Tim Fernholz

New tapes of President Richard Nixon, made during his presidency, have been released: “The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy,” [National Security Adviser] Henry Kissinger said. “And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a […]

Jon Chait shows two graphs being circulated that demonstrate the initial cost of the tax deal (where the Democrats come off pretty well) and the long-term cost if the temporary extensions of Bush tax policy turn out not to be temporary (where the Republicans come off pretty well). While that certainly captures the dynamics of […]

The tax deal that President Obama and Senate Republicans crafted inspired a lot of questions about triangulation last week, most of them reductive and all of them answered by our own Mori Dinauer and, subsequently, Jonathan Bernstein in this post: “Triangulation is an advertising slogan coined by Dick Morris to advertise himself — to give […]

Across the pond, our special friends in the United Kingdom are facing a snipey debate over budget cuts. This includes increases on student tuition that have sent young folks into the streets, where they attacked a limousine carrying the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall: On Regent Street, their car was surrounded by […]

I’m barely halfway through this incredible piece on the history of debt at TripleCanopy, but let me recommend it to you as nice blend of next-level Web journalism and timely perspective on why we think about debt the way we do: In the throes of the recent economic crisis, with the very defining institutions of […]

The latest argument against the tax deal goes like this: After the payroll tax, which funds Social Security, is temporarily cut to stimulate the economy, Republicans will never let it go back up again, and indeed, that’s what they’re telling Ryan Grim on the Hill. This is all just a secret plan to roll Obama […]

True, he’s always been a Fed watchdog, but now it’s official: America’s most prominent Fed critic is now the chair of the House subcommittee that oversees the Fed. I previewed this transition, and the strange bedfellows it’s producing, a few weeks ago: Republicans, led by Rep. Paul Ryan, are mounting an extensive critique of the […]

Via Ben Smith, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg gets Shermanesque: “I’m not going to run for president, period,” he said. “End of story.” Replied Couric: “Ever?” “I think at my age ever is the easy thing to say,” Bloomberg, who is 68, responded with a laugh. What about all the Mark Penns and Joe Trippis […]

Would you believe that anti-lobbyist candidates have transformed, like caterpillars into butterflies, and arrived in Washington to hire lobbyists to work for them? The hypocrisy play here is obvious, but of course, but members of Congress need to find people to help them influence the legislative process, and that’s what lobbyists do for a living. […]