The German Political Theorist Who Explains What’s Happening in Washington
Carl Schmitt, a Third Reich jurist and philosopher, saw politics as a life-and-death battle against enemies and democracy as dispensable. By Robert J. Shapiro Americans are, of course, deeply divided today over race, gender, immigration, religion, and other differences that define us as a people and political culture. These cleavages have existed throughout American history, but in their current iterations,… Continue reading
C’mon, Democrats, Tout Your Economic Record: It’s a Very Good…
Drawing on the fact-free politics of Donald Trump, Republicans are selling the meme that Americans are much worse off economically and financially under President Joe Biden and the Democrats. That is demonstrably untrue. Yet, the Democrats’ main response has been to mumble an apology for the inflation they didn’t cause and try and change the subject. That approach won’t work,…Continue reading
Who Was Hired and Who Was Fired during the Pandemic
COVID-19 unleashed an earthquake in American labor markets—and its aftershocks are still with us. In March-May 2020, 20.3 million people abruptly lost their jobs; only half as many were hired over the following seven months. But businesses hired workers at turbocharged rates in 2021 and 2022. By May and June of this year, employment had fully recovered from the pandemic.…Continue reading
Yes, Americans Are Better Off Under Biden
Ronald Reagan closed his presidential debate with Jimmy Carter in October 1980 urging Americans to ask if they were better off than they were four years ago. Of course, Reagan, like a sharp prosecutor, knew the answer before he asked the question. Inflation and unemployment were soaring. Perhaps the reason why Republicans aren’t posing that question today is that they…Continue reading
Hey, Folks, We’re Not in a Recession
Rules of thumb are often misleading. Biden administration critics have seized on an axiom that two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth signal a recession, one not followed by any economist I know. Thankfully, the official arbiter of whether and when a recession has begun, the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research, applies more nuanced…Continue reading
The Case for Bill Clinton’s Economic Record
How do you argue with success? One answer is, become a Democrat. Joe Biden learned this lesson recently when many in his party dismissed the 5.7 percent economic growth and 6.2 million new jobs created in his first year and instead complained about his inability to corral Joe Machin to support Build Back Better. A more far-reaching instance is the…Continue reading
A Recession is Not Looming
The media’s view of the economy has turned dark. The Washington Post cautions its readers on “How to recession-proof your life,” ABC News talks about “How to prepare for a possible recession,” and Bloomberg says, “U.S. Recession Is Now More Likely than Not.” These doomsday reports are reliable click-bait, and faltering consumer confidence suggest that a lot of people believe…Continue reading
The Truth About Today’s Inflation
The conventional wisdom about inflation needs a course correction. Here's why: The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the wages and total compensation of Americans working full-time at least kept pace with inflation from January through March. Based on what people tell government surveyors, median weekly earnings after inflation stabilized in the first quarter of 2022 after falling steadily through…Continue reading
Trump’s Attacks on the 2020 Census Cost Six States with…
Donald Trump’s most consequential legacy may be the debate he spurred about democracy. The issue is whether our democracy truly includes everyone, a choice evident in the 2020 election and Ketanji Jackson Brown’s Supreme Court nomination. Should public life in the United States be based on open-ended inclusiveness or on the hierarchy that prevailed for much of our history? That’s…Continue reading