Politics Roundtable
Political blogs of interest to economists.
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March 11, 2010, 10:18 am, 664775
The Muslim Brotherhood is one of the most sinister organizations operating inside the United States. It has established front groups that have achieved success in advancing the Brotherhood's goals, and yet little attention is paid to the activities of these front groups seeking to undermine the United States ...
March 11, 2010, 10:18 am, 664773
POOR POKER PLAYERS.... We're well past the point at which Republicans can make substantive arguments about health care policy and hope to influence the outcome. Whether a Democratic lawmaker votes for or against the final package is not dependent on...
March 11, 2010, 10:18 am, 664774
CLOSING IN ON A DEAL.... In order for health care reform to advance, a handful of steps have to be taken. And while most of the attention has centered around getting the necessary number of votes, there's also the matter...
March 11, 2010, 10:18 am, 664772
REPUBLICANS IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULDN'T THROW STONES.... Of all the issues for Republicans to seize on, ethics in Congress may be the most tone-deaf of them all. In the wake of a handful of Democratic scandals, Republicans are piling on,...
March 11, 2010, 8:18 am, 664686
ENSIGN SEX SCANDAL WORSENS.... Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) doesn't want to talk about his sex scandal, but that hasn't stopped investigators from launching a probe. The controversy made the far-right senator look pretty bad before, but it appears the ongoing...
March 11, 2010, 6:18 am, 664644
Felix Salmon:
Counterparties | Analysis & Opinion | Reuters: Carlos Slim is #1 on the Forbes wealthiest list, with $53.5 billion, up $18.5 billion in 12 months...
March 11, 2010, 6:18 am, 664643
Jonathan Cohn:
What, You Have A Better Idea For Cost Control?: David Brooks thinks it. David Gregory thinks it. The Washington Post editorial page thinks it. And, what the heck, I think it. If health care reform passes Congress, the final legislation probably won't cut the cost of ...
March 11, 2010, 4:18 am, 664599
March 11, 2010, 4:18 am, 664598
I hadn’t seen an advance release of the January German export data, when I wrote the following on Tuesday, honest injun I hadn’t:
Well, this is only a hypothesis. But if the hypothesis has any validity we should be able to make some predictions on the basis of ...
March 11, 2010, 12:18 am, 664549
In a number of places around the world, it is open season on Christians. We read of Christians burned out of their homes and slaughtered in Pakistan. Most recently, at least 500 Christians were murdered in Nigeria. The attackers in all cases are Muslims, inspired by the ...
March 11, 2010, 12:18 am, 664548
The Commonwealth of Virginia's new Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, has created a stir by advising the state's public colleges and universities that they have no authority to adopt policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. He has called on these institutions to rescind such ...
March 11, 2010, 12:18 am, 664547
1) Ryan Avent: Fiscal policy: The "treading water" stimulus:
HERE is some food for thought, via Tyler Cowen: "This note shows that the aggregate fiscal expenditure stimulus in the United States, properly adjusted for the declining fiscal expenditure of the fifty states, was close to zero in ...
March 10, 2010, 10:18 pm, 664513
Is the Washington press corps despicable? I sometimes think so. But watch Patrick Kennedy lose it on the House floor, as he denounces the press for covering Congressman Eric Massa rather than the vitally important vote taking place in the House. What was that vote? A ...
March 10, 2010, 10:18 pm, 664512
It seems that way. Tom Hanks is one of Hollywood's more respectable denizens, but that doesn't save him from this remarkably dim-witted exchange, featured in the current issue of Time, as dissected by John Nolte at Big Hollywood. The subject is Hanks's new HBO series on World ...
March 10, 2010, 8:18 pm, 664493
I've been dubious that Nancy Pelosi lacks the juice to muscle Obamacare through the House, but her enforcers must be running into a wall. Minority Leader John Boehner's blog introduces us to the aptly named Slaughter solution via this Congress Daily report (PDF). Boehner's blog reports:
The ...
March 10, 2010, 8:18 pm, 664494
It appears that Eric Holder signed a brief in support of Jose Padilla's legal position, but did not disclose this during his confirmation hearings. According to Bill Burck and Dana Perino, the brief argued that the government should not hold terrorists caught in the U.S. as enemy ...
March 10, 2010, 6:18 pm, 664452
'THE AIR COVER IS COMING'.... With the debate over health care reform nearing a conclusion, opponents of the pending proposal are tapping their near-limitless resources, running attack ads geared towards undecided and/or vulnerable Democrats. Last week, many wondered if there...
March 10, 2010, 6:18 pm, 664451
'TAX EXTENDERS' PACKAGE PASSES SENATE.... We're starting to see at least some movement in the Senate on legislation related to the economy. In recent weeks, the upper chamber, usually overcome by scandalous Republican obstructionism, has passed a modest jobs bill...
March 10, 2010, 6:18 pm, 664450
WEDNESDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits: * House Speaker Pelosi was asked if believed the House would end up having the votes to pass health care reform. "Yes," Pelosi said. "If we took it up today, yes." * Look...
