Writing in The New York Times today, Martin Feldstein, who was the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan, argued for “permanently reducing the mortgage debt hanging over America.” Failure to do so, he writes, “ means that further declines in home prices will continue, preventing the rise in consumer spending needed …
I don’t know if people still give Labor Day speeches about the working men and women who built this great land, but there were two articles written about labor today that ought to boil the blood of every working stiff, whether blue collar, white collar, pink collar, no collar, or whatever. First, Paul Krugman continued …
Two sentences have resulted in more damage to American democracy than any other. The sentences are simple, but have had profound effects. Both sentences are false on their face, and yet both have been decreed true by the Supreme Court, and are therefore the law of the land. One sentence is that a corporation is …
Drew Westen, a professor of psychology at Emory University, hit the nail on the head in a piece that he wrote for the Times last week, in which he bemoaned President Obama‘s failure to seize the narrative of the political issues of our times. Imagine, says Westen, how things would have been different if Obama …
In The New York Times last Sunday, John F. Burns wrote a lamentation for the state of his native Britain, and the recognition of the overall depressing complexity of the hacking scandal, the corruption of the three major institutions of the media, the police, and Parliament, really left one with the sinking, sickening feeling that …
Did Grover Norquist blow it a little bit yesterday when he played the “what the meaning of `is’ is” game with his famous No New Tax Edict, which he wields over Republcians faithful like a scythe? Plain as a guillotine, the edict requires all Republican candiates to forswear raising taxes while in office. First, he …
Members of Congress have have been the authors of some of the great acts of cynicism in our lifetimes: slipping items favored by special interests in the fine print of conference committee reports; voting one way on a bill and thenanother way in enabling legislation or appropriations; citing some high-minded purpose on a bill that …
July 12, 2511–Archeologists working in the remnants of the great financial meltdown found remnants of a rare 21st century recording that survived the Great iTunes implosion of 2022. Performed by an obscure 21st century blues singer named Blind Muddy Obama, it is entitled “Band Aids and Peas,” and apparently contains references to the debt ceiling …
TALKIN’ THE 2011 DEBT CEILING PEAS AND BAND AIDS BLUES Read More »
David Brooks has been a great columnist for The New York Times because he has always conducted himself like a decent guy. Intelligent, prudent, even-handed, he spends a lot of time giving the other fellow his due, in the obvious belief that he ought to behav in an earnest, high-minded, intelligent way because that is …
In the Times this morning, Paul Krugman, who clearly opposes Paul Ryan‘s Vouchercare plan, nonetheless acknowledges that “medicare has to get serious about cost control; it has to start saying no to expensive procedures with little or no medical benefits, it has to change the way it pays doctors and hospitals, and so on.” Writing …