PERRspectives: Economy Archives

Economy Archives

	Tom Delay Insists Jobless Choose Unemployment Back in 2007, former House Majority Leader Tom Delay explained the Republican emergency room health care plan to a British audience. "There's no one denied health care in America," he announced to laughter, "there are 47 million people who don't have health insurance, but no American is denied health care in America." Which makes Tom Delay the perfect choice to make the GOP's case that the jobless choose to be unemployed. Delay's latest jaw-dropper came during his defense of the... more Posted on March 7, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	The Bunning Linguist As the lone objector standing in the way of a bill extending unemployment benefits for Americans hard hit by the recession, Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning may at this moment be the most hated political figure in the United States. And with good reason. His obstructionist grandstanding has not only single-handedly halted the extension of some unemployment and COBRA benefits, but led to the furlough of thousands of transportation workers and even blocked the Medicare "doc" fix needed to prevent a... more Posted on March 2, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	GOP Revives the "Starve the Beast" Amendment "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years," Reagan Revolutionary Grover Norquist boasted, "to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." Now, a generation after Norquist launched his crusade, Republican White House hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty are leading a new charge to "starve the beast." Even as these Republicans call for new Treasury-draining tax cuts, they are resurrecting a bad idea whose time never came: a balanced budget... more Posted on February 27, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	CBO Latest to Confirm Success of Stimulus With its estimate Tuesday that the $787 billion Obama stimulus package created up to 2.1 million jobs in the last quarter of 2009, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) joined in the near-unanimous chorus of voices proclaiming the package's success. Of course, it wasn't just the overwhelming consensus of economists which concurred that the stimulus saved or created about two million jobs while adding over three percentage points to U.S. gross domestic product. As the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal,... more Posted on February 23, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	On Taxes, Heroes and Patriots On Monday, the daughter of Austin IRS suicide pilot Joseph Stack proclaimed her father a "hero." By joining the anti-government agitators, white supremacists, militia groups and other right-wing extremists in lauding him for standing up to the "injustice" of "the system," she like them dishonored true heroes like Vietnam veteran Vernon Hunter killed in Stack's terror attack. And they stand in sharp contrast to Joe Biden's fitting if widely mocked 2008 pronouncement that it's "patriotic" for wealthier Americans to pay... more Posted on February 22, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	The Bush 400 For Democrats wavering in their resolve to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, shocking new data from the IRS should hopefully stiffen their backbones. Between 2001 and 2007, the 400 richest taxpayers doubled their annual incomes to an average of $345 million, while their effective tax rate plummeted to only 16.6% from 29.4% in 1993. Following recent analyses confirming that income inequality in the United States has reached record levels, noted tax journalist David Cay Johnston summed... more Posted on February 19, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	For Republicans, Stimulus Reality Bites Back in January, a CNN poll revealed that "nearly three out of four Americans think that at least half of the money spent in the federal stimulus plan has been wasted." But one year after the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into law, the numbers - and the overwhelming consensus of economists - tell the tale of its success. And as it turns out, that consensus is shared by dozens of Republican Congressmen whose money... more Posted on February 17, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	The Tea Party's Taxing Logic Back in September, "10 Lessons for Tea Baggers" documented a set of inescapable truths which the frothing-at-the-mouth followers of the Tea Party movement nevertheless manage to deny. Number one on that list then and now is "President Obama cut your taxes." As Steve Benen related today, the Tea Baggers themselves and their ideological water carriers at the National Review by ignorance or choice refuse to acknowledge that 95% of American households received tax relief courtesy of Barack Obama. A new... more Posted on February 14, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	GOP's Hensarling Gives Republicans Credit for Clinton Surpluses Still smarting after his budgetary beat down at the hands of President Obama Friday, Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling this weekend invited a second round of punishment. "I stand by what I said," Hensarling said Saturday, referring to his manifestly ridiculous claim the previous day that "the old annual deficits under Republicans have now become the monthly deficits under Democrats." As it turns out, he wasn't talking about the red ink Republican George W. Bush. What he meant, Hensarling instead made... more Posted on February 1, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Deficit Hawks, Peacocks and Virgins Shaking his head at the bad economics and worse politics of the White House's proposed spending freeze, Paul Krugman deemed President Obama not a deficit hawk, but a "deficit peacock." "You can identify deficit peacocks," he wrote, "by the way they pretend that our budget problems can be solved with gimmicks like a temporary freeze in nondefense discretionary spending." But while Krugman is right to take Obama to task, he omitted an even more cynical player in the fiscal discipline... more Posted on January 29, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	Oregon Voters Send Progressive Message on Tax Measures Just one week after the media chattering classes announced that Republican Scott Brown's upset win in Massachusetts represented a political sea change, voters in Oregon sent an unmistakable message of their own. And to be sure, they signaled an important win for Democrats and their progressive allies. Rather than gut school funding and other essential government services during a recession like most states, Oregonians voted to raise taxes on the wealthiest residents and boost the minimum corporate tax from its... more Posted on January 27, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	On Stimulus, Nothing Fails Like Success for Obama As President Obama prepares for his State of the Union address, two stories Monday regarding his stimulus package highlighted his political conundrum. USA Today's quarterly survey of 50 economists produced a median estimate that the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) prevented unemployment from reaching 10.8%, saving 1.2 million jobs as a result. But even as the economists praised the stimulus for restarting GDP growth, a CNN poll found that "nearly three out of four Americans think that... more Posted on January 26, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	GOP to Wealthy: Die Here, Die Now, Pay Less! In its December 30 article "Rich Cling to Life to Beat Tax Man," the Wall Street Journal reminded the wealthiest of its readers that 2010 will be an excellent year to die. The estate tax, which in 2009 impacted only 1 in 500 estates while generating tens of billion in revenue, temporarily expired on New Year's Day. But while the Journal lamented the "macabre situation" in which a handful of families were encouraged to delay end-of-life decisions into 2010, nowhere... more Posted on January 2, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Bipartisanship's Willing Executioners Republicans win, even when they lose. That appears to be the conventional wisdom after the Democrats' crucial victory in the Senate health care vote this weekend. In its wake, media outlets gave credence to John McCain's assertion that thanks to President Obama, Washington is "more partisan" and "more bitterly divided than it's been." That followed the pronouncement of CNN's supposedly moderate Republican analyst David Gergen, who proclaimed the party line vote "a tragedy" since it did not garner a "super... more Posted on December 22, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Six Degrees of John McCain Last week, Politico ran yet another fawning profile of John McCain, declaring him "critic-in-chief." But whether the ersatz Maverick's motivation runs the gamut from "unresolved anger to concern for his right flank as he seeks re-election to genuine dismay about Obama's agenda," McCain has been at or near the center of almost every domestic political news story over the past week. Call it the Six Degrees of John McCain. Or, perhaps more accurately, the First Degree of John McCain. In... more Posted on December 19, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	GOP Gives Wealthy One Year Estate Tax Windfall For a handful of the very richest Americans, 2010 will be an excellent year to die. Thanks to Republican obstructionism on their behalf, the estate tax, which in 2009 will impact only 1 in 500 estates while generating tens of billion in revenue, will temporarily expire after December 31. Adding insult to injury, while the fortunate heirs of the largest fortunes toast their good fortune in 2010, their less well off counterparts may face higher tax bills even as they... more Posted on December 18, 2009 \| Comments (5)

	Alan Greenspan, Born-Again Deficit Hawk In October 2008, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan famously admitted during testimony before Congress that he was wrong about regulation of the U.S. financial system. Asked by Henry Waxman (D-CA) if "your ideology was not right, it was not working?" a humbled Greenspan lamented: "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms." Now,... more Posted on December 17, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Born Again Deficit Virgins Everything you need to know about the descent of the conservative movement into a hypocritical caricature is illustrated by two of its proudest constituencies: Republican deficit hawks and so-called "born again virgins." Having already violated the moral strictures they claim to hold dearest, each now asks the American people to join them in pretending their sin never happened. But unlike a generation of Republican leaders who built a mountain of national debt for the United States, the secondary virgins only... more Posted on November 15, 2009 \| Comments (8)

	Jeb Bush's Brother and the GOP Attack on U.S. Capitalism On Wednesday, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush doubtless pleased his audience at the U.S Chamber of Commerce when he declared, "I think President Obama has used the bully pulpit as a way to attack capitalism." But in his knee-jerk assault on his brother's successor, Governor Bush conveniently omitted that George W. Bush compiled the worst economic record of any president since Herbert Hoover. Of course, when it comes to GDP, employment, the stock market or just about any other measure... more Posted on November 1, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Media Lament Recession's Impact on the Tragically Rich One week after its devastating documentary ("The Warning") on federal regulator Brooksley Born's unheeded warning in the 1990's about the potential disaster in the offing for the U.S. financial system, on Tuesday the PBS program Frontline aired an episode which portrayed the subsequent recession's harsh impact on the residents of an Upper East Side New York neighborhood. But in focusing on the nouveau pain of the upper-middle class and above, "Close to Home" was hardly breaking new ground. For months,... more Posted on October 29, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Strong GDP Growth Doesn't Calm Stimulus Fight On Thursday, the Commerce Department announced that the U.S. economy expanded at a surprisingly strong 3.5% rate. But despite Q3 GDP growth which exceeded consensus estimates, the outsized impact of one-time programs including the Cash for Clunkers incentives and the tax credit for first-time home buyers suggests the pace of economic expansion will slow in succeeding quarters. And with unemployment likely to top 10%, the heated politics of the recovery and the Obama stimulus which helped fuel it will only... more Posted on October 29, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Obama and the Right-Wing "Bull" Market Among the rarely acknowledged truths of American politics is that the U.S. economy in general and the stock market in particular almost always do better under Democratic presidents. Of course, that oversight is no accident, but instead the predictable result of successful mythmaking by the Party of Hoover and its media allies. And so it was this week as the Dow cracked the 10,000 barrier; the same conservative commentariat who blamed Barack Obama for the market's free fall as early... more Posted on October 15, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	"Hong Kong" Palin vs. "Katie Couric" Palin Turning to Sarah Palin to explain the international economy and the role of government is like asking a dog why it likes to lick its ass. But as an audience of investors and fund managers learned today in Hong Kong, Palin's cartoon-quality conservative platitudes don't merely fly in the face of the consensus of economic analysts. As a flashback to her catastrophic interview with Katie Couric reveals, Sarah Palin doesn't even agree with herself. Palin's rewriting of history begins with... more Posted on September 23, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Bi-Curious Baucus In his Washington Post column Sunday, David Broder provided some insight into the bi-curious political disposition of the Montana Senator Max Baucus. As he contemplated entering politics in the 1970's, Baucus apparently asked veteran New Dealer James Rowe, "Do you think I should run as a Republican or a Democrat?" So it should come as no surprise that thirty years later, the confused Baucus produced a Senate Finance Committee health care bill roundly criticized by both parties. But overlooked in... more Posted on September 20, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	A Look Back at the Week That Doomed John McCain On September 15th, 2008, the Dow Jones plummeted by 504 points as the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers triggered the implosion of Wall Street. And on that day a year ago, Republican presidential candidate John McCain declared the "fundamentals of our economy are strong." But while Ben Bernanke today declared the Bush recession "very likely over" and the stock market eventually recovered, John McCain never did. Here, then, is a look back at the week that was the final nail in... more Posted on September 15, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	10 Lessons for Tea Baggers Back in April, the Daily Show's Jon Stewart offered some sound advice for frothing at the mouth Tea Baggers, "I think you might be confusing tyranny with losing." Now five months after their Tax Day outburst, thousands of vein-popping Obama opponents descended Saturday on Washington for Tea Party II. But while Glenn Beck's furious followers alternately slandered the President as a "fascist," a "communist" and worse, they remained unencumbered by either the thought process - or the truth. Here, then,... more Posted on September 14, 2009 \| Comments (4)

