Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
thinkprogress.org
Echoing his former colleague Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), former Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) teed off on House Republicans’ brinkmanship on the debt ceiling, saying intransigent GOP congressmen are willing to risk destroying the county’s economy to get what they want. Voinovich told Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson.
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www.thedailybeast.com
Though they deny it, the GOP’s policies have driven the nation into the ground, says Paul Begala.
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Friday, July 29, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
The House GOP's debt ceiling hara-kiri
A bill that can't pass the Senate swerves further to the right. Is there a strategy here, or just self-immolation?
by Andrew Leonard
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A bill that can't pass the Senate swerves further to the right. Is there a strategy here, or just self-immolation?
by Andrew Leonard
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Debt Madness Was Always About Killing Social Security
By Robert Scheer —
Republican hypocrites are out to settle ideological scores that have nothing to do with the debt they themselves ran up.
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The awesome hypocrisy of GOP mutiny
Conservatives rebel against the Boehner plan, while citing figures from a government agency they usually ignore
by Andrew Leonard
Don't blame Obama for the debt crisis
The Republican machine is busy faulting the president in ads and ope-eds, but the facts tell a different story
Friday, July 22, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The new party of Reagan
Tea Party Republicans call a vote to raise the debt ceiling a threat to their very existence; Reagan presided over 18 increases in the debt ceiling during his presidency.
by Dana Milbank
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Tea Party Republicans call a vote to raise the debt ceiling a threat to their very existence; Reagan presided over 18 increases in the debt ceiling during his presidency.
by Dana Milbank
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Citizen Murdoch—No Longer Untouchable
by Katrina vanden Heuvel
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has taken out full-page ads in Britain reading, “We are sorry.” “Sorry” is as good an adjective as any to describe the Murdoch media empire.
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by Katrina vanden Heuvel
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has taken out full-page ads in Britain reading, “We are sorry.” “Sorry” is as good an adjective as any to describe the Murdoch media empire.
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Sunday, July 17, 2011
Paul Krugman -The Wrong Perversity
Ryan Avent is upset, rightly, at the way that Obama keeps invoking the confidence fairy, in effect buying in to the doctrine of expansionary austerity — even as a growing body of research grinds what little plausibility the doctrine had into dust.
Yet perverse things do happen; it’s just that we’re focusing on the wrong perversity.
As Brad DeLong argues, there’s a very good case to be made that we’re currently living under conditions in which fiscal contraction actually worsens the long-run deficit. Why? The argument runs like this:
1. Fiscal contraction reduces output in the short run; this immediately means that part of the initial gain in terms of a lower deficit is offset by reduced revenue and higher safety-net spending. These effects are especially large when you’re in a liquidity trap, so monetary policy can’t fight the fiscal contraction.
2. Reductions in short-run output and employment take a toll on long-run growth, too: capital investment is depressed, workers lose their skills, and so on. This in turn reduces future revenues.
3. Meanwhile, with real interest rates very low — actually negative on 5-year bonds — the cost of borrowing now in terms of future debt burden is also very low.
So there is no plausible argument on behalf of the claim that fiscal contraction expands output; there is, on the other hand, a very plausible argument to the effect that fiscal contraction doesn’t even help the fiscal situation.
So guess which perversity is considered a suitable position for Serious People, and which isn’t?
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Ryan Avent is upset, rightly, at the way that Obama keeps invoking the confidence fairy, in effect buying in to the doctrine of expansionary austerity — even as a growing body of research grinds what little plausibility the doctrine had into dust.
Yet perverse things do happen; it’s just that we’re focusing on the wrong perversity.
As Brad DeLong argues, there’s a very good case to be made that we’re currently living under conditions in which fiscal contraction actually worsens the long-run deficit. Why? The argument runs like this:
1. Fiscal contraction reduces output in the short run; this immediately means that part of the initial gain in terms of a lower deficit is offset by reduced revenue and higher safety-net spending. These effects are especially large when you’re in a liquidity trap, so monetary policy can’t fight the fiscal contraction.
2. Reductions in short-run output and employment take a toll on long-run growth, too: capital investment is depressed, workers lose their skills, and so on. This in turn reduces future revenues.
3. Meanwhile, with real interest rates very low — actually negative on 5-year bonds — the cost of borrowing now in terms of future debt burden is also very low.
So there is no plausible argument on behalf of the claim that fiscal contraction expands output; there is, on the other hand, a very plausible argument to the effect that fiscal contraction doesn’t even help the fiscal situation.
So guess which perversity is considered a suitable position for Serious People, and which isn’t?
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Friday, July 15, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Debt Political Theater Diverts Attention While Americans' Wealth Is Stolen
by Rep. Dennis Kucinich
U.S. Representative from Ohio's 10th District
The rancorous debate over the debt belies a fundamental truth of our economy -- that it is run for the few at the expense of the many.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
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Murdoch Empire in More Hot WaterThe media mogul printed the final edition of 'News of the World' Sunday, but shocking revelations continue to emerge.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Monday, July 04, 2011
What Our Declaration Really Said
By E.J. Dionne, Jr. —
Our nation confronts a challenge this Fourth of July that we face but rarely: We are at odds over the meaning of our history and why, to quote our Declaration of Independence, “governments are instituted.”
$4 Trillion for War—and Counting
By Joe Conason —
Anyone paying attention to the costs of U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan must have known that the president badly underestimated those numbers on June 22, when he told the nation that we have spent “a trillion dollars.”
Shining the Spotlight on the Corporate Pay Gap
By David Sirota —
As the deficit has exploded, incriminating facts have leaked out showing that many corporations pay more to their executives than they pay in taxes (and many firms pay no corporate income tax at all).
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. —
Our nation confronts a challenge this Fourth of July that we face but rarely: We are at odds over the meaning of our history and why, to quote our Declaration of Independence, “governments are instituted.”
$4 Trillion for War—and Counting
By Joe Conason —
Anyone paying attention to the costs of U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan must have known that the president badly underestimated those numbers on June 22, when he told the nation that we have spent “a trillion dollars.”
Shining the Spotlight on the Corporate Pay Gap
By David Sirota —
As the deficit has exploded, incriminating facts have leaked out showing that many corporations pay more to their executives than they pay in taxes (and many firms pay no corporate income tax at all).
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Saturday, July 02, 2011
Defending the Supremely Powerful
By E.J. Dionne, Jr. —
The United States Supreme Court now sees its central task as comforting the already comfortable and afflicting those already afflicted.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. —
The United States Supreme Court now sees its central task as comforting the already comfortable and afflicting those already afflicted.
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Friday, July 01, 2011
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