US District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock, speaking to a Boston Bar Association dinner where he recently received an award, told of a conversation decades ago with another federal judge in Chicago who owed his appointment to then-mayor Richard J. Daley. ”What does Mayor Daley think of you as a judge?” Woodlock asked. ”He thinks […]
Robert Kuttner
Robert Kuttner is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, and professor at Brandeis University’s Heller School. His latest book is Notes for Next Time: Surviving Tyranny, Redeeming America. Follow Bob at his site, robertkuttner.com, and on Twitter.
Posted inColumns
Is Corruption Enough?
The 2006 mid-term election will be among the most fateful in modern history. If the Democrats take back even one house, it will end the period of one-party rule and allow Congress to fully investigate the multiple embarrassments of the Bush administration. These fall into five broad categories: deceptive and illegal use of presidential power, […]
Posted inArticle
Attacking Alito
At this moment in American history, it would be hard to find a worse Supreme Court nominee than Samuel A. Alito Jr. His ideology captures everything extremist about the Bush administration. If confirmed, Alito would serve as Bush’s enabler. He would give Bush effective control of all three branches of government and the hard-right long-term […]
Posted inArticle
Medicare Misery
The New Year brings with it Congressional mid-term elections. Here is an issue that should be a real political gift to the opposition party – the colossal Medicare drug-benefit mess. It was clear back in 2003, when the Bush administration rammed this bill through the Republican Congress, that the purpose was not to devise an […]
Posted inArticle
Medicaid Misery
The New Year brings with it Congressional mid-term elections. Here is an issue that should be a real political gift to the opposition party – the colossal Medicare drug-benefit mess. It was clear back in 2003, when the Bush administration rammed this bill through the Republican Congress, that the purpose was not to devise an […]
Posted inArticle
Remembering Proxmire
Former Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin, who died at 90 on Thursday, was a personal hero to me. I worked for him as a Senate investigator in the mid-1970s, when Proxmire was the new chairman of the powerful Senate Banking Committee. The banking lobbies had tried hard to block his appointment, since chairmen of that […]
Posted inFeatures
Agreeing to Disagree
RK: You have obviously had the enormous satisfaction of seeing your ideas influence a revolution, both in the thinking of economists and in the premises of politics and the role of government. Does this make you any more optimistic about the ability of the political process to work, and of government to learn over time? […]
Posted inFeatures
Cant and Recant
Milton Friedman’s latest research on the Federal Reserve challenges key assumptions of a very prominent economist: Milton Friedman.
Posted inEducation in America
Interview with Milton Friedman
RK: You have obviously had the enormous satisfaction of seeing your ideas influence a revolution, both in the thinking of economists and in the premises of politics and the role of government. Does this make you any more optimistic about the ability of the political process to work, and of government to learn over time? […]
Posted inArticle
Farewell, Filene’s
Should we mourn the fact that this will be the last Christmas season with Filene’s as a Boston landmark? I think so, and I was surprised at the lack of outcry when the giant retailing conglomerate, Federated Department Stores, announced last summer that it would close the flagship store and retire the Filene’s name as […]
