Media

Much like the back catalog of our favorite bands, the Obama administration has a collection of policy proposals that have never gotten much attention, much less become legislative greatest hits. As he embarks on a series of economic speeches over the next few months, Obama would do well to examine his own policy back catalog. 

Picking a new chairman of the Federal Reserve may be the most important nomination a president can make. The next Fed chair will play an instrumental role in determining the future trajectory of America’s straggling recovery, and determining how financial regulation gets implemented.

The mainstream media have decided that the IRS scandal wasn’t a scandal after all. News outlets are calling the dwindling accusations of Tea Party Republicans empty, and saying that the only disaster is that the IRS is disorganized.

Crime is a component of poverty, opportunity, & proximity, not a racial pathology.

The North Carolina legislature has had a remarkable session. In fact, the amount they have been able to accomplish is almost jaw-dropping—not because it was particularly productive but because it was so bold and unabashed it its attack on low and middle income families and basic elements of democracy. Among the legislative lowlights:

When Congress reconsiders the Voting Rights Act this session, they should consider the few pages of history conspicuously missing from Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinion—an opinion that relies not only on bad logic but also bad history.

The Senate Finance Committee wrote an open letter last month to the rest of the Senate calling for tax code reform suggestions. The due date for proposals was this past week. Among other parts of the code, the charitable tax deduction faces potential overhaul.

If you grew up in an upper-middle-class American family, there's a good chance that you are now doing worse than your parents. That is one of the findings of the big new study on economic mobility that has gotten so much attention this week. 

Many people on public assistance do not know that it is federally mandated—under the National Voter Registration Act—that they receive the opportunity to register to vote every time they visit a public assistance agency.