When my family left Cleveland in the early 1970's, it had about 725,000 people; in 2009, what was once the 8th largest city in the nation had shriveled to 431,000. Now as basketball superstar Lebron James prepares to announce his next stop on the road to becoming a $1 billion, one-man brand, the one-time Best […]

Back in February, Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan defended his "Roadmap for America's Future," which among other things would privatize - and inevitably ration - Medicare. "Rationing happens today!" Ryan revealingly protested, "The question is who will do it? The government? Or you, your doctor and your family?" Of course, he omitted the real culprit, private […]

During the comparatively mild 1991 recession, President George H.W. Bush twice vetoed the extension of unemployment insurance because the $5.3 billion price tag would add to the deficit. After taking a pounding in the polls, he eventually made a deal with Democrats, who funded the program in part through higher taxes on the wealthy. But […]

On Friday, Gallup became just the latest pollster to confirm the obvious: "Tea Party supporters overlap the Republican base." Despite the fact that the Tea Party movement is simply a continuation of the losing 2008 GOP presidential campaign by other means, the Washington Post today examined how its members marked the Fourth of July. But […]

Republican leaders are calling for Michael Steele's head in the wake of his remarks calling the conflict in Afghanistan "a war of Obama's choosing" which is destined to fail. But it's hardly the first time the GOP threatened Steele with the chopping block for bucking the party line. Last year, when the RNC chairman rolled […]

One day before Friday's dismal jobs report confirmed the pace of the U.S. recovery has slowed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for the extension of unemployment benefits to "injects demand into the economy." But while the Republicans who have blocked the $112 billion package including the jobless benefits mocked her for it, Americans don't have […]

For months, governors and economists alike have been warning that unprecedented revenue shortfalls in the states would lead to draconian budget cuts and massive layoffs. Now with the July 1 start of fiscal year 2011 for many states, doomsday is here. And thanks to Republican obstructionism in Congress, the combined $89 billion budget gap facing […]

President Obama's rebuff on stimulus spending by the G-20 and the latest Republican roadblock on the Senate jobs bill is producing fears of a deeper, double-dip global recession. While Thomas Frank urged the U.S. to avoid the "austerity trap," Paul Krugman warned that the "pain caucus" here and in Europe could produce the "Third Depression." […]

On Tuesday, the New York Times detailed the extraordinary lengths Nevada Republican Sharron Angle will travel to avoid the press. Almost on cue, Angle again showed why she has gone to ground. In a recent radio interview, Angle announced she opposed abortion even in cases of rape or incest because "God has a plan." Of […]

By almost any measure, the $787 billion stimulus program has worked exactly as designed. The overwhelming consensus of economists is that the federal package has been a success, while the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has already added up to 4 points to GDP and 2.8 million jobs. But […]