April 9, 2013
Tomorrow’s Presidential Budget: Questions of Judgment?
The President is likely to have a bad week with his progressive base, if what we are told to expect in his budget tomorrow turns out to be true. We are told that his budget will trade “modest entitlement savings,” read more »
Posted in US Blog |
March 27, 2013
Budgets to the right of us, budgets to the left of us: budgets, budgets everywhere!
It’s been quite a month for budgets – both here and, as it happens, in the U.K. too. In London in March, the coalition government provided another round in its continuing pursuit of economic growth through fiscal austerity[1] – an economic growth which continues to elude it – while here in the U.S. […] read more »
Posted in US Blog |
March 13, 2013
The Problem with Charm Offensives: If They Are Needed, They Have Already Failed
Faced by insurmountable odds as the Carthaginians swept down the Italian peninsula during the Second Punic War, the Roman general Fabius Maximus simply retreated and retreated, wearing the opposition down by declining to engage with them at all. Watching the Republicans play the President right now, the scorched earth policy that the Romans used […] read more »
Posted in US Blog |
March 12, 2013
America in Trouble
First posted on the Comment page of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institite (SPERI) website, University of Sheffield, UK Watching the economic policy debate in both Washington and London is a deeply frustrating experience. read more »
Posted in UK Blog, US Blog |
February 25, 2013
Going beyond the President’s Manufacturing Strategy
Amid the urgency of the sequestration crisis, many things of substance are likely to fade into the background of public debate – at exactly the moment when they should not. read more »
Posted in US Blog |
February 13, 2013
Cataloging Weaknesses in the State of the Union Address
So, the State of the Union is strong, is it? Well, maybe it is for the people the President chose to speak about last night. But what about the ones he only mentioned in passing, or the ones that he omitted to mention at all? What about the state of the union for those […] read more »
Posted in US Blog |
February 6, 2013
Waiting for the State of the Union Address
SOTU addresses at the start of a second presidential term are relatively rare phenomena, and in recent times they have also been also relatively ephemeral ones. George W. Bush used his SOTU Address in 2005 to make a prolonged pitch for the partial privatization of Social Security.[1] That pitch went nowhere. read more »
Posted in US Blog |
January 21, 2013
Second Inauguration: Third Growth Model?
Half-way points in two-term presidencies are inevitably moments to take stock and to consider redirections of policy. Right now, the political blogosphere is properly full of that stocktaking and redesign. Lists abound on policies needed[1] and priorities to be pushed,[2] which is why there is no need to add to those lists in any […] read more »
Posted in US Blog |
January 5, 2013
A Progressive Second Term? (II) Possibilities
Two previous recent postings[1] explored the parameters and the prerequisites for a progressive second presidential term for Barack Obama. Each of those postings triggered three broad responses from a largely skeptical audience. read more »
Posted in US Blog |
January 2, 2013
A Progressive Second Term? (I) Prerequisites
Amid the scampering up and down the fiscal cliff that now dominates political life in Washington, some more important and basic questions are in danger of vanishing from view, questions about the general character and progressive potential of Barack Obama’s second term. Questions such as these. Will this Administration in the end prove to […] read more »
Posted in US Blog |