	Wall Street Journal Debunks GOP Talking Point on Stimulus While the Wall Street Journal editorial page can always be counted on to cheerlead the flat-earth economics of the Republican Party, on occasion the paper's reporters contradict GOP orthodoxy. And so it is today on the subject of the Obama stimulus package. Just one day after Eric Cantor (R-VA) followed the lead of John Boehner and Newt Gingrich in urging the cancellation of the recovery program he deemed a "failure," the Journal's Deborah Solomon reported otherwise in a piece simply... more Posted on September 2, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	The 5 Symptoms of Incurable Republican Schizophrenia The Mayo Clinic, the world famous institution cited by all sides in the contentious health care debate, defines schizophrenia as a serious brain disorder "in which reality is interpreted abnormally" resulting in "hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thinking and behavior." Apparently, that affliction is now running rampant among supporters of the Republican Party. As recent polling about conservative beliefs regarding Medicare, taxes, supposed "death panels," President Obama's citizenship and more shows, the crisis of Republican schizophrenia has reached epidemic proportions. Here,... more Posted on August 20, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	America Wins When Democrats Go It Alone Back in January, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman presciently warned President Obama about the GOP's bad faith in negotiating the stimulus bill, announcing, "Look, Republicans are not going to come on board." Now Krugman's paper is reporting the White House may finally be learning its lesson and planning to "go it alone" on health care reform. Which is just as well. If the history of the past 30 years teaches us anything, it's that bipartisanship is a one-way street... more Posted on August 19, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Owner of 13 Cars, McCain Aims to Block Cash for Clunkers Moments after the House passed a $2 billion extension to the wildly popular "cash for clunkers" program, John McCain in a double-irony announced he would oppose the bill in the Senate. Ironic, it turns out, not merely because the Arizona Senator has 13 cars and so could benefit even as he personally stimulates the economy by updating his fleet. Given his campaign 2008 tax proposals that would have delivered millions of dollars to himself and beer heiress wife Cindy, McCain's... more Posted on August 2, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Obama Boosts Global U.S. Standing with Publics, Investors Just 48 hours after Liz Cheney blasted Barack Obama as "a president who is reluctant to defend the nation overseas," two new polls revealed his success in rapidly augmenting American "soft power" worldwide. A Pew survey of two dozen nations found that "positive opinions about the United States have returned to higher levels not seen since before President George W. Bush took office in 2001." Meanwhile, a new Bloomberg poll found that 87% of financial analysts in Europe and Asia... more Posted on July 23, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	USA Today Misleads on Politics of Stimulus Spending To Disraeli's famous line that "there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics," you can add a fourth: USA Today. In an article suggestively titled, "Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama in '08," the paper implied the White House steered stimulus funds to counties that voted for the President. But as USA Today acknowledges, the distribution of the $17 billion in local funding (a small fraction of the overall $787 billion recovery package) is... more Posted on July 9, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	AP Blames Obama for Deficit, Ignores Bush Tax Cuts Last month, I examined how Liz Sidoti, Ron Fournier and other of the Republican bath water drinkers at the Associated Press present conservative opinion pieces to readers using headlines which wrongly begin with the word, "Analysis." Now in an another broadside deceptively titled "Fact Check," the AP pins blame for the federal budget deficit on President-then-Senator Obama and Congressional Democrats. Sadly for the myth making machine that is the AP, long before last fall's bipartisan economic bailout it was President... more Posted on April 29, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	WaPo Spreads Bogus Small Business Tax Hysteria Back in March, ABC News was forced to update its jaw-droppingly shoddy reporting on the impact of President Obama's proposal to restore upper-income tax rates to their Clinton-era levels. Now in a piece titled, "Small Businesses Brace for Tax Battle," the Washington Post too is fanning the flames of hysteria over supposedly draconian new tax burdens for America's small business owners. Alas, the Post is just the latest to resuscitate a Republican zombie talking point on taxes - debunked but... more Posted on April 27, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	GOP Pleads Save the Rich as Income Gap Hits Record Among the more comic moments of last week's right-wing tea-bagging extravaganza was the plea from former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer to save the rich. But even as Fleischer wrongly fretted that "their burden keeps getting heavier," new data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed the income gap between rich and poor tripled between 1979 and 2006. As it turns out, income concentration is greater than at any time since 1929. That inescapable conclusion is just one headline from... more Posted on April 19, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	10 Republican Lies for Tax Day The truth may set you free, but not if you're a Republican and the subject is taxes. After all, 95% of American families as promised received a tax cut from the Obama stimulus package. And while three-quarters of Americans support President Obama's proposal to roll back the Bush tax cuts for those earning over $250,000 to their Clinton-era levels, it turns out that affluent voters, too, chose Barack Obama over John McCain. Making matters worse, a Gallup poll Monday revealed... more Posted on April 15, 2009 \| Comments (13)

	Latest Laffer: Rich Too Smart to Pay Higher Taxes Back in 2004, President Bush rejected John Kerry's plans to roll back the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, arguing, "The really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway." Now five years later, supply side snake oil salesman Arthur Laffer has resurrected the Bush claim. Barack Obama will raise taxes on lower and middle class Americans, Laffer now insists, because the rich are too smart to pay them. That moment of conservative clarity came during Laffer's appearance Saturday... more Posted on April 13, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Tea Baggers Protest No Taxation with Representation If nothing else, the conservative movement is an irony producing machine. Aided and abetted by their echo chamber at Fox News, on Tax Day next week members of the raging right will gather at so-called Tea Parties around the country. There, the protesters, at least 95% of whom received a tax cut courtesy of President Obama and Democrats in Congress, will in essence decry "no taxation with representation." And if their misunderstanding of the Boston Tea Party wasn't bad enough,... more Posted on April 10, 2009 \| Comments (5)

	Poll Shows Strong Support for Upper Income Tax Hikes Despite the predictable cries of "socialism" and "class warfare" from the raging right, support for President Obama's plan to return upper income tax rates to Clinton-era levels continues to enjoy overwhelming public support. That is one of the headlines from the latest CBS/New York Times poll which showed 74% back a tax increase for households making over $250,000 a year. Of course, it wasn't just Americans overall who during campaign 2008 preferred Barack Obama's planned tax cut for 95% of... more Posted on April 7, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	GOP "Death Tax" Fraud Back from the Grave In 2001, President Bush waged a largely successful campaign to curb the estate tax. But eight years after denouncing that scourge of the ultra-rich, Republicans have resurrected their "death tax" talking point, complete with its repeatedly debunked claims about the impact of estate levies on small businesses and family farms. Even as they decry the deficit spending the Bush recession has required, Congressional Republicans aided and abetted by some Democrats are pushing an estate tax windfall for the wealthiest Americans... more Posted on April 2, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	April Fools: GOP Budget a New Windfall for the Wealthy It may be April Fool's Day 2009, but the Republican Party is playing the same joke on the American people. After brushing off last week's calamitous Republican "road to recovery" blueprint as a "marketing document," Rep. Paul Ryan unveiled the GOP's alternative budget in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. In it, Ryan offers the same snake oil his party has been selling since the days of Reagan and Bush. The cure for what ails the U.S. economy, it turns out,... more Posted on April 1, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	The Republicans' Deficit Attention Disorder "Reagan," Dick Cheney once famously declared, "proved that deficits don't matter." Not, that is, when a Republican is sitting in the Oval Office, as the tripling of the U.S. national debt under Ronald Reagan and doubling under George W. Bush confirmed. Now with the mystery budget unveiled to great fanfare - and even greater laughter - by House Republicans last week, the on-again/off-again deficit hawks of the GOP are at it again. Having blasted Barack Obama's supposed "banana republic" budget... more Posted on March 31, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Democrats. Saving American Capitalism Since 1933. Even as President Obama prepared to meet with the CEO's of the nation's largest banks and financial institutions, his detractors' hysteria about his plans to rescue the economy reached a fever pitch. In Washington, GOP leaders decried Obama's "banana republic" budget, only to unveil warmed-over tax cuts certain enrich the wealthiest Americans while accelerating the Reagan-Bush emptying of the Treasury. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal spoke in apocalyptic terms of "civil war" as "Democrats bid business adieu." Of course, forgotten... more Posted on March 27, 2009 \| Comments (4)

	Bush's Answer to Chuck Todd: Go Shopping During President Obama's press conference Tuesday, NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd demonstrated once again why he ought to return to his previous role as a political analyst. Even as Americans are losing their jobs, homes and retirement savings, Todd asked the President "why haven't you asked for something specific that the public should be sacrificing to participate in this economic recovery?" Of course, Todd only needed to look to Obama's predecessor for another presidential model of sacrifice. Whether the... more Posted on March 25, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Judd Gregg and the GOP's Triple-Double on National Debt Timing, they say, is everything. On the very night President Obama suggested Republican critics of his $3.6 trillion budget plan have a "short memory" when it comes to the sea of red ink he inherited, PBS' Frontline offered a stinging reminder in a documentary titled "Ten Trillion and Counting." Featured prominently among the Republican amnesiacs was Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), who just one day earlier slammed Obama's "banana republic" budget. Absent, of course, from Gregg's recollection for PBS was the... more Posted on March 25, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Spreading the Wealth to Sarah Palin's Alaska Last week, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin joined the parade of 2012 Republican White House hopefuls posturing for GOP primary voters by refusing their states some of the $787 billion recovery package. Now facing a bipartisan firestorm at home from communities desperate for the stimulus spending, Palin is backtracking from her rejection of funds she mocked as "intended to just grow government." But whether she ultimately takes the money or not, Sarah Palin's Alaska will continue to rely on the kindness... more Posted on March 24, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Red State Socialism and the Politics of the Stimulus In just their latest posturing for the 2012 Republican presidential race, governors Sarah Palin (R-AK) and Mark Sanford (R-SC) joined Texas' Rick Perry, Mississippi's Haley Barbour and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal in announcing they would reject some of the federal stimulus funds allocated to their states. But as the steady one-way flow of tax dollars and earmarks spreading the wealth from Washington to their states shows, de facto red state socialism is alive and well. As a 2007 analysis (above) of... more Posted on March 22, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Cheney's "Stuff Happens" Defense of Republican Failure Just days after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pooh-poohed the escalating chaos in the streets of Baghdad, saying with a shrug, "stuff happens." Now six years later, former Vice President Dick Cheney has elevated Rumsfeld's flip response to the level of theory in defending the Bush administration's eight-year record of failure. Of course, whether it was 9/11, sectarian conflict in Iraq, the rise of Hamas, the Bush recession or Hurricane Katrina, Cheney and the leading lights... more Posted on March 15, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	GOP Myths Claim Bush, Not Obama, Inherited a Recession Two days after Americans learned that U.S. household wealth plummeted by a staggering $11 trillion (an 18% drop) in 2008, the Washington Post featured a critique of President Obama's rhetoric attributing the recession to George W. Bush. But while Obama's statement that "by any measure, my administration has inherited a fiscal disaster" is inescapably true, his Republican opponents continue to stand truth on its head. It was George W. Bush and not Barack Obama, they falsely maintain, who inherited a... more Posted on March 14, 2009 \| Comments (7)

