When I first interviewed as executive editor of the Prospect over a year ago, I was asked what kind of projects I might like to put together. Two things came to mind, and they both launch today. I have been consistently frustrated by the sorry state of coverage of presidential politics. Briefly put, we don’t […]
ON TAP
Posted inTAP
The Oxymoron of House Democratic Governance
It was not a memorable week in the annals of Democratic policymaking. Earlier this week, I wrote a preview of H.R. 3, Nancy Pelosi’s drug-pricing bill, seen as the signature effort of this year’s legislative session. I mentioned in there that the summary, still riddled with questions, probably represented the high-water mark for the bill, […]
Posted inTAP
Memo to Elizabeth Warren: Join the UAW Pickets. And Don’t Leave.
In his column in today’s Washington Post, my buddy E.J. Dionne wrote that “every Democratic candidate for president should be joining the UAW’s picket lines.” Of course they should; the fact that General Motors employs temps to do the same jobs—often permanently—that the company’s official employees also perform is pure exploitation, and a practice that […]
Posted inTAP
Where Are the Virtuous CEOs?
Five years ago, a regional supermarket chain called Market Basket acted out a drama that was one part Shakespeare and one part Marx. The family-owned company, famed for low prices, well-compensated employees, and fiercely loyal customers, was consumed by a vicious split. The grandfather, an immigrant from Greece named Athanasios (Arthur) Demoulas, founded his first […]
Posted inTAP
Why the Striking Autoworkers Need to Win Big
Anyone who understands the need for the United States to reduce its stratospheric levels of economic inequality and to give its workers a boost into the middle class has to be rooting for the United Auto Workers members on strike now at General Motors. Those workers sacrificed a good share of their incomes to help […]
Posted inTAP
Another Win for Warren
The Working Families Party has endorsed Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic nomination and for president. This is something of a stunner, since the WFP endorsed Bernie Sanders last time. The endorsement was made via a poll of the membership and leadership, in which Warren received 61 percent to Sanders’s 36 percent. It came several days after Warren […]
Posted inTAP
Debate Sizzles With Scorching Parliamentarian Action!
Maybe it’s just me, but one of the few times I perked up in what I considered a forgettable debate last night was when Bernie Sanders started in with a detailed discussion of Senate procedure. The nation couldn’t care less about how the Senate conducts its business, but we’re simultaneously held hostage by it, because […]
Posted inTAP
If Everyone Defined Their Business the Way Uber Does (A Playlet)
In a desperate display of legal legerdemain, Uber general counsel Tony West responded yesterday to the California legislature’s passage of a bill compelling companies to stop misclassifying their employees as independent contractors—as Uber does its drivers—with the novel legal theory that the drivers and the rides they provide aren’t part of Uber’s central business mission, […]
Posted inTAP
On This Anniversary of 9/11, the Case for Patriotism
I noticed a large American flag outside the home of a neighbor, marking this fateful anniversary. My first reaction, I am ashamed to admit, was to wonder if there might be a Trump voter in my nice liberal neighborhood. But then I thought, hey it’s my flag, too. As we head into 2020, it’s time […]
Posted inTAP
Hey, Jerry Nadler: Impeach Wilbur Ross!
According to a front-page story in today’s New York Times, last Friday Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened to fire officials of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which oversees the National Weather Service (NWS), if they didn’t affirm President Trump’s fantastical claim that Alabama had been threatened by Hurricane Dorian. When Trump had initially […]
