Nobel Laureate Economist Joseph Stiglitz: Trump’s “Trickle-Down” Economic Plans Are Not Enough To Meet Dire Challenge Of Coronavirus Crisis

Democracy Now! (3/19/20)

The coronavirus relief package signed by President Trump Wednesday provides unemployment benefits and free coronavirus testing to millions of Americans suddenly out of a job, but guarantees paid sick leave to less than 20% of American workers. Earlier this month, Trump signed into law an $8 billion coronavirus response package and has laid out the first details of a third, $1 trillion economic package and invoked the Korean War-era Defense Production Act to allow the government to direct industrial production.

For more on those bailouts and who benefits, we speak with Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winning economist, Columbia University professor and chief economist for the Roosevelt Institute. He served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton and as chief economist of the World Bank. His latest book is “People, Power and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent.”

Link To Story, Transcript & 21-Minute Video

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Stiglitz: How To Combat The Coronavirus Pandemic With Progressive Capitalism

Democracy Now! (3/19/20)

In Part 2 of our look at President Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says Trump’s push for a payroll tax, for example, “would be undermining the fiber of our economy. … It doesn’t help now, and it really hurts going forward.”

Link To Story, Transcript And 25-Minute Video