“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.” -- Legendary US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis (Supreme Court justice from 1916-1939). "Until we address this issue of concentrated economic power – be it in the hands of oil barons or tech... Continue Reading →
Deficit Hawks Abandon Principle
It's sadly hilarious to witness the blatant hypocrisy of self-described "fiscal conservatives" who railed against budget deficits during the Obama administration as if he was going to bring about financial Armageddon, who now brag about slashing taxes and support Donald Trump's plan to blow a $7 trillion dollar hole in the nation's budget. The Trump... Continue Reading →
Economy: No Where To Go But Down
Obama bequeaths to Trump an economy almost at full employment, wages on the rise, with low inflation, low interest rates, a deficit that is just 2.5% of the economy (down from 9.8% when he took office), a stock market that is doing great, low incidence of violent crime, low or almost zero net influx of... Continue Reading →
Trump Voters Felt Undervalued, Denigrated, Ignored
The reason my wife and I moved abroad in 2009 was because we were having trouble surviving economically in the Great Recession. For us, for several years running, the American Dream was out of reach. And so we have pursued the American Dream abroad, with a lot more success. Most Americans couldn't do what we... Continue Reading →
The Endangered American Middle Class
Vice President Joe Biden, a product of the middle class who has remained middle class, defined that demographic this way, as The Washington Post reported: “The middle class is not a number; it’s a value set. It’s being able to own your house and not have to rent it; it’s being able to send your... Continue Reading →
Why Has Optimism in US Become So Uncool?
Living outside the United States and observing how we stack up to other countries, I'm pretty optimistic about America,...if we can dodge the bullet of electing Trump as president. Of course, I was optimistic about America in 2007, and it turned out I should have been a lot more pessimistic. I didn't see the Great... Continue Reading →
WSJ Editorial from 2009 Reveals Wrong-Headed Predictions
The Wall Street Journal, the flagship of conservative thought, has proven again and again to be wrong about Obama and the economy, but of course will not acknowledge it. "The Obama program is going to test the liberal faith, not observed since the 1970s, that deficit spending and easy monetary policy are engines of prosperity," the... Continue Reading →
Hillary’s Double Bind, by Deborah Tannen
http://time.com/4258976/disliking-hillary-clinton/ Hillary: the Candidate of Mature, Responsible People Looking for Logic, Not Passion Hillary is Fundamentally Honest (Kevin Drum in the Rolling Stone), spinning off a piece by Jill Abramson in The (UK) Guardian. Politifact, a Pulitzer prize-winning fact-checking organization, gives Clinton the best truth-telling record of any of the 2016 presidential candidates. http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/20/opinions/why-the-hate-for-hillary-clinton-opinion-parini/ https://www.creators.com/read/connie-schultz/04/16/same-misogyny-different-season... Continue Reading →
Is the American Dream of Affordable College Dying?
My college education at a good public university cost about $1000 A YEAR OR $4000 for FOUR YEARS. My parents could put four kids through college and none graduated with debt. That same public university education currently costs $25,000 a year, or $100,000 for four years. No wonder Americans are angry, with a sense that... Continue Reading →