Needed: Both Kinds of Stimulus

The US recovery is stalling. As a matter of economics the balance of risks strongly favors further fiscal and monetary stimulus. Politics appears to rule out the first, and a divided Federal Reserve is hesitating over the second. America's leaders are letting the country down. So I argue in my new column for the Financial Times.

Actually, it's not too late--even taking the politics as fixed--for a further temporary stimulus based on temporary tax cuts. If Democrats could only swallow their disgust at letting the rich off the hook for another year or two, they could propose a tax-based job-boosting package that would be hard for the GOP to reject. This would not be the best stimulus you could design but it would be a lot better than nothing. Meanwhile, the Fed should move to another round of QE.