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

Trump claimed today that Clinton’s donors won’t let her reduce taxes for corporations and the wealthy. Wonder whether anyone else will notice that he said that.

Outside the factory setting [which Clinton toured today before she gave her economic-policy speech], a scattering of pro­-Trump protesters held “Hillary for Prison” signs and criticized Mrs. Clinton’s connections to Wall Street. And more than 1,000 miles away in Florida, Mr. Trump echoed that critique. “She doesn’t have the talent” to jump­start the economy, Mr. […]

Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice

by Mike Kimel Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice Earlier this month NBC news reported: The Movement for Black Lives — under the catch-all banner of the Black Lives Matter movement — has put together what it describes as a “clear vision of the world where black humanity and dignity is the reality.” […]

Charlie McCarthy Gave a Speech Today to the Detroit Economic Club

Today Donald Trump gave a speech in Detroit describing some economic policies he’d like to pursue if he became president, and like with his other periodic “policy” speeches, he sounded as if he was encountering the speech, and the substance therein, for the first time as he sleepily read it off a teleprompter. But that doesn’t mean that […]

The Bizarre and Manipulative Crusade by Centrist NYT Columnists to Persuade Clinton to Adopt the Republican Fiscal and Regulatory Agenda – [with update]

All the experts tell us not to pay too much attention to polls for another week or two. Still, it does look as if Hillary Clinton got a big bounce from her convention, swamping her opponent’s bounce a week earlier. Better still, from the Democrats’ point of view, the swing in the polls appears to […]

Taxes, government, and the good life

by Linda Beale Taxes, government, and the good life In 2012, Ed Asner narrated a cartoon video prepared for the California Federation of Teachers called “Taxing the Rich”.  It’s worth watching, given the four-decades-long effort by the GOP to convince ordinary Americans that “trickle down” economic goodies will be coming their way if they only […]

Trump’s Economic adviser team

Via Thinkprogress: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump announced his economic policy advisory team on Friday — a collection of 13 white men. While the list does not include any women or racial minorities, it does include five Steves. The people Trump will ostensibly rely on for economic guidance are are: Steve Roth, a fellow real […]

About That Optimism Thing …

Watching the Democrats’ smoothly staged, potently scripted convention last week, voters could easily think that Hillary Clinton has this election in the bag. The critiques of Donald Trump made devastatingly clear that he’s a preposterous, dangerous candidate for the presidency. The case for Clinton was compelling, and almost every party leader who mattered showed up […]

Debt collection news

Via Dealbook: CONSUMER AGENCY PROPOSES NEW RULES FOR DEBT COLLECTORS There will be some respite for people being hounded for debt as federal regulators are preparing to significantly strengthen the rules that govern debt collection for the first time in nearly 40 years. Under proposed regulations, debt collection companies will have to provide fuller documentation […]

What Bill and Hillary Clinton Don’t Get: That the way to win Rust Belt white blue-collar voters isn’t to go centrist; it’s to go economic populist.

The changes to the platform testify to the strength of the Sanders campaign, and, like that campaign, they are a sign that the dynamism within the party arises right now from its left­wing faction, led by politicians like Mr. Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. What is less clear is if Mrs. Clinton is […]