Reconciliation: How the Democrats Can Run the Table
Congressional Democrats will take office in January with the broadest mandate since the post-Watergate midterms in 1974—twice the popular-vote margin the Contract-with-America Republicans won in 1994. The work begins with dismantling most of what Donald Trump and his corrupt, incompetent administration have done over the past two years. Much of what Trump wrought came through his One Big Beautiful (sic)… Continue reading
Zero Day Exploits — Can We Control the Arms Race?…
Yesterday, a new stage of the "roaring debate" over cyber policy made the news, thanks to David Sanger of the New York Times. He revealed that the U.S. government is now one of the biggest purchasers of information about “zero days,” which are software coding flaws that can be used by cyber criminals to penetrate computers and (potentially) wreak havoc…Continue reading
Republicans Maintain Hard Opposition to Obamacare at Their Own Political…
The political struggle over Obamacare has reached a critical inflection point as real events have overtaken its opponents' basic arguments. That opposition has always drawn on doubts about the public's real interest in a federal guarantee to health insurance and their tolerance for a mandate to enforce it. After the program’s fitful start, it is now clear that large numbers…Continue reading
Beyond the Sabre Rattling, Will Russia or the West Bail…
The crisis over Ukraine is quickly becoming a geostrategic conflict. As Vladimir Putin maneuvers to restore Russia's right to behave with a superpower's impunity, particularly in its own backyard, the West pushes back. But economic forces also have shaped this confrontation, especially Ukraine’s record as the world’s worst-performing industrial economy over the last twenty years. It was popular discontent with…Continue reading
Memo to Democrats: U.S. Workers could be Big Winners in…
President Obama’s drive to complete new open trade agreements with the European Union and 11 Pacific Rim nations are the most critical economic initiatives of his second term. Their importance reflects the basic patterns of economic growth across the world. After a decade of unusually weak growth, job creation and income gains, America’s prospects for rising wages and employment are…Continue reading
What the New Jobless Report Means
The jobless rate fell sharply again -- from 7.0 percent to 6.7 percent -- but the reason wasn't a burst of new job creation. In fact, total employment was up by just 74,000. What changed in December was that new layoffs fell sharply, which we usually see in the first two years of an expansion. It's some two years behind…Continue reading
Bloomberg’s Education Reforms Will Be His Legacy
As Michael Bloomberg prepares his exit as New York City's mayor, a new analysis suggests that his signature reforms of public education will comprise much of his legacy. Unsurprisingly, the reason is hard economics. Under his reforms, the share of NYC youths earning their high school diplomas and the share going on to college both rose sharply. For some 71,000…Continue reading
Unravelling America’s Problems with Incomes, Inequality and Upward Mobility
President Obama deserves at least two cheers for his recent economic address. In an unusually clear-eyed assessment of how the economy has shaped our current politics and national mood, he traced most people’s disillusion with government to their “daily battles to make ends meet.” The “defining challenge of our time,” he declared, is to make “sure our economy works for…Continue reading
Statement on the November Employment Report
Today's upbeat jobs news is, simply put, really good news. Yes, the sharp dip in unemployment from 7.3 percent in October to 7.0 percent in November, with gains of 203,000 nonfarm jobs, reflects in part the return of furloughed federal workers and those whose jobs depend on them. But the November gains were so substantial, because the government shutdown obscured steady…Continue reading