill to address hardships faced by quarantined or sick workers without paid leave that Eileen Appelbaum condemned. Then, this weekend, it was Democrats she called out for accepting “egregious compromises” to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which now excludes employers with 500 or more employees from the mandated paid sick days and paid family and medical leave provisions.
The pandemic will strain America’s modest social safety net programs, SNAP and TANF. The emergency Families First Coronavirus Response Act, expected to be signed into law today, improves access to SNAP by waiving the work test and certain other kludgy requirements, but only temporarily, explains Shawn Fremstad. Fremstad also recommends following Canada’s lead to strengthen TANF, “...by ensuring that all children in low-income and working-class households receive a monthly child benefit without the burdens and hassles of TANF.”
CEPR in the News
The Washington Post, citing CEPR, The OAS Helped Undermine, Not Restore, Democracy in Bolivia
The American Prospect, quoting Eileen Appelbaum, Unsanitized: Private Equity Licks Its Chops
In These Times, quoting Cavan Kharrazian, U.S. Sanctions on Iran Are Increasing Coronavirus Deaths. They Need to Be Stopped Now.
USAToday, quoting Eileen Appelbaum, Dentists Under Pressure to Drill ‘Healthy Teeth’ For Profit, Former Insiders Allege
Aristegui Noticias, quoting Jake Johnston and David Rosnick, OEA actuó de forma ‘poco ética’ en revisión de elecciones bolivianas: CEPR
Associated Press, citing CEPR, ‘Jail Class’: College Students, Inmates Learning Together
Revolving Door Project
CEPR’s Revolving Door Project has expanded. Its new website makes it easier than ever to learn about this groundbreaking project. Visit www.therevolvingdoorproject.org to see a record of much of the project’s work since its founding, including blog posts, op-eds, public comments, letters, and FOIA requests. Also, be sure to check out the Revolving Door Project and the Demand Progress Education Fund’s newly-launched Agency Spotlight, which is easily accessible from our new homepage. And, sign up for the project's regular newsletter and follow @revolvingdoorDC on Twitter.
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