A Congress Divided
How the moderates were pushed out
Post Tagged with: "Budget"
The Love Pentagon
Politicians' love affair with defense spending is fundamentally different from the funding dynamics of any other department of the federal government.
California Dreamin’
Examining California's proposal to fund higher education for undocumented immigrants
Louis R. Evans on Balancing the Budget Debate
The balanced budget amendment is a popular proposal among many conservatives, but Louis R. Evans of the Crimson argues that such a measure provides a dangerous and simplistic response to the nation’s debt. Using examples ranging from household debt to American history, Evans suggests that there is no magic number for debt levels. Read the full article at the Crimson.
Senate Thinks Smart About Debt Ceiling Resolution; House Prefers Politics
Breaking down the budget debate: the good, the bad, and the impracticable
Where Medicare Reform Should Really be Focused
Medicare reform is all well and good, but it should start with eliminating costly redundancies and ineffective treatments.
Liveblogging Larry Summers at the IOP
Professor Summers speaks for the first time since his return to Harvard
Mark Warren Supports Unions and their Rights
In a recent post for the Perspective, Mark Warren writes in support of the unions in Wisconsin. The proposed budget cuts are simply “a case of states trying to balance their budgets by throwing their own employees under the bus, and not by negotiating economic concessions in good faith by collective bargaining, but by restricting unions’ rights.” Read the full [...]
Budget Battle Lines
David Gregory hosted White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley this morning on Meet the Press, and the two spoke at length about Daley’s efforts to avoid a government shutdown. Those efforts involve substantial negotiation with Speaker John Boehner (Surprisingly, Paul Ryan’s name didn’t come up in the clip). Gregory asked Daley a great question about Boehner’s power as a [...]
An Overcompensated Public Sector?
We have something like a bipartisan consensus that public sector unions are a major cause of states’ budget shortfalls and that public sector workers are overpaid. The first claim, at least, seems to be lacking in evidence. And the second is no better. This goes back to an exchange I had with Alex Sherbany a couple months ago. I suggested [...]
The Dangers of Direct Democracy
In Federalist No. 63, James Madison wrote that the defining principle of American democracy, as compared to Athenian democracy, “lies in the total exclusion of the people in their collective capacity.” But since Madison wrote those words, several direct-democratic institutions have been introduced into American politics. California became the first state to adopt a ballot-initiative process in 1911, enabling citizens [...]
