There have been, and will be, equally dumb ideas emanating from the Bush administration, but privatizing Social Security surely will be in the qualifying round for the first prize. Start with the irrefutable fact that Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system. The payroll taxes of today’s workers go to today’s retirees. And when today’s workers […]
Robert Reich
Robert B. Reich, a co-founder of The American Prospect, is a professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few, one of the books featured in the Prospect’s High School Essay Contest.
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Bush’s Republican Problem
George W. Bush’s biggest problem over the next four years will be a Congress that’s even more Republican than it was in 2000. Let me explain. In their heart of hearts, presidents don’t like it when their own party controls both houses of Congress. It’s the same whether the new President is a Republican or […]
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The Moral Agenda
Republicans ran on a moral agenda — God, guns, gays, and true grit in fighting the evils of Saddam Hussein and terrorism. Democrats ran on a policy agenda — affordable health care, deficit reduction, and combating terrorism through stronger international alliances and a smarter strategy. George W. Bush spoke about right and wrong in moral […]
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The Trickle-Down Tax Revolt
With all the hoopla over the presidential election, gone almost unnoticed are measures that will be on ballots all over America next Tuesday to limit or roll back property taxes. It’s the biggest tax revolt since the 1970s. No wonder. Property taxes across America have been soaring — according to Deloitte and Touche, by an […]
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Starting November 3
The real work for progressives starts November 3, either fighting a newly unleashed George W. Bush or helping a sure-to-be besieged John Kerry. But to be effective, progressives must understand why the right has been so successful at shaping the national debate. The conventional view sees the right’s success as a reaction to the left’s […]
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Real Intelligence
Amid the campaign debates, there’s been a heated debate in Congress over a plan to centralize control of all 15 U.S. intelligence agencies, with a combined budget of $40 billion a year, under a new “national intelligence director.” Backers of the measure, which is based on the recommendation of the September 11 commission, hope to […]
Posted inEducation in America
The Right-Wing Revolution
That America’s political center is to the right of every other modern democracy is nothing new, but why has it recently lurched so much further right? A belligerent cowboy president who says he’s doing God’s work seems on the verge of being elected to another term of office; both houses of Congress are in the […]
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Getting Tough with Fannie
A new report by federal regulators accuses the mortgage giant Fannie Mae of cooking its books. But you won’t hear about this in the presidential debates. Fannie and her smaller cousin, Freddie Mac, help finance about half the home mortgages in the United States. Their combined debt is now more than $2 trillion — and […]
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The Real Battle in the Battlegrounds
Among the biggest job losers over the last four years are Michigan (238,800 jobs lost); Ohio (237,400 lost); North Carolina (104,300 lost); Pennsylvania (74,800 lost); and West Virginia (1,200 lost). So why are these the so-called “battleground” states that could turn either way in the coming election? You’d think Democrats would have it made in […]
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Deficient Deficit Debate
The U.S. Congressional Budget Office has just reported that this year’s budget deficit will reach a record-breaking $422 billion in 2004. Predictably, Democrats accuse the Bush administration of gross mismanagement and, just as predictably, the White House says there is nothing to worry about because the economy is beginning to recover. Who is correct? Whether […]
