“The key response must initially be to expand the earned-income tax credit
and then ultimately have a universal basic income ensuring at least subsistence,” said Robert Reich, public policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who was labor secretary under President Clinton.
“If the private market isn’t creating the jobs people need, then the public sector should engage in direct job creation,” said Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities, who was chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden.
“How to make the forces of technology and globalization work for people
and not against them is the biggest public policy challenge in America,” Mr. Kessler said.
One camp suggests raising corporate taxes while lowering income taxes for workers,
but another proposes cutting or eliminating the corporate income tax and raising personal income tax rates instead.
“People in the rest of the country have good jobs-producing ideas, too,” said Jim Kessler, senior vice president for policy at Third Way.
He said the technique “has a better track record than people think.” A recent study by the Georgetown Center on Poverty
and Inequality examined 40 programs over 40 years, and found they were successful at things like improving workers’ skills and reducing their dependence on public benefits.