	Greenspan Joins Gramm in Rejecting Blame for Financial Crisis Three weeks after former Texas Senator and UBS vice chairman Phil Gramm took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal to reject any blame for the meltdown of the American financial system, Alan Greenspan followed suit. In an op-ed Tuesday, the former Fed Chairman, too, denied paternity for the crisis, refusing to accept that" the 'easy money' policies of the Federal Reserve produced the U.S. housing bubble that is at the core of today's financial mess." Of course, Alan... more Posted on March 11, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Voting with Their Wallets: Wealthy Taxpayers Backed Obama As Republican ratchet up their cries of "socialism" regarding President Obama's plan to return upper income tax rates to Clinton-era levels beginning in 2011, ABC offered a comic profile of Americans earning over $250,000 a year and their schemes to avoid the higher bills. Of course, lost in this propaganda-fest are two inconvenient truths. First, the wealthy, along with most everyone else, did very well indeed during the 1990's. Second, those wealth Americans - those with family incomes topping a... more Posted on March 4, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	The Last Time the Top Tax Rate was 39%... The last time the top income tax rate was 39%, the United States enjoyed a booming economy, rising incomes, low unemployment and expanding budget surpluses. Unfortunately, that simple truth has been ignored by Republican propagandists and mainstream media alike during the debate over President Obama's stimulus plan and budget proposal. In his budget, Barack Obama has basically called for the status quo ante Bush when it comes to the taxes paid by upper income Americans. By letting the 2001 Bush... more Posted on March 1, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	WSJ's Stephen Moore Accuses Obama of "Fiscal Child Abuse" No doubt, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's disastrous Republican response to President Obama's address to Congress will go down as one of the more bizarre episodes in American political oratory. But perhaps even more disturbing and dishonest was the charge by the Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore that Obama's $787 billion economy recovery package constituted "fiscal child abuse." As it turns out, Moore has been hurling that same slander for at least a decade, all the while ignoring the endless sea... more Posted on February 25, 2009 \| Comments (14)

	For Holtz-Eakin, Bush Budget Lies Equal the Truth During the 2008 presidential campaign, John McCain's chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin took more positions on the federal budget deficit than Newt Gingrich has had wives. Within a matter of weeks last year, Holtz-Eakin alternately claimed John McCain would balance the budget by either 2013 or 2017, all before announcing in April, "I would like the next president not to talk about deficit reduction." It is that comical record which makes Holtz-Eakin's criticism of Barack Obama's pledge to halve the... more Posted on February 24, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	The GOP's New Up-and-Down Vote Strategy During the height of the battle over judicial nominees in 2005, the Republican Party debuted its short-lived "up or down vote" talking point. Of course, after being reduced to minority status in the 2006 midterms, the GOP was quick to abandon that gambit, instead easily shattering the record for filibusters in the Senate. But in the aftermath of the passage of President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, Republicans hoping to have it both ways have introduced the sound bite's successor,... more Posted on February 24, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Gerson and Kudlow Laud Recession as Economic Enema The recession is good for you. At least, according to former Bush speechwriter turned Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson. Praising the "recession's hidden virtues," Gerson on Sunday reassured Americans that their financial hardships may be a boon to their physical health and personal morality, all while helping foster cultural renewal. As it turns out, Gerson is just following in the footsteps of Reagan adviser and CNBC host Larry Kudlow, who last April lauded the "cleansing" and "therapeutic" effects of recession... more Posted on February 23, 2009 \| Comments (4)

	Obama Hosts Republican Party of Fiscal Irresponsibility To the displeasure of many on both sides of aisle, President Obama on Monday will host the so-called Fiscal Responsibility Summit at the White House. While some Democrats question the timing of Obama's expenditure of political capital on Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement reform, obstructionist Republicans are ridiculing the event even as they hype the myth of Republican fiscal discipline. And a myth it surely is. Far from the deficit hawks of Republican legend, the modern Republican Party from... more Posted on February 23, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Republicans Peddle Lie About Small Business Taxes. Again. In his first budget, President Obama apparently plans to keep his campaign promise to let the Bush tax cuts expire for Americans making over $250,000 a year. And just as during the election, Republican leaders are falsely claiming that Obama's proposal constitutes a tax hike on small business owners. This time, it is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell echoing John McCain and Joe the Plumber in spreading the lie. McConnell's myth-making came during an appearance Sunday on CNN's "State of... more Posted on February 22, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	The Republicans' Next $2.7 Trillion Lie As the New York Times detailed this week, the Obama administration will end George W. Bush's fuzzy math when it comes to the federal budget and budget deficit. But by accurately reflecting the true costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Medicare reimbursements, disaster responses and the AMT, the Obama White House is now projecting an extra $2.7 trillion increase in debt over the next decade. Which means that the groundwork has been laid for the Republicans' next lie.... more Posted on February 21, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	UBS, the IRS and Phil Gramm News that the Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Swiss banking giant UBS is just the latest chapter in the curious case of Phil Gramm. Just one day after UBS agreed to pay a $780 million criminal fine and admitted to conspiring to defraud the IRS, the DOJ demanded access to 52,000 accounts as part of its broad tax evasion probe. Which is more than just a little ironic. After all, before he became a UBS vice-chairman in 2002,... more Posted on February 20, 2009 \| Comments (26)

	Twice Burned, Greenspan Not Shy About Nationalizing Banks The blogosphere reacted with a sense of amusement Wednesday to news that former Federal Reserve Chairman and free market stalwart Alan Greenspan was urging the nationalization of American banks. While Paul Krugman laughed that "Comrade Greenspan" had called for the government to "seize the economy's commanding heights," Atrios snickered "I guess he's capable of being right." Of course, given that Greenspan missed both the 1980's savings and loans crisis and the risk of an imploding housing market 20 years later,... more Posted on February 18, 2009 \| Comments (5)

	AP Perpetuates Myth of GOP Fiscal Discipline In the wake of Congressional Republicans' unified rejection of President Obama's just signed $787 billion economic recovery program, the AP's Liz Sidoti wrote Tuesday that "GOP tries to restore image of fiscal discipline." Sadly, that image is now as ever a myth. Far from the deficit hawks of Republican legend, the modern Republican party from Reagan forward devastated the U.S. treasury, leaving mounting debt and hemorrhaging red ink for as far as the eye can see: As the chart below... more Posted on February 17, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	John McCain, Generational Thief In the months since their bitter contest last fall, Barack Obama time and again reached his hand out to former rival John McCain, only to get slapped in the face for his troubles. Within days of Obama's pre-inauguration dinner honoring the Arizona Senator, McCain decried the President's supposed lack of bipartisanship on the $787 billion stimulus bill, a package he continues to denounce as "generational theft." As it turns out, of course, it is John McCain who has long supported... more Posted on February 16, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	The Second Coming of Kristol and Gingrich They're baaaaack! As I detailed previously, the lockstep Republican obstructionism which greeted President Obama's stimulus plan in Congress was almost a perfect replay of the GOP's treatment of Bill Clinton's economic program in 1993. Then as now, Newt Gingrich and Bill Kristol helped mobilize a minority Republican Party afraid not that a new Democratic president would fail, but that he would succeed. The only difference with this second coming is the emergence of Gingrich's Mini-Me, Eric Cantor. Back in 1993,... more Posted on February 15, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	On Stimulus, Republicans Party Like It's 1993 As predicted, House and Senate Republicans on Friday maintained their unified front in turning their backs on President Obama's economic recovery package. As it turns out, Obama wasn't the first Democrat to learn the hard way that bipartisanship is a one-way street for the GOP when it comes to the economy. In 1993, Bill Clinton's $496 billion stimulus and deficit-cutting program passed without a single Republican vote. But in 1981 and again in 2001, substantial numbers of Democrats acquiesced in... more Posted on February 14, 2009 \| Comments (7)

	GOP Repeats History of One-Way Bipartisanship The Senate's passage Tuesday of the economic recovery package followed a now-familiar 30 year pattern. The Democratic President Barack Obama, like Bill Clinton before him in 1993, faced a monolithic wall of GOP opposition to his economic program. But Republicans Ronald Reagan in 1981 and George W. Bush 20 years later enjoyed substantial Democratic support for their dangerously irresponsible and regressive tax cuts that as predicted drained the federal treasury. Now as then, for Republicans the road to economic stimulus... more Posted on February 10, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	The Return of the Hoover Party As the American auto industry teetered on the brink of collapse in December, Vice President Dick Cheney beseeched his GOP allies in Congress to back an aid package, warning, "If we don't do this, we will be known as the party of Herbert Hoover forever." Now as they seek to obstruct President Obama's recovery program even in the face of catastrophic job losses, Capitol Hill Republicans have clearly decided to shun Cheney's advice and go for a full Hoover. As... more Posted on February 8, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Remember When: Congress Passes $1.4 Trillion Economic Package As President Obama finally starts to fight for his economic stimulus bill, roadblock Republicans in the Senate continue to decry the price tag. While John Thune (R-SD) described how many times $1 trillion worth of $100 bills would circle the earth, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proclaimed "Americans can't afford a trillion-dollar mistake." Of course, back in 2001, the GOP had no qualms (along with some invertebrate Democrats) in passing George W. Bush's much larger $1.4 trillion tax cut package.... more Posted on February 6, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Too Little, Too Late for Obama on Stimulus? After two weeks of letting his Republican opponents in Congress dominate debate over his economic stimulus package, President Obama is finally starting to fight back. Blasting the GOP for an economy "headed over a cliff," Obama only now is showing signs of playing his strong hand. But it may be too late. While Obama will likely win the battle in getting a waterered-down version of his recovery package, he may have already lost the war by resuscitating the recently moribund... more Posted on February 6, 2009 \| Comments (6)

	Kristol Calls for a Repeat of 1990's GOP Obstructionism When it comes to blocking President Obama's economic stimulus plan, what is old is new for the conservative movement. Fearing a permanent Democratic majority if Bill Clinton succeeded in passing his health care reform package, Bill Kristol in 1993 famously rallied Republicans with a memo urging his party to halt it at all costs. With Congressional Republicans and right-wing talking heads alike now circling the wagons, history is apparently repeating itself. Afraid not that Obama's plan might fail, but that... more Posted on February 4, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Remembering Bush-Style Bipartisanship on the Economy With Senate Republicans threatening a filibuster over the President economic stimulus package, the Washington Post on Monday offered its assessment that "as Obama talks of bipartisanship, definitions vary." For the likes of Rush Limbaugh, that definition is George W. Bush. As Bush showed in 2001, bipartisanship on the economy meant jamming his catastrophic $1.4 trillion tax cut package down the throats of Congress largely unchanged, backed by many pliable Democrats. For the Republican leadership and their newly anointed spokesman Rush... more Posted on February 3, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Senate Republicans May Filibuster Obama Stimulus Package Last year, the Roadblock Republicans of the 110th Congress set the all-time filibuster record. Forcing 104 cloture votes by October 2008, the Senate's GOP minority easily eclipsed the old mark of 61 filibusters. And now, fresh on the heels of "elated" and "celebrating" House Republicans' refusal to provide a single vote in support of President Obama's $825 economic recovery package, Senate Republicans are now suggesting they will filibuster the stimulus bill. That's the word from ThinkProgress, which Friday afternoon offered... more Posted on January 30, 2009 \| Comments (6)

	Republicans Brand Ronald Reagan Socialist Welfare King Among the most predictable frauds in the Republican war against the Obama stimulus plan is the bogus claim that it offers to tax credits to Americans "not paying taxes." But while voters on Election Day rejected the cries of "socialism" from John McCain and Sarah Palin, GOP leaders from Rudy Giuliani and John Kyl to Jim Demint continue to deride Obama's proposed tax credits for working Americans as "welfare." As it turns out, that puts them on the opposite side... more Posted on January 30, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	2001 Flashback: Dems Vote for $1.35 Trillion Bush Tax Cut For those keeping score, Wednesday's final was Immovable Object 1, Irresistible Force 0. For all of his unprecedented outreach to Republican leaders on his economic stimulus package passed by the House yesterday - the poetry of post-partisanship, larding the bill with business tax provisions he opposed, meeting three times with GOP leaders, a rare presidential trip to Capitol Hill - Barack Obama was rewarded with no Republican votes. And if Mark Halperin is to be believed, Obama's shutout yesterday is... more Posted on January 29, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Obama's Outreach to Earn Zero Votes from House GOP? In November, the American people elected Barack Obama not so much to change the tone in Washington as to change the direction of the country. One week into his tenure as President, it's clear that the Republican minority in Congress will help with him neither. After all of his outreach to the GOP - incorporaing business tax cuts he opposed, three meetings with Republican leaders, the paeans to bipartisanship, the unprecedented trip Tuesday to Capitol Hill - President Obama may... more Posted on January 28, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Barack the Appeaser Back in May, President Bush, John McCain and the conservative echo chamber slandered Barack Obama's proposed diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East as "appeasement." Of course, President Obama is no appeaser of America's enemies abroad. But as his latest capitulation to Congressional Republicans over contraceptive funding in the stimulus bill suggests, Obama's willingness to appease his political foes at home is another matter. Obama's economic recovery package is quickly becoming a case study in the iron law of Washington: the... more Posted on January 27, 2009 \| Comments (5)

