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
A Modest Proposal to Help the U.S. Avoid an Economic…
The United States is headed for an economic version of a Wall Street triple witching hour. In finance, a triple witching house comes along four times a year, when options contracts on stocks, options contracts on stock indexes, and futures contracts of those indexes all expire at the same time on the same day. Washingtons own version will unfold at…Continue reading
Memo to American Conservatives: America Is NOT Greece
European leaders next week will sign off on another $172 billion bailout for Greece, one small step back from a disastrous debt default. When the deal is signed, brace yourself for a chorus of charges from President Obamas critics that his policies will make America the next Greece. These Chicken Littles are talking nonsense. They misunderstand Greeces real weaknesses and…Continue reading
The Economics and Politics of Inequality, Part 2 The Role…
Economic inequality is an important issue this year, because a growing number of Americans now see it as a threat to their living standards and aspirations. Mitt Romney and others say that envy, not facts, drives this debate. But the facts are too large and well-known to dismiss, starting with the astounding one that from 1976 to 2007, the share…Continue reading
The Economics and Politics of Contemporary Inequality, Part 1
Barring some unforeseeable event, Mitt Romney is virtually certain to be the GOP nominee for president. Judging by President Obamas decision to make inequality a main theme of his State of the Union address, the White House has been counting on facing Romney. More than anyone else in national politics, Mitt Romneys own deeds and words may be said to…Continue reading
The State of the Union and the Power of Technological…
President Obama made inequality a major theme of his State of the Union address last night, an unsurprising choice as he prepares to face Mitt Romney. Everyone now knows that just last year Mr. Romney paid a smaller share of his $21 million income in taxes than the average American paid on a $50,000 salary. But if inequality was the…Continue reading
The Bankruptcy of Austerity Economics
Conservative conventional wisdom collided this week with a dose of economic reality, and the winner is reality. For two years, every Republican congressional leader and presidential hopeful has proudly insisted these days that austerity is the cure for a sluggish economy like ours. It is an approach embraced most memorably, of course, by Herbert Hoover, although Angela Merkel also pushes it…Continue reading
Obama Channels Clinton on the Economy, But Will it Work…
In Kansas last week, President Obama laid out the economic brief for his reelection. Its substance plainly recalls the program Bill Clinton offered in 1992. Both plans are built around new public commitments to education, R&D and infrastructure, some fiscal restraint to finance the public investments and unleash more private investment, plus some modest redistribution of the tax burden from…Continue reading
Will Europe Step Back from the Brink this Week?
On the edge and the eve of a financial market meltdown, Germany seems to now accept that the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis poses the greatest danger to the European, American and global economies since the early 1930s. Yet, the world still is far from out of the Euro-woods. Yes, Angela Merkel’s Chancellery has finally signaled that she and her government will permit the European Central Bank (ECB) to stabilize the value of Italy’s public debt. But first, Italy, France and 14 other…Continue reading