March 10, 2010, 6:18 pm, 664449
The Majority Leader:
Senator Harry Reid Pledges Filibuster Reform: "The filibuster has been abused. I believe that the Senate should be different than the House and will continue to be different than the House," Reid said. "But we're going to take a look at the filibuster. Next ...
March 10, 2010, 4:18 pm, 664359
REID EYES 'LIKELY' CHANGES TO SENATE RULES.... Meeting with center-left journalists on the Hill today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) not only blamed Republicans' tactics for the chamber's difficulties, but vowed to consider changes in the next Congress. In...
March 10, 2010, 4:18 pm, 664358
SEBELIUS STANDS TALL AGAINST INSURERS.... America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) extended an 11th-hour invitation to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, asking her to speak to the industry trade association's annual policy conference. To her credit, Sebelius accepted, and made no real...
March 10, 2010, 2:18 pm, 664264
Former Attorney General (and federal district court judge) Michael Mukasey provides his view of how to regard (or, more precisely, how not to regard) Justice Department lawyers who represented terrorist detainees. The article, which is "subscription only," appears in the Wall Street Journal.
Here are, perhaps, the two ...
March 10, 2010, 2:18 pm, 664262
HEALTH REFORM IS UNPOPULAR -- OR IS IT?.... It's a part of the health care reform debate that's hardly even questioned anymore. As Republicans never tire of pointing out, the pending reform plan just isn't very popular. In response, reform...
March 10, 2010, 2:18 pm, 664263
THIESSEN'S DEFINITION OF 'RADICAL'.... If you haven't seen Marc Thiessen's appearance on "The Daily Show" last night, it's worth watching the full, unedited version. If it seemed as if Jon Stewart wasn't fully prepared for John Yoo a few weeks...
March 10, 2010, 2:18 pm, 664261
HIGHWAY TO HELL.... Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, recently unveiled what he described as a budget "roadmap," intended to address the budget mess his own party had created during the Bush/Cheney era. Ryan's...
March 10, 2010, 12:18 pm, 664175
CHENEY KEEPS LOSING FRIENDS.... The bipartisan pushback against Liz Cheney's "Keep America Safe" latest smear campaign isn't quite finished. Some unexpected conservatives continue to denounce the attacks against Justice Department attorneys. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Senate...
March 10, 2010, 12:18 pm, 664173
WEDNESDAY'S CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP.... Today's installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn't generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers. * A new national AP poll shows Democrats leading Republicans by six, 44% to 38%,...
March 10, 2010, 12:18 pm, 664174
CUTTING COSTS.... Arguably the most frequently cited concern raised by opponents of health care reform is that the Democratic proposal doesn't do enough to cut costs. These critics rarely have much to offer in the way of substantive alternatives, but...
March 10, 2010, 10:18 am, 664074
I can't think offhand of anything President Obama has said or done that has shocked me more than his attack on a Supreme Court decision with members of the Court arrayed respectfully in front of him during the State of the Union speech. The attack on the Court's decision ...
March 10, 2010, 10:18 am, 664073
On Monday, Charles Krauthammer had this, in part, to say about Geert Wilders:
What he says is extreme, radical, and wrong. He basically is arguing that Islam is the same as Islamism. Islamism is an ideology of a small minority which holds that the essence of Islam ...
March 10, 2010, 10:18 am, 664070
THE BUNNING LEGACY.... In a more healthy political environment, it's the kind of bill that would have passed easily. The Kerry-Murray amendment came to the Senate floor yesterday, and would have extended stimulus money to finance a summer jobs program...
March 10, 2010, 10:18 am, 664072
CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.... For months, congressional Democrats have said, with varying degrees of subtlety, that they want the White House to start taking charge of the process surrounding health care reform. While the West Wing has consistently asked...
March 10, 2010, 10:18 am, 664071
'I DON'T THINK HE GETS A PASS'.... When considering Democratic lawmakers who oppose health care reform, we tend to think of a few contingents within the party. There's obviously conservative Blue Dogs, who represent the bulk of the Democratic opponents....
March 10, 2010, 8:18 am, 664012
IT WASN'T THE START OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP.... By all appearances, conservatives' burgeoning love affair with Eric Massa ended abruptly yesterday, a few minutes after 5 p.m. (ET). On Monday, Glenn Beck told his radio audience of the New York...
March 10, 2010, 6:18 am, 663951
March 10, 2010, 4:18 am, 663888
Q: So why are so many who claim to be "deficit hawks" opposing it?
David Cutler:
David M. Cutler: Health Reform Passes the Cost Test: Many people are worried that the health-care reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats will fail to bend ...
March 10, 2010, 4:18 am, 663886
March 10, 2010, 4:18 am, 663887
Karl Smith:
Macro Wars: Solow vs. Lucas: Re: Adam:
I don’t think that Solow, in particular, has ever tried to come to grips with any of these issues except by making jokes
~Bob ...
