ST. LOUIS (KTVI - FOX2now.com) -
The Dow Jones Industrial average ended the day Tuesday at a 13 month high. But while Wall Street is soaring, unemployment is rising. Leading economists are now calling for a second stimulus, bigger than the first, to create jobs in a hurry. The chances of a second stimulus are better than you might think. Several influential economists want one, including the man who predicted the great recession. He says without another stimulus to create jobs immediately, next year could be worse than this year.
St. Louis, welcome to your stimulus. Rebuilding Memorial Drive downtown is using $5 million stimulus dollars. But it's not exactly creating hundreds, or even dozens, or even a few new jobs. That is why economists are saying it's time for a second stimulus to create a lot more jobs now.
Saint Louis University economist Jack Strauss says, "One out of six workers is unemployed or underemployed. That's the highest since the Great Depression."
Steve Fazzari, an economist at Washington University, says, "Another stimulus package of some kind would be desirable right now. I'm concerned that the jobs situation is--it's clearly very bad. It's clear that we have the worst job situation since the great recession, er, the great depression."
New York economist Nouriel Roubini predicted the credit collapse and the great recession. He says without a big job creation program now unemployment will keep climbing next year and those with jobs will face wage cuts and unpaid time off.
Strauss says, "That implies that we'll continue to have wage stagnation that implies we're going to have continued foreclosures."
A new stimulus could involve Washington creating fast infrastructure jobs.
"America's acting like a third world country where we have a crumbling infrastructure. We used to have the world's greatest infrastructure in the 1950's. We haven't updated it since we built the highway system forty, fifty years ago," says Strauss.
And it might also involve repeated federal checks for most households.
"I think we could look at a rebate that's over a longer period of time, maybe explicitly several years. Maybe we'll start sending out an annual check or a biennial check of a significant amount to families, " says Fazzari.
Which would sure beat a few blocks of new pavement downtown.
Bank of America economists predict another stimulus by early next year. They predict Congressional opposition to another stimulus will evaporate if job losses continue.
St. Louis, welcome to your stimulus. Rebuilding Memorial Drive downtown is using $5 million stimulus dollars. But it's not exactly creating hundreds, or even dozens, or even a few new jobs. That is why economists are saying it's time for a second stimulus to create a lot more jobs now.
Saint Louis University economist Jack Strauss says, "One out of six workers is unemployed or underemployed. That's the highest since the Great Depression."
Steve Fazzari, an economist at Washington University, says, "Another stimulus package of some kind would be desirable right now. I'm concerned that the jobs situation is--it's clearly very bad. It's clear that we have the worst job situation since the great recession, er, the great depression."
New York economist Nouriel Roubini predicted the credit collapse and the great recession. He says without a big job creation program now unemployment will keep climbing next year and those with jobs will face wage cuts and unpaid time off.
Strauss says, "That implies that we'll continue to have wage stagnation that implies we're going to have continued foreclosures."
A new stimulus could involve Washington creating fast infrastructure jobs.
"America's acting like a third world country where we have a crumbling infrastructure. We used to have the world's greatest infrastructure in the 1950's. We haven't updated it since we built the highway system forty, fifty years ago," says Strauss.
And it might also involve repeated federal checks for most households.
"I think we could look at a rebate that's over a longer period of time, maybe explicitly several years. Maybe we'll start sending out an annual check or a biennial check of a significant amount to families, " says Fazzari.
Which would sure beat a few blocks of new pavement downtown.
Bank of America economists predict another stimulus by early next year. They predict Congressional opposition to another stimulus will evaporate if job losses continue.
