Details of the agreement reached by the president and congressional Republicans are still forthcoming, but from the look of it, Obama gave ground where he need not have.
Budget
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Don’t Count Boehner Out Just Yet
The House Speaker suffered a humiliating defeat with the failure of “Plan B,” but he has survived far bigger messes over the course of his long career.
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
It’s a Mad, Mad Michigan
Right-to-work legislation was only the beginning. State Republicans have an entire docket full of legislation set to limit rights.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Debating the Chained CPI
Should Social Security cuts even be in the fiscal-cliff talks? An exchange with Robert Greenstein
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
While You Weren’t Looking, Michigan Turned Into Texas
From abortion, to guns, to unions, the legislature used the lame duck session to shuffle the state to the right.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Strange Republican Shift on Taxes
Why is the GOP retreating on tax rates, when you’d expect them to take just the opposite position?
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Why Republicans Won’t Get Specific
They’re constrained by an operationally liberal public.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Why Does Obama Want to Spend $8 Trillion on Defense?
Washington is in a fiscal panic, yet surprisingly few people are asking an obvious question: Why in the world is the Obama administration proposing to spend $8 trillion on security over the next decade? Included in that giant sum is not just Pentagon spending, but also outlays for intelligence, homeland security, foreign aid, and diplomacy […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Mitch McConnell Doesn’t Understand What the Debt Ceiling Is
Or is it that he knows perfectly well, but wants to mislead the public and the press?
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
What Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age Means
It means taking seniors off the least expensive, most efficient insurance program to toss them into the individual market.
