May 12, 2011
Laying-Off Teachers To Demonstrate How Much They Are Appreciated
When the President came to Winston-Salem in North Carolina last December, and first laid out his “sputnik moment” analysis of our contemporary situation, the whole emphasis of his address that day was on the need to strengthen our educational base in order to compete effectively in the global economy of the twenty-first century. read more »
April 29, 2011
The Strengths and Weaknesses of American Exceptionalism
The Center for American Progress issued a fascinating and important PolicyLink paper early in April 2011: Prosperity 2050: Is Equity the Superior Growth Model?[1] Written by Sarah Treuhaft and David Madland, both its content and its title raised a central question of our time: whether it is “possible that the traditional assumption that there […] read more »
April 13, 2011
The Danger of Losing the Plot So Early in the Play
If it is true that those whom the gods would destroy they first send mad, then currently we are in serious trouble in Washington DC. For in the political theatre we have just witnessed – around the shutdown of the federal government – there has been madness aplenty: read more »
March 24, 2011
Reframing the Deficit Debate
The dominant discourse in national American politics these days is a discourse on deficits. The leadership of the Republican Party, emboldened by their mid-term capture of the House, regularly informs us that “we are broke, and that we need to do something about it.” read more »
March 7, 2011
Turning Down the Radio, Slice by Budgetary Slice
These are frenzied days in Washington DC. They are also particularly dangerous ones for publicly-supported institutions that Republican politicians happen to dislike. With the threat of a complete government shut-down as their ultimate weapon, House Republicans are entering this year’s budget round with some very clear targets in mind. read more »
February 27, 2011
Diluting the Tea Party: The Importance of Supping With a Long Spoon
Elections happen very quickly when they come, but they are not won, or indeed lost, simply in the moment of voting. Winning and losing elections is the business of the space between elections. We are in such a space now; and if we are not careful, the business we are now in will prove to […] read more »
February 13, 2011
Obama and Housing – Is Anybody Home?
You may not know it, if you watch only Washington beltway politics, but we are currently in the midst of a housing crisis of monumental proportions. read more »
February 4, 2011
Appendix 2: The Economics in Play
(Appendix outline) A faith in efficient markets The fallibility of efficient markets Keynes’ second coming (Extract) …one thing at least is certain in this age of uncertainty. It is that this debate between schools of economists will inevitably go on. One side will go on telling us (indeed they now do so daily in the […] read more »
February 4, 2011
Appendix 1: The Causes of the Meltdown: An Update on the Debate
(Appendix outline) THE REVAMPED CONSERVATIVE ARGUMENT A LIBERAL RESPONSE Housing Policy: Pattern and Role Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie – The role of the GSE’s Regulation or De-regulation: Which was it? Guilty Finance A FINAL NOTE ON LEVELS OF ANALYSIS (Extract) As we saw in Chapter 6, quite where you break off your explanation of the […] read more »
February 4, 2011
Conclusion
(Chapter outline) THE SCALE OF THE TASK BEFORE US Mighty Finance The Lightness of Labor Deindustrialization and the Weakness of Industrial Capital WHAT THAT SCALE TELLS US No Going Back External Constraints Internal Reform GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE Housing Banking Poverty Wages Trade Industry Empire THE POLITICS OF WINNING (Extract) There are other things […] read more »
February 4, 2011
Making the Case for a Reform of the American Model
(Chapter outline) THE CASE FOR AMERICAN SUPERIORITY American exceptionalism Economic Superiority The Home of the Brave and the Land of the Free A Beacon for the World Corrosive Forces THE CASE FOR RETHINKING THE AMERICAN MODEL Revisiting the claims about US “exceptionalism” Cherry picking your way to glory. Writing labor out of the US story […] read more »
February 4, 2011
Making the Case for a Green Economy
(Chapter outline) GREEN POLITICS AND THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION THE CASE AGAINST GOING GREEN Global Warming as a Manufactured Issue Global Warming as an Exaggerated Issue Global Warming as a Hyped Issue Global Warming as an Excuse for Bad Policy Market Solutions to Global Warming THE CASE FOR GOING GREEN Climate Change is No Hoax “Seven […] read more »
