"Words that make actions speak louder."
Get this: Republicans on the Deficit Commission aren’t just refusing to consider any tax increases. Now they’re proposing tax decreases designed to help the rich, while taking benefits from everyone else. Dealing with people like that is like negotiating with somebody who’s high on drugs. Most members of the Commission seem to want a deal […]
What happened to Moody’s is what happens to every “agent” who thinks he can serve two masters. The sad thing is that it keeps happening, even though we’ve seen this movie before. Credit rating agencies are supposed to monitor debt that’s issued by financial institutions and governments. It’s their job to protect investors from purchasing […]
This week Leonard Downie, the former Executive Editor of the Washington Post, attacked blogs in general and the Huffington Post specifically, saying they’re “parasites” who live off “journalism produced by others.” His comment would have carried more weight if Downie’s old newspaper still produced all its own journalism, instead of outsourcing a portion of its […]
Congressional Republicans released their “Pledge for America” today with a press event at a Virginia hardware store, and a hardware store was definitely the right choice: If these policies ever take effect you’re going to get screwed. It was slightly amusing to see these wealthy tribunes in their pricey business-casual clothing, dressed to look the […]
Now that Larry Summers is leaving, the President has a decision to make. His choice of a replacement will send a signal about the next two years of economic policy. That signal can restore consumer confidence and reinvigorate the electorate, or it can lead to even more discouragement and despair. Today unnamed Administration officials floated […]
According to a flurry of headlines today, a panel of economists just announced that “the recession’s over.” Is that true? Yes. Does that mean we’re no longer in a crisis, or that steps to fix the economy aren’t as urgently needed as they were before? Absolutely not. The situation on the ground – in the […]
Elizabeth Warren’s first phone call after being named to her new White House position was to a group of progressive bloggers. Is that significant? Maybe not, but it certainly looks like Warren’s appointment, and the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau she will be setting up, owes a great deal to the progressives that […]
Sometimes our political commentariat seems to go fashion-crazy. When a new trend gets popular it overwhelms everything in its path: logic, poltical divisions, even expert opinion. The latest vogue is deficit reduction, and our nation’s Anna Wintours tell us we simply have to have it. In Washington, screaming about being in the red is the […]
The aging American workforce has been vilified a lot lately, in much the same way the poor were in previous decades. Politicians who once might have spread myths about “welfare queens” are now describing retired people as “greedy geezers.” Not to be outdone, well-paid pundits are rushing to lecture people on their moral failings and […]
A report in today’s New York Times describes a policy analyst as believing that Social Security needs to change because people are”living longer.” This is a misconception that gets repeated over and over, one which a lot of otherwise well-informed people are convinced is true. The logic goes something like this: People are living much […]