	GOP on Stimulus: Obstructionism Now, Obstructionism Forever When it comes to blocking President Obama's economic stimulus plan, what is old is new for the conservative movement. Fearing a permanent Democratic majority if Bill Clinton succeeded in passing his health care reform package, Bill Kristol in 1993 famously rallied Republicans with a memo urging his party to halt it at all costs. With Congressional Republicans and right-wing talking heads now circling the wagons, history is apparently repeating itself. Afraid not that Obama's plan might fail, but that it... more Posted on January 26, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Internet Non-Savant McCain Now Opposes Broadband Expansion During the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican John McCain famously acknowledged "I'm an illiterate" when asked about his use of personal computers and the Internet. Then as now, McCain's ignorance is reflected in his public policy. After laughably extolling online auction giant eBay as the cure for what ails the American economy, John McCain now opposes federal funding for the expansion of broadband access he once supported. During a campaign last spring, McCain lauded high-speed, broadband access as critical to the... more Posted on January 25, 2009 \| Comments (5)

	Bush Latest GOPer to Show Democrats Better for the Economy On Friday, the New York Times provided a jaw-dropping analysis of the dismal state of the economy under George W. Bush. Just days after the Washington Post documented that Bush presided over the worst eight-year economic performance in the modern American presidency, the Times charted his historic failure in expanding GDP, producing jobs and fueling stock market growth. As it turns out, Bush is just the latest Republican to confirm the maxim that Wall Street and the economy overall almost... more Posted on January 24, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Cheney Should Smile as Obama Tells GOP , "I Won" Staying true to his commitment of bipartisanship, President Obama today hosted Congressional Republican leaders to discuss his proposed $825 billion economic recovery package. But while Obama listened to the GOP team air both its grievances and its alternative proposals, the President also gently reminded his Republican guests, "I won." And as Congress considers the Obama stimulus program, that's a message the Republicans should remember well from Dick Cheney eight years ago. As Politico detailed, Obama summed up the economic crisis... more Posted on January 23, 2009 \| Comments (7)

	Bush Still Peddling Myth He Inherited a Recession During a final press conference characterized by his trademark petulance, George W. Bush repeated the myth that opened his presidency. Defending his failed stewardship of the economy, President Bush falsely claimed Monday, "I inherited a recession." Sadly for the first MBA president, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the same NEBR which declared the current Bush recession began in December 2007, concluded his first started in March 2001. Of course, that didn't stop the double-dipping President Bush from pretending otherwise.... more Posted on January 13, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	George W. Bush, the "Nobody Could've Predicted" President In an interview Thursday with the AP, Vice President Cheney neatly summarized the failed Bush presidency. Comparing the financial meltdown and implosion of the American economy with the 9/11 attacks, Cheney insisted, "I don't think anybody saw it coming." As it turns out, from 9/11, sectarian conflict in Iraq and the election of Hamas to the Bush recession and the drowning of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, the leading lights of the Bush administration claimed they never saw it coming.... more Posted on January 12, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Cheney's Lesson for Obama on the Economy His inauguration just days away, President-elect Barack Obama is facing friendly fire over his economic stimulus plan. With today's grim news that unemployment skyrocketed to 7.2% in December came rumblings of discontent from economist Paul Krugman, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a bevy of Democratic Senators worried that Obama's proposed recovery package is too timid given both the scope of the crisis and his overwhelming mandate from the American people. But in addition to heeding the words of his allies,... more Posted on January 9, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Administration Slashed Probes of Stock Fraud As the fallout from the meltdown of the American financial system continues to poison the U.S. economy, the laissez-faire dogma and deregulatory zeal of the Bush administration rank high among the usual suspects responsible for it. Just days after the New York Times and the White House exchanged shots over the President's key role in the cascading calamity, a new study from Syracuse University revealed that investigations for stock fraud by the Bush SEC and Justice Department have virtually disappeared.... more Posted on December 28, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Conservatives Push Romney as Fox-in Henhouse Car Czar As the American auto industry teeters on the edge of total collapse thanks to the union-busting efforts of Senate Republicans, others on the right have adopted a different strategy for punishing the UAW. Two days after Fred Barnes nominated "nation of whiners" scold Phil Gramm for "car czar," former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is gaining traction as the GOP's point person for its fox-in-the-henhouse approach. After all, given his history as a union-bashing venture capitalist and recent call to "let... more Posted on December 12, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Bush's Economic Crisis and the Myth of the Clinton Recession It's official. According to a statement from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the United States has been in a recession since December 2007. But while that conclusion from the non-governmental NEBR differs from the traditional definition of two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction, by any accounting the Bush recession will be well underway by the end of this year. And by either measure, the conservative talking point of a Clinton recession "inherited by George W. Bush" remains a myth.... more Posted on December 2, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Five More Signs of the Deepening Bush Recession On Wednesday, President-Elect Obama and President Bush provided a study in contrasts in their respective responses to the American economic crisis. In Chicago, Obama unveiled a new economic recovery advisory board to be led by former Fed chairman Paul Volcker. Back in Washington, George W. Bush pardoned a Thanksgiving turkey. But as the lame duck poses with a turkey at the White House, a cascade of foul economic indicators provided five more signs of the deepening Bush recession. The bad... more Posted on November 26, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	The Decline and Fall of the First MBA President If nothing else, George W. Bush is an irony-producing machine. After all, the collapse of the American economy, perhaps the enduring legacy of Bush's tenure in the White House, was presided over by the man many once lauded as the nation's "first MBA President." Now with the Bush recession deepening into a crisis of historic proportions, "MBA President" has joined expressions like "mission to Mars", "weapons of mass destruction" and "we do not torture" among the cruel jokes of the... more Posted on November 23, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Grim New GDP Forecasts Show Deepening Bush Recession In his sober column today decrying President Bush's lame-duck abdication of leadership, Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman fretted, "The prospects for the economy look much grimmer now than they did as little as a week or two ago." Make that 24 hours. Just one day after I compiled the dismal numbers for the mushrooming Bush recession, startling new forecasts for gross domestic product (GDP) show the economic crisis will be even longer and deeper than initially feared. U.S. GDP... more Posted on November 21, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	Measuring the Bush Recession As the American economy plunges deeper into crisis, the conservative chattering classes are hoping for a replay of their 2001 blame game. Having successfully perpetuated the myth that President Bush "inherited a recession" from Bill Clinton, right-wing mouthpieces from Rush Limbaugh to Fred Barnes began blaming Barack Obama for the Bush recession literally within hours of his election. But as a quick glance at the data shows, across virtually economic indicator from GDP, unemployment and consumer confidence to home prices,... more Posted on November 20, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Romney to Detroit: Drop Dead During the Michigan primary in January, former Massachusetts Governor and son of auto magnate Mitt Romney blasted John McCain for saying he didn't want to raise "false hopes that somehow we can bring back lost jobs." Now as the American auto industry teeters on the brink of collapse, Romney in a New York Times op-ed Wednesday has a much different message for Detroit: drop dead. In January, Romney was singing a different tune about the need to save Michigan's car... more Posted on November 19, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	To GOP's Dismay, Obama Won Affluent Voters Among the lowlights of the presidential campaign was the bogus charge from John McCain and his Republican allies that Barack Obama's tax plan was "socialist." Ending the Bush tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans while providing tax relief for most working families, the GOP's amen corner shrieked, verged on communism. But as the election returns showed, voters were having none of it, including those making over $200,000 year. To the consternation of some on the right, the affluent in 2008... more Posted on November 11, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Conservatives Blame Bush Recession on Obama Unsurprisingly, it took less than 24 hours for the conservative chattering classes to blame the Bush recession on President-elect Barack Obama. The usual suspects, including Rush Limbaugh, Fred Barnes and Dick Morris, pinned two days of steep stock market declines on Obama's election. Of course, the recent bloodbath on Wall Street has nothing to do with Obama and everything to do with what John McCain deemed "the fundamentals of our economy" being weak. And as history shows time and again,... more Posted on November 7, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain on Obama: "He's Centrist" After two weeks in which his campaign has tried to brand Barack Obama a "socialist" and worse, John McCain took one small step back from the specter of the red menace. Appearing on the Larry King show Wednesday, McCain admitted that his Democratic opponent is no socialist. But as Election Day nears, don't expect John McCain to repeat his 2005 assessment of Obama, "he's centrist." The Republican smearing of Obama has included comical charges that the man backed by Warren... more Posted on October 30, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain Offers Tax Windfall for Cindy the Beer Heiress As Election Day nears, John McCain continues to deploy Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher as a human shield against Barack Obama and his plan for middle class tax cuts. But while Wurzelbacher himself admitted he would fare better under Obama, another of McCain's representative Americans is set to receive a massive windfall if the Arizona Senator is elected. No doubt about it, Mrs. McCain - Cindy the Beer Heiress - would pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars thanks to her husband.... more Posted on October 29, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain Surrogate Fiorina to Auto Industry: Drop Dead Back in January, John McCain helped doom his chances in the Michigan primary with his declaration that he didn't want to "false hopes that somehow we can bring back lost jobs." Now on the eve of the election, McCain's renegade surrogate Carly Fiorina only magnified his problems in the Rust Belt states with her insistence "the auto industry cannot be saved from its own bad bets." Even as the Bush White House was scambling to find new measures to help... more Posted on October 28, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain Attacks Bush for Economic Policies They Share One day after proclaiming on Meet the Press that he and George W. Bush share a common philosophy, John McCain took to a stage in Cleveland Monday to attack the President's economic policies. As it turns out, of course, when it comes to ideology and policy on the economy, John McCain and George W. Bush are virtually indistinguishable. The feebleness of McCain's effort to distance himself from Bush was revealed in its brevity. Despite the AP's headline that "McCain says... more Posted on October 27, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Sarah Palin, Welfare Queen In a 21st century update to the Republican war on "welfare queens," John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin have tried to brand Barack Obama's tax-cutting policies as "welfare" and "socialism." But as it turns out, it is Palin who has emerged as the welfare queen of the 2008 campaign. From her family's taxpayer-funded travel and gubernatorial perks in Alaska to her toney $150,000 wardrobe courtesy of the Republican National Committee, Sarah Palin is living the high life by depending... more Posted on October 23, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain Blasts Reagan, Self as Socialist In much the same way that night follows day, a desperate John McCain predictably played the "socialist" card against Barack Obama. Ratcheting up his recent scurrilous attacks that Obama's tax cuts for working Americans constitute "welfare," McCain in his Saturday radio address followed running mate Sarah Palin and Ohio Senator George Voinovich in branding Obama a socialist. Sadly for McCain, his thundering diatribe against refundable tax credits makes him a sworn enemy of his hero Ronald Reagan and, as it... more Posted on October 18, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain's "Welfare" Charge Insults American Taxpayers In his speeches and with his latest ad, John McCain is committing a double-fraud when it comes to tax policy. In a spot featuring ersatz plumber and BFN (best friend for now) Joe Wurzelbacher, McCain called Barack Obama's tax plan for working families "welfare." As his duplicitous spot reveals, John McCain apparently knows very little about payroll taxes paid by virtually all American workers. And as it turns out, the self-proclaimed "foot soldier in the Reagan revolution" knows even less... more Posted on October 18, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	The Record: Stock Market, Economy Do Better Under Democrats On Wednesday, the New York Times performed an election year public service with an analysis that was part history lesson and part thought exercise. Taking the example of the S&P 500 going back to Herbert Hoover, the Times rightly concluded that the Democratic Party "has been better for American pocketbooks and capitalism as a whole." But the Democrats' proven track record isn't limited to the S&P index. As history has proven time and again, Wall Street and the economy overall... more Posted on October 15, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	McCain's New, New Plan: The Rich Get Richer After days of conflicting rumors from his own campaign, John McCain emerged Tuesday to offer his new, new plan for the economy. While parroting Barack Obama's proposals to Monday to end taxes on unemployment benefits and a temporary reduction in the tax rates on IRA withdrawals, the centerpiece of McCain's latest economic policy spasm is a halving the tax on capital gains. With the latter providing almost 60% of its benefits to families earning over $1 million a year, John... more Posted on October 14, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain's Troubles with Economists Continue to Mount Over the past two weeks, John McCain has learned the hard way that economics is called the "dismal science" for good reason. Plummeting in the polls as the meltdown of the global financial system exposes voters to his admitted ignorance of the economy, McCain is also being rejected by economists as well. As it turns out, economists don't think too highly of John McCain, including many who support him. McCain's recent woes among the profession were fittingly revealed last week... more Posted on October 12, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain and Greenspan's Keating Connection For the second time in two decades, John McCain and Alan Greenspan find themselves jointly linked to a major crisis in the American financial system. The New York Times' stinging rebuke of Greenspan Friday for his role in helping trigger the current Wall Street meltdown only served to remind Americans of John McCain's 2007 admission that his limited knowledge of the economy amounted to "I've got Greenspan's book." But as it turns out, McCain turned to Greenspan's writing once before... more Posted on October 11, 2008 \| Comments (6)

