A few facts about the budget: 1. Tax revenue as a percent of GDP is incredibly low. Lower than even the lowest of the Reagan years. Lower by far than the Clinton years. 2. Popular programs are popular. 3. Raising taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year is popular. 4. People who want… Continue reading Austerity Bombe
Category: Politics
Election Postmortem
So, how did I do? Pretty well I’d say, although my super-secret strategy was basically to believe Nate Silver. I didn’t get everything right, but pretty much everywhere I was wrong I was too pessimistic: the DFL did take back the MN House, Obama did have a good night and won Florida, he won MN… Continue reading Election Postmortem
Electoral Prognostications
So here’s where I lay out my predictions for two days hence…
The Legislature, Then and Now
I worked at the legislature for almost 11 years. The first six of those years were when the Republicans had the majority in the house. Then came four years of a DFL majority, and then a return to the Republican majority that we have today. Even though only four years separated the two Republican majorities,… Continue reading The Legislature, Then and Now
I’m unelectable!
NPR’s Planet Money decided to talk to a bunch of economists of all stripes to ask what they would like to see in an economic platform for a presidential candidate. They came up with this: eliminating the mortgage interest and health care deductions, corporate income tax, income tax, a carbon tax, and legalized marijuana. Aside… Continue reading I’m unelectable!
I’m the 53%
It’s piling on at this point to comment on Mitt Romney’s utter disdain for almost half of the U.S. population. If you really want the good stuff, check out Ezra Klein, Josh Marshall, David Frum, Kevin Drum, and Atrios (actually, you should be reading them ever day). But if there’s one thing that I am,… Continue reading I’m the 53%
The Role of the Media
I don’t believe in objective journalism, in that I don’t think it exists. I’ve long ranted against expecting objective journalism, which these days, essentially results in “he said, she said” and “balanced” reporting. One of the biggest gaps to result is the fact that very, very rarely will the media call out people as liars.… Continue reading The Role of the Media
Our Intelligent Discourse
I was all ready to write a post about how fun, content-free issues like how Obama is “slashing Medicare and using the money to pay for Obamacare!” are taking over this election cycle, while truly important issues are being forgotten. For example, the fact that MF Global is likely going to evade criminal charges for… Continue reading Our Intelligent Discourse
The Ryan Job
I’m not a fan of Ron Paul, but compared to Paul Ryan, Ron Paul is at least consistent. Like much of the Democratic world, I think it’s awesomely hilarious that Romney chose Ryan as his running mate. I don’t have much to add to the great commentary already out there (see Ezra Klein and this… Continue reading The Ryan Job
Squaring the Circle
Surprise, surprise: the Romney tax plan to cut taxes for the richest Americans can only be paid for if you raise taxes on the other 95% of people. Predictably, Romney is saying that the study is “biased”, because it doesn’t count for the massive economic boom that would result. So who is right? Let me… Continue reading Squaring the Circle