Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

A final post for me (for now; I’m out of breath) on last night’s debate and mainstream journalists’ coverage of it

  E.J. Dionne just posted a column online that will be published in tomorrow’s Washington Post.  Here are its last three paragraphs: But the debate’s most substantive contribution was to the larger philosophical argument the country needs to have in 2016. Republicans plainly still believe their central mission is cutting taxes, shredding regulations and shrinking […]

Why does Paul Waldman think only URBAN young people are interested in the issue of tuition-free college?

I read Paul Waldman’s posts on the Washington Post Plum Line blog regularly and agree with most of what he says, but his claim today that rural young people who can’t afford college aren’t interested in attending college anyway, and those who do attend are fine with borrowing large amounts of money to do so if […]

Greg Sargent gets it right: Clinton tried last night to return the definition of ‘progressive’ to the traditional ‘women’s-and-children’s’ issues that have been her calling card for decades. The pundits’ kudos notwithstanding, I doubt it will work, because ACTUAL progressives these days have a different idea.

Until last night, the Democratic presidential primary had largely been viewed through a simple frame: Bernie Sanders represents the full-throatedly populist and progressive wing of the party on economic issues, and Hillary Clinton occupies a more moderate, less populist, less-overtly redistributive zone, while edging in Sanders’ direction in order to obscure economic differences between them […]

Denmark isn’t a middle-class, capitalist, entrepreneurial country? Because it has universal healthcare, free college, subsidized day care, and guaranteed family and medical leave? Really, Secretary Clinton? Really?

We are not Denmark — I love Denmark — we are the United States of America.  We would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history of the world. — Hillary Clinton, last night Okay.  When I heard that, I said, “Wow.  Did she […]

Why Does Hillary Clinton Think We Want Elizabeth Warren to Be Vulnerable?

Hillary Clinton says women are “held to a totally different standard” in politics — and that it’s been that way since she first ran for office. “You’re expected to be both strong and vulnerable at the same time,” Clinton said in BuzzFeed’s “Another Round” podcast that was published online Sunday. “That’s not easy to do.” The Democratic […]

What I Want Bernie Sanders to Know Before Tuesday’s Debate

A few weeks ago Mike Huckabee made minor news by telling an interviewer that slavery has never been made unconstitutional.  Or, to be precise, he told radio interviewer Michael Medved that “the Dred Scott decision of 1857 still remains to this day the law of the land which says that black people aren’t fully human.”  […]

Volkswagen

Interesting letter from the California EPA (CARB) to Volkswagen covering the Nitrogen Oxide being emitted by its vehicles during normal driving conditions on the road. What is “really” interesting about this is VW put into play software which detects when the vehicle is being tested causing the vehicle to pass testing. Hat Tip to Bear […]

70% Defaulted in 2013

To add to this attention getter, 70% of all the students who defaulted in 2013 went to non-traditional schools or “for-profit” schools. Of students who graduated from traditional schools and were required to start paying back student loans in 2011, two percent of graduate students and eight percent of undergraduate students defaulted as compared to […]

Conceding too much to Supply Siders

This is my usual post lamenting the fact that reasonable people allow supply side dynamic scorers to set the terms of debate. They confidently assert that tax cuts for the rich cause more rapid GDP growth and want to argue whether that means they pay for themselves . Jeb!’s economists admit that they don’t without […]