	McCain Flip-Flops on Mortgage Bailout for Homeowners Desperate to resuscitate his diminishing hopes for the White House, John McCain during tonight's presidential town hall meeting dramatically reversed course on a mortgage bailout for home owners. This spring, McCain adamantly stated "it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers." Now with his presidential campaign and the economy in dire straits alike, John McCain decided to open the federal wallet after all. McCain's... more Posted on October 7, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	McCain's Economic Engine eBay Slashes 1,600 Jobs Throughout the 2008 campaign, John McCain has proclaimed online auction giant eBay the solution to recession and poverty in the United States. But on Monday, McCain's already laughable vision of eBay as the future of the American economy took another hit. By announcing it was slashing 10% of its 16,000 person work force, eBay revealed it was no longer a job creation engine even for its own employees. Back in April, McCain told an audience in economically hard-hit Inez, Kentucky,... more Posted on October 7, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain Smears Trigger Keating Five Backlash On Monday, John McCain again proved the old adage that a man who lives in 11 glass houses shouldn't cast stones. Two days after unleashing running mate Sarah Palin to deliver a salvo of smears against Barack Obama which CNN among others simply termed "false," McCain is now on the receiving end of an Obama barrage regarding his disgraceful role in the Keating Five affair of the 1980's. Foreshadowing his extensive lobbyist ties today, McCain's intervention then with federal regulators... more Posted on October 6, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain Camp Takes Credit for Advancing - and Killing - Bailout While the post-mortem on Thursday's collapse of the bipartisan Wall Street bailout deal is still being written, one aspect of John McCain's double-dealing is beyond dispute. According to campaign mouthpieces Tucker Bounds and Lindsey Graham, John McCain is responsible both for moving the $700 billion compromise package forward and for killing it. That act of political schizophrenia took only hours to accomplish. Early Thursday, Democrats led by Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) announced that a consensus... more Posted on September 25, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Two Financial Crises, Two McCain Tantrums On Tuesday, paleo-conservative columnist George Will joined Mitt Romney and a long list of Republicans in warning Americans about John McCain's decidedly unpresidential temperament. "Under the pressure of the financial crisis," Will wrote, McCain reacted "furiously." Alas, McCain's rage now is just a repeat of his 1989 temper tantrum as the Keating Five scandal enveloped him during the last U.S. financial meltdown. In a piece titled simply, "McCain Loses His Head," a horrified Will made the case that McCain's out-of-control... more Posted on September 23, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain's Five Stages of Grief over the Economy The implosion of Wall Street last week resulted in a near-death crisis for John McCain's presidential campaign. His post-Palin bump eviscerated, McCain was staggered by the reemergence of the economy as the dominant issue in the 2008 election. His daily-changing positions revealed that McCain, a man who has repeatedly admitted his ignorance of economics, is struggling to cope with his diminished presidential prospects. Armchair psychologists might call the process John McCain's five stages of grief over the economy. Denial. McCain's... more Posted on September 22, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain Keating Five Flashback: "You're a Liar" The implosion of Wall Street this week comes as a triple-dose of bad news for John McCain. No doubt, his daily-changing response to the crisis confirmed McCain's self-proclaimed ignorance of economics. Perhaps even more damaging, America's financial nightmare conjured images of the savings and loan scandal 20 years ago, one in which McCain's close ties to political sugar daddy Charles Keating almost ended his career. And to be sure, flashing back to McCain's 1989 temper tantrum in response to his... more Posted on September 21, 2008 \| Comments (9)

	McCain Support for New Trust Resurrects Keating Five Role Karl Marx famously said that historical events occur twice, first as tragedy and the second time as farce. Truer words were never spoken of John McCain's new-found support for a Mortgage and Financial Institutions (MFI) trust, the very type of agency he strenuously opposed until just this week. But completing the tragic-comedy is the fact that McCain is now inadvertently shining a spotlight on his own dark past in the 1980's Keating Five scandal, an episode central to the last... more Posted on September 19, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain Excluded Workers from "Economic Fundamentals" - Until Now On Wednesday, the New York Times blasted John McCain's cynical attempt to escape from his repeated proclamations that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong." Facing a backlash over his latest declaration even as Wall Street imploded Monday that all is well, McCain just hours later tried to redefine "economic fundamentals" to refer to American workers. Noting that the "Mr. McCain lavished praise on workers, but ignored their problems," the Times branded McCain's double-talk "the real insult." But even more... more Posted on September 17, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	History Lesson: Wall Street, Economy Do Better Under Democrats As the meltdown on Wall Street continues, American voters would do well to regard John McCain and his Republican Party with suspicion when it comes to the resuscitating the economy. But McCain's acknowledged ignorance on economic issues, happy talk about strong "fundamentals," ties to lobbyists and disturbing involvement in the 1980's savings and loan disaster aren't the only reasons voters should flock to Barack Obama for solutions to the mushrooming financial crisis. As history has proven time and again, Wall... more Posted on September 16, 2008 \| Comments (6)

	eBay McCain's Answer for Recession and Palin's Plane The mythical role of online auction powerhouse eBay in John McCain's presidential campaign took on a new dimension today. Not only did his running mate Governor Sarah Palin not sell an Alaska government jet on eBay (as she has repeatedly claimed), the state's chief procurement officer acknowledged "It was the practice of the state to dispose of items such as this via eBay." No doubt, John McCain will continue to peddle this eBay myth just as he has a previous... more Posted on September 10, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Americans Prefer Obama Tax Plan, for Good Reason As ThinkProgress just reported, CNN earlier today showed a deceptive chart which wrongly suggests that John McCain's tax plan provides more Americans with greater savings than that offered by Barack Obama. But CNN's upper-crust income brackets starting at $161,000 conceal the inescapable truth that Barack Obama's proposals offer working and middle class Americans steeper tax benefits at every income level up to $110,000. And according to a new Gallup poll released today, that truth isn't lost on American voters. By... more Posted on August 26, 2008 \| Comments (8)

	Kudlow Rewrites History, Blames Dow's Slide on Democrats Monday was a miserable day for the Dow, with the market suffering a 242 point drop. But rather than joining "so-called market analysts" in attributing the sell-off to credit market woes, higher oil prices and a fluctuating dollar, the National Review's resident class warrior Larry Kudlow found a predictable villain. Despite the inescapable history that the stock market does better under Democratic presidents than Republican ones, Kudlow blamed the market steep slide on the opening of the Democratic Convention in... more Posted on August 26, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain's Houses Gaffe Echoes Bush 41's Scanner Episode Sometimes, a single gaffe - real or imagined - comes to symbolize an entire presidential campaign. With Americans struggling as unemployment topped 7% in 1992, President George H.W. Bush saw his reelection prospects dimmed by his reported amazement at a simple grocery store checkout scanner. But while Bush 41's defining out-of-touch moment may be the stuff of political mythology, John McCain's stunning ignorance about how many homes he owns may soon come to define his run for the White House.... more Posted on August 21, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain Defines Rich: Not Knowing How Many Homes You Own John McCain has finally and definitively answered the question, how do you define "rich?" After first joking that "$5 million" marked the line between middle class and rich and then arguing, "I define rich in other ways besides income," John McCain provided the real answer Thursday. A rich man doesn't even know how many houses he owns. That moment of clarity for American voters - if not for McCain himself - came in an interview with the Politico: Sen. John... more Posted on August 21, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	The Haves, the Have Mores and the McCains Eight years ago, then Governor George W. Bush revealingly joked about his backers at the 2000 Al Smith Dinner. "This is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have-mores," Bush said, adding, "Some people call you the elites; I call you my base." With his own quip Saturday night that "$5 million" is his definition of rich," John McCain made no mistake that he is Bush's natural heir. Now, there is nothing wrong with being happily rich and utterly... more Posted on August 19, 2008 \| Comments (5)

