Obama's Cunning Speech

First reactions to the president's big jobs speech: 1) Qua speech, it was excellent - clear, focused, unrhetorical. The core concept - stressing past Republican approval of the major elements of the proposal - ingeniously put Republicans into an awkward spot. And in fact, the maneuver has had …

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Written by David Frum on Friday September 9, 2011

A Reply to The President's Defenders

Jared Bernstein has posted a defense of President Obama's economic record at CNN.com against my criticism , also on CNN.com. The story so far: Last week, Jonathan Alter asked Obama's critics to cite specific mistakes in President Obama's economic management. I named 3: 1) A badly …

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Written by David Frum on Friday September 2, 2011

Debunking the Payroll Tax Cut Idea?

Over the past 2 years, I've banged the drum for a payroll tax cut as a way to put more money into workers' hands quickly and efficiently, arguing against most other forms of fiscal stimulus as too slow and unwieldy. Bruce Bartlett states the counter-case today in the New York Times : First, …

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Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 30, 2011

The Next Bailout?

It's possible that President Obama will soon face the toughest economic question since his original stimulus decision: join a global bailout of the European periphery countries or not? In 2008, President Bush moved to rescue US banks deemed too big to fail. The really scary possibility in a …

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Written by David Frum on Friday August 19, 2011

Fiscal Stimulus Didn't Work, Now What?

A White House report touting the success of the fiscal stimulus program is not the good news it is reported to be. A report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers has indicated that the stimulus added 2.3 to 3.2 percent to gross domestic product in the first quarter relative to …

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Written by Hank Adler on Tuesday July 5, 2011

Did Geithner Really Kill The Recovery?

The Left is focusing their ire on Treasury Secretary Geithner, accusing him of pushing austerity measures that have weakened the economic recovery. Zachary Goldfarb’s reporting in the Washington Post has revealed an important piece of information about why the economy is slowing down. Forget …

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Written by Noah Kristula-Green on Thursday June 9, 2011

Is Larry Summers a Scientist or a Politician?

A new interview of Larry Summers shows the tension between his public persona as both a social scientist and as a political figure. A couple things in this interview by Andrew Goldman of Larry Summers currently irritated me. I'll give the quotes and then explain my annoyance. 1. Goldman: …

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Written by Andrew Gelman on Saturday May 14, 2011