Clinton's Stock Declining in Futures Market by Michael Barone
Is the market in Hillary Clinton futures collapsing? Quite possibly so.
Political Commentary
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December 5, 2014
December 4, 2014
Are Americans Turning Post-Materialistic? By Froma Harrop
In 1916, Wanamaker's department store in Philadelphia sponsored a children's parade with heralds, a brass band, Jack the Giant Killer, clowns, girls as snowflakes, boys as silver stars and Santa Claus transported by four Eskimos to his throne in the Royal Red Theater -- every morning it was open during the Christmas season. You don't get that on Facebook.
December 4, 2014
House 2016: Republicans Start With a Commanding Edge By Kyle Kondik
There is great symbolic importance to the lone U.S. House race where votes are being recounted. If Martha McSally (R) holds her narrow lead against Rep. Ron Barber (D, AZ-2), Republicans will have netted 13 House seats, giving them 247 in the 114th Congress and narrowly topping the 246 seats the Republicans held after the 1946 election, giving the GOP its biggest House caucus since 1928. If Barber somehow survives, the Republicans will only tie that mark with a net gain of 12.
The GOP gain proved to be a bit smaller than seemed likely on Nov. 4: ABC News, for instance, projected a 14-to-18 seat Republican net on Election Night. But Democrats won nearly all the races that were called in the days following the election. Still, the Republicans did slightly better than most prognosticators expected (we pegged them for a gain of nine before the election).
December 3, 2014
Place Your Bets by John Stossel
Want to bet on tomorrow's NFL game between Chicago and Dallas? I do.
Newspapers and websites all over America tell their readers that Dallas is favored by three points. That's the "spread" posted by bookies. Millions will be bet on that game, and billions will be bet on other games this weekend -- college football, NBA games, NHL matches, UFC events ...
December 2, 2014
Democratic Takeover of Senate in 2016 Possible but Not a Slam Dunk by Michael Barone
Even as Republicans are about to regain a majority in the Senate after eight years in the minority, the conventional wisdom around Washington is that Democrats are likely to win back that majority again in 2016. That's certainly possible, but it's short of a slam dunk.
December 2, 2014
Obamacare and the Middle Class By Froma Harrop
Few truly appreciate the enormous economic benefits the Affordable Care Act will deliver to the American people over time, the middle class included. But you'd expect New York's seasoned Democratic senator, Charles Schumer, to "get it" rather than belittle the 2010 federal health care law as a political inconvenience for his party.
Amazingly, Schumer recently complained that reforms affected only "a small percentage of the electorate." Has he any idea what's going on -- I mean beyond the calculations of the most recent election, the planning for the next?
November 28, 2014
Pelosi's Grip Seems to Have Weakened By Michael Barone
No one in Washington much cares what House Democrats do these days. House rules tend to ensure that the main job of members of the minority is to show up, vote "no" and lose. And in the next Congress, Democrats will have fewer seats in the House than they've had since 1929 and 1930.
November 26, 2014
Thanks, Property Rights! By John Stossel
This Thanksgiving, I give thanks for something our forebears gave us: property rights.
People associate property rights with greed and selfishness, but they are keys to our prosperity. Things go wrong when resources are held in common.
November 25, 2014
Loving Uber Less by Froma Harrop
Some Uber customers are reportedly deleting the car-hailing service's app from their cellphones. Here is the reason, which may come on top of other reasons:
An Uber exec talked about hiring an investigative team to find dirt on journalists writing unflattering things about the company. Emil Michael, a senior VP, told BuzzFeed News that he might spend $1 million to dig deep into their "personal lives" and "families."
November 25, 2014
Nobody Is Pushing Thomas Piketty's Policies to Combat Economic Inequality by Michael Barone
Last spring, you may remember, the French economist Thomas Piketty was all the rage in certain enlightened circles. His book "Capital" shot up to the No. 1 spot on bestseller lists, and many economists praised his statistics showing increased income and wealth inequality. Piketty argued that, absent a world war, returns to capital will exceed economic growth, inevitably producing growing inequality in the 21st century.
November 21, 2014
Let's Really Reform Immigration -- To Encourage High-Skill Immigrants By Michael Barone
"When the facts change, I change my mind," economist John Maynard Keynes said when charged with inconsistency. "What do you do, sir?"
As President Obama threatens to stretch his power to faithfully execute the law to a breaking point by effectively legalizing some 5 million illegal immigrants, perhaps I owe readers an explanation of my own changes of mind on immigration.
November 20, 2014
Fix Decaying Pipelines First for Jobs, Health and Safety by Joe Conason
With the Keystone XL pipeline stalled again, now perhaps we can look ahead and consider more promising ways to rebuild our energy system, creating many more jobs than that controversial project ever would. No matter where we look, the far larger issue that still confronts Americans is decaying infrastructure -- which emphatically includes the enormous web of oil and gas pipelines crisscrossing the continental United States in every direction.
COPYRIGHT 2014 CREATORS.COM
November 20, 2014
The Democrats' Chronic Depression by Froma Harrop
"Smiles at the gas pump," my local headline reads. The price of gasoline has fallen below $3 a gallon.
When the national average rose last year to $3.51, Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, complained that "the liberal anti-free market policies of the Obama administration discourage the exploration of American sources of energy and hinder production and job growth."
COPYRIGHT 2014 CREATORS.COM
November 19, 2014
Control Freaks by John Stossel
Control freaks want to run your life. They call themselves "public servants." But whether student council president, environmental bureaucrat or member of Congress, most believe they know how to run your life better than you do.
November 18, 2014
End the Game on Immigration Reform by Froma Harrop
President Obama's plan to bypass Congress in shielding millions of immigrants from deportation is not the best way to do immigration reform. But if confrontation is what it takes to get House Republicans off their rear ends and deal with the problem, so be it.
November 18, 2014
Where The Polls Were Wrong -- And, Maybe, Why By Michael Barone
Were the polls wrong? It's a question asked after every election. Sometimes, as in 1948, the answer seems as obvious as the answer to the question, "Why did Custer lose at Little Bighorn?" Sometimes the answer is less obvious, as it is this year.
November 14, 2014
Is This the Political Map of the Future? by Michael Barone
If you're a political junkie -- or at least if you're a conservative political junkie -- you've probably seen the map. It's a map of the United States showing the congressional districts won by Republicans in red and those won by Democrats in blue.
It looks almost entirely red, except for some pinpoints of blue in major metropolitan areas and a few blue blotches here and there -- in Minnesota, Northern New Mexico and Arizona, Western New England, along the Pacific Coast.
November 13, 2014
14 From ’14: Quick Takes on the Midterm By Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley
After going over the results from last week, we had a number of bite-sized observations to offer — 14, to be exact.
November 13, 2014
Calling the Bluff on Obamacare by Froma Harrop
There's this game in American politics where folks who fancy themselves conservative often condemn programs that they in fact want very much. Obamacare is one such example.
November 12, 2014
Democracy Delusions By John Stossel
When the Berlin Wall came down 25 years ago this week, people in the Soviet Bloc gained something even more valuable than a right to vote: a free market.
