Growing Economy
smartertimes.com

A "Washington Memo" about President Obama reports, "With the crisis that defined his first term behind him, and the economy growing, if slowly, the legacy-minded Mr. Obama seems almost liberated at being given more time for unfinished business like immigration and climate change, and new issues like gun safety, say those who have met with him."

It's interesting to see the Times declare that the economy is "growing." The Commerce Department's report for fourth quarter 2012 GDP was that, in real terms, the economy was shrinking. Maybe the Times has a scoop on some upcoming revision to that GDP data, or it has a scoop on the first quarter 2013 data, but if it does, you'd think that would be the headline rather than a throwaway phrase in a "Washington Memo."

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Stimulus Fantasy
smartertimes.com

A Times news article headlined "emphasis on Deficit Reduction Is Seen By Economists as Impeding Recovery" begins:

The nation's unemployment rate would probably be nearly a point lower, roughly 6.5 percent, and economic growth almost two points higher this year if Washington had not cut spending and raised taxes as it has since 2011, according to private-sector and government economists.

This is absurd. These economists have no way of knowing what would happen. The last time around, they famously predicted a lower unemployment rate than what actually happened after the stimulus. And the Times lumps together the spending cuts and the tax increases as if they have the same effect.

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Campus Rape Statistics
smartertimes.com

A Times news article reports President Obama's establishment of an administration task force to combat sexual assault on college campuses:

at a ceremony in the East Room, Mr. Obama signed a memorandum creating the task force, surrounded by senior advisers on his White House Council on Women and Girls. On Wednesday, that council released a rundown of past and prospective administration actions titled "Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action." The issue is a priority of women's groups, which have been crucial to Mr. Obama's election victories.
Although episodes of sexual assaults in the military have received more attention recently, rape is most common on campuses, the report said. One in five students has been assaulted, it said, but just 12 percent of them report the violence.

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Antigovernment
smartertimes.com

A Times news article about the decision by Congress not to renew the charter of the Export-Import Bank includes the following passages:

For the longer term, advocates of the bank in both parties believe that by the end of July they can foil the antigovernment Republicans in Congress who blocked the bank's reauthorization and pull off a legislative Lazarus act restoring the agency's full powers for up to five years...

"We did it!" the antibank conservatives at the antigovernment advocacy group Heritage Action for America exulted in an email hours before the midnight deadline for the bank charter. [Emphasis added.]

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NYT on Republican Congress
futureofcapitalism.com

Here is a gem of a sentence from a news article on the front page of the New York Times: "Republicans also say they will try to deny money to put Mr. Obama's new health care law into effect, though they have not made clear what they would do to make up the cost savings that would be lost if they succeeded in repealing the law."

Only under the strange logic of Washington do you have to "make up the cost savings" when you decide not to spend money on something.

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Chronic Insecurity
futureofcapitalism.com

From a New York Times "political memo" headlined "Tax Cut Timing Proves Elusive for Democrats":

The economy's continued slow growth largely explains why ending those tax cuts, which apply to about 2 percent of Americans, proved easier said than done for Democrats. But other factors also explain their vacillation this year, including a crowded legislative agenda, the worsening political headwinds and, perhaps most of all, Democrats' chronic insecurity about dealing with tax issues.

That "chronic insecurity" explains it.

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Obama's Buffett Tax
futureofcapitalism.com

If President Obama is really going to impose a "Buffett Tax" or "Buffett Rule" to raise taxes on those earning more than $1 million a year so that they pay the same percentage of their earnings in tax as middle-income Americans, then a simple increase in income taxes along the lines the president reportedly is going to propose won't really do the trick for Mr. Buffett. To really "stop coddling" Mr. Buffett would require at tax on foundations with more than $1 billion in assets and a tax on corporations with market capitalization of more than $100 million. I'm not advocating either of those, but to just raise Mr. Buffett's income taxes wouldn't mean much to him, because his taxable income is low compared to the assets he controls. (The New York Sun editorial Buffett's 'Income' has some useful background.)

Read More...

