Archive
Obamas Deficit Frankenstein
The Presidential Deficit Commission has issued its report -- sort of -- and the president has a problem. Like Dr. Frankenstein in the Mary Shelley novel, he built a creature from discarded parts and it took on a life of its own. And like its fictional counterpart,...
Health Care Reform Is Deficit Reduction Remember That
When health care reform was signed into law, President Barack Obama correctly described it as "biggest deficit reduction plan since the 1990s." In fact, the Congressional Budget Office projected it would save more than $1 trillion during the next two decades. This...
98 The Number That The Deficit Commission Left Out
9.8%! It’s still all about jobs. It's still an emergency. And the DC elite still don’t get it -- or don't care. They give us a "deficit commission" not a jobs commission. They've got it nice while the rest of us have it not-so-nice. Maybe we should move the Congress...
Korea Free Trade Agreement Another NAFTA
There are reports that the Korea Free Trade Agreement is nearly concluded. Unfortunately the problems with the labor portions of the Bush-negotiated agreement were not addressed, which means we might have another NAFTA-style, job-killing, Wall Street-abetting,...
No US-Korea Free Trade Agreement For Now
It appears that the US and Korea could not reach agreement in time for President Obama's visit to Seoul for the G20 meeting beginning today. Washington Post, U.S., South Korea fail to reach free-trade deal,, Negotiations over a U.S.-Korea free-trade agreement faltered...
On The JOBS Front -- Next In The News Korea Free Trade Agreement
You’ll be hearing a lot about a Korean Free Trade Agreement in the next few days. Negotiators are finalizing last-minute changes to the Korea Free Trade Agreement before President Obama arrives in Seoul Thursday for the G20 and to meet with President Lee Myung-bak....
DC Elites Pushing Korea Trade Pact
The way a lobbyist argues for or against anything today is to say it will create or cost jobs. Prohibiting lawsuits against giant corporations that harm people creates jobs. Making oil drilling safer costs jobs. Tax cuts for the rich creates jobs. Just getting rid of...
Korea Trade Deal NAFTA Redux or Change We Can Believe In
Trade is good. Honest, free and fair trade brings prosperity to everyone involved. Unfortunately the kind of one-sided, exploitative trade deals that have been negotiated in the past might have made a few elites very rich in the short term but threaten to impoverish...
Bipartisan Blight The Great Tax Reform Mirage
David Brooks is always a good marker of establishment conventional wisdom. Today, in a column grandly entitled, “A Tax Reform Vision,” Brooks celebrates the growing beltway consensus on tax reform, suggesting that a bipartisan accord could be built around lowering tax...
Hidden Agendas Killed The Deficit Commission
The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (“Deficit Commission”) was charged with coming up with a plan to reduce the budget deficits and accumulated debt caused by tax cuts for the rich and military spending increases. It was supposed to come up...
