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In a recent article in The NY Times entitled, "Some Very Creative Economic Fix-Its," the author, David Segal, discusses possible pathways we might pursue in order to start healing our economy and getting the 15 million Americans who are unemployed back to work:

We are not going to shop our way out of this mess. There has been a rebound in consumption since the grimmest days of the Great Recession, but that has not been joined by an uptick in hiring or a robust expansion.

So the question of our anxious age: What will return our economy to full-throttled life? We're not talking about tactical measures that will ease fears of a double-dip recession, or maintain some upward momentum in the stock market, or even add another 151,000 new jobs, as the economy did in October.

What's needed is a path to sustained growth. That means a strategy for the millions who have lost their jobs in recent years and some hope for the more than 125,000 new entrants to the United States labor market each month.

Got any ideas?

Segal then spends the rest of the article answering this question by interviewing various economists from around the country. Here are a few:

"Age and disease will be our next engine of growth," says Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor of economics at the New School. "That's the really good news."

Or this one:

The aging of America presents a different sort of opportunity to James K. Galbraith, a professor at the University of Texas. Professor Galbraith said he saw a way to alleviate the misery of one large group of Americans: the jobless elderly. Instead of sending them unemployment checks, the government should temporarily allow workers who are, say, 62 years old, to retire with full Social Security benefits. In essence, he said, the government would continue providing these people with assistance, but through retirement benefits instead of unemployment insurance.

Or the healing process of plain ole time:

Mark A. Calabria of the Cato Institute went further, emphasizing that time was a key ingredient to a recovery.

"If you have a house worth $200,000 and a mortgage of $250,000, inflation is going to raise the nominal value of your home," he said. "But your mortgage will stay the same. For borrowers who are underwater, inflation will get their heads closer to above water."

One of the most interesting ideas is mentioned by
Gar Alperovitz, a professor at the University of Maryland:

For hope that is a little more tangible, Professor Alperovitz pointed to local co-operatives that are sprouting up around the country. They tend to be employee owned, and get off the ground with private and foundation funding. Many of his favorite examples are found in Cleveland, of all places -- like the Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, an employee-owned firm that provides laundry services to hospitals, which started in 2009.

Professor Alperovitz tracks and catalogues enterprises like the cooperative laundry on a Web site, community-wealth.org. He says he sees in these companies the stirrings of a movement animated by the cold reality that neither the government nor private enterprise is on the verge of large-scale hiring.

"If the economy and the government don't have an answer to a problem," he says, "people are forced to try social enterprise."

The Evergreen Cooperative Laundry is a fascinating story outlined in this marvelous article/essay that appeared in The Nation magazine in February 2010:

Something important is happening in Cleveland: a new model of large-scale worker- and community-benefiting enterprises is beginning to build serious momentum in one of the cities most dramatically impacted by the nation's decaying economy. The Evergreen Cooperative Laundry (ECL)--a worker-owned, industrial-size, thoroughly "green" operation--opened its doors late last fall in Glenville, a neighborhood with a median income hovering around $18,000. It's the first of ten major enterprises in the works in Cleveland, where the poverty rate is more than 30 percent and the population has declined from 900,000 to less than 450,000 since 1950.

The employees, who are drawn largely from Glenville and other nearby impoverished neighborhoods, are enthusiastic. "Because this is an employee-owned business," says maintenance technician and former marine Keith Parkham, "it's all up to us if we want the company to grow and succeed."

Definitely take the time to read the entire NY Times article for ideas on how we can finally dig ourselves out of The Great Recession. And then check out the rest of the article on The Cleveland Model. That idea will definitely raise your spirits!

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