Antigovernment
smartertimes.com

A Times news article about the decision by Congress not to renew the charter of the Export-Import Bank includes the following passages:

For the longer term, advocates of the bank in both parties believe that by the end of July they can foil the antigovernment Republicans in Congress who blocked the bank's reauthorization and pull off a legislative Lazarus act restoring the agency's full powers for up to five years...

"We did it!" the antibank conservatives at the antigovernment advocacy group Heritage Action for America exulted in an email hours before the midnight deadline for the bank charter. [Emphasis added.]

Read More...

Campus Rape Statistics
smartertimes.com

A Times news article reports President Obama's establishment of an administration task force to combat sexual assault on college campuses:

at a ceremony in the East Room, Mr. Obama signed a memorandum creating the task force, surrounded by senior advisers on his White House Council on Women and Girls. On Wednesday, that council released a rundown of past and prospective administration actions titled "Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action." The issue is a priority of women's groups, which have been crucial to Mr. Obama's election victories.
Although episodes of sexual assaults in the military have received more attention recently, rape is most common on campuses, the report said. One in five students has been assaulted, it said, but just 12 percent of them report the violence.

Read More...

Stimulus Fantasy
smartertimes.com

A Times news article headlined "emphasis on Deficit Reduction Is Seen By Economists as Impeding Recovery" begins:

The nation's unemployment rate would probably be nearly a point lower, roughly 6.5 percent, and economic growth almost two points higher this year if Washington had not cut spending and raised taxes as it has since 2011, according to private-sector and government economists.

This is absurd. These economists have no way of knowing what would happen. The last time around, they famously predicted a lower unemployment rate than what actually happened after the stimulus. And the Times lumps together the spending cuts and the tax increases as if they have the same effect.

Read More...

Growing Economy
smartertimes.com

A "Washington Memo" about President Obama reports, "With the crisis that defined his first term behind him, and the economy growing, if slowly, the legacy-minded Mr. Obama seems almost liberated at being given more time for unfinished business like immigration and climate change, and new issues like gun safety, say those who have met with him."

It's interesting to see the Times declare that the economy is "growing." The Commerce Department's report for fourth quarter 2012 GDP was that, in real terms, the economy was shrinking. Maybe the Times has a scoop on some upcoming revision to that GDP data, or it has a scoop on the first quarter 2013 data, but if it does, you'd think that would be the headline rather than a throwaway phrase in a "Washington Memo."

Read More...

Obama's Buffett Tax
futureofcapitalism.com

If President Obama is really going to impose a "Buffett Tax" or "Buffett Rule" to raise taxes on those earning more than $1 million a year so that they pay the same percentage of their earnings in tax as middle-income Americans, then a simple increase in income taxes along the lines the president reportedly is going to propose won't really do the trick for Mr. Buffett. To really "stop coddling" Mr. Buffett would require at tax on foundations with more than $1 billion in assets and a tax on corporations with market capitalization of more than $100 million. I'm not advocating either of those, but to just raise Mr. Buffett's income taxes wouldn't mean much to him, because his taxable income is low compared to the assets he controls. (The New York Sun editorial Buffett's 'Income' has some useful background.)

Read More...

GOP on Defensive! | The Daily Caller
dailycaller.com

The NYT gets more like MSNBC. Mickey Kaus on a new deployment in the Times's ever-evolving bias technology.

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NYT on Republican Congress
futureofcapitalism.com

Here is a gem of a sentence from a news article on the front page of the New York Times: "Republicans also say they will try to deny money to put Mr. Obama's new health care law into effect, though they have not made clear what they would do to make up the cost savings that would be lost if they succeeded in repealing the law."

Only under the strange logic of Washington do you have to "make up the cost savings" when you decide not to spend money on something.

Read More...

Chronic Insecurity
futureofcapitalism.com

From a New York Times "political memo" headlined "Tax Cut Timing Proves Elusive for Democrats":

The economy's continued slow growth largely explains why ending those tax cuts, which apply to about 2 percent of Americans, proved easier said than done for Democrats. But other factors also explain their vacillation this year, including a crowded legislative agenda, the worsening political headwinds and, perhaps most of all, Democrats' chronic insecurity about dealing with tax issues.

That "chronic insecurity" explains it.

Read More...