Economics

Obama, Bill Clinton and the Media "Center"

Norman Solomon | Posted 11.20.2008 | Media

Read More: Lloyd Bentsen, Bill Clinton, Economics, Stab in the Back, Pundits, Lani Guinier, News Media, Lurch to the Left, Barbara Ehrenreich, Mickey Kantor, Nafta, Doug Henwood, Journalism, Barack Obama, Warren Christopher, Populist, Gays in the Military, Ron Brown, The Center, Media News
Norman Solomon

The fog of memory and the spin of media are teaming up to explain that Obama must hew to "the center" if he knows what's good for his presidency.

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Obanomics

Joshuah Bearman | Posted 11.20.2008 | Business

Read More: Robert Rubin, Obama, Robert Reich, Economics, Barack Obama, Obama Economics, Obanomics, Obama Economy, Business News
Joshuah Bearman

Obama fundamentally trusts markets, but believes that they make grievous errors (I'll say!), and that those errors must at times be aggressively corrected. Is that a new idea? If so, then no wonder we're screwed.

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Why I Don't Like Economists

Peter Schwartz | Posted 11.12.2008 | Business

Read More: Debt, Warren Buffett, Economics, Political Science, Economy, Financial Crisis, Harvard, Gre, Trading, Business News
Peter Schwartz

They're all great guys, smart and amusing and passionate about their work. So what's not to like about economists? In a word, hubris. Economists fly too close to the sun of science.

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The President and the Planet, On a Budget

DotEarth | Andrew C. Revkin | Posted 11.05.2008 | Green

Read More: Population, Politics, Global, Poverty, President Obama, Military, Defense, Equity, Economics, Climate, Disease, Sustainability, Presidency, Barack Obama, Global Warming, Climate Change, Green News

President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20 will become the most important leader of a species that has exploded in just six generations from a total popu...

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Taxing The Rich Hurts The Middle Class

Grant Cardone | Posted 11.04.2008 | Business

Read More: Tax Cuts for the Rich, Wealthy, Tax Cuts for the Wealthy, Money, 401k, Economy, Retirement, Middle Class, Property Taxes, Recession, Economics, Economic Crisis, Trickle Down Effect, Working for the Wealthy, Entrepeneurship, Owning a Business, Business News
Grant Cardone

This is not a trickle down argument but basic economics, as it is impossible to penalize any one group without affecting every person in the group.

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Thomas B. Edsall

Man Versus Machine

HuffingtonPost.com | Thomas B. Edsall | Posted 11.02.2008 | Politics

Read More: Computes, Machines, Stock Market, Economics, Finance, Politics News

The recent economic meltdown has renewed the salience of the question of the relationship between human beings and computers. A survey of various expe...

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Toil and Trouble
McCain NewsLadder

The Media Consortium | Posted 11.02.2008 | Home

Read More: Ads, John McCain, Ken Duberstein, Health Policy, Economics, Palin Pro-American Areas, Restributionist, The Economy, Stephen Colbert, Joe Biden, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Barack Obama, Going Rogue, Sarah Palin, 2012, Diva, Wack Job, Conservatives, The Media Consortium, Rachel Maddow, Ohio, Laurence Eagleburger, Ethanol, 2008 Presidential Campaign, The Constitution, Mccainiacs, Home News
The Media Consortium

NOTE: After you click a link, click the title of the item to get the full text or video. This week finds our war hero, on Old Hallow's Eve, having fi...

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Give Mayors a Role in the Obama Administration

Harry Moroz | Posted 10.28.2008 | Politics

Read More: Mayors, John McCain, Politics, Urban Policy, Election '08, Washington Post, Transition, Cities, Wall Street Journal, Barack Obama, Economy, Economics, Politics News
Harry Moroz

Providing mayors a platform for influence, exchange, and coordination would capitalize on the economic power of metro areas while restoring urban policy to its proper place in national discourse.

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Andrew Sullivan Hasn't Read Adam Smith

Ben Cohen | Posted 10.23.2008 | Politics

Read More: Economics, Andrew Sullivan, Ron Paul, Adam Smith, Free Market Economy, Smith Economics, Economy, Agricultural Economy, Capitalism, Conservative Economics, Politics News
Ben Cohen

Andrew Sullivan is a self-styled Adam Smith conservative. The problem is, Sullivan, like most of his conservative friends, hasn't actually read Adam Smith's work.

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Milton Friedman, Socialist

Rob Warden | Posted 10.22.2008 | Politics

Read More: Friedman, Wealth Redistribution, John McCain, Obama, Mccain, Economics, Palin, Milton Friedman, Politics News
Rob Warden

f John McCain or Sarah Palin had written Milton Friedman's obit in 2006, would they have vilified the Nobel laureate economist widely regaled as the father of modern conservatism as some kind of anti-capitalist?

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Golden Parachutes, Even For Bailed-Out Execs, Are Alive And Well

Sean-Paul Kelley | Posted 10.17.2008 | Business

Read More: Financial Crisis, Clawbacks, Business, Economics, Golden Parachutes, Executive Compensation, Economy, Business News
Sean-Paul Kelley

The executives can get a huge bonus or salary or golden parachute, all they have done is not make it tax deductible if it is over $500,000.

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Financial Bailout: American Communism Alive & Lives on 23rd Street NYC VIDEO >>

George Spyros | Posted 10.16.2008 | Politics

Read More: The Predator State, James K. Galbraith, Economics, Economy, Economic Crisis, Politics News
George Spyros

United States communists say their time has come (full text of the video here) AFP news video segment pays a visit to US Communist Party headquarte...

