If nothing else, the right-wing temper tantrum over Tuesday's "fiscal cliff" agreement is rich with irony. After all, the "crisis" was never really about deficit reduction (which the expiration of the Bush tax cuts would have handled quite nicely) but the very real danger of slashing the national debt too fast and thus triggering an […]

As President Obama and Congressional leaders negotiate in Washington, the American people need to keep a couple of things in mind about the looming "fiscal cliff." For starters, the issue is not that the national debt will go up (which roughly half of those in one poll believe to be the case), but that it […]

Following his meeting with Congressional leaders Friday, President Obama declared he was "modestly optimistic" a deal could be reached to avoid the January 1st "fiscal cliff." But if Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell can't come to an agreement, the President announced he would demand an up-or-down vote on […]

If you have lingering doubts that economic growth--and not deficit reduction--should be the highest priority during the debate over the so-called "fiscal cliff," the Congressional Budget Office should put them to rest. The CBO forecast that the triple witching hour of expiring Bush tax cuts, the ending payroll tax holiday and the falling axe of […]

It's bad enough that obstructionist Republicans in Congress have shattered the record for filibusters, blocked President Obama's judicial at an unprecedented rate and stonewalled economy-boosting legislation like the American Jobs Act. Now for the second time in as many years, extortionist GOP leaders like South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham are again refusing to raise the […]

Among the very worst practices of American broadcast news is the "focus group of one." That is, reporters casually substitute the tale of a single person, company or community for actual analysis of a complex issue. And so it was Sunday, when CBS Evening News profiled Rod Hudson of Quicksilver Analytics to warn that small […]

This week, former President Bill Clinton urged calm in the face of Washington's stand-off over the so-called fiscal cliff. "They are moving toward a deal," Clinton assured Americans, suggesting that the current posturing by both parties is "just a Kabuki dance." Unfortunately, Republicans have called President Obama's $4 trillion debt reduction plan something else: a […]

If an enemy declared war on the American economy, the United States would spare no effort to remove that threat to its prosperity and national security. So it was with Osama Bin Laden, who in 2004 described his goal as "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy." And as it turns out, by 2020 Uncle […]

On Thursday, President Obama as promised will host Mitt Romney in a private lunch meeting at the White House. There, a magnanimous Obama should offer a parting gift to the small man who accused him of buying reelection by dispensing "gifts" to women, African-Americans, Hispanics, college students and other self-proclaimed "victims" supposedly comprising the 47 […]

In Washington and on Wall Street, there is growing optimism in the wake of President Obama's White House meeting with Congressional leaders Friday that the U.S. will avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff." After their drubbing on Election Day, Republicans are walking back their scorched-earth opposition to new tax revenue to reduce the national debt. But […]