Democratic politics from the center
Economy
Economy, finance
Cameron-like concervatism in the U.S.?
Jul 24th
According to Michael Gerson UK conservatism is the biggest threat to democrats and President Obama. His column argues that republicans may regain power by proposing austerity measures in the mold Cameron’s June 22, budget.
It’d be interesting to see if his prediction materialize. This would require — as he acknowledges — the republicans to raise taxes (on the wealthy); a crucial step that they seem unwilling to take. Congress is going to have to vote for tax hikes as well as spending cuts to successfully decrease the deficit. Cuts would not only impact welfare programs but also the defense department, including its off budget items (Iraq and Afghanistan). Are the republicans ready for that?
Dan Mitchell needs to develop his criticism of the Greek debt crisis
May 3rd
Dan Mitchell is a fellow at the CATO institute where he focuses on tax policy. He is a fervent proponent of tax havens and low tax initiatives. I found one of his recent posts on the front page of Digg.com (here) where he criticized a Times article regarding the Greek debt crisis:
A quick look at the budget numbers reveals that tax revenues have remained relatively constant in recent years, consuming nearly 40 percent of GDP.
Mitchell doesn’t provide any data to back-up his analysis, but nevertheless he is wrong. A quick look at the Greek GDP shows that it has grown at a rate of over 35% since 2005. This means that tax revenue has lagged behind GDP growth by a significant margin. Where has all the money gone? I’m not taking a stand on the issue at this point. I’m just trying to “clear out” the clutter. I’d love to hear Mitchell’s response
Thoughts on the Goldman Sachs hearings
May 2nd
The Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigation questioned a group of Goldman Sachs executives including the firm’s CEO Lloyd Blankfein this week. Sadly, the outcome was quite predictable. The committee’s members chose grandstanding as opposed to an educated discourse. Goldman’s executives didn’t appear to be very cooperative, but the committee’s aggressive posture gave them no incentives to do so. Blankfein tried to defend his company’s actions, but it was clear that him and chairman Carl Levin had a fundamental disagreement over the subject of ethical behavior. This fundamental difference will frame the debate over who should be blamed for the financial crisis. More >
Dissecting the NYT/CBS poll
Feb 12th
Obama's approval ratings
A new poll by the New York Times and CBS was made available yesterday. There weren’t major changes from past polls, but some results should be highlighted.
President Obama is still facing lower approval ratings despise recent changes by the White House. The president is still suffering from damages made by a year long fight over healthcare. He is also faced with 52% and 58% disapproval ratings when it comes to the economy and the budget.
The poll also shows that congress isn’t fairing much better. With a 75% overall disapproval rating and with 81% of respondents ready to see new people in office, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more incumbents lose their seats this fall.
The good new, however, is that the republican party still hasn’t been able to turn this situation to their benefit. Americans still believe that our current economic woes were caused by the previous administration and democrats are still viewed more favorably than republicans.
Right now the focus needs to be a on the economy and providing jobs. These two issues outrank anything else and I am glad that the administration has decided to highlight them.
Jump on over to the Times article for more details.