	Exploding Deficit Blows Up Bush's Budget Promises On Monday, the White House announced that President Bush will leave his successor an estimated $482 billion budget deficit for the next fiscal year. But that sea of red ink isn't only an indelible mark on Bush's legacy going forward. It's a reminder of one of George W. Bush most cynical ploys - and broken promises. That, of course, is his bogus 2004 pledge to halve the federal budget deficit by 2009. As he faced reelection in 2004, George W.... more Posted on July 29, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Minimum Wage Jumps to $6.55, No Thanks to John McCain On Thursday, Americans saw the minimum wage jump to $6.55 an hour. Boosted by the second of three 70 cent increases passed by the new Democratic majority in Congress after the 2006 mid-term elections, the minimum wage will move to $7.25 next year. But to be sure, the two million Americans who got a raise today won't have John McCain to thank for it. McCain's record on the minimum wage isn't a pretty one. In March 2005, McCain opposed Ted... more Posted on July 24, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Nasty, Brutish and Short: New Study on Life in America In 2007, Americans learned that they had relinquished their 200-year hold on the title of world's tallest people. Now a devastating new report shows that across a growing range of indicators of health, wealth and education, Americans simply aren't measuring up. The "Measure of America" study by the American Human Development Project (funded by Oxfam America, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Conrad Hilton Foundation) documents a laggard United States trailing other leading advanced economies. Reflecting growing income inequality and the... more Posted on July 17, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	McCain and Gramm on Recession: It's All Mental Just two weeks after John McCain's latest declaration that the American economic slowdown is "psychological," his top adviser Phil Gramm also insisted the recession is all in our heads. The American people are not merely experiencing a "mental recession," Gramm announced, but are "a nation of whiners" for complaining about it. In an interview Wednesday with the Washington Times, the UBS vice chairman followed McCain's lead in decrying Americans' imaginary financial woes: "You've heard of mental depression; this is a... more Posted on July 10, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	John McCain's Terrible Tuesday If John McCain has many more days like Tuesday, his only chance to get to the White House will be as a tourist. On the same day he dropped jaws with his joke about killing Iranians with cigarettes, McCain amazingly slammed Social Security as "an absolute disgrace." Then even as McCain's first-term balanced budget pledge was being pilloried in the press, Americans learned that 300 economists signed a statement supporting McCain which made no mention of it. And topping it... more Posted on July 9, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	McCain's Immaculate Deception on the Economy On Monday, John McCain repackaged his previous economic proposals in a mystifying document simply called "Jobs for America." More notable for what it lacked than what it included, McCain's latest rehash unsurprisingly left out his past admissions of ignorance on matters economic, his vision of eBay as Americans' economic future or his belief that the U.S. recession was merely "psychological." But in returning to a previously abandoned promise to magically balance the budget by the end of his first term,... more Posted on July 7, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain: Forget Taxes and Gas Prices. No Really, Forget Them. On more than one occasion this campaign season, Republican John McCain claimed Americans' economic worries were all in their heads. So it's only natural that a man who described the economic downturn as "psychological" would have his own mental strategy for coping with spiraling gas prices and looming tax bills. Just forget them. That's the message emerging for two stories this weekend. First comes word, as Newsweek reported, that the McCains are delinquent in paying property taxes on an oceanfront... more Posted on June 29, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Dr. McCain Calls Economic Problems "Psychological." Again. John McCain isn't a psychologist, but he's playing one on TV. Again. For the second time in two months, the supposed maverick turned modern day Freud has diagnosed Americans' economic ills and concluded that it's all in our heads. And to be sure, his recommended therapy - offshore oil drilling and a gas tax holiday - are the equivalent of "take two aspirin and call me in the morning." At a town hall meeting in Fresno on Tuesday, McCain finally... more Posted on June 25, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Economists Blast McCain's eBay Economy Two months after I first highlighted John McCain's prescription of eBay as the cure for what ails the economy, economists are finally weighing in. As Bloomberg reports, the feedback isn't pretty. While McCain, who has admitted knowing little about economics and even less about computers, may envision a nation of auctioneers, "new people selling stuff out of their closet on EBay isn't growing the economy." That's the message from economist Betsey Stevenson, a professor at the Wharton School of Business.... more Posted on June 24, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain Sets a New Record: 10 Flip-Flops in Two Weeks In his eternal quest for the Republican presidential nomination, the supposed maverick John McCain has repeatedly reversed long-held positions and compromised purportedly core principles. From the Bush tax cuts, the religious right and immigration reform to overturning Roe v. Wade, proclaiming Samuel Alito a model Supreme Court Justice and bashing France (just to name a few), McCain changed sides as changing political conditions dictated. But over the past two weeks, McCain's rapid fire, acrobatic flip-flops have produced whiplash, at least... more Posted on June 17, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain Reverses Position on Balancing the Budget. Again. On Friday, the campaign of John McCain continued its game of "he loves me, he loves me not" with the federal budget deficit. His chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin pledged McCain would implement a balanced budget "by the end of his first term." Of course, that was a reversal of Holtz-Eakin's proclaimed target in April of 2017. And needless to say, that represented an abandonment of McCain's February promise to end the red ink by 2012. As ThinkProgress detailed, according... more Posted on June 8, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain's Answer for Poverty? eBay! In Martin County, Kentucky this week, John McCain added another one his "Forgotten Places" to the growing list of places his campaign would now like to forget. With a straight face, McCain told the residents of the economically devastated region that eBay represents their economic future. And he did so by appropriating the words of Meg Whitman, who just happens to be not only McCain's national campaign co-chair, but the former CEO of eBay. As NPR reported this morning, McCain... more Posted on April 25, 2008 \| Comments (144)

	McCain's 24 Hour Flip-Flop on the Bush Economy Ever since Ronald Reagan famously asked Americans in 1980 if they were better off now than four years ago, answering the question has been a pre-requisite for aspiring White House hopefuls. This week, Republican nominee John McCain twice tried to supply a response when asked about the eight years of the Bush economy. His changing answers of "yes" and "no" on consecutive days set a new flip-flopping record, even for John McCain. On April 17th, Senator McCain was interviewed on... more Posted on April 20, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	April 15th is John McCain Tax Flip-Flop Day As ABC News helpfully reminds us, April 15th is John McCain Tax Flip-Flop Day. McCain, as you'll recall, twice voted against President Bush's budget-busting tax cuts for the richest Americans who need them least. But having undergone a supply-side conversion on the road to the White House, John McCain now wants to make them permanent. John McCain's gymnastic flip-flop on the Bush tax cuts ranks among his greatest acts of political contortion. What he once opposed as fiscal recklessness and... more Posted on April 14, 2008 \| Comments (17)

	Bush Approval, Consumer Confidence Hit New Lows Three new surveys released today document the steep descent of President Bush, and with him, the American economy. While Bush's approval rating reached a new low of 28% in the AP poll, three quarters of economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal believe that the United States is in a recession that has yet to hit bottom. So it comes as no surprise that American consumer confidence spiraled down to its lowest level in 26 years. Of course, there was... more Posted on April 11, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain Flip-Flops on Foreclosure Crisis In order to secure the Republican presidential nomination, John McCain has reversed course on almost every issue he once held near and dear. Now with the general election contest underway, McCain is starting his predictable walk-back from the hard right abyss. Just days after proclaiming his adamant opposition to federal intervention in the housing market crisis, McCain yesterday announced half-measures to support "deserving" homeowners on the edge of foreclosure. Given his Scrooge-like pronouncements just two weeks ago, to call McCain's... more Posted on April 11, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	The Bush League Economy in a Picture Once in a rare while, a single image tells you everything to know about the American economy. On Wednesday, the New York Times featured a simple chart showing that President Bush has presided over the first post-World War II economic expansion in which Americans' median family income declined. If the American Dream is defined in part as each generation doing better than the one before, then the Bush League Economy can officially be declared a nightmare. David Leonhardt's devastating piece... more Posted on April 10, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	CNBC's Kudlow to McCain: Americans Need an Economic Enema The American economy is in recession and according to Larry Kudlow, that is a cause for celebration. On Friday, the National Review regular and CNBC host praised three months of job losses as "an economic cleansing" and beamed that "recessions are therapeutic." And by all indications, Kudlow's prescription of an economic enema for the American people is one shared by John McCain. Given the confluence of grim economic news, Kudlow's flippant "let them eat cake" attitude was all the more... more Posted on April 5, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Economists Point Finger at McCain Mentor Greenspan In the wake of the near-meltdown of the American financial system this week, economists are finally pointing the finger of blame at Alan Greenspan. As the Washington Post details, the former Fed Chairman once lauded as the "Maestro" is now facing withering criticism for helpful fuel the twin crises of the housing market and the financial system. That can't come as good news for John McCain, who recently summed up his minimal knowledge of economics by noting, "I've got Greenspan's... more Posted on March 21, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	White House Scrubs Web Site on the Economy What a difference a week makes, especially when it comes to the rollercoaster American economy. No where is the impact of looming recession and the near-meltdown on Wall Street clearer than on the White House web site. Just days ago, the site boasted about President Bush's glorious stewardship of the U.S. economy. Now, the White House's economy web page reflects the mad scramble to ward off the twin crises of the housing market and the financial system. A cached version... more Posted on March 20, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain: Everything I Know About the Economy, I Learned from Alan Greenspan Timing, as they say, is everything. By that measure, John McCain is having a very bad day. First, just one day after his own visit to Baghdad, Vice President Dick Cheney showed up in Iraq to remind Americans that McCain is inextricably linked to President Bush. Then just as the Federal Reserve rushed into to bail out faltering Wall Street investment banks and avert a financial panic, its former chairman Alan Greenspan disavowed any responsibility for it. Sadly, everything John... more Posted on March 17, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Bush Fails to "Jawbone" the Dollar Just one week after his latest dismal failure to "jawbone" OPEC into boosting oil production, President Bush yesterday tried his hand at talking up the plummeting U.S. dollar. Sadly, just 24 hours later, the greenback plunged to record lows against the euro and the Japanese yen. Bush's Reverse Midas Touch, it seems, has now infected both the oil and currency exchanges. Sounding more like an Econ 101 drop-out than a Harvard MBA, Bush on Wednesday declared he "absolutely" favored a... more Posted on March 13, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Did McCain Cost Boeing $40 Billion Tanker Deal? In a stunning announcement Friday, the Pentagon skipped over Boeing and awarded a massive $40 billion contract for a new fleet of refueling tankers to a Northrop Grumman and European Aeronautics Defense and Space (EADS). While Air Force officials claimed the choice of the KC-45 tankers jointly developed by Grumman and Airbus' parent company was based on its superior design, politicians in both parties are howling about the devastating economic impact on U.S.-based Boeing. And they might just have John... more Posted on March 1, 2008 \| Comments (12)

	Bush's Budget Deficit and the End of the Rosy Scenario In case panicked financial markets, rising unemployment, surging inflation and a credit crunch weren't enough cause for worry, Congressional Budget Office director Peter Orzag today added the mushrooming federal budget deficit to the mix. Coming as President Bush and Congressional leaders are conferring on a massive new economic stimulus package, the CBO estimated a $250 billion gap in 2008, up from $163 billion the previous year. Now Bush's budgetary sleight of hand, it would appear, is about to fall victim... more Posted on January 23, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	George W. Bush's Gambling Problem While George W. Bush may be a recovering drinker, he apparently has now developed a gambling problem. Just 10 days into 2008, the Bush White House has placed big bets on everything from a Middle East peace treaty to the prospects for a U.S. recession, even his own popularity and legacy. Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against him - and us. Bush's most unlikely roll of the dice came during his just completed visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.... more Posted on January 11, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Huckabee: Tax Prostitutes and Drug Dealers As Perrspectives detailed here and here, the ever-charming GOP frontrunner and surprise Iowa winner Mike Huckabee is probably the most alarming extremist thrown up by either party in a generation. But while his most dangerous pronouncements involve his zealous determination to save souls for the next life, his radical tax proposals would surely impoverish them in this one. One key, the former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister tells us, is to tax sinners like prostitutes and drug dealers. That, at... more Posted on January 6, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	Romney's Seasonal Visa Program Begins at Home On the campaign trail in Michigan on Saturday, GOP White House hopeful Mitt Romney announced his support for more seasonal visas for foreign workers laboring in tourism, agriculture and other sectors of the economy. As well he should. After all, Romney routinely hired illegal aliens to do the landscaping for his tony Boston area home. Never one for irony, Romney offered his prescription for addressing peak labor market shortages and the undocumented workers they attract. During a stop in northern... more Posted on October 15, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	A Labor Day Look at the Bush League Economy On this Labor Day, Perrspectives is offering a quick review of the increasing challenges to the living standards of American workers. Even as new reports show strong second quarter GDP growth and trumpet U.S. workers' world-leading productivity, two inescapable truths threaten their American Dream. First, as I detailed in "Bush League Economy" almost two years ago, the crowing of conservatives aside, the American people aren't focused on economic growth; they're concerned about economic insecurity. Call it the Perrspectives "Insecurity Index."... more Posted on September 3, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Edwards' Thankless Poverty Tour They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That may well be an apt description of John Edwards' "Road to One America" tour, his 11 city, three day journey to bring attention to the persistent - and resurgent - scourge of poverty plaguing the United States. But while Edwards' call to address the plight of America's most needy is admirable, it is out of sync with the current psyche - and voting patterns - of today's American... more Posted on July 17, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	Cleveland: The Incredible Shrinking City This week, the U.S. Census released its latest population estimates for American cities. And for my old hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, the news was grim indeed. Now down to 444,000 people, the city that once proclaimed itself the "Best Location in the Nation" has lost over half its population since 1950. There is simply no way to gloss over the cavalcade of catastrophic numbers for Cleveland. In 1920, Cleveland was the fifth largest city in the United States; today it... more Posted on July 1, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Red States Opposing Employee Free Choice Act Need It Most In Washington this week, the Senate will take up the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Passed by the House 241-185 in March, EFCA would make it much easier for unions to organize. Predictably, red state Republican Senators backed by an alliance of business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will likely prevent the measure from coming to a vote. Which is too bad. After all, from wages and benefits to job opportunities and collective bargaining rights, it is... more Posted on June 20, 2007 \| Comments (8)

	Health Care the Latest Red State Failure A new study released this week revealed that Americans' health care varies dramatically from state to state. It should come as no surprise that in general Southern states ranked at the bottom in almost every category. After all, whether the issue is health, education, working conditions, or virtually any indicator of social pathology, things are worst in precisely those states that voted for George W. Bush. The Commonwealth Fund report, "Aiming Higher: Results from a State Scorecard on Health System... more Posted on June 17, 2007 \| Comments (34)

