The Eternal Return of Robert Rubin

The thing about the Clinton administration is that Jimmy Carter’s administration ended in 1980. So if you’re going to create an economic policy team for Barack Obama your main choices are (1) “folks who worked on economic policy in the Clinton administration,” (2) “folks who worked on economic policy in the Bush administration,” and (3)… Continue reading The Eternal Return of Robert Rubin

The year in trumped-up pseudo-scandals

Every day, right-wing blogs and Fox News are abuzz with hysterical reports of partly or wholly invented scandals that, in their fevered imaginations, threaten to once-and-for-all destroy the Obama administration. While most of the bloggers are true believers, convinced that they’re one smoking gun away from opening everyone’s eyes to the criminality of the administration,… Continue reading The year in trumped-up pseudo-scandals

Yglesias on The Conservative Recovery

conservatives should wake up to the fact that their economy theory is nonsense. On their telling, the state of the economy is bleak due to Obama’s socialistic policies and if we just trimmed back government the private sector would come roaring back. The truth is that under Obama the private sector has been growing and… Continue reading Yglesias on The Conservative Recovery

House Republican Rule Changes Pave the Way For Major Deficit-Increasing Tax Cuts, Despite Anti-Deficit Rhetoric

House Republican leaders yesterday unveiled major changes to House procedural rules that are clearly designed to pave the way for more deficit-increasing tax cuts in the next two years. These rules stand in sharp contrast to the strong anti-deficit rhetoric that many Republicans used on the campaign trail this fall. While changes in congressional rules… Continue reading House Republican Rule Changes Pave the Way For Major Deficit-Increasing Tax Cuts, Despite Anti-Deficit Rhetoric

Wall Street Whitewash

Last week, reports Shahien Nasiripour of The Huffington Post, all four Republicans on the commission voted to exclude the following terms from the report: “deregulation,” “shadow banking,” “interconnection,” and, yes, “Wall Street.” From Wall Street Whitewash – NYTimes.com They don’t want to mention Wall Street in a report on the financial crisses. WTF? This should… Continue reading Wall Street Whitewash

The Eternal Return of Robert Rubin

The thing about the Clinton administration is that Jimmy Carter’s administration ended in 1980. So if you’re going to create an economic policy team for Barack Obama your main choices are (1) “folks who worked on economic policy in the Clinton administration,” (2) “folks who worked on economic policy in the Bush administration,” and (3)… Continue reading The Eternal Return of Robert Rubin

Yglesias on The Conservative Recovery

conservatives should wake up to the fact that their economy theory is nonsense. On their telling, the state of the economy is bleak due to Obama’s socialistic policies and if we just trimmed back government the private sector would come roaring back. The truth is that under Obama the private sector has been growing and… Continue reading Yglesias on The Conservative Recovery

The year in trumped-up pseudo-scandals

Every day, right-wing blogs and Fox News are abuzz with hysterical reports of partly or wholly invented scandals that, in their fevered imaginations, threaten to once-and-for-all destroy the Obama administration. While most of the bloggers are true believers, convinced that they’re one smoking gun away from opening everyone’s eyes to the criminality of the administration,… Continue reading The year in trumped-up pseudo-scandals

Wall Street Whitewash

Last week, reports Shahien Nasiripour of The Huffington Post, all four Republicans on the commission voted to exclude the following terms from the report: “deregulation,” “shadow banking,” “interconnection,” and, yes, “Wall Street.” From Wall Street Whitewash – NYTimes.com They don’t want to mention Wall Street in a report on the financial crisses. WTF? This should… Continue reading Wall Street Whitewash

House Republican Rule Changes Pave the Way For Major Deficit-Increasing Tax Cuts, Despite Anti-Deficit Rhetoric

House Republican leaders yesterday unveiled major changes to House procedural rules that are clearly designed to pave the way for more deficit-increasing tax cuts in the next two years. These rules stand in sharp contrast to the strong anti-deficit rhetoric that many Republicans used on the campaign trail this fall. While changes in congressional rules… Continue reading House Republican Rule Changes Pave the Way For Major Deficit-Increasing Tax Cuts, Despite Anti-Deficit Rhetoric