During the debate over the stimulus program in early 2009, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed, "If the money were lent rather than just granted, states would, I think, spend it wisely and the states that didn't need it at all wouldn't take any." Now would be a good time to take him up on […]

As all eyes remained focused on the union-busting face-off in Wisconsin, the Commerce Department on Friday released a revised estimate of U.S. economic growth for the last quarter of 2010. And that downward GDP revision not only shatters prevailing myths about supposedly bloated government spending and payrolls. The numbers confirm once again that budget cutters […]

In just the latest front in the perpetual GOP campaign to divide and conquer, Republicans are trying to get Americans to turn on their neighbors who work for government and unions on each other. Of course, the Republican assault on collective bargaining rights for public employees in Wisconsin, Ohio,

Back in October, Ezra Klein of the Washington Post warned of the "anti-stimulus." That is, the draconian budget cuts and steep layoffw at the state and local level, Klein argued, were more than offsetting the gains from the $787 billion federal stimulus program. Now, a new analysis from the National Bureau of Economic Research - […]

On Sunday, Americans will mark the 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan. But for the conservative movement, the now-decades long hagiography project is reaching a crescendo. While the Gipper's former speechwriter Peggy Noonan today lauded his goodness in the Wall Street Journal Friday, Sarah Palin will kick-off the Young Americans for Freedom three day extravaganza at […]

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, House Speaker John Boehner insisted, "What we have to understand is cutting spending will in fact help create jobs in America." But across the pond in the UK, Boehner's conservative allies are learning a different lesson. While U.S. gross domestic product jumped by 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2010, […]

This week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) became the latest Republican to give his party credit for the improving U.S. economy. After the Commerce Department reported American gross domestic product (GDP) jumped by 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2010, Cantor attributed the gains to the December tax cut deal and supposed Republican fiscal […]

In a 1999 episode of "The Simpsons," theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking says to Homer, "Your theory of a donut shaped universe intrigues me." Sadly, the same can't be said of Sarah Palin's call for a donut-based economy for the United States. Palin's boost for the American breakfast snack sector came in her jaw-dropping […]

Two new surveys released today are just the latest signs the U.S. economic recovery is gaining steam. While a USA Today panel found "nine of 10 economists said they're more optimistic than three months ago," the National Association for Business Economics reported that "more firms expressing positive hiring plans than in over a decade." But […]

As the New Year - and the new GOP House majority - approaches, Republicans are ramping up their war on government workers. Grover Norquist and his Weekly Standard allies urged Congress to let cash-strapped states go bankrupt in order to slash public employees, drain their pension funds and punish their unions. At the heart of […]