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Austerity Comes to Britain

Dagenham is an industrial suburb east of London, hard-hit by the decline of manufacturing in the United Kingdom. It was the site of tonight's Question Time program on BBC, where I occupied a chair hoping that I wouldn't get asked too many questions about the British educational system. Question …

Written by David Frum on Friday December 2, 2011

Granny's Doing Fine

The Census reports that over 65s have actually seen their income rise during the Great Recession: Perhaps no households have weathered the downturn better than those headed by people 65 and older, whose incomes rose 5.5 percent from 2007 to 2010. By contrast, household income for every …

Written by David Frum on Thursday September 15, 2011

Christie's Good Fight

As a Democrat – and a fairly liberal one by the standards of where I live – it isn’t that often that someone on the right really knocks my socks off. Let alone a Republican! Yet that is exactly what happened on August 25th. From the comfort of my own living room I watched Gov. Chris Christie of …

Written by Jamie McFadden on Tuesday August 30, 2011

No Super Democrats On This Committee

How can we explain the Democrats who have been appointed to serve on the Joint Select Committee? (Commonly known as the 'Super Committee.') Let's play political "Jeopardy." Under Senate Democratic appointees to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, for $200, "Her job is to elect …

Written by Steve Bell on Wednesday August 10, 2011

What the Voters Want

Do Americans want more money from Big Government? Mickey Kaus insists no , citing a column by Michael Barone, who in turn relies on research by Stanley Greenberg . But as the evidence passes from Greenberg to Barone to Kaus, a fascinating game of broken-telephone is played. Greenberg …

Written by David Frum on Monday August 8, 2011

Enough Washington Drama

These certainly are interesting times. The United States is in an increasingly precarious position. Growth at home is anemic. There’s not much in Europe to be up about either. Markets are increasingly skiddish, and yesterday plunged. But America just fought a great battle! The forces of …

Written by Bryce McNitt on Friday August 5, 2011

The Last Thing Baltimore Needs is IndyCar Racing

On Labor Day weekend, Baltimore City intends to host the Baltimore Grand Prix. The event will not be on a racetrack, it will not even be in an enclosed venue. The racetrack will be the streets of downtown Baltimore. Holding a high-speed car race through the winding streets of any city poses …

Written by Rachel Ryan on Thursday August 4, 2011

An Easy $80 Billion in Savings

Cutting at least $1 trillion in government spending over the next decade is going to require some real tradeoffs and cuts to programs (defense, social security, and Medicare) that everyone agrees need to exist in one form or another. Nonetheless, there’s also real waste. Here are more than $80 …

Written by Eli Lehrer on Tuesday August 2, 2011

Balancing a Budget is Easy: Cheat

I’m sympathetic–even enthusiastic–about the idea of limiting federal government spending to 18 percent of GDP as many in the GOP say they want to do. Although simply cutting “waste” won’t do it, some common sense reforms in entitlement programs combined with selected defense drawdowns could …

Written by Eli Lehrer on Wednesday July 20, 2011

Kasich Cuts Costs With Prison Reforms

Gov. Tom Kasich’s prison reforms are a good example of how to be pragmatic in governance. The world is currently gripped in a push towards austerity. From the debt-ceiling debate, to the Eurozone crisis, to state shutdowns, it seems almost every governing body is forcing itself to make cuts. …

Written by Harry Graver on Friday July 15, 2011

Overview for austerity