Jan Kregel

Navigating the Jobs Crisis: Households Need a Bailout, Too

In the wake of the highest unemployment rate in 25 years, the Roosevelt Institute asked historians, economists and other public thinkers to reflect on the lessons of the New Deal and explore new, big ideas for how to get America back to work. Jan Kregel argues that households, as well as banks, need direct government help.

Support of financial institutions is justified because they are too big and interconnected to resolve. Yet, households — in aggregate bigger and more interconnected — are being allowed to fail. The main assets of an average household are a job and a house. The mirror…