We’ll admit, we have some sympathy for the former Republican leadership and George W. Bush with regards to the “John McCain situation.” It was kind of fun for us communists to see John McCain (occasionally, arbitrarily) challenge the Bush administration on a handful of issues over ...

These sublimely clueless musings from Lisa Schiffern at the Corner illustrate the strange belief system of the GOP's true ideological base, which is made up mostly of the American version of what Orwell called "the lower upper class." Axioms which are key to that system include: (1) The hardest-work...

Ross Douthat has discovered Barack Obama’s evil genius: What Obama does have, though, is an atmosphere of crisis and a massively-unpopular opposition party, which grants him an unparalleled political opportunity to pass whatever spending the Democratic Party likes, and damn the short-term cost...

Leftists will try to pass the lie that the Bush Tax Cuts increased the deficit. That is a flat out partisan lie. The facts are easy to check, federal tax revenue actually went up after the Bush Tax Cuts. What cause the massive increase in the deficit during the Bush 43 administration was the huge in...

I’ve posted a few excerpts about how slow and ineffective tax cuts are as an economic stimulus. But (as the saying goes) any jackass can kick a building down.  What does work? Beyond the partisan rhetoric, there’s good news.  Here are excerpts from an interview with Mark Zandi, economi...

With country after country announcing ’stimulus’ plans to help supposedly create jobs and jump start the economy, it appears that there is just one leader who is sticking to capitalism. with today being election day in Israel, PM wannabe Benjamin Netanyahu has outlined his economic plan ...

Jeffery Miron, Harvard Senior Lecturer in economics at Harvard University, on the stimulus package, CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) — When libertarians question the merit of President Obama’s stimulus package, a frequent rejoinder is, “Well, we have to do something.” This is h...

This one takes a look at a specific set of cuts that were ideological vs. actually positively affecting the bill. I’m still very concerned about this bill, and I’m particularly concerned about the tax cuts. When I finished my taxes this weekend, I got the remaining Bush stimulus tax cred...

Krugman, “What the centrists have wroght“: The short answer: to appease the centrists, a plan that was already too small and too focused on ineffective tax cuts has been made significantly smaller, and even more focused on tax cuts. Ian Welsh, Firedoglake: The Senate Bill is apparently $...

Senators have reached a tentative deal on a version of President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, including about $805 billion in spending and tax cuts, that will win enough Republican votes to move forward. source. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has highlighted many provisions he considers to be ea...