Countries around the world are starting to reopen their economies—to varying degrees of success. In Volume II of our Reopening America & the World project, Brookings experts discuss how different countries have approached reopening and present a number of recommendations for protecting people's health, restarting whole economies, and promoting social reintegration.
In 2018, 2.8 million workers were directly employed in America's justice, public order, and safety sector. Amid calls for the dismantling of the country's policing- and prison-industrial complex, Jacob Whiton says advocates of defunding the carceral state must also contend with the role it plays in many smaller cities and rural quarters of the nation: a de facto public jobs program.
The Federal Reserve established the Main Street Lending Program to extend credit to small and medium businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19, but banks and businesses have shown little interest in the program. William English and Nellie Liang propose further changes to increase its odds of success.
Removing racist symbols. When combined with effective public policy, the removal of symbols that embody America's racist history can help usher in a new era of cultural change, Jhacova Williams argues.
Juneteenth is a rallying cry for reparations. "We have fought in every war and died to defend a utopian way of life that we never truly benefited from. We love America, but America has never truly loved us back. Reparations is the only path toward true racial equity in the United States of America," Rashawn Ray writes.
Closing the racial wealth gap. E.J. Dionne discusses a promising proposal from Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) that would create a federally-funded savings account for every child at birth.
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