February 4, 2011
Making the Case for Managed Trade
(Chapter Outline) THE CASE FOR GLOBAL FREE TRADE Exploiting comparative advantage The many benefits of untrammeled free trade Any costs associated with of free trade are temporary, slight and focused, whilst its benefits are permanent, substantial and general Free trade is unambiguously good for America Free Trade is good for the “South” as well as […] read more »
February 4, 2011
Making the Case for Regulated Markets
(Chapter outline) THE CASE FOR UNREGULATED MARKETS Capitalist markets are the great drivers of human progress Unregulated markets are optimal allocators of resources Unregulated markets guarantee freedom in ways that even democratic politics cannot Markets and morality go together The regulation of markets by governments necessarily impairs their performance Free markets are the American way: […] read more »
February 4, 2011
The Financial Meltdown and the Obama Response
(Chapter outline) THE FINANCIAL MELTDOWN DOCUMENTING THE OBAMA RESPONSE Moving to alleviate the housing crisis Recapitalizing and regulating financial institutions Stimulating the economy, searching for jobs Working with America’s global partners to reactivate global economic growth EVALUATING THE OBAMA PERFORMANCE Disappointing Results Housing Banking Employment and the Recession Conservative Condemnation Housing Banking Employment and the […] read more »
January 30, 2011
Fact and Fiction in the “State of the Union” Debate
In last week’s State of the Union Address, President Obama replayed themes he had touched on here in North Carolina when speaking at Forsyth Technical College in December.[1] He spoke of competitive challenges and the danger of a loss of global leadership. read more »
January 21, 2011
Defending Health Care Reform – Again!
It has been very difficult in these last few days to decide whether or not to respond to the House Republicans’ first major political initiative of 2011 – their introduction and passing of the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act. read more »
January 14, 2011
Introduction to the Book
Making the Progressive Case seeks to raise the quality of democratic discourse in the contemporary United States by making access to both sides of contemporary political debates easy and attractive. It brings together in one place underlying liberal positions on issues as disparate as market regulation and the war in Afghanistan, and sets them alongside […] read more »
January 5, 2011
Sanity in a Time of Madness
“When you are in Washington, remember what the voters back home want – less government and more freedom”[1] (Jim DeMint, welcoming tea-party backed victors in the 2010 mid-term elections) This is no ordinary day in American politics. This is the day power officially shifted in the House of Representatives from Nancy Pelosi’s Democrats to John […] read more »
December 19, 2010
America’s Bleak Mid-Winter
In Christian churches across the length and breadth of this land, millions of Americans will take comfort and inspiration this week from the story of the Nativity. They will glory in the well-known tale of a poor couple, read more »
December 9, 2010
President Obama and This Generation’s “Sputnik Moment”
The community college in my small North Carolinian city received a presidential visit on Monday. The President came, spoke and left, in a visit that would have been only locally newsworthy but for the importance of what he said. read more »
November 22, 2010
Eating the Old at Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is America’s great family holiday, the one time in the year when the various generations of the American family make every effort to gather together in some mutually convenient place, the better to share a turkey dinner and to eat pumpkin pie. read more »
November 14, 2010
Fiddling While Rome Burns
Rome lived on its principal until ruin stared it in the face. Industry is the only true source of wealth, and there was no industry in Rome. By day the Ostia Road was crowded with carts and muleteers, carrying to the great city the silks and spices of the East, the marble of Asia Minor, […] read more »
November 4, 2010
The Morning after the Day Before
The Monday morning quarterbacks are in full flow, and the post-mortem is already on. The alternatives are being immediately staked, and the relevant policy changes demanded. read more »
October 10, 2010
Countering the Enthusiasm Gap
What a difference two years make in times as serious as these. Two Novembers ago, all was hope and glory on the center-left in American politics, all was despair and despondency on the center-right. read more »
