The real issue is not the current downturn, but the fifteen-year decline in living standards. That should be the focus of a reframed debate—and different remedies.
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Posted inBooks
Domestic Urges, Foreign Obsessions
Constructive engagement with the post-Cold War world requires both a stronger America and clearer global goals. Domestic reconstruction must be a priority—but beware isolationism.
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
Dealing with Legalization
What would happen if we legalized hard drugs? Here are six different plans for what to do after the end of drug prohibition—and why one of them makes the most sense.
Posted inCivil Rights in America
Can Democracy Save Chicago’s Schools?
With much fanfare, Chicago has moved to decentralize control of what some have called the worst public school system in America. But reform has been financially and politically crippled from the start.
Posted inAmerica and the World
More Like Them?
The Japanese economic system violates many of the basic principles of the Adam Smithian economics. Instead of crying “foul”, maybe we need to learn how and why Japan’s model works.
Posted inLaw and Justice
Invisible Woman
When Clarence Thomas called the Senate hearings a “high-tech lynching,” he turned his confirmation into a race-loyalty test for blacks. Once again, the concerns of black women were obscured.
Posted inEconomic Policy
The Kindest Cut
Of three tax relief plans on the congressional table, only one significantly benefits middle-class families.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Liberalism After Socialism
Some have long wanted to blend socialism and liberalism in a “third way”; that idea is now in ruins. But the alternative to a socialist liberalism need not be conservative. There is a liberalism that is serious, realistic, and where necessary even ra
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Electoral Detox: A Twelve-Step Cure for Donor Dependency
“Hi, I’m Congressman Bob, and I’ve got a problem. I’m hooked on campaign contributions.” That should be the first step.
Posted inWorking in America
The Myth of the Coming Labor Shortage
According to the Department of Labor, the demand for higher skills is rising rapidly, while the “quality” of America’s workforce is declining. Neither assertion is true, but the mythology is steering policymakers in the wrong direction, away from eff