Fiscal Policy
In September, Rhode Island State Democratic Chairman Edwin Pacheco staked his party to an aggressive stand against adding a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution, characterizing such an amendment in an official press release as “extreme economic policy”. But support for Federal spending-with-no-ending has not always been the singularly dominant position amongst Rhode…
You could pick almost any combination of paragraphs from today’s post by Walter Russell Mead at the American Interest and come up with an insightful excerpt that describes Rhode Island’s problems. Here are the 3 1/2 I will choose…Because Rhode Island listened to timeserving blue politicians too long, and union leaders and public sector workers…
Trying to figure out this Occupy thing? Right now, this seems to explain it the best (h/t):Remember this bit by Louis CK (thanks for reminding me, Will)? Protest song! …a sultan and student both have iPhone 4s…it’s not fair Overall, much of the logic seems to go something like this (h/t): ADDENDUM: I put this…
Usually, when Democrats on the national level propose something that is misguided, irresponsible, stupid or – worst of all – presuming of stupidity on the listener’s part, it goes in one ear and out the other. As this item from the President’s speech Thursday night is all of the above in truckloads, however, there simply…
Generational warfare: It’s bound to happen here in Rhode Island with the pension crisis. It’s also happening nationally on the budget deficit debate with the new Super Congressional panel set to convene. Education Policy wonk Rick Hess offers his perspective: You’re either with the kids or with those rushing to the ramparts to defend retiree…
Yesterday, MoveOn.org and several like-minded local groups held a protest at the statehouse. According to Philip Marcelo of the Projo, the theme was opposition to the debt-ceiling deal signed into law last week. Immediately following the Tax Day Tea Party rally this past April, commentary was offered, in this and other forums, that not enough…
I’ve complained about the “cuts” game played by the government. I’m happy to learn that most people get it: Congress and presidents have been playing the “spending cuts” game for years, but most voters know what they’re really talking about. Sixty-two percent (62%) of Likely U.S. Voters understand that when Congress mentions future spending cuts,…
This is from Page 3 of the official statement from Standard and Poor’s on their downgrade of the US credit rating…Despite this year’s wide-ranging debate, in our view, the differences between political parties have proven to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge, and, as we see it, the resulting agreement fell well short of the comprehensive…
I saw a headline from a CNN newscast from last evening that read “Dow Drops Despite Debt Deal”. With the disclaimer that you don’t want to attribute too much significance to a single day’s movement in the stock market, I don’t see the drop as paradoxical or even random. The first chapter of any book…
I know I’ve beaten and flayed this particular horse unicorn (a unicorn is a mythical creature, just like actual government “cuts”), but I continue to stress that there are no “cuts” in the recent deficit deal because it undermines the hyperbolic sturm und drang being propagated by liberals like Froma Harrop who are calling Tea…