US unemployment is back up to 9.1 percent and 45 percent of the jobless have been out of work for more than six months, 30 percent for more than a year. Joblessness has become chronically high on both sides of the Atlantic, but "policy makers are sinking into a condition of learned helplessness on the jobs issue. The more they fail to do anything, the more they convince themselves there's nothing they could do." That's according to Nobel-Prize winner and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who insists it's time for governments to take action. Is stimulus spending the answer? What about the deficit? Are both Democrats and Republicans failing to govern? In the meantime, what are the consequences of chronic unemployment? Will the US go the way of Spain? We talk with Krugman and others.
Have People in Power Turned Their Back on Job Creation?
Credits
Guests:
- Paul Krugman - New York Times / Princeton University - @paulkrugman
- John Martin - Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development
- Kristen Soltis Anderson - Republican pollster; founding partner, Echelon Insights - @KSoltisAnderson
- Gary Burtless - Brookings Institution