	The Taxman Doesn't Cometh Monday's New York Times offers an analysis of the latest front in the partisan class war, the battle to collect unpaid taxes. The plot of this morality tale is predictable. On one side, Democrats seek to capture up to $100 billion in tax fraud to help fund their "paygo" budget plans. On the other, the GOP hopes to continue its gutting of the IRS and perpetuate the transfer of audits - and tax burden - away from the wealthiest of... more Posted on February 5, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	SOTU Preview: 10 Things to Watch Tuesday's State of the Union Address should offer Americans compelling viewing. After the GOP's electoral disaster in November and the resounding thud that greeted the "surge" in Iraq, the 2007 SOTU can be said to officially mark the last throes of the Bush presidency. In anticipation of tomorrow night's presidential flight of fantasy, here are 10 things to look for in the 2007 State of the Union: 1. An Unhealthy Vision As his Saturday radio address made clear, President Bush... more Posted on January 22, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	The Minimum Wage in Red and Blue In Washington this week, the Democratic-controlled House takes on the first minimum wage increase since 1997. But while the federal government has blocked help for 13 million working Americans (9.8% of the workforce) for a decade, many states have already moved forward with their own minimum wage hikes. And as you might imagine, few of them happened to vote for George W. Bush for president. As ThinkProgress detailed this week, a host of states have already implemented new wage baselines.... more Posted on January 10, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Cheater in Chief: Bush as the MBA President With each passing week, Americans are provided more insight into the deeply flawed character and mounting sins of their President. The latest comes in the form of a study by the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University showing that more MBA students cheat than those pursuing other professions. In what should come a surprise to few, George W. Bush, America's putative first MBA president, is the poster boy for the country's most dishonest profession. Ironically, the Duke University report... more Posted on October 30, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	New Reports Highlight Housing Market Woes Two new reports this week served to highlight the central role of the housing market in the U.S. economy and in driving the living standards of Americans. Coming on the same day the Dow reached an all-time high, the housing data is not good. On Tuesday, the Census Bureau reported that Americans have become "house poor," dramatically increasing the percentage of their incomes dedicated to housing. Americans now spend 21% of their incomes on housing, up from under 19% as... more Posted on October 3, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Troubling Trends on Americans' Incomes Despite grandiose claims from the White House regarding the strength of the U.S. economy, a flood of new data helps explain Americans' continued feelings of insecurity. While the unemployment rate (4.7%), GDP growth (2.9%) and productivity gains (2.3%)look impressive, below the surface the picture for wages and income grows bleaker still. Whether the incumbent Republicans pay a price in November for that dismal performance remains to seen. The disturbing trends for Americans' incomes are beyond dispute. Since President Bush took... more Posted on September 4, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	IRS Slashes Staff Auditing Wealthiest Americans In the latest sign that Republican class warfare is alive and well in Washington, the IRS is planning draconian cuts to its team of estate tax lawyers handling the audits of the wealthiest Americans. In the next 70 days, the IRS will shed almost half of the 345 lawyers assigned to monitor the gift and estate taxes paid - or not paid - by those with some of the largest fortunes in the United States. This latest effort to gut... more Posted on July 23, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Warren Buffett Defends the Estate Tax On Monday, billionaire financier Warren Buffett made two important contributions to the public good. First, he announced a staggering gift of $30 billion of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Perhaps more important for America's future, Buffett came out swinging in defense of the estate tax. During his press conference, Buffett offered a strong progressive argument in support of the estate tax: "I would hate to see the estate tax gutted. It's in keeping with the idea... more Posted on June 27, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	No Comfort for Bush on the Economy Nothing seems to frustrate the White House and the Republican leadership more than their abysmal poll numbers on the economy at a time of booming GDP and a resurgent job market. It is, they claim, all about the war. But as I wrote in the "Bush League Economy," the issue for the President and the GOP isn't the Iraq war overshadowing a robust economy, but the growing insecurity most Americans experience daily with surging energy prices, spiraling health care costs,... more Posted on May 19, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Bush, Dubai and the Ties That Bind I tend to agree with Kevin Drum over at the Washington Monthly that the Dubai port deal is not necessarily the grave and gathering security risk its opponents decry. (The shocking political tone-deafness is another matter altogether.) But it certainly smells bad, in no small part because of the cronyism and close ties the Bush White House - and family -have to Dubai Ports World and the government of the UAE. As has been reported previously, the Bush team is... more Posted on February 28, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Perrspectives at Harvard Larry Summers may be out at Harvard, but it appears Perrspectives is in. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my recent piece, "GM and the War on Labor," was on the required reading list for Economics 1812, a class on the U.S. labor market. The class, not surprisingly called "The U.S. Labor Market," also features readings from the Washington Post, the Detroit News and Bloomberg, as well as pieces from the Wharton School and economist Robert J. Samuelson. I... more Posted on February 22, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Top 10 State of the Union Highlights Faced with negative polls and a pessimistic American nation, President Bush's just completed 2006 State of the Union Address naturally focused on the theme of "the Hopeful Society." But like the stillborn "Ownership Society" vision before it, Bush's 2006 SOTU will be remembered not for its policy program, but for its partisan political purposes. The top 10 highlights: 1. Demonize the Democrats The President continued Karl Rove's 2006 electoral strategy to once again run on national security and brand the... more Posted on January 31, 2006 \| Comments (6)

	The Chinese Economic Miracle Continues Signs of China's rapid growth into an economic superpower are everywhere. The latest indicator comes in a report from the China National Bureau of Statistics announcing a staggering 9.9% rise in Chinese GDP in 2005. With its $2.26 trillion economy, China has leap-frogged the UK, France and Italy to become the fourth largest in the world. As Perrspectives has written before, China's explosive economic growth, aggressive military upgrading and diplomatic muscle-flexing pose a myriad of challenges for the United States.... more Posted on January 25, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Ford Joins GM on the Brink The American manufacturing sector took another body blow today as Ford announced massive layoffs beginning in 2007. As many as 30,000 employees at 14 Ford plants in North America, up to 21% of the company's hourly workforce of 82,000, could be impacted by 2012. The announcement by the #2 American automaker comes within weeks of similar devastating cuts at General Motors. As at GM, the United Auto Workers agreed to dramatic reductions in health care benefits at Ford, shifting expenses... more Posted on January 23, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Engine Trouble for the Economy To kick-off his 2006 campaign for permanent - and dangerously irresponsible - tax cuts, President Bush crowed on Friday about his economic stewardship. "The American economy," Bush boasted, "heads into 2006 with a full head of steam." New economic data released on the same day, however, suggests that the American economic locomotive may be experiencing some engine trouble. After a stellar November, December produced only new 100,000 jobs, roughly half of the gains anticipated by analysts. Paradoxically, the .1% drop... more Posted on January 8, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Wages of Spin As I wrote recently, the White House is increasingly frustrated by Americans' continued pessimism with the President's handling of the economy. Perhaps President Bush can find some solace that he seems to draw his greatest support in precisely those states where conditions are the worst for American workers. That would appear to be the central finding in a report just released by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts. The report, titled "Decent Work in America: The... more Posted on December 9, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Bush League Economy Nothing, apparently not even the growing opposition to the war in Iraq, frustrates President Bush and the Republican Party more than Americans' consistently negative view of the economy. Despite 215,000 new jobs in November, stout 4.3% Q3 GDP growth and a whopping 4.7% gain in productivity, only 37% of Americans approve of Bush's handling of the economy. As one Wall Street analyst moaned on the RNC blog, "No matter what happens, no matter what data are released, no matter which... more Posted on December 8, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	GM and the War on Labor You can learn a lot about the state of class warfare in America just by reviewing the reaction to General Motors' recent announcement that it will lay off 30,000 workers and shutter a dozen plants in North America. While E.J Dionne at the Washington Post offered a thoughtful piece on the political responses to the impact of globalization and spiraling health care costs on manufacturing giants such as GM, Rich Lowry of the conservative National Review does what the right... more Posted on November 29, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Voting with Their Wallets Voters across the nation dealt a major defeat to the radical anti-government movement. In state after state, the people rejected the starvation tax policies of the Norquistas and reaffirmed their shared commitment to investment in essential public services. Looking ahead to 2006, this augurs well for good government Democrats and represents a stern warning to President Bush and the Congressional GOP. The triumph of common sense started in Colorado last week. There, voters overwhelmingly supported a suspension of the state's... more Posted on November 9, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Trojan Horse: The Bush Plan for Katrina Last Thursday�s speech by President Bush in New Orleans� Jackson Square kicked off the administrations� cynical campaign to snatch political victory from the jaws of defeat in the wake of its disastrous Katrina response. Karl Rove�s strategy for the coming 2006 mid-term elections will modeled on his 2002 GOP success with the Department of Homeland Security. With the Gulf States devastated, hundreds dead and thousands displaced, President Bush and the GOP will lace a popular recovery program featuring massive federal... more Posted on September 19, 2005 \| Comments (9)

	Bush's Katrina Cop Out The President's prime-time "Katrina Comeback" address was vintage Bush. Primarily designed to help him, and not the Gulf States, recover from his administration�s disastrous bungling of the Katrina response, Bush's speech offered to shower money on the devastated South. But in his typical fashion, George W. Bush held no one accountable and shunned independent oversight of the response and the rebuilding. Most of all, the Free Lunch President refused to ask the American people to pay for it. Let's start... more Posted on September 15, 2005 \| Comments (16)

	Estate Tax or Dynasty Dividend? In the wake of Katrina's devastation along the Gulf Coast, Americans should be united in providing relief, resources and support to all in need. But sadly, that massive relief effort will take place during a time divisive - and fundamental - debate about the very meaning of national unity in the United States. As New Orleans struggles for survival, the President and his amen corner are waging a full scale assault on the estate tax, what they derisively (and effectively)... more Posted on September 4, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	New Orleans Pays the Death Tax Now should not be the time, as Kevin Drum of the Washington Monthly has noted, for the politics of blame. In the wake of Katrina's devastation along the Gulf Coast, Americans should be united in providing relief, resources and support to all in need. But sadly, that massive relief effort will take place during a time of divisive and fundamental debate about the very meaning of national unity in the United States. As New Orleans struggles for survival, the President... more Posted on August 31, 2005 \| Comments (36)

	America and China in Hot Oil It�s been a busy week for energy news in the United States. First, the average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in the United States topped $2.60. Then, a barrel of oil flirted with $68, yet another record. And Bush Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta announced minor revisions to the federal CAFE fuel efficiency standards for some light trucks and SUVs. But the most important development for the long-term health of the American energy market came from China. On Monday,... more Posted on August 25, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	French Twist The rejection of the EU constitution by French and Dutch voters this week has raised a host of questions about the future of the European project. But while Euro-optimism absorbed a body blow, Americans may be just waking up to the prospect of a transformed alliance. Perrspectives has written repeatedly about the rise of the European Union as a economic and strategic counterweight to the United States. That development is tranforming the trans-Atlantic partnership, as growing economic competition (for example,... more Posted on June 3, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Stem Selling: The Ronald Reagan Life Legacy Act The momentum of politics and science is now with the Democrats in the battle to drive stem cell research in the United States. This week's announcement by South Korean researchers successfully producing healthy stem cells from the DNA of damaged tissue brought home the danger of the United States losing its leadership in the biotech sector. And new bi-partisan legislation in the House co-sponsored by Mike Castle (R-DE) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) shows that increasing numbers of Congressional Republicans will... more Posted on May 24, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Lessons of Enron Revisited As President Bush took to the national stage on Thursday to try to salvage his failing second term agenda, a damning new documentary about Enron and close Bush friend was releases to critical acclaim. The film, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, details the massive behind the scenes fraud the company perpetrated against its employees, its shareholders, and the American public. As reviewer David Edelstein noted, the documentary is at its most enraging when detailing the impact of the... more Posted on April 29, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	TABOR Pains I've recently joined the group of contributing writers over at BlueOregon. My first post, "TABOR Pains", looks at the impact of state taxes on economic performance in the context of Oregon's coming debate over a Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR). If you're interested to what Grover Norquist and his "starve the beast", anti-government crowd are doing at the state level, check it out: Benjamin Disraeli famously commented that �there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics.� As... more Posted on April 12, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Achilles' Heels The political clash over the tragedy of Terri Schiavo is highlighting once again the Achilles Heel of the conservative movement. Dormant for two presidential elections, the yawning chasm between economic and social conservatives is reemerging, and with it, a serious threat to the Republicans' majority status. As we've noted before, the ascendancy of the Right is constantly threatened by the strains between social conservatives and their fiscally conservative, often libertarian allies. On one side, the religious Right of Robertson, Falwell,... more Posted on March 23, 2005 \| Comments (6)

