ehm1212

Mark Schmitt argues that the recurring dream of an independent candidate or party protects the status quo: In mid-January, former Rep. Harold Ford, a conservative Democrat from Tennessee who in 2006 almost became the first African American elected to the Senate from the South since Reconstruction, made it known that he might want to try […]

Dean Baker suggests four creative programs that would help the economy now: In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama made it clear that he intends to devote considerable energy to solving the unemployment problem. The following excerpt from Dean Baker’s False Profits: Recovering from the Bubble Economy describes four innovative programs that […]

Tim Fernholz considers the weather: “Are we flinty yet?” The Washington Post asked Tuesday morning. No, D.C., you are not. You are snowbound, and as this column went to press, you are predicted to receive yet another 10 inches. Oh boy. Besides closing federal offices, Washington, D.C.’s winter travails have exposed the strengths and weaknesses […]

Paul Waldman argues that we’re only doing al-Qaeda recruiters a favor by casting its young men as invincible warriors: When you notice that the typical terrorist is a man in his 20s, it’s tempting to put it down to the fact that young men are the source of much of the world’s problems, responsible for […]

Greg Anrig says that in some states, progressive leadership and grass-roots activism have turned crisis into opportunity for long-deferred tax reform: In October 2007, two months before the onset of the worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression, Maryland’s Democratic governor, Martin O’Malley, convened a special session of his state’s Democrat-controlled General Assembly in a […]

Dayo Olopade profiles Attorney General Eric Holder: Hours before dawn on one of the last days of October 2009, the deadliest month for American troops in Afghanistan since 2001, Eric Holder, attorney general of the United States, strode out of a C-17 cargo plane parked at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. President Barack Obama, […]

Mark Schmitt argues that the real concern after Citizens United should be that small donors will stop giving: Discussions of money in politics are usually steeped in watery metaphors: The Supreme Court’s recent Citizens United decision will “open the floodgates” of corporate money, we’re told, which will “drown” or “swamp” the voice of ordinary citizens. […]

Robert Kuttner argues for more deficit spending on public investment and jobs: The economy is still very fragile, yet Washington seems more fixated on deficits than on recovery. Fiscal conservatives in Congress hope to hold recovery spending hostage for long-term caps on social outlay, and they have some company in the White House. Groups like […]

Adam Serwer reviews Born to Use Mics, a new anthology edited by Michael Eric Dyson: Illmatic, the first album by hip-hop elder statesman Nas, is a masterpiece. Released in 1994, its tales of scowling corner boys, prowling drug addicts, undercover cops, treacherous lovers, and remorseful gangsters are so vivid that you can almost feel your […]

Paul Waldman talks with Christopher Carrick about urban planning and regional inequality: I suppose what was so attractive about Richard Florida was the idea that he had uncovered a foolproof path to economic and cultural vitality. What is the current thinking about what cities can, and should, do? After many years of debate among economic-development […]