Timing, as they say, is everything. By that measure, John McCain is having a very bad day. First, just one day after his own visit to Baghdad, Vice President Dick Cheney showed up in Iraq to remind Americans that McCain is inextricably linked to President Bush. Then just as the Federal Reserve rushed into to […]

Just one week after his latest dismal failure to "jawbone" OPEC into boosting oil production, President Bush yesterday tried his hand at talking up the plummeting U.S. dollar. Sadly, just 24 hours later, the greenback plunged to record lows against the euro and the Japanese yen. Bush's Reverse Midas Touch, it seems, has now infected […]

In a stunning announcement Friday, the Pentagon skipped over Boeing and awarded a massive $40 billion contract for a new fleet of refueling tankers to a Northrop Grumman and European Aeronautics Defense and Space (EADS). While Air Force officials claimed the choice of the KC-45 tankers jointly developed by Grumman and Airbus' parent company was […]

In case panicked financial markets, rising unemployment, surging inflation and a credit crunch weren't enough cause for worry, Congressional Budget Office director Peter Orzag today added the mushrooming federal budget deficit to the mix. Coming as President Bush and Congressional leaders are conferring on a massive new economic stimulus package, the CBO estimated a $250 […]

While George W. Bush may be a recovering drinker, he apparently has now developed a gambling problem. Just 10 days into 2008, the Bush White House has placed big bets on everything from a Middle East peace treaty to the prospects for a U.S. recession, even his own popularity and legacy. Unfortunately, the odds are […]

As Perrspectives detailed here and here, the ever-charming GOP frontrunner and surprise Iowa winner Mike Huckabee is probably the most alarming extremist thrown up by either party in a generation. But while his most dangerous pronouncements involve his zealous determination to save souls for the next life, his radical tax proposals would surely impoverish them […]

On the campaign trail in Michigan on Saturday, GOP White House hopeful Mitt Romney announced his support for more seasonal visas for foreign workers laboring in tourism, agriculture and other sectors of the economy. As well he should. After all, Romney routinely hired illegal aliens to do the landscaping for his tony Boston area home. […]

On this Labor Day, Perrspectives is offering a quick review of the increasing challenges to the living standards of American workers. Even as new reports show strong second quarter GDP growth and trumpet U.S. workers' world-leading productivity, two inescapable truths threaten their American Dream. First, as I detailed in "Bush League Economy" almost two years […]

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That may well be an apt description of John Edwards' "Road to One America" tour, his 11 city, three day journey to bring attention to the persistent - and resurgent - scourge of poverty plaguing the United States. But while Edwards' call to address […]

This week, the U.S. Census released its latest population estimates for American cities. And for my old hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, the news was grim indeed. Now down to 444,000 people, the city that once proclaimed itself the "Best Location in the Nation" has lost over half its population since 1950. There is simply no […]