	On the Wrong Side of History Once in a rare while, tectonic historical change occurs with the span of only few days. The dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall heralding the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union, was one of those watershed moments. And for many Americans, the events of the last 10 days of January, with the Rice confirmation, the Bush second inaugural, and the Iraqi elections, represent a democratic tide sweeping the Middle East, a sea change the whole world is watching. Sometimes, though,... more Posted on February 1, 2005 \| Comments (5)

	Perrspectives' Social Security Document Library With President Bush and the GOP launching an all-out campaign for their misguided Social Security privatization plan, Perrspectives has assembled a library of resources to help you evaluate the pluses and (endless) minuses of the Bush proposal. The Perrspectives Social Security Document Library includes the Republicans' cynical game plan, the Trustees' 2004 Report, the 2001 report of the Presidential Commission, CEPR's simple fact sheet, and resources from AARP, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Campaign for America's Future... more Posted on February 1, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Hijacking Freedom Among the many sub-plots to watch for in Wednesday's State of the Union address will be President Bush's appropriation of the words "freedom" and "liberty" for his agenda and the GOP. As we've written before, the Republicans have dominated American policy debates through their manipulation and control of language. Whether through message discipline or superior framing (to use Lakoff's term), the GOP has won a succession of victories spanning tax reform, Medicare, environmental policy, and more. Bush's 2005 State of... more Posted on January 31, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	2004 State of the Union Flashback With President Bush's 2005 State of the Union approaching, my 2004 SOTU-eve critique of Bush's so-called Ownership Society still stands. State of Disunion Even with his shaky State of the Union address and dipping approval ratings, President Bush unfortunately remains in a strong position for the 2004 election. Saddam is captured, GDP is surging, and his reelection war chest has a staggering $100 million in the bank. And while his Democratic foes battle each other in primary contests across the... more Posted on January 31, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	African-Americans and the Bush Social Security Plan Only days after the Armstrong Williams paid-for-pundit debacle, President Bush used his January 12 "town hall meeting" to once again reach out to African-Americans. this time on his Social Security privatization plan. With a hand-picked audience of supporters present on stage and in the Washington DC audience, Bush was on the top of his game: "Another interesting idea...is a personal savings account...which can't be used to bet on the lottery, or a dice game, or the track. "Secondly, the interesting... more Posted on January 13, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Bush's Social Security Smoke Screen As we previously discussed in "The Party of Choice", the Bush Social Security privatization is only loosely concerned about increasing market returns for retirement savings, providing greater freedom to American investors or even staving off a supposed funding crisis. Win or lose, the Bush plan seeks nothing less than to dramatically redefine the role of government while cementing the image of a majority Republican Party as the party of choice. But you don't have to take our word for it.... more Posted on January 6, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	A Google Lovefest on 60 Minutes For those of you who missed, CBS offered a fawning portrait of Google on last night's installment of 60 Minutes. Aside from a brief mention of the Microsoft threat, Leslie Stahl's lovefest had little negative to say about everyone's favorite Internet company. Well, not quite everyone. As we reported last year, Google the Internet darling can also be Google the Internet danger when it comes to respecting the speech and web site content of its advertisers. As Perrspectives, The Nation,... more Posted on January 3, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	The Party of Choice As President Bush ramps up his campaign for Social Security privatization, it looks like Democrats will once again win the battle of facts while losing the war of ideas. While his proposals are widely viewed as bad public policy and enjoy only lukewarm public support, regardless of its outcome Bush's crusade for Social Security reform will likely cement the positive image of the Republicans as the "party of choice." And apparently unaware of the largers stakes, it looks like the... more Posted on December 28, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Greenbacks and Greenspan Slowly but surely, Americans may be waking up to the fact that our twin budget and trade deficits are a lurking danger. It was just so surprising to hear Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan be so utterly cavalier about the downward pressures on the dollar: "It seems persuasive that, given the size of the U.S. current account deficit, a diminished appetite for adding to dollar balances must occur at some point." The impact of Greenspan's unusually candid assessment was immediate. The... more Posted on November 19, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Three More Strikes for W In addition to the three pastings inflicted on him by John Kerry, President Bush a day after the final debate faces a trifecta of bad economic news: 1. A record Federal budget deficit of $413 billion. 2. A large increase in the number of first time jobless claims to 352,000. 3. The second highest monthly trade gap in American history ($54 billion). The Bush record speaks for itself. As Ronald Reagan once said, "are you better off now than four... more Posted on October 14, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Cheney, Edwards and the Cleveland Test Speaking of Cleveland, moderator Gwen Ifill's question about the fate of cities like Cleveland was one of the most telling moments of the Cheney-Edwards encounter. Ifill highlighted the woes of Cleveland to ask the candidates address economic and quality of life issues facing the nation. And John Edwards proceeded to use the example of Cleveland to draw the sharpest contrast in the debate. IFILL: "What can you tell the people of Cleveland, or people of cities like Cleveland, that your... more Posted on October 6, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Cleveland Blues One of the sad stories of the Vice Presidential Debate in Cleveland is that of Cleveland itself. While the debate hype pushed my hometown into the spotlight, other recent developments have not been so kind: America's Poorest Big City The Census Bureau reported that Cleveland is the now the poorest major city in the United States, with a staggering poverty rate of 31%, two and a half times the national average. The Incredible Shrinking City In two generations, Cleveland has... more Posted on October 6, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Bush Top 10 Flip Flop List Four years ago, George W. Bush accepted the Republican nomination for President, and famously set the moral tone - and expectations for his presidency: "So when I put my hand on the Bible, I will swear to not only uphold the laws of our land, I will swear to uphold the honor and dignity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God." It has not, of course, worked out that way. As we pointed out... more Posted on October 1, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Hitting the Wall In his flat-earth attempt to ignore economic reality, President Bush mindlessly repeats the mantra, "we're turning the corner and we're not going back." Unfortunately for W, his economic denial is getting harder every day: The ranks of Americans without health insurance swelled to 45 million. Since 2002, 1.4 million more Americans joined those already in poverty. GDP for the 2nd quarter was lowered again, to 2.8%. The U.S. government is running record budget deficits of over $400 billion. The U.S.... more Posted on August 29, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's Ownership Society During a recent campaign stop, President Bush gave West Virginians a preview of the GOP convention and his reelection theme for the fall. Bush summarized his "Ownership Society", stating that "when you own something, you have a vital stake in the future of our country." The Ownership Society is Bush's attempt to offer the "vision thing" and counter his vulnerability over the chaos in Iraq and the jobless recovery at home. It aims to create a new American homo economicus... more Posted on August 27, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	A Google Freedom of Information Act 2004 could be a big year for Internet search giant Google. Its IPO will be one of the biggest crossover business, technology and social news stories of the year. The launch of its Gmail service could put the company in the forefront of web-based email services while creating a major new revenue stream. Its pervasiveness among users (�to Google�) and advertisers alike could make Google a likely candidate to join those lofty iconic, market-defining brands like Kleenex, Xerox, Coke, and... more Posted on July 12, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Google's Gag Order Every once in a while in America�s consumer society, a company, product or service rises above its mere utility to achieve iconic status in the culture. Its very novelty, innovation, or just manufactured �cool� allow it to enter the daily American lexicon. As nouns, brands like Kleenex (facial tissues), Rollerblade (in-line skates), or Coke (any soft drink south of the Mason Dixon Line) are equated with an entire product category, eclipsing all competitors. Others achieve the even loftier status of... more Posted on June 20, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Enron, Markets ad Grandma Millie Once is a rare while, conspiracy theorists get it right. In the case of Enron, this occasional conspiracy theorist and ex-Californian hit it right on the head in 2001. As the audiotapes of its traders released by CBS News clearly show, Enron clearly manipulated the newly deregulated California energy market to extract outrageous � and illegal � profits from Golden State ratepayers. The real scandal of Enron, though, is so much broader than that. It�s not just that Enron conspired... more Posted on June 2, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Are You Better Off? During the 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan quickly deflated Jimmy Carter�s reelection bid with a simple question, asking the American people, �are you better off today than four years ago?� The answer, at a time of high unemployment, staggering inflation, spiraling energy prices, and hostages in Tehran, was an obvious - and devastating - no. Now it�s George Bush�s turn to face the Reagan question. And as with Jimmy Carter, the verdict from the American people won�t be kind: the... more Posted on March 10, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part VI: The Democrats' New American Bargain in Action In 2004, Democrats must answer the GOP assault on national unity with a program based on reciprocity, responsibility and opportunity that calls on the best in Americans and their government. On national security, Democrats must not only pass the threshold of credibility, they must demonstrate clear leadership compared to the GOP. There is no better way to do this, substantively and symbolically, than through national service. While the volunteer army currently seems sufficient to fight foes abroad such as Afghanistan... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part V: A New American Bargain Democrats need a new, revitalized public philosophy and politics not only to achieve victory in 2004, but also to have any hope of attaining majority status in the next decade. In contrast to a conservative Opt Out ideology increasingly at odds with the best American civic traditions, Democrats should seek to usher in the "Reciprocity Society." Characterized by shared national identity and values, commitment to common goals and public institutions, national service, mutual responsibility, and universal opportunity, the Reciprocity Society... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part IV: Identity Politics and the Threat from the Left Unfortunately, Democrats cannot credibly speak of a politics of national unity and common American interest unless they make a clear break with the identity politics, multi-culturalism, and group privileges of the party's left. Democrats during the Clinton reign in the 1990's made great progress overcoming two of the three barriers to the party gaining majority status: being trusted on national defense and to provide economic growth. On cultural issues, however, the Clinton program of "100,000 cops" and welfare reform (not... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part III: Branding the Opt Out Society Democrats in 2004 would do well to emulate two successful approaches of their opponents in branding the GOP and its Opt Out philosophy. In 1994 with Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" and again with the 2000 Bush campaign, the Republicans succeeded in both labeling the Democrats as outside the mainstream while effectively positioning their own program in easily understood, hard hitting and, at least superficially, universally appealing sound bites. The result was and continues to be GOP domination of the... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part II: On Your Own The impact of the Opt Out Society can be seen across the policies the Bush administration has pursued since coming to office. These are consistently defined by three characteristics. First is market idolatry; all public policy issues are framed in terms of market choice, competition, and privatization. From school vouchers to a market for pollution credits, any outcome that results is by definition the right one, since it was freely decided by the market. Second, the politics of the Opt... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part I: Introduction There's an old saying that says, "don't bring a knife to a gun fight." Another old saw goes "know your enemy." Truer words were never spoken as Democrats approach the 2004 elections. President Bush, fresh off his victory in Iraq, the staged performance on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, and the capture of Saddam, has maintained strong approval ratings. But while the president wraps himself in the flag and the banner of unity in the American war against terror, the... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Smallness of King George Robert F. Kennedy once said, "Richard Nixon represents the dark side of the American spirit." Well, RFK never met George W. Bush. Not since the days of Tricky Dick has the White House seen such a secretive, paranoid and vengeance-filled occupant. President Bush may not have the Plumbers, CREEP (the Committee to Re-elect the President), or the "Enemies List", but in its essence his administration has all the same hallmarks as the Nixon team. The politics of retribution, secrecy, and... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)