The Broader Market

by Camille Busette and Jordan Eizenga

Homeownership has long helped low- and moderate-income families build wealth that allows them to start businesses, educate their children, and retire with dignity. As a result of the recent housing and financial crises, American families will not have the same opportunity to build wealth through homeownership anytime soon. While sustainable homeownership remains an important goal, policymakers should explore other avenues to help low- and moderate-income families build household wealth. If we want to put these families on the path to homeownership, then we have to develop a comprehensive set of national policies that provide opportunities for and incentivize savings.

Unfortunately, the existing government incentives to save, invest, and build wealth are poorly advertised to the households that could use them the most. (For the rest of the issue brief, see here.)

by Michael Linden, John Griffith, and Jordan Eizenga

Stimulus is now a dirty word, especially among Republicans in Congress. But it wasn’t always so. In January 2008 when the economic picture was far less dire and the unemployment rate was only 4.8 percent, 165 Republicans in the House of Representatives and 33 Republican senators voted to pass a stimulus package with an estimated cost of $152 billion. That package provided tax cuts of up to $600 for individuals or $1,200 for married couples, plus an additional $300 per child. The bill also contained a number of temporary tax breaks for businesses. And just in case you thought President George W. Bush’s stimulus bill was simply a bunch of tax cuts, it also included $40 billion in direct spending. The legislation was even called the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008.

For more of the article, see here.