How Harris Can Seal the Deal with Undecided Voters in…
Kamala Harris has figured out that Donald Trump’s screeds and threats have become background noise—and that responding with vision and policies is more effective than with anger. It worked remarkably well in last week’s debate, but she still has to close the deal with swing state voters who remain undecided or persuadable. To do that, she should exploit Trump’s liabilities… Continue reading
How to Find a “Free†$420 Billion to Stimulate the…
President-elect Obama says he’ll consider any good idea to address our accelerating economic decline and help stabilize the financial system. In fact, there’s a huge, untapped resource to do both sitting on the balance sheets of America’s multinational companies: Their foreign subsidiaries are holding about $1 trillion in past earnings, because our tax laws defer the U.S. corporate tax until…Continue reading
Politics and the Economic Crisis
Barack Obama's historic election as a new, national agent of change will face a daunting test as the economic crisis continues to accelerate, and the political pressures arising from what must now be called “The Great Recession†begin to reshape the response. The latest evidence is today’s unemployment data: One million jobs lost in two months; the sharpest eight-month rise…Continue reading
Christian Science Economics
The Bush administration, long known for faith-based initiatives, has embraced a new form of faith-based economics to address the financial crisis and cascading recession: We’ll call it an economic version of Christian Science, prescribing modest steps to make the patient comfortable while largely leaving us to heal ourselves. It’s only an analogy, but play along. A succession of debilitating infections…Continue reading
The Politics of Trading Recession for Inflation
On virtually everything economic, the Bush administration and much of Congress have become the gang that can’t shoot straight — and their stray bullets could take down a good piece of the nation’s economic prospects. They have directed hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to financial institutions (and soon, auto companies), and they’re getting ready to direct several hundred billion…Continue reading
The Financial Crisis and Crony Capitalism
The financial crisis and the profound economic reversals reverberating around the globe caught up last week with Citigroup, the world's largest financial institution. Citigroup is still solvent, but it holds several hundred billion dollars of heavily-leveraged, troubled assets — and once the market began to focus on the potential losses, as it did last week, the bailout became a foregone…Continue reading
If Detroit Goes Down, Will It Take the Economy —…
In a remarkable spectacle, an Administration with a sustained record of economic blunders and failures finds itself aghast at the mistakes and mismanagement of U.S. automobile companies. Imagine Confederate General John Pemberton, after leading his forces to an historic defeat at Vicksburg, dismissing his cook for squandering the rum rations. Yes, America’s big three automobile makers (with an assist from…Continue reading
It’s 1980 again, not 1932
While nearly everyone recognizes that the current financial crisis is the worst since the Great Depression, the economic challenges and the changes in the political landscape hearken back more to 1980 than to 1932. The distinction matters, because a misplaced metaphor or inapt historical analogy that takes hold of the political imagination can produce serious missteps. In 1932 and 1980…Continue reading
Stimulus for the Long Run
When Congress returns to Washington following the election, its first priority will be to pass another stimulus package for the sinking economy. It’s already clear that the package will involve about $200 billion in new stimulus or a boost equal to about 1.4 percent of GDP. The question is what form should the package take. The path of least political…Continue reading