The political genius of supply-side economics | Martin Wolf’s Exchange | FT.com

To understand modern Republican thinking on fiscal policy, we need to go back to perhaps the most politically brilliant (albeit economically unconvincing) idea in the history of fiscal policy: “supply-side economics”. Supply-side economics liberated conservatives from any need to insist on fiscal rectitude and balanced budgets. Supply-side economics said that one could cut taxes and… Continue reading The political genius of supply-side economics | Martin Wolf’s Exchange | FT.com

Hamas targets women’s underwear in modesty drive

A week after banning women from smoking water pipes in public places, the Hamas-run police force has told stores selling women’s underwear to remove scantily-clad mannequins and any posters of racy undergarments. From Hamas targets women’s underwear in modesty drive – Yahoo! News Glad to hear that things are going so well in Gaza that… Continue reading Hamas targets women’s underwear in modesty drive

Chris Kelly: Why You Don’t Care About JournoList

The problem with the JournoList scandal is the problem with a lot of right wing news: It’s not happening on Earth I, where you and I live. Like the Black Panthers taking over the Justice Department, or Shirley Sherrod’s night raids on Andrew Breitbart’s small family farm or Glenn Beck’s lonely one-man struggle against the… Continue reading Chris Kelly: Why You Don’t Care About JournoList

Dems To Define GOP With ‘Republican-Tea Party Contract With America’ (VIDEO) | TPMDC

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine today will announce a new party initiative aimed at defining the Republicans who want to win control of Congress as tea partiers who want to repeal everything and abolish federal agencies. From Dems To Define GOP With ‘Republican-Tea Party Contract With America’ (VIDEO) | TPMDC This is brilliant politically.… Continue reading Dems To Define GOP With ‘Republican-Tea Party Contract With America’ (VIDEO) | TPMDC

The only thing Americans hate more than big government is the absence of government protection

middle-class Americans of the right, left, and center have now come to expect a level of personal financial security that—despite the stereotypes—most people would never demand from their governments. In a review he wrote earlier this month, Brink Lindsey, the vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute—a man who knows what he is up against—pulled… Continue reading The only thing Americans hate more than big government is the absence of government protection

Climategate debunking is (or should be) major news

By restoring the reputation of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the reports released by a  Netherlands environmental agency and a special British investigative panel should do much to dispel the widespread doubt generated by hackers who  pinched nasty e-mails from the computers of climate scientists associated with the IPCC. Or the reports would… Continue reading Climategate debunking is (or should be) major news

Joyless parents: You’re doing it wrong

Somewhere along the line, having a baby has stopped being an inevitable part of the life cycle and started to be one of those things-to-do-before-you-die, like climbing Machu Picchu or running a marathon. Basic aspects of the mothering experience, like labor and breast-feeding, took on a spiritual significance. Now, as we prepare to make the… Continue reading Joyless parents: You’re doing it wrong

Myths of Austerity

This conventional wisdom isn’t based on either evidence or careful analysis. Instead, it rests on what we might charitably call sheer speculation, and less charitably call figments of the policy elite’s imagination — specifically, on belief in what I’ve come to think of as the invisible bond vigilante and the confidence fairy. Bond vigilantes are… Continue reading Myths of Austerity