Senate Republicans proposed a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution today which, if ratified, would make recessions worse, violate basic principles of democratic rule, and set up a dramatic clash between the goal of capping annual spending and public support for major domestic programs. Taking effect five years after ratification, the amendment would require …
Continue reading “Balanced Budget Bullies Disrespect Democracy”
Pity the progressive deficit hawks. They should be the most tortured souls in Washington. The progressive case for deficit reduction is clear. The higher the deficits, the likelier that we’ll face an economic crisis that will force precipitous budget cutting, putting in jeopardy all federal programs on which tens of millions of middle- and low-income …
Continue reading “New Headaches for Progressive Deficit Hawks”
We don’t know whether this “Arab Spring” of protests for freedom and democracy will spread further across the Middle East and northern Africa, or whether the tyrants of Tripoli, Tehran, Riyadh, and other capitals will snuff it out. We do know, however, that we should finally retire the notion of Arab “exceptionalism,” the idea that, …
Continue reading “Seeding Democracy: The Best Return on Foreign Aid”
The nation’s Social Security debate has a certain stale, mindless and ultimately destructive predictability to it. When syndicated columnist Robert J. Samuelson suggested this week that many of its benefits amount to “middle class welfare,” the program’s fervent supporters immediately sprung into action. The Center for Economic and Policy Research blasted Samuelson as “inaccurate” and …
Continue reading “Off Limits: Social Security Debate Shuts Down”
Not even the most ardent supporters of public employees can deny the numbers. A fifth of states’ general spending goes for salaries and benefits. So as states face another round of huge budget deficits, you can’t blame policymakers of either party for targeting state employees for at least some savings. But the argument by Republican …
Continue reading “Collective Bargaining: A Case for Preserving It”
President Obama is setting himself up to lose the public debate over spending and a possible government shutdown because he is not giving the American people a clear sense of what’s at stake for them. On this issue, his language is vague and uninspiring – although he has threatened to veto the GOP spending plan …
I suspect the 1995 movie “The American President” was popular not just because of Michael Douglas and Annette Bening but because it spoke to our longing for leadership, for a President who realizes, as President Shepherd does at the film’s climax, that he needs to confront tough issues head-on rather than play it safe. We …
Continue reading “Obama Budget Critics Are Missing the Mark on Strategy”