John Atlas and Peter Dreier of the National Housing Institute offer a primer on the sub-prime mortgage crisis: Since 1998, more than 7 million borrowers bought homes with sub-prime loans. One million of those homeowners have already defaulted on their loans The crisis is likely to get worse. Financial analysts predict that at least a […]
The Editors
Posted inEducation in America
REPARATIONS ANXIETY.
Brown University announced that it will give a $10 million endowment to local public schools to atone for its involvement in the slave trade. But, Dana writes, reparations alone will not address the ongoing segregation of the American education system. Like so many painful issues of race and class, the argument over slavery reparations hovers […]
Posted inArticle
MICHAEL’S POOR ALMANAC.
Mark Schmitt explains how Michael Barone made The Almanac of American Politics irrelevant. –The Editors
Posted inDepartments
UpFront
Vegas as the new Athens; Mike Huckabee on bass; Larry Craig in Bali; T.A. Frank on what’s out and what’s in for 2008; and The Question.
Posted inArticle
THE COUNTERPUNCH CAMPAIGN.
How have the dynamics of the Democratic race changed so quickly? Over the past month, the “politics of hope” have stopped working against Obama, and started working for him. It’s because he’s figured out the best way to fight back, Ezra writes: Two months ago, I didn’t know anyone who thought Hillary Clinton would lose. […]
Posted inArticle
THE PLUTOCRATS V. THE THEOCRATS.
Paul Waldman ponders the real GOP showdown: After months of tedium and mindless chest-thumping, the race for the Republican presidential nomination finally got interesting over the last couple of weeks. And the way it did so highlights the fundamental rift threatening the future of the GOP: the divide between the party’s corporate/anti-tax wing, which includes […]
Posted inArticle
REPEALING THE 20TH CENTURY.
While everyone focuses on its abortion decisions, the Roberts Court is merrily revoking a century of legislation protecting citizens, consumers, workers, and minorities against business. Simon Lazarus lays it all out: When most Americans think about the Supreme Court’s effect on the life of their nation, they think about such cultural hot-buttons as abortion, or […]
Posted inArticle
CAUGHT ON TAPE.
Deborah Pearlstein considers the meaning of the destroyed CIA tapes: Our distress need not be limited to the concern that the destruction of the tapes was likely a crime. Far more difficult to remedy is the likelihood that this destruction is a manifestation culture — a White House culture that prizes the raw assertion of […]
Posted inArticle
CHANGES AT TAP ONLINE.
As many of you have probably already noticed, today we welcome Ezra Klein‘s blog onto prospect.org. We’re still working out a few bugs, so patience, please. And try not to feel too threatened by his new tagline, “Momma said wonk you out.” Today also marks the departure of longtime TAPper Garance Franke-Ruta, who has accepted […]
Posted inArticle
LATE BREAKING CULTURE.
Our beloved film reviewer Noy Thrupkaew returns to us after a few months absence with a review of Jessica Yu’s documentary Protagonist: Originally commissioned by the Carr Foundation to direct a documentary on the Greek playwright Euripides, Yu decided to bring the tragedian’s themes to contemporary light. Over the course of eight months, Yu and […]
