All along, the real danger of the so-called "fiscal cliff" wasn't that U.S. national debt would increase, but instead that it would drop too quickly. Now, the surprise news that the American economy contracted by 0.1 percent in the last quarter of 2012 is providing a case in point. Along with the impact of super […]

President Obama on Wednesday will unveil the recommendations of the gun violence task force led by Joe Biden. Despite the popularity of many of the measures among the American people and even its own membership, the National Rifle Association is almost certain to oppose each and every bill and executive order. But that doesn't mean […]

One day after New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman described Republican brinksmanship on the debt ceiling as "hostage-taking," President Obama used his Monday press conference declared, "They will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy." But you don't have to take their word for it that […]

During their rare moments of candor, Republicans leaders agree with President Obama that failing to raise the U.S. debt ceiling would be "catastrophic." Two years ago, Speaker John Boehner acknowledged "that would be a financial disaster, not only for our country but for the worldwide economy." Senator Lindsey Graham concurred, warning that not lifting the […]

As McClatchy and the New York Times among others have documented, Senators and Representatives in the minority party have often voted against debt ceiling increases. Whether motivated by opposition to larger spending or tax legislation, or as a symbolic vote to embarrass the president and his Congressional majority (as Senators Obama and Reid did in […]

On Friday, 67 House Republicans voted against $9 billion in funding to replenish FEMA's flood insurance program in the wake of super storm Sandy. Among those naysayers were five Gulf State Congressmen including Mississippi Rep. Steven Palazzo, whose 4th District was one of the most extensively damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Of course, back […]

For each of the last 38 years, Lake Superior State University has published its "List of Words to be Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness." But missing from the dozen terms and phrases including "double down" and "spoiler alert" sentenced to the school's rhetorical death row for 2013 is one […]

With the fiscal cliff averted, Congressional Republicans are turning to their next--and more important--hostage. Without draconian spending cuts, they promise, the GOP will block any increase in the debt ceiling of the United States. In response, President Obama said, "I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay […]

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 […]