… It’s easy to think that the deficit and debt reduction battles are undergirded by hard philosophical principles, but when you look at the issue over the years, it comes down to a question of timing. It’s not whether to make cuts, but when. And the way people decide the […] Read more »
GOP Doubles Down on Ryan to Change the Narrative
In what can only be regarded as an interesting gamble, Wisconsin Rep. Paul D. Ryan and House Republicans this week are proposing an economic agenda oddly similar to the one they have been offering for the past two years. … Whatever you think of the proposal as a policy document, […] Read more »
People agree the sequester is bad. They don’t agree on how to fix it.
Big majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents believe that the sequester will hurt the economy and the military. But a newly released Washington Post-ABC News poll reveals that no proposed solutions to the sequester (of five tested) rallies majority support across party lines. That’s the conundrum facing Obama and Congress […] Read more »
Why the ABC/Washington Post Poll on the Sequester is Really ‘Deeply Misleading’
Last week I blogged about the ABC/Washington Post poll on the sequester, citing with approval Matthew Yglesias’ characterization of the article reporting the results as “deeply misleading.” Patrick J. Moynihan, a former senior polling analyst at ABC News, tweeted that my analysis was “unfair,” arguing that “Outright dismissal of research […] Read more »
Iraq War: 190,000 lives, $2.2 trillion
More than 190,000 people have been killed in the 10 years since the war in Iraq began. The war will cost the U.S. $2.2 trillion, including substantial costs for veterans care through 2053, far exceeding the initial government estimate of $50 to $60 billion, according to a new report by […] Read more »
Majority of Americans Still Can’t Judge Impact of Sequester
The majority of Americans still don’t know enough to say whether the March 1 sequestration budget cuts have been a good or a bad thing for the country or for them personally — as was the case when they went into effect nearly two weeks ago. Of those who do […] Read more »