Economy
In the beginning, the world was very simple in the public mind: Liberals were for government—borrowing as needed—and conservatives were for what they called “fiscal responsibility.” Ronald Reagan, of course, said it most memorably, in 1981 in his first inaugural address: “You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. READ MORE >>
Political Paralysis Makes Us Poorer
Calculating the dollars-and-cents costs of policy uncertainty
Two kinds of uncertainty affect our decisions—the unpredictability of the world, and the instability that indecision about law and policy creates. The former is perennial and ineradicable; the latter varies with the character of governance. While we always make decisions in conditions of uncertainty, there are times in which man-made surplus uncertainty further clouds the crystal ball. This matters because beyond a certain point, uncertainty can paralyze decision-making. As economists Scott Baker, Nicholas Bloom, Steven J. READ MORE >>
The Sequester Comes to an Airport Near You
What happens when Republicans are stuck on the tarmac?
If you’re reading this item while you’re stuck at the airport, don’t start cursing your airline just yet. The real culprit may be the sequester. READ MORE >>
A Budget to Shortchange Our Future
Obama's plan doesn't do enough to shrink entitlement growth
President Obama’s proposed budget for FY 2014 represents an important contribution to a desperately needed national discussion about our long-term fiscal future. As such, it deserves a careful examination—not the reflexive chorus of cheers and boos (mostly the latter) that it has received so far. READ MORE >>
Gun Control Is a Waste of Precious Time
Obama should have saved political capital for the economy
I’m for the strictest gun control—the kind in Great Britain that bans hand guns and automatic and semi-automatic weapons. That kind of gun control would seriously limit armed violence in the United States. READ MORE >>
Central banking is not rocket science, but neither is it a trivial pursuit. READ MORE >>
The country is headed into a political and economic cul-de-sac. It’s mostly the fault of the House Republicans, who insist on policies that undermine the recovery, but it’s also the fault of the Obama administration for failing to dramatize the choices that Americans face. READ MORE >>
President Barack Obama’s new budget will call for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, according to the New York Times. This is a huge, shocking development—except for the fact that Obama called for these things already. READ MORE >>
On Thursday, the Standard and Poor’s stock market index hit a record high, surpassing the previous record set in October 2007. Last month, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008. Only the most determined pessimist would find grounds for worry in the current economy. READ MORE >>
If you're among the tiny handful of Americans who wake up early on the first Friday of every month to load the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), you got a welcome surprise last Friday. The February jobs numbers showed an increase of 236,000, with big gains in sectors like construction and health care. This certainly could herald an improving job market, with strong growth that can rapidly bring down the unemployment rate. READ MORE >>
