The large US financial institutions were major recipients of government bail-out money in 2008/9 – bailout money that cumulatively came to a staggering $17.5 trillion – and in consequence they also became in 2008/9 a major target of both public censure and politically-inspired reform. The public largesse to them – predicated on the belief that […] read more »

As Answering Back went to press, Ruy Teixeira published his survey of American political opinion at the start of the Obama presidency, New Progressive America (Washington, Center for American Progress, March 2009). Teixeir’s general thesis is that America is no longer a center-right political culture but a more center-left one. ‘It is clear,” he wrote […] read more »