September 23, 2010
Contemporary Poverty and the Tasks of the Left
…Our imperial endeavors alone, if Chalmers Johnson is right, “will, sooner or later, condemn the United States to a devastating trio of consequences: imperial overstretch, perpetual war, and insolvency.”[1] read more »
September 18, 2010
“Turning the Page” in Iraq and Afghanistan
“Obama envisions no major changes in Afghan strategy. Despite discouraging news from Afghanistan and growing doubts in Congress and among the American public, the Obama administration has concluded that its war strategy is sound and that a December review, once seen as a pivotal moment, is unlikely to yield any major changes” (The Washington Post, […] read more »
August 30, 2010
The Hijacking of the Almighty
Have I missed something? Perhaps I have. Or is one of the troubling undersides of the Glenn Beck rally on the Lincoln Memorial last Saturday not yet receiving the full coverage that it deserves?[1] read more »
August 25, 2010
Immigration and the Problem of the Two-Legged Stool
(co-authored with Peter Siavelis) It is less than a year (November 2009) since Janet Napolitano – the Homeland Security Secretary and the administration’s point person on immigration – announced her and the President’s commitment to a three-pronged approach to the issue of immigration reform. read more »
August 18, 2010
The Looming Battle over Social Security
“Social Security is not the trouble; it’s just the target.”[1] It would appear that there will be a new battle awaiting us on the other side of the mid-term elections – as though we did not already have battles enough – one about Social Security and its future. [2] read more »
August 9, 2010
The Poverty That Blights Us All
We face a political season in the fall that will be full of Republican calls to continue the Bush tax cuts and conservative demands to scale back government spending. Those calls are already in full cry, read more »
August 1, 2010
The Foreclosure Crisis That Will Not Go Away
When the financial crisis broke in September 2008, it was widely understood – both in policy-making circles and in popular conversation – that problems in the U.S. housing market were central to the unfolding events. But thereafter, the events themselves took center stage: and the problems of the housing sector, though not forgotten, slipped down […] read more »
July 24, 2010
The Twenty Reports of Elizabeth Warren
Reports have circulated widely this week about unease in senior administration and Democratic Party circles – unease about the possibility of Elizabeth Warren heading the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. read more »
July 18, 2010
The Inmates and the Asylum: The Madness of Cutting Deficits in the Depth of a Recession
(co-authored with Donald Frey) You might think, might you not, that policy-makers and those advising them are intelligent and caring human beings? Well, we are beginning to wonder whether in fact they are. We are beginning to wonder whether the intelligent ones really care, or if those who care are really intelligent. read more »
July 2, 2010
Moderate Republicans, Going South
Most things that were true in 2006 are still true in 2010. They are in life in general, and they are in the area of immigration reform. On the latter, if we take 2010 and compare it to 2006, what do we find? read more »
June 29, 2010
Building Walls or Designing Colanders? Legislative Change in the Wake of the Financial Tsunami
The financial crisis, when it broke in September 2008, arrived with remarkable speed and total lack of fanfare. The legislative response to it, by contrast, has come slowly and with much public deliberation. That legislative process is not yet complete. Indeed the unexpected death of Senator Byrd may still extend it beyond the previously announced […] read more »
June 18, 2010
Demonizing the Victims: Conservative Immigration Policy in a Time of Recession
These are not good times for advocates of comprehensive immigration reform, either here or abroad. Cutting the flow of immigrants is a hot button issue in Holland right now. It is in the UK, even in Spain[1]; and it certainly is here in the United States. With unemployment high and public debt widely seen as […] read more »
June 5, 2010
Crossing Arizona: Stalemate in the desert
The Arizona initiative (S.B. 1070) continued to provoke a fierce response throughout May from both supporters and opponents. Memorial Day weekend saw rallies in Phoenix – several marching against the bill, and a similar number attending a stadium rally in support. Copy -cat legislation began to emerge in at least 18 states, including here in […] read more »
