Jamelle Bouie

The public isn’t very knowledgable about fiscal policy and doesn’t have a firm understanding of debt as it relates to the federal government. As such, it’s not a surprise to learn that the public has a contradictory view on the debt ceiling. According to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, 71 percent of Americans say […]

On paper, Tim Pawlenty‘s “Better Deal” is supposed to be an answer to Barack Obama‘s economic policies, and a showcase of Pawlenty’s public policy bona fides. In reality, Pawlenty’s Better Deal is only a short step away from economic nonsense. Here is Pawlenty’s plan, as presented this afternoon in a speech at the University of […]

Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the President Bush‘s tax cuts, which were signed into law as a response to the leftover Clinton-era surplus. With their heavy cuts to capital gains, investment income, and estate taxes, the Bush tax cuts were weighted toward high-income earners, with the top 0.1 percent of taxpayers receiving an average […]

For the most part, David Brooks makes two points in today’s column. First, a competition-based system (like Paul Ryan‘s plan) has a better chance of controlling Medicare costs than the alternative of greater centralization, and second, the current debate over Medicare illustrates the core philosophical difference between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans are skeptical about top-down […]

The first thing you need to know about Rep. **Anthony Weiner**’s press conference this afternoon is that, at at the beginning, there wasn’t much Anthony Weiner. Instead, conservative provocateur **Andrew Breitbart** made an appearance, vigorously defending his “reporting” on the New York congressman’s Twitter troubles, and challenging reporters to find fault with his coverage. As […]

When Jamie Holmes says that poor people lack “willpower,” he isn’t disparaging their work ethic or blaming them for their situation. Rather, he’s trying to explain the dynamics that keep poor people impoverished. As Holmes explains, individuals seem to have a finite capacity for exerting willpower, and every choice depletes it. In particular, poor people […]

Peter Diamond, the Nobel Prize winning economist who President Obama nominated to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, has officially withdrawn his nomination after more than a year of obstruction from Senate Republicans. He explains his decision in a New York Times editorial: In April 2010, President Obama nominated me to be one of the […]

_The Washington Post_ [notices](http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/among-gop-an-ironclad-anti-tax-orthodoxy/2011/06/02/AG90SgJH_story.html?hpid=z1) the Republican Party’s ironclad opposition to tax increases and blames it (partially) for the current budget impasse: >The GOP’s three-decade-old campaign against taxes has clearly had a significant impact. Neither major party would advocate a return to the 1970s, when people earning more than $200,000 a year faced a top rate […]