After first considering the issue in April, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) today announced the Bush recession is officially over. But given persistently high levels of unemployment and poverty, more interesting than the NBER's conclusion that "a trough occurred in June 2009" is the parties' reactions to it. While President Obama and the […]

To be sure, the new Census data on poverty and health care in America are grim. At 14.3%, the poverty rate in 2008 jumped to its highest level since 1994. Meanwhile, the number of uninsured catapulted to 50.7 million, as employers shed jobs and insurance benefits during the deep Bush recession. Ominously, median household income […]

In August, the New Republic, the New York Times and others warned that the 2010 campaign would feature a new Republican bogeyman. The Times announced, "There's a class war coming to the world of government pensions," while TNR's Jonathan Cohn explained the latest GOP hatefest in "Why Public Employees are the New Welfare Queens." Of […]

As promised, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) this week introduced legislation proposing to make the budget-busting 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts permanent. The so-called Tax Hike Prevention Act wouldn't merely drain $3.9 trillion from the U.S. Treasury over the next decade. At a time of record income inequality, the Republicans' $700 billion windfall […]

In his speech to school children carried live on CNN, PBS and many other networks, the President implored students, "Take control -- challenge yourself," adding, "Only you know how hard you work." Those quickly forgotten and uncontroversial words were delivered by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, […]

After months of pretending the Bush tax cuts paid for themselves and calling President Obama's opposition to another $700 billion windfall for the wealthy a "job killer" and "class warfare," House Minority Leader John Boehner on Sunday signaled his willingness to accept a compromise. But in the Senate, the Republican line remained as hard as […]

Back in April 2009, 74% of respondent in a CBS/New York Times poll said that letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those earning over $250,000 was a "good idea." Now 18 months later, even with President Obama's approval sliding and Congressional Democrats wavering in their commitment, the American public by large margins still supports […]

For the families who lost loved ones in the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, the anguish and suffering must be incomprehensible - and never ending. But the compassion, sympathy and respect Americans rightly feel for them cannot obscure the fact that 9/11 was an attack on the United States and all Americans. And the […]

A $700 billion, 10-year windfall for the wealthiest Americans who need it least. With both parties generally supporting the continuation of middle class relief already on the books, that's the difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to making the expiring Bush tax cuts permanent. But just one day after his former budget director […]