Note To Matt Miller: Don't Concede A Point Just To Look Reasonable

Matt Miller has a pretty good article about how today's Republicans have become uber class warriors for the wealthy, particularly for the wealthy that got their wealth the old fashioned way -- they were born into it or they married into it. Miller calls today's current crop of Republicans "Drawbridge Republicans". In the article, Miller writes:

Is Current Unemployment Due To Lack Of Demand Or A Skills Mistatch?

Not everyone agrees on the causes of today's current unemployment problem. Broadly speaking, more liberal leaning economist argue that unemployment is due to a lack of aggregate demand. Their more conservative counterparts typically argue that the current unemployment problem is due mainly to a skills mismatch between the jobs that are available and the people looking for work.

Niall Ferguson: Tory Bullshit Artist

Niall Ferguson is a British historian who teaches at Harvard. Ferguson is a Tory through and through. Being a Tory, Ferguson naturally gravitates towards conservatism and the Republican Party.

The Errors Of Barack Obama: Household Debt Edition

As I have indicated before, at the beginning of Obama's presidency, his administration made some serious errors in dealing with the Great Recession. By making these errors, Obama greatly harmed his chances reelection. One of the errors that Obama made was not dealing with household debt and the turmoil in the housing market.

Liberals Need A Response To The "Small Government" Meme

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about how liberals need to be better at having "big ideas". What I meant is that liberals need a better intellectual framework with which to counter conservative rhetoric about "small government." Given that most Americans don't like being told what to do, myself included, conservative rhetoric against government is very appealing to many voters.

Franklin Roosevelt Had Their Number

Anybody that knows anything about the history of conservatives and the Republican Party should find it quite comical when they try to portray themselves as being the big defenders of Medicare. Yet, that is exactly what the current Republican Party is trying to do, with the future of Medicare becoming a big issue in the current presidential election.

Republicans: They Sure Are Persistent

One thing you can't criticize Republicans for is giving up easily. The entire Republican approach is to repeat the same old canard, over and over again, until some people believe it. Unfortunately, their approach probably works to some extent.

Buyer's Remorse: British Austerity Edition

From the New Statesman:

On 14 February 2010, 20 prominent economists wrote to the Sunday Timesin support of George Osborne's deficit reduction strategy. They said: "... in order to be credible, the government's goal should be to eliminate the structural current budget deficit over the course of a Parliament, and there is a compelling case, all else equal, for the first measures beginning to take effect in the 2010/11 fiscal year." The Chancellor hailed their letter as a "really significant moment in the economic debate". 

The Cherry Pickers Strike Again

From Robert Shapiro:

Two respected economic advisers to the Romney campaign launched a new line of criticism of President Obama’s economic stewardship on this page this week [“Obama’s faulty math; his economic arguments contradict themselves,” op-ed, Aug. 16]. The case offered by Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute and Glenn Hubbard of Columbia Business School contained three bold claims.

Angela Merkel: The Republican Party's Favorite European Politician

Republicans have to love Angela Merkel. She has been a strong advocate of "austerity", which is the Republican Party's preferred approach to today's economic problems. As every sane person knows, austerity policies have been a disaster in Europe. But, acting like a Republican, Merkel doesn't recant her belief in austerity; instead, she doubles down on her failed approach to Europe's economic problems.