Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/534897
June 29 - July 20, 2015 18 Working World l WorkingWorld.com M ore than seven years after the Great Recession began in 2007, many Americans are still strug- gling to put their economic lives back together. Factors such as low wages, high interest rates on credit cards and a mediocre job market continue to make a lot of families feel like the recovery passed them by, says Dr. Ravi Batra, an economist and author of the new book "End Unemployment Now: How to Eliminate Joblessness, Debt and Poverty Despite Congress." (www.ravibatra.com) It doesn't have to be this way, he says. "The main cause of our troubles is monopoly capitalism, which is a system dominated by giant companies that charge high prices, pay low wages and extract huge productivity from employees," says Batra, an economics professor at Southern Methodist University. "As a result, supply rises faster than demand and generates layoffs. So the solution lies in breaking up the behemoths and returning to free markets, where many firms engage in price and quality competition." That's easier said than done, though, because of the political considerations, Batra says. He surmises that any attempt to move legislation through Congress would meet with failure. But there are other options. Batra says any U.S. president could take actions to improve the situation without going through Congress. Among the possibilities: • The president could use a 1987 law and direct the FDIC to create what is known as a "bridge bank" that would compete with large banks. This could cut interest rates on credit cards by two-thirds. Banks still charge the same high interests rates they did in 2007, even though, thanks to the Federal Reserve, their borrowing costs are close to zero, he says. • The Commodity Futures Trading Commission can use its emergency power to raise the margin requirement for buying oil futures from the current 6 percent to 50 percent. That would cause the oil price to fall to its free-market level of $20 per barrel. During past minor recessions, Batra says, such prices usually fell to less than $15 and helped speed up recoveries. • The Treasury should issue five-year bonds to needy retirees, offering a fixed FEATURED ARTICLE by Dr. Ravi Batra "The main cause of our troubles is monopoly capitalism, which is a system dominated by giant companies that charge high prices, pay low wages and extract huge productivity from employees," 4 Steps That Can Help End Unemployment And Poverty Now Economist Says Monopoly Capitalism Is The Main Cause Of Economic Doldrums