Paul Krugman concedes that the deficit will be a problem, and that the deficit is created by costly entitlements:
2:45 AM 01/04/2013
Annals of corporatism, Part XXVII: It's one thing if a bank is too big to fail, so the government has to save it if it's in danger of going under. It's another if the bank is too big to be brought to justice, so the government can't even make it obey the laws while it goes about its immortal way. That seems to have been the case recently with HSBC.
3:27 AM 01/02/2013
It's all going according to plan: I got a lot of s**t for this 2001 column. I claim some vindication. By lowering tax rates in his first year in the White House, George W. Bush gave Democrats the chance to raise them again later to pay for the big program they wanted (universal health coverage) but that they weren't going to get out of a Republican president:
5:29 PM 12/31/2012
The New Class of 2012--Young, gifted and ... : Investigative tweeting reveals there's been a gifting orgy underway for a month or two, as rich people rush take advantage of a $5 million tax free lifetime exemption that has been due to shrink to $1M in the new year. Whether or not the still-pending fiscal cliff preserves the $5 million limit, these gifts have been given and presumably won't be given back. That has to be sociologically significant: Lots of rich new young people who in previous generations would have had to wait many more decades to see that much money. I predict more indie films. ...
9:43 PM 12/27/2012
Move On! Before Howard Schultz's "Come Together" stunt, I'm reminded, there was CNBC's "Rise Above" stunt, also apparently an attempt to push for some sort of fiscal cliff Grand Bargain. And CNBC's sister network, MSNBC, has its own "Lean Forward" slogan, of course. Can you Rise Above and Lean Forward and Come Together at the same time? I'll look it up in the kama sutra of corporate smarm--but I think it's probably impossible, ideologically if not anatomically, because "Lean Forward" means "no" on some fiscal cliff comings-together (like Simpson-Bowles).' Maybe if you Lead from Behind (as Katie Scarlet suggested). ...
1:18 PM 12/26/2012
"Room for smarm in your latte?" Isn't there something creepy about Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz having [in Politico's words] "asked his Washington-area employees to write 'Come Together' on each customer cup today, tomorrow and Friday, as a gesture to urge leaders to resolve the fiscal cliff"? Did Schultz take a poll of his employees--sorry, "partners," he calls them--before ordering pressuring asking them to join in this lobbying effort? What if he were, say, the CEO of Chick-fil-A and he "asked" his "partners" to write "Preserve the Family" on the outside of cups and containers?
3:53 AM 12/24/2012
Two bits of spin in Mike Allen's Politico "Playbook" that seem like obvious BS (obvious even to me):
3:49 AM 12/21/2012
GM Gloat Glut: Obama's ex-auto-semi-czar Steve Rattner took to his friend Pinch's pages to argue that bailed-out General Motors' stock "remains undervalued," in part because
6:11 PM 12/20/2012
Robert Bork, R.I.P.: My line on the late judge and scholar: They Borked a guilty man. ... Bork wasn't nearly as rigorous or coherent a legal thinker as he was cracked up to be, and in his desperation to get confirmed he perversely embraced some of the more bogus doctrines of liberal legalism (in particular, the "reasonable basis" test of constitutionality, exploded in a famous Yale Law Journal note by Prof. Robert Nagel). The Senate decided not to defer to the President and to simply consider whether someone with Bork's views was someone they wanted on the Court. That sensible standard--plus the filibuster rule--has been one of the main things standing between us and Justice Tribe. ...
3:45 AM 12/20/2012
Testable Proposition: Here's a prediction for 2013-- A housing/construction revival plus renewed D.C. talk of "comprehensive" immigration amnesty will produce a new mini-surge of illegal immigration. The MSM will do its best to downplay this, lest it complicate the pro-comprehensive story line. ... P.S.: Of course, if talk of amnesty attracts new illegals entrants (even though they would probably be too late to qualify) then the fact of an amnesty would presumably have the same effect, writ larger ... Remember: First reactions from Pew disputing any new trends should not be trusted. They've been wrong before (initially denying the post-2007 outflow of undocumented immigrants before acknowledging the truth). ...
7:29 PM 12/18/2012
In all the earnest talk about "shared sacrifice" and tax/GDP ratios, let's not forget cheap PR. ... What if Republicans (like some analysts) are convinced that a stronger economic recovery--maybe even a boomlet--is around the corner? What they don't want to happen is for President Obama and the Democrats to get all the credit. But that's exactly what's likely to happen if the deal involves only a hike in high-end taxes and some vague, obscure budget cuts--if it looks, in other words, like the Republicans merely negotiated for a moderation of Obama's plans.
3:22 AM 12/15/2012
Is Wagner Act unionism a good thing or a bad thing? That seems like the key question raised by Michigan's enactment of a "right to work" law. The main effect of such laws--which allow workers in a unionized workplace to avoid both joining the union and paying union dues--appears to be to simply weaken unions. Employers know if they locate in a "right to work" state there's less chance their workforce will be unionized.
8:30 PM 12/11/2012
We welcome our robot overlords, but which robot overlords? Hero Overwriter Jack Baruth explains how the debate between individual autonomy and central control is being replayed as techies try to figure out how to manage Google Cars. Except this time there are zombies (phantom individuals that may be created by hackers).
5:05 PM 12/11/2012
R.U.R. belong to U.S.? Paul Krugman’s Sunday column suggests two relatively unfamiliar explanations for both low employment and inequality: #1) Robots: It’s possible “technology has taken a turn that places labor at a disadvantage.” Automation raises productivity in the long run, but in the short run–which can be “several decades”–it can put large numbers out [...]
10:06 PM 12/06/2012
Solidarity at the ATM: Jacob Sullum on progressives' counterintuitive opposition to cutting entitlements for the affluent, which is otherwise an obvious bipartisan way out of the current "fiscal cliff" dilemma. Sullum notes that resistance to this "means-testing" isn't just a crude matter of maintaining political support for giant transfer programs by making sure richer voters get a share of the loot. There's also an idealistic underlay:
12:19 AM 12/06/2012
Slate's Dave Weigel reports from the victorious "progressive" RootsCamp on why Romney's seemingly powerful welfare ad didn't appear to make a big impact:
1:15 AM 12/04/2012
GM's 'Bu Blues: The verdict is in--New GM's crucial new mid-size sedan, the new Chevrolet Malibu, is a dud. Sales are "soft," reports Automotive News--perhaps because of reviews like this one, from a Motor Trend test of six mid-size products, in which the new Malibu finished dead last:
3:44 PM 11/29/2012
"White turkey chili": That's what President Obama served Mitt Romney for lunch. Every chef's a pundit these days. ... P.S.: Was this really an intentional (ungracious, gloating, etc.) slap? I'm a paranoid--but it is the sort of thing the hard core politicos I've known would find funny. ...
6:31 PM 11/27/2012
Mo' Blitter**--Kristof on the Cutting Edge: The NYTs Nicholas Kristof has come up with a breakthrough in pundit efficiency--a short, ass-covering phrase that works with virtually any argument, yet can be inserted without taking up valuable space. It was unveiled at the end of a recent column on the decline of public spending, when Kristof goes off on a jag in which he blames increasing money inequality on low taxes on the rich:
6:57 AM 11/21/2012
A few notes about Paul Krugman's column, "The Twinkie Manifesto," which discusses the 1950s:
