The issue of immigration has been well-documented as exposing a rift among Republicans in recent days; articles in the Washington Post, The Economist, and the Financial Times are but a few examples. But the political left seems to me to be nearly as split on the issue. Numerous readers of this blog have expressed serious […]

Bruce Bartlett’s post on his NYTimes blog last week highlighted the long-term fiscal problems faced by the US. He mentioned that his preferred solution would be to impose a national value added tax (VAT) to help close the gap between expected federal revenues and spending. His most recent NYTimes post (see Mark Thoma for excerpts, […]

Some of you have wondered why I haven’t yet made much of an effort to distinguish between legal and illegal immigration. It’s a fair question. Let me share my thoughts with you about the two, and explain why my sentiments about immigration in general mean that I don’t worry much about the distinction between the […]

Simpsons aficionados among you already know that the Simpsons addressed the issue of immigration back in 1996, in the episode “Much Apu About Nothing”. Here’s a summary of the beginning of the episode, thanks to Wikipedia (Btw, I never would have guessed that Wikipedia contains entries on individual Simpsons episodes…) On an ordinary day, a […]

Brad DeLong uses his blog to publish more honesty from Bruce Bartlett: But how likely is it that the Laffer curve is causing revenues to rise, as opposed to normal operation of the business cycle? Not much, in my opinion. First of all, the Laffer curve came to prominence during a period when the top […]

Peggy Noonan is shocked that President Bush is not fiscally responsible. As she still worships St. Ronald Reagan, Ms. Noonan is not about the blame the tax cuts: This week’s column is a question, a brief one addressed with honest curiosity to Republicans. It is: When George W. Bush first came on the scene in […]

Mike Crapo has joined James DeMint, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, and Tom Coburn with another spin on Social Security privatization that Phil Kerpen endorses: The DeMint-Crapo amendment puts the possibility of meaningful, pro-worker Social Security reform back into play. If the Democrats are smart they will latch onto it before the train leaves the station. […]

Two of the most dishonest expressions among George Bush’s standard rants are “giving you your money back” and “priorities”. How else would one explain the following two stories. The AP reports: In both the House and Senate, Democrats have long pushed for more money for ports only to have the Republican-controlled Congress reject their efforts, […]

The good news is that Senator Harkin has a spine. As for the lack of support from other Democratic Senators, see the debate between Kevin Drum and Glenn Greenwald. I’m with Glenn on this one. Some of the left are rightfully blasting Senator Allard for this: Yesterday, in an interview for Fox News Radio, you […]

Maybe it’s a little early but Max Sawicky just gave me two reasons to support Senator Feingold for President in 2008. The first: Feingold is bad on fiscal policy (he’s a budget balancer) Maybe Max does not wish a return to Rubinomics, but I do. The main point of Max’s post is to endorse the […]