'Freece'
Europe had a momentous election yesterday. But it wasn't in Greece. It was in France.Greeks narrowly chose the "pro-bailout" party, the headlines trumpet. But that's no surprise. The Greek public has...
View ArticleAmateur Status
Americans for Tax Reform's Hugh Johnson deserves the gold for the press coverage he's gotten for his Olympics medals post.Johnson noted that athletes must pay regular income taxes on the cash that...
View Article'We Build It Together'
The problem with Elizabeth Warren's discussion of infrastructure investment on Wednesday night was one of tone and framing. On investing in roads, bridges, and the like, she sounded a campfire call:...
View ArticleRe: Is Obama Being Carterized?
That might work if Obama had something that Carter had: a powerful opponent who wasn't afraid to present a grand vision for the country. There's another problem with this approach, too. In the Carter...
View ArticleWhy Romney Needs to Talk about Bailouts
The most interesting thing about the video of Mitt Romney speaking at a May fundraiser has nothing to do with “the 47 percent.” Rather, it’s his answer to a guest at the event who had a suggestion...
View ArticleA Fresh Start
Why doesn't Romney forget the past two weeks (he's not going to make it better no matter what he says), and go out there and make a speech saying that he'll do what Obama didn't do (much of), and...
View ArticleThe NFL vs. the Free Market
Conventional wisdom holds that the National Football League lockout of unionized referees will hurt Mitt Romney, because the lockout reminds union workers and former union workers in swing states that...
View ArticleRe: Born Not to Run
If Chris Christie understands how Sandy and the hundreds of thousands of commuters it has still left stranded on the wrong side of the river points to the need for better infrastructure investment in...
View ArticleThe Real FAA Lesson
That was fast. After barely a work week of hours-long airport delays and missed international connections, both parties have slunk away from the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts that were lopping...
View ArticleRe: Freedom Isn’t Free...and One World Trade Isn’t the Freedom Tower?
Good post, Will ... but alas, nothing at the World Trade Center site is that straightforward. Many New Yorkers -- including potential office-tower tenants -- associate "Freedom Tower" not with soaring...
View ArticleRe: Thursday at the Magic Kingdom
Is it politically wise for former Governor Romney to respond to President Obama's Orlando visit in this manner? [Obama is] going to be in Fantasyland, and it’s obviously appropriate because he’s been...
View ArticleSantorum Asks the Best Question of the Night
Santorum's question for Romney and Gingrich: if you believe in capitalism, why did you support the Wall Street bailouts?Santorum also said that Florida would have been better off without bailouts --...
View ArticleRomney
He started out weak, but got much stronger on lobbying. “I didn’t have an office in K Street” is a great line. Now he has to answer Santorum’s earlier question -- and explain why lobbying is so...
View ArticleGarageBank
We need more of what Romney doesn't want: People opening up banks in their garages!Romney is right that finance needs regulation. He is wrong that such regulation should preclude new entrants: i.e.,...
View ArticleMitt, Newt, and Paula Deen
Whose financial activities tell us what's wrong with America -- Mitt Romney's or Newt Gingrich's? Romney released some tax returns this morning. In 2010, Goldman Sachs, one of the Romneys' investment...
View ArticleRe: Mitt Goes Negative
The "internecine aggression" might not hurt him too much. My Florida voter (Lee County) says: I voted for Romney because he finally fought back. Instead of being Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. Marshmallow, Mr....
View ArticleRe: Romney Calls Auto Bailouts ‘Crony Capitalism on a Grand Scale’
All fine -- and before Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney should come to New York and say the same thing about our financial-industry bailouts.Romney should note further that whatever the flaws of the auto...
View ArticleRe: Santorum Hits Romney on Bailout Support
If Mitt Romney loses Michigan, it will be because of this.Romney underestimates voters' persistent anger at the bailouts in 2008 (and beyond). Romney should note that whatever the flaws of the auto...
View ArticleSantorum on Housing: Privatize Gain, Socialize Loss
In the economic agenda he announced today online and in the Wall Street Journal, Rick Santorum says that to “revive” housing, he would “phase out within several years Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." He...
View ArticleRe: Is There A Black Upper Class Bubble?
Good point, Jonah.The single biggest thing that working-class and middle-class black New Orleans mothers worry about is getting their sons through high school, through college, and out of New Orleans...
View ArticleRomney and Taxes (No, Not His, Yours)
If any of you are struggling or have struggled with figuring your capital-gains and dividends taxes this season, it's worth remembering that Mitt Romney says he would eliminate capital-gains,...
View ArticleKrugman
Paul Krugman criticizes Fed chief Ben Bernanke in today's New York Times magazine. Krugman thinks Bernanke hasn't done enough to end “mass suffering for American workers." He thinks the cure is higher...
View ArticleRules for Bailouts
The Dodd-Frank law long ago disappeared down the rabbit hole of the rule-making process -- and there's a lot of interesting stuff going on down there. As the lawyers at DavisPolk point out in their...
View ArticleSarkozy vs. Hollande
Both candidates in the first hour of the French debate acted as if they were running for chancellor of Germany.Socialist candidate François Hollande kept pointing out that the German economy (and the...
View ArticleRe: The Debate Over Austerity Continues
Also, "austerity" continues to mean bailing out banks, with governments making no differentiation between protecting small depositors (okay) and protecting sophisticated institutional investors (maybe...
View ArticleWhat's Good for My Bank Is Good for America
President Obama went on national TV yesterday to make an odd claim: "J. P. Morgan is one of the best-managed banks there is. Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we've got."The...
View ArticlePrivate vs. Public Employment
We hear a good deal lately about how state and local governments, thanks to balanced-budget requirements, are slashing the number of workers they have, thus exacerbating the recession recovery. The...
View ArticleTolled Bridge
If New Jersey governor Chris Christie keeps his job and overcomes the current scandal to mount a 2016 presidential bid, two solid reasons will exist for GOP primary voters to remember Bridgegate as...
View ArticleIt’s the West’s Fault that the Pope Misunderstands Capitalism
This afternoon, Pope Francis will touch down in New York City. As the pontiff heads for the capital of capitalism, he has been getting attention for his exhortations against the modern market economy....
View ArticleWhat's to Blame for Wage Stagnation: Markets or Government?
Critics of free-market capitalism often point to the fact that the average American worker hasn’t gotten a raise in decades as evidence that free markets have failed. Yet free-market capitalism hasn’t...
View Article
