EPI's American Jobs Plan:
Strengthen the safety net"
- unemployment compensation
- COBRA health coverage
- nutrition assistance)
Fiscal relief to state and local governments
Investments in transportation and schools
Direct creation of public service jobs
A new job creation tax credit.
"The American Jobs Plan... will create at least 4.6 million jobs in the first year, at a total first-year gross cost of roughly $400 billion. This entire cost can be recouped within 10 years by enacting a financial transactions tax (FTT), which would take effect three years after enactment... a highly progressive way to raise revenue by imposing a small tax on the sale of stocks and other financial products..."
At this point, anything that boosts the government's deficit over the next two years passes the benefit-cost test--anything at all. And EPI's ways of spending money are much better than anything the Senate is likely to come up with by itself.
The problem with an FTT, of course, is that it needs to be applied everywhere in the world all at once--or midtown Manhattan simply moves to Canary Wharf