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Again With the Trickle Down!?!

Jared Bernstein | Posted 10.15.2008 | Business

Read More: Trickle-Down Economics, Wall Street Crisis, Economics, Trickle Down, Economy, Business News
Jared Bernstein

How wrongheaded is John McCain's plan to address the ailing economy by cutting the capital gains tax rate, from 15% to 7.5% for the next two years? Let me count the ways.

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The Buck Stops Anywhere But Here

Neil Grossman | Posted 10.12.2008 | Politics

Read More: Economics, Politics, Wall Street Crisis, Government, Finance, Economy, Politics News
Neil Grossman

When I was young, I was taught that people were expected to assume responsibility for their actions. The idea was encapsulated in a quote that appear...

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Alan Greenspan Has Written His Own Epitaph

Joseph A. Palermo | Posted 10.09.2008 | Business

Read More: Wall Street Crisis, Alan Greenspan, Economics, Milton Friedman, Financial Meltdown, Ayn Rand, Business News
Joseph A. Palermo

I guess it is too much to ask a multimillionaire economist to lower himself and pick up a book about how American society has actually worked in the past, instead of relying on his ideological wet dreams.

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Nursing Homes Are a Good Case of Economics Gone Bad

Philip N. Cohen | Posted 10.03.2008 | Business

Read More: Elderly, Women, Nursing Homes, Economics, Health Care, Children, Health, Gender, Business News
Philip N. Cohen

The latest bad news shows that "more than 90% of nursing homes were cited violations of federal health and safety standards last year."

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The Bailout: Don't Believe Everything You Hear

Neil Grossman | Posted 10.01.2008 | Business

Read More: Banking, Bailout, Economics, Business, Economy, Politics, Personal Finance, Wall Street Crisis, Business News
Neil Grossman

Congress has asserted that they are most interested in protecting the interests of the American Taxpayer. I can only summarize my comments by saying "Don't Believe Everything You Hear."

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Marketing for Grownups: Selling the Rescue Plan

Alan Fein | Posted 09.30.2008 | Business

Read More: Politics, John McCain, Economics, Economy, George W. Bush, Presidential Election, Henry Paulson, Bailout Plan, Rtc, Vulture Funds, Barack Obama, Business News
Alan Fein

Bush noted that the effect of just Monday's drop in the market capitalization of the stock market was in excess of $1 trillion -- that's right, more than the $700 billion "bailout."

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Good Money After Bad

Neil Grossman | Posted 09.29.2008 | Business

Read More: Banking Crisis, Politics, Business, Economics, Finance, Economy, Business News
Neil Grossman

There is one more cost our national financiers are not considering. In issuing this boatload of new debt, it in all likelihood will raise the cost of all the other debt we are now carrying.

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You Really Believe We're the Priority?

Neil Grossman | Posted 09.28.2008 | Business

Read More: Banking, Finance, Economics, Politics, Economy, JP Morgan, WaMu Collapse, Wall Street Crisis, Business News
Neil Grossman

JPMorgan ends up with the good part of Wamu for a song -- the taxpayer ends up with "Toxic Waste." Seems to me like a great deal for the taxpayer.

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America Rewards Incompetence

Grant Cardone | Posted 09.25.2008 | Business

Read More: Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Markets, Economics, Wall Street, Financial Meltdown, Business News
Grant Cardone

If you end up with a drug or alcohol problem should the government send you to treatment and then hang in there with you until you are all cleaned up?

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Here is Why McCain Wants to Move the Debate

Cenk Uygur | Posted 09.24.2008 | Politics

Read More: Economics, Barack Obama, Presidential Debates, John McCain, Foreign Policy, Political Calculation, John Mccain Suspend Debate, John Mccain Suspends Campaign, Politics News
Cenk Uygur

It's not that the McCain campaign doesn't want to have this debate; it's that they don't want to have it now. They think it is terrible timing for their side.

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Bankers' Brains, Market Behavior

Peter A. Ubel | Posted 09.24.2008 | Business

Read More: Psychology, Markets, John McCain, Wall Street Crisis, Behavioral Psychology, Economics, Wall Street, Aig, Herd Instincts, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, Business News
Peter A. Ubel

Rationally directed greed would never have led us to this financial crisis. People are not nearly as rational as the market evangelists in the Republican Party would have us think.

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Speed is of the Essence, But So is the Right Solution

Neil Grossman | Posted 09.22.2008 | Business

Read More: Finance, Economics, Politics, Mortages, Debt, Wall Street Crisis, Economy, Economic Crisis, Financial Crisis, Business News
Neil Grossman

Instead of buying bad debts from financial institutions at a relatively arbitrary price, I suggest we do the following.

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Bad Laws Pass Fast

Chris Weigant | Posted 09.22.2008 | Politics

Read More: Law, White House, Debate, Jorj X McKie, Economics, Economy, Whipping Star, Herbert, Congress, Voodoo, Patriot Act, Wall Street, Bailout, Laws, Usa Patriot Act, Frank Herbert, Legislative Process, Crisis, Financial, Dune, Fast, Bad Laws, Great Depression, Politics News
Chris Weigant

I will say one thing about the plan that is being floated by Bush and Congress right now -- laws that pass quickly almost always turn out to be bad ones. Think USA PATRIOT Act.

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