The Specter of Stagflation- February 27, 2008 "Stagflation" is back in the headlines -- but the term is being misused. Eminent commentators describe stagflation as the messy mixture of high inflation and high unemployment. It isn't. Stagflation, at least as the concept was initially understood in the 1970s, meant something different. Yes, it signified the simultaneous occurrence of high inflation, high unemployment and slow economic growth, but its defining feature was the persistence of this poisonous combination over long periods of time.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/26/AR2008022602648.html?nav=r... The Obama Delusion- February 20, 2008 It's hard not to be dazzled by Barack Obama. At the 2004 Democratic convention, he visited with Newsweek reporters and editors, including me. I came away deeply impressed by his intelligence, his forceful language and his apparent willingness to take positions that seemed to rise above narrow partisanship. Obama has become the Democratic presidential front-runner precisely because countless millions have formed a similar opinion. It is, I now think, mistaken.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR2008021902336.html?nav=r... The $3 Trillion Cop-Out- February 13, 2008 The $3.1 trillion budget submitted last week by President Bush, with a projected $407 billion deficit for 2009, reminds us of the huge gap between uplifting political rhetoric -- including the rhetoric of this campaign -- and the grim realities of governing. Budgets are not just numbers. They express political choices. What should government do and who should pay The reigning philosophy, practiced by both parties and largely approved by the public, is to evade choices.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/12/AR2008021201998.html?nav=r... Why It's Not The Economy- February 6, 2008 As the economy weakens and the campaign intensifies, we'll hear more of James Carville's familiar refrain: It's the economy, stupid. Well, it ain't or, at least, shouldn't be. I'm not claiming that Carville is wrong about voting. People vote their pocketbooks. In the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, the economy overshadows Iraq as the most important issue by 39 percent to 19. What I'm saying is that this sort of voting is shortsighted. It rewards or punishes candidates for something beyond.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/05/AR2008020502876.html?nav=r... |