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
The Lessons of Today’s Troubling Report on GDP
This morning's disappointing report that GDP actually declined by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of last year is a lesson in how government and serendipity can shape our economic path, especially in the short-term. The basic elements of economic prosperity are in place. To begin, Americans are spending again: Personal consumption accelerated from a 1.6 percent increase in the…Continue reading
The New Nihilism in the Debate over the Debt Ceiling
For decades, fiscal conservatives have used congressional debates over raising the debt limit to vent their frustrations with big government. But no one seriously questioned the need to do so, not until a band of Tea Party uber-conservatives in 2011 resolved to use the debt limit as a bargaining chip in budget talks. They ignored the fact that raising the…Continue reading
Modest Progress on the Deficit Is Just What the U.S.…
One argument nearly entirely absent in the debate over the fiscal cliff issues is the effect on the economy. True, some diehard conservatives warn that without drastic steps to privatize part of Social Security and much of Medicare, our national debt will soon make us pariahs in global capital markets, on the Greek model. But there was never any economic…Continue reading
The Real Economics of the Fiscal Cliff
Thank goodness for the fiscal cliff. Without it, most of Washington would be home for the holidays, happy to put off the unpleasantness of raising taxes and cutting spending. But the truth is, the only part of the cliff that really matters right now is the Bush tax cuts. Yes, much has been made about triggering large, across-the-board cuts in…Continue reading
The Real Economics of the Fiscal Cliff
Thank goodness for the fiscal cliff. Without it, most of Washington would be home for the holidays, happy to put off the unpleasantness of raising taxes and cutting spending. But the truth is, the only part of the cliff that really matters right now is the Bush tax cuts. Yes, much has been made about triggering large, across-the-board cuts in…Continue reading
The Real Economics of the Fiscal Cliff
Thank goodness for the fiscal cliff. Without it, most of Washington would be home for the holidays, happy to put off the unpleasantness of raising taxes and cutting spending. But the truth is, the only part of the cliff that really matters right now is the Bush tax cuts. Yes, much has been made about triggering large, across-the-board cuts in…Continue reading
The Real Economics of the Fiscal Cliff
Thank goodness for the fiscal cliff. Without it, most of Washington would be home for the holidays, happy to put off the unpleasantness of raising taxes and cutting spending. But the truth is, the only part of the cliff that really matters right now is the Bush tax cuts. Yes, much has been made about triggering large, across-the-board cuts in…Continue reading
Some Thoughts on the Fiscal Cliff
The fiscal cliff is more of a cascade ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù or a game of dominoes. First, they have to make a deal on the terms on which the Bush tax cuts will be renewed. That appears to be fairly likely, since GOP leaders seem to have conceded that additional revenues are inevitable. So, the deal to be struck is how precisely…Continue reading