We want a revolution. We need a revolution. So let's get a revolutionary. Hence the sudden support for Newt Gingrich in the presidential primaries. From Social Security to Iranian nuclear power, Gingrich articulates better than any other candidate what's wrong with U.S. policy and how to change it. But Gingrich fans may want to recall a second fact: Revolutions require enormous…
January 28, 2012
No doubt, President Obama will call for stimulus when he talks about job creation in his speech tonight. Since many of us by now recoil at the word, perhaps it helps to ask, once again: Which Obama stimulus would be the least bad? The answer, as it happens, is neatly framed in a recent photo of young women posing as Rosie the Riveter, the symbolic female factory worker from World…
September 8, 2011
A sanctimonious president refuses lawmakers the cuts they demand. The federalists in Congress grow cocky. They'd rather force a bond-market crisis than raise the debt ceiling or erode states' rights. "I'm not worrying," the firebrand Virginian leading the opposition to the president says, and charts his own version of the budget. "I'm sticking to my guns. We've got a prairie fire…
July 27, 2011
Margins matter. That's what New Hampshire lawmakers were really saying to their governor, John Lynch, last week when they overrode his veto of legislation that limited increases in the minimum wage. The law ties the New Hampshire minimum wage to the federal wage of $7.25 an hour. The effect is to guarantee New Hampshire employers an advantage of somewhere between 15 cents and $1…
June 30, 2011
Is our economy headed back into a recession? A look at a past double-dip, the recessions of 1980 and of 1981-1982, suggests we are due. That double-dip also suggests the Federal Reserve should raise interest rates earlier and faster than you might think. In fact, the 1980s experience points to something horrible: We need a recession to get a true recovery. The trouble that time…
June 24, 2011
How can we help? That's the first question that comes to American minds as the size and scope of Japan's disaster unfolds. Click on PayPal to send money for emergency shelters. Sponsor a child from Sendai. Encourage General Electric Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt to send nuclear engineers. This week of horror has generated record good will in the United States toward Japan. There…
March 19, 2011
Liberal Democrats attacked not only the rates in the White House-Republican tax-cut compromise, but also the plans for Social Security. The deal trims the employee side of the payroll tax from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent for one year. This reduction is supposed to stimulate growth. These Democrats don't care. They don't want to mess with the retirement program. "This is a grand…
December 18, 2010
Hillary Clinton's opponents are ready to lob frozen turkeys at the secretary of state after she opined about airport pat-downs on a Sunday talk show. Asked if the procedure is necessary, Clinton said, "You know, we're doing this because the terrorists keep getting more creative about what they do to hide explosives and, you know, crazy things like underwear." She added, "So, there…
November 25, 2010
A high-quality, economically sensible tax cut. That's the impression Barack Obama wants to convey about the business investment tax-credit plan the president announced last week. Who can oppose the idea of letting companies expense 100 percent of the cost of their equipment purchases for a year? The plan sounds noble, as though it provides not only for the individual but also…
September 18, 2010
How to get it back. That's what Republicans are wondering regarding citizens' trust as they bask in the possibility of gaining control of both the House and Senate in the November elections. After all, winning isn't enough if you want to pass serious legislation. You also need voter good will. To earn that kind of fidelity, Republicans must dream up and deliver a policy that makes…
September 11, 2010
Stick with me, families, on this experiment of government expansion. That is the implicit message from President Obama this summer. Recently, for example, Obama sat down with an Ohio couple, Joe and Rhonda Weithman, to talk about how federal help in the form of cash for Joe's business and subsidy for Rhonda's health care would help the Weithmans and families like them recover.…
August 25, 2010
You can have low taxes, or you can have an economic recovery, but you can't have both. That's the message the administration is hammering this summer. Democrats argue in particular that extending the George W. Bush rate cuts on people in the top tax brackets will damage the budget to such an extent that our economy will suffer. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, for example,…
August 11, 2010
As the scrutiny of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan intensifies, both parties seem convinced that the drama will benefit them. The administration thinks that its strong support of Kagan, the educated feminist's heroine, will help the president and fellow Democrats. Republicans think that by grilling Kagan they please their anti-Obama constituents. Both parties are desperate: A…
July 27, 2010
More rules from outside, more authorities above, less fun. That seems to be the future of financial regulation as it is being mapped out by House and Senate lawmakers. The point, presumably, is to sustain American markets' competitiveness. But there are other ways to bring players to markets. That is the takeaway from omgpop.com, a teen game platform Time ranked one of the 50 best…
June 3, 2010
