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Not Even Bush Can Save Democrats From the Failing Economy
Tweet Share on Facebook August 26, 2010 Comment (21)He’s baa-aack. No, not Brett Favre, I’m talking about George W. Bush. With the Obama administration’s “Recovery Summer” looking like the most inappropriately named thing since a Jersey Shore season shot in Miami, Democrats are resurrecting their favorite villain in the push up to the November elections.
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Why Social Security Politics Help Republicans
Tweet Share on Facebook August 18, 2010 Comment (14)With very little fanfare Social Security turned 75 last week. Sadly, I seriously question whether it will be around for my 75th birthday. The recent birthday gave talking heads on both sides of the aisle reason to weigh in on the economic health of the program. The dichotomy is fascinating. When it comes to Social Security it seems you join one of two camps: the Harry Reid “Social Security is the most successful social program in the history of the world” camp, or the Paul Ryan “unless reformed, our largest entitlement programs [such as] Social Security will go bankrupt” camp.
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Don't Mythologize Reagan's Political Purity--or Kennedy's
Tweet Share on Facebook August 11, 2010 Comment (3)Each party has their ideal president. A person whose strengths we highlight, whose weaknesses we whitewash, and whom, in general, we mythologize.
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Liberals Are Losing the National Debt Argument
Tweet Share on Facebook August 2, 2010 Comment (15)Saying wrong things louder doesn’t make you any more right. That is the main lesson I learned during my summer working in a big-city courtroom. Court, especially from behind a district attorney’s table, is an ideal forum to observe human behavior: a high-stress, high-stakes environment where every word, movement, and change in body language can be meaningful. But the best way to tell winners from losers was their tone. Both lawyers and defendants can tell when they are on the wrong side of the facts, but their responses are diametrically different. Lawyers get louder, hoping to distract juries from the facts. Defendants (at least the quasi-remorseful ones) get quieter, an acknowledgment that punishment is about to be handed down.
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What Obama Could Learn From British Prime Minister David Cameron
Tweet Share on Facebook July 23, 2010 Comment (1)Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, “I think we’ve been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it’s the government’s job to cope with it. … They’re casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society.”
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How Republicans Should Rethink Immigration Reform
Tweet Share on Facebook July 19, 2010 Comment (28)Five words you will never hear again from a conservative: I agree with Markos Moulitsas. Markos, founder and publisher of liberal blog the Daily Kos, wrote recently that, “[a]lienating Latinos may offer short-term electoral gain [for Republicans], but it’s a long-term recipe for disaster.” He’s exactly right.
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Obama’s Stimulus Doesn’t Take the Deficit Into Account
Tweet Share on Facebook July 9, 2010 Comment (34)Milton Friedman famously said, “In one sense, we are all Keynesians now; in another, nobody is any longer a Keynesian.” Friedman intended the quote to show how the individual concepts of Keynes had informed all of economic theory, despite his broad conclusions being false.
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Democrats' 2010 Problem: They Can't Run On Their Record
Tweet Share on Facebook July 2, 2010 Comment (33)With election season fast approaching, House Democrats are finding themselves in a Catch-22. Do they sit back and rest on their accomplishments in hopes that voter ire towards Washington will cool? Or should they continue their torrid legislative pace in hopes of getting the economy back on track? The former risks appearing like do-nothings in the face of an ongoing financial crisis, the latter risks continued backlash over big-government, big-spending solutions. There appears to be no right answer for this batch of unabashed Keynesians.
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Public Sector Unions Must See Beyond Their Own Interests to Survive
Tweet Share on Facebook June 29, 2010 Comment (11)The history of labor unions forms a tragic circle. Labor unions have become what they once loathed. Once the exploited, they are now the exploiters. Organized to fight the long hours, low pay, and poor working conditions of early industrial employers, they have taken their battle too far. Unfortunately, employers are no longer the sole victim of unions’ success; taxpayers are now having to foot the bill.
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America Will Be the Next Greece if Washington Doesn't Fix the Debt
Tweet Share on Facebook June 18, 2010 Comment (12)By Brandon Greife, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Every college student dreads the screech of the alarm clock. The high-pitched beep-beep-beep clangs around our heads, demanding that we get up and face the day. Many of us ignore its call. With our eyes still closed, we grope for the sleep button to put off reality for another 10 minutes. Eventually we must wake up, often rushed, sometimes frantic, in order to make up the time we traded for those wonderful few moments of sleep. Like college students, Washington has proven a little too trigger-happy with their snooze button. But our nation cannot sleep through its debt and deficit problem. It’s time to wake up and face the harsh reality of the day.
Greece should have been the alarm clock.
