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
This Week’s Debt Deal Is George W. Bush’s Revenge –…
There is plenty of blame to go around for the recent debt and deficit shenanigans, but who should get the credit?   I nominate George W. Bush. Not only did his administration’s negligence secure the foundations for the financial upheavals which ultimately created much of the short-term deficit. The role of his tax cuts in driving much of the medium term…Continue reading
The Real Crisis Here Isn’t Over the Budget or the…
The United States, everyone seems to agree, faces an economic crisis, though its character depends on who raises the alarm. Most economists are mainly worried about financial turmoil and a deep slump if the U.S. government defaults on its sovereign obligations.  Traditional conservatives fret about the prospects for future business investment and growth if Washington doesn’t cut deeply into its…Continue reading
The Real Dangers from the New Austerity
To an economist, the current crusade by congressional Republicans to slash spending during a slow expansion seems to be about half ideology — the crude Tea Party view that most of what government does is corrupt or wasteful — and about half simple partisanship. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that so many governments have been gripped by a…Continue reading
Globalization 2.0 and the Rise of the Rest
International economic conferences like the one I attended in Rio a few weeks ago can be a little tedious, when experts debate their latest econometric models. Yet, I sat up and listened very intently when an IMF official remarked, almost as an aside, that the world’s emerging economies would account for 48 percent of global GDP this year. That means…Continue reading
The Cost of Playing Games with the Full Faith and…
I spent last week in Rio attending a meeting of the IMF’s advisory board for the Western Hemisphere — and returned this week to Washington for the latest round of threats and charges over raising the U.S. debt limit. The contrast was, at once, disturbing and farcical. At the IMF meeting, former finance ministers, prime ministers and other ex-economic policy…Continue reading
Running on Empty: The Economics and Politics of Gasoline Prices
Mother Nature is intervening again in U.S. energy markets. Just as falling oil prices are puncturing upward pressures on gasoline prices, prospects of serious flooding in areas of the Gulf states where refineries are concentrated has sent gas future prices soaring again. With the economy sputtering a bit again, it’s not welcome news for the President, or for the rest…Continue reading
Cutting Long-Term Deficits Alone Won’t Fix the Economy
Washington is mesmerized these days with the two parties’ various stratagems to turn the deficit debate to their own advantage.  But all this political maneuvering may carry a big cost for Americans, as it sidelines any serious action on our larger, more immediate economic problems. The U.S. expansion is in some danger today, but not from the deficit projections for…Continue reading
President Obama Wins the First Round with Paul Ryan
Yesterday’s presidential address on fiscal policy was a very striking scene. The venue was a small auditorium at George Washington University. Invitations went out just two days earlier; and with so little notice, GWU students made up more than half of the audience. Former Democratic economic policy officials — myself and perhaps 10 others — directors of Democratic-allied policy shops,…Continue reading