The administration has made economic policy as if it believes that once financial institutions and financial markets are restored, credit will start flowing and growth will follow.

The welfare reforms of 1996 replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) as the primary safety for the poor. But the Great Recession has exposed the failure of TANF as a safety net to catch American families as they experience hardship.

The urgent need to boost American economic growth while reducing the U.S. trade deficit makes it imperative to rebuild America’s manufacturing sector. Capital and labor that were diverted during the bubble years into unproductive, inflated assets in the housing and stock markets need to be shifted into the production of tradable goods to be exported or substituted for imports. A successful policy to reinvigorate U.S.

Speaking this past week at the Ex-Im Bank, President Obama laid out his strategy for doubling American exports within five years, a goal he announced in his State of the Union Address. Naming it the National Export Initiative, he described the strategy as “an ambitious effort to marshal the full resources of the United States government behind American businesses that sell their goods and services abroad.” The Initiative calls for the creation of an Export Promotion Cabinet, made up of the Secretaries of State, Treasury, Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor along with the United State