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The 21st-century economy has been a two-decade series of punches in the gut.
The century began in economic triumphalism in the United States, with a sense that business cycles had been vanquished and prosperity secured for a blindingly bright future. Instead, a mild recession was followed by a weak recovery followed by a financial crisis followed by another weak recovery followed by a pandemic-induced collapse. A couple of good years right before the pandemic aside, it has been two decades of overwhelming inequality and underwhelming growth an economy in which a persistently weak job market has left vast human potential untapped, helping fuel social and political dysfunction.
The Fight Is On to Define the Pandemic Aid Bill
Democrats have embraced the scope and cost of the stimulus measure, daring Republicans to campaign against the myriad benefits it delivers for their constituents.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday. The bill is likely to be a main point of contention in next year’s midterm elections, as Democrats seek to retain their thin majorities in the House and the Senate.Credit.Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times
March 11, 2021
WASHINGTON Congressional Republicans and Democrats finally agree on something: The pandemic rescue bill President Biden signed into law on Thursday is the largest expansion of government support programs in more than 50 years. Where they differ is on whether that is good or bad.
In his first prime-time address from the White House, the president said that he would order states to make all adults eligible for the vaccine by May 1 and that a return to normalcy was possible by July 4.
WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package is being hailed by Democrats and progressive policy advocates as a generational expansion of the social safety net,.
| Updated: March 13, 2021, 12:32 a.m.
An “unprecedented” influx of state and federal cash for homelessness and housing is expected to flow into Utah this year something members of the state’s religious community see as an opportunity to radically reduce the number of unhoused people in the state.
Their “big idea” for how governments should spend the money? Buy underused motels and hotels and convert them into permanent supportive housing for people who don’t have shelter.
“We’re in a time where the hotel industry is distressed,” noted Bill Tibbitts, associate director of the Crossroads Urban Center, in outlining the concept during a panel discussion on Thursday. “There are people who might welcome the opportunity to get out of the business. So it makes [sense] and it’s being done in other places.”