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

Right Wing Slant to Non-Partisan Progressive Think Tanks

With the Koch Brothers donating to Center for American Progress and funding studies on Incarceration, one might wonder what changes might occur at CAP due to the financial support of studies by the Koch Brothers. CAP is not the only one to begin to solicit or accept funding from major corporations or interests. Brookings has […]

It is Ok to Attack a Democrat’s Military Service . . .

It is just not ok to attack a Republican’s Military Service This Sunday, Jack Tapper on CNN “called Republicans who were outraged over attacks on Sen. John McCain’s war record to the table to explain themselves on past attacks on Democrats. Jack reminded the Republicans of their Swift Boat smear of then 2004 Democratic presidential […]

The Oklahoma Republican Party calls Walmart and the mega-corporate fast-food and hospitality industries animals dependent on food stamps. And its chairman wants a national discussion about it. Oblige him, Democrats.

In any event, it’s completely unclear where people will stop in for hamburgers and fries, and where they will buy extremely cheap household items, once the fast food industry and Walmart have ceased to exist because there no longer are Americans who lack the skills and qualifications for good jobs and they’ve all found good […]

Scott Walker vs. the Walton Family and McDonald’s’ CEO

The left claims they’re for American workers, and they’ve got lame ideas, things like minimum wage. Instead of focusing on that, we need to talk about how we get people skills and qualifications they need to get jobs that go well beyond minimum wage. — Scott Walker, yesterday Yep, raising the minimum wage and instituting […]

Okay, so Douglas Holtz-Eakin thinks that proposing policies that have been proposed before but have not been adopted (or are no longer in force) is the same as proposing policies that have been adopted and are still in place. Seriously, he completely conflates the two.

Many conservatives breathed a sigh of relief after the speech, having feared a fresh set of innovative proposals that might have required serious responses. “I think it’s a horse race between what’s more tired, her or the material,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “There really isn’t anything new here. It’s really […]

The Sixty Hour Weeks of the Leisure Class

A typical excuse for widening income inequality is that the ‘job creators’ actually work oh so much harder than the ‘job takers’. That while the latter simply leave work at 4 or 5 PM, the former are just getting started and in fact routinely put in 50-70 hour workweeks. Now I hasten to add that […]

Taking a page from John Roberts, Jeb Bush solves the problem of workers working part-time who want to work full-time: The way to create full-time jobs for part-time workers who want, but can’t find, full-time jobs is for part-time workers who want, but can’t find, full-time jobs to start working full-time. [With awesome update!]

My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see. Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours. — Jeb Bush, in an […]

A Case for Grexit

I think that the Greeks would be wise to abandon the Euro and introduce their own currency. Very few Greeks agree with me. Also many very smart economists around the world strongly strongly disagree with me. I will try to explain the case for a new Greek currency. 1) ECB blackmail is a crucial consideration. […]

The Silly Analogizing of Bernie Sanders to Ron Paul

Oh, dear.  This post of mine from yesterday is soooo yesterday.  (Okay, sooo last-weekend, to be precise.)  The attempt to paint Sanders as the Democrats’ Donald Trump has failed.  Sanders isn’t the left’s Donald Trump; he’s the left’s Ron Paul!  At least according to a rapidly congealing CW pushed by pundits that include—surprisingly—at least one progressive one. Freelance […]