June 5, 2010
The Recession May Be Over, but Unemployment is Not
The U.S. unemployment rate edged up to 9.9 percent in April, then fell back to 9.7 in May. Long term unemployment also worsened. In April, an extra 169,000 workers had been unemployed for more than 6 months: to bring the total to 6.7 million. The under-employment rate – people in part-time work who wanted full […] read more »
June 4, 2010
The Shadows of a Greek Tragedy
Throughout May 2010 the problems of Greek debt – and the danger of a Greek default – threw a dark shadow back over the US debate on the size of our public deficit. Republican lawmakers fighting their internal primary battles found themselves under attack if they had voted for TARP (Senator Robert Bennett lost his […] read more »
June 4, 2010
Tea-Party Time in America
The Tea Party folk are making a lot of running right now, and as they do so, we are learning more and more about them. What we are learning is partly surprising and partly disturbing; but either way it is fully important. read more »
June 1, 2010
U.S. Senate finally passes Financial Reform
It was a long time in coming, but in late May the US Senate finally agreed a financial reform package which now goes into a reconciliation process with the House bill passed in December. The May 19 vote on the approximately 1400 page bill was 59 to 39, with four Republicans (Collins, Snowe, Brown & […] read more »
June 1, 2010
Pressing the Panic Button: Conservative Paranoia on the Question of Socialism
The Radical Right is at it again, stoking the flames of anger and fear. This time, not just Tea Party folk but major Republican figures and commentators as well. There are books to sell and votes to win by telling America that the end of the world looms – looms, that is, unless stopped by […] read more »
May 8, 2010
The Big Obama Lesson Now Unfolding in London
Parties of the Left that choose to govern in the Center invariably pave the way for the return of government by the Right. There is an understandable fascination this weekend with all things politically British. From the editorial pages of the liberal press to the comedy program of Stephen Colbert, there seems to be a […] read more »
May 7, 2010
On the Regulation of Wall Street
Two major developments in late March and April 2010 One was the decision of the SEC to bring a civil law suit against Goldman Sachs. This re-opened the flood gates of criticism of morally (even legally) dubious Wall Street practices. Goldman Sachs stood accused of betting against some of its financial products, in particular against […] read more »
May 7, 2010
The Foreclosure Crisis
The foreclosure crisis is not going away any time soon. Data released in March 2010 showed the number of houses facing foreclosure rose in the 4th quarter of 2009, with households at least 90 days delinquent on their mortgages standing at 1.6 million. The number of foreclosures that quarter stood at 128,859, with an additional […] read more »
May 7, 2010
Chapter 9: May 2010 Update
The war in Afghanistan has largely vanished from public view in 2010. The death toll among US service personnel crossed the 1000 mark in late February, but went largely unreported. The rising cost in US lives reflected the new military push against the Taliban in Helmund province. US casualties in Iraq have now leveled out, […] read more »
May 6, 2010
Chapter 8: May 2010 Update
As ever, a mixed bag of progress and defeat on the issues traditionally grouped together as the Right’s social agenda The last minute wheeling and dealing on health care reform cost women heavily. Women were beneficiaries of moves to block elimination because of pre-existing conditions, restrictions on gender rating, improved access to Medicaid and SCHIP, […] read more »
May 5, 2010
Chapter 7: May 2010 Update
The big development in April 2010 came in Arizona with the signing of Senate Bill1070 into law, giving police officers (from August) the right to stop anyone when they had reasonable suspicion of their illegal presence in the country, and request papers. Defended from the right by Limbaugh (Obama would be defensive on papers, wouldn’t […] read more »
May 4, 2010
Chapter 6: After the Vote
Several key developments immediately followed the passing of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” on March 21 2010. Details of the Act became readily available on the website of the Kaiser Family Foundation, where you can also see a comparison between the various bills canvassed in 2009, and a comparison of the Act as […] read more »
