Outside the Beltway

Increasing taxes on the rich may be a fiscal policy worth talking about, but it won’t make the poor richer.

Rick Perry’s tax plan isn’t very impressive.

Have Republicans been co-opted by the Big Government they claim to hate?

Romney consolidated his position as the presumptive nominee, Perry continued his disintegration, Cain discovered what it was like to be a serious candidate, and Bachmann doubled down on crazy.

By looking only in one direction, Occupy Wall Street is missing the big picture.

Not surprisingly, the “Super Committee” to deal with the deficit isn’t making much progress.

Neither political party is resonating with the public right now, and neither is acting in the manner the public would like.

Does America have a social contract? If so, is it broken?

The second half of the President’s political strategy is in place. Don’t mistake it for a serious legislative effort.

As more details roll in on President Obama’s millionaire tax hike, it’s looking like it was drawn up by J. Wellington Wimpy: “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”

President Obama is proposing a special tax rate for millionaires.

Where do we stand after 224 years?

We’re getting close to the point where only two people on this stage will matter.

Contrary to what Eugene Robinson and Paul Krugman argue today, compassion does not require one to support government social welfare programs.

Not surprisingly, there was very little about the President’s jobs speech to write home about.

Last night’s GOP debate was a two-man affair.

Assuming that the President is easy to beat could cause Republicans to move too far to the right.

Many Americans die from preventable dental disease because they can’t afford care.

Obama’s economic policies are failing because he’s listening to conservatives – not small businesses.

Rick Perry isn’t as radical as some on the left are saying, but that doesn’t mean he’s any good.

How would a Democrat-equivalent of Rick Perry be received?

The Romney campaign may be finally starting to pay attention to Rick Perry.

Rick Perry placed his cowboy boots firmly on the third rail of American politics.

Rubio may be wowing conservatives audience, but is his rhetoric grounded in reality?

Social Security is like a Ponzi scheme in one way but not in other, more important ones.

For the past 18 months, Medicare spending has slowed down considerably – especially compared to the private sector.

When one adopts a one-word pseudo-elfin name, one might expect a spot of trouble

Some Republicans apparently still aren’t satisfied with the 2012 field.

One of the super-rich says we should stop coddling the super-rich.

Denying the Tea Party’s role in the downgrade of U.S. debt is to deny reality.

The Twitterverse and the Democratic National Committee are having a field day with Mitt Romney’s declaration that “Corporations are people, my friend.”

Non-rich people are in favor of taxing the rich and using the proceeds to fund programs for non-rich people

Michele Bachmann is claiming that the debt downgrade proves she was right about not raising the debt ceiling.

If we cannot adequately diagnose our problems it will be even harder to fix them.

The defense spending lobby is already engaging in fear-mongering over very modest defense cuts.

The immediate reaction among the political class to the debt downgrade was the play the same old stupid games.

The main issue driving the downgrade appears to be lack of faith in the political parties to act responsibly and compromise over entitlements and revenues.

Don’t worry be happy!

A somewhat surprising First Amendment decision arising out of the 2010 Elections.

Now that America’s political leadership have probably averted a self-inflicted global economic calamity, it’s time to assess the winners and losers.

We have a deal in Washington. Now, the leadership just has to make sure it can pass Congress.

President Obama and Congressional Republicans have the outline of a deal to raise the debt limit past the 2012 elections.

Charles Krauthammer claims we are in the midst of a great debate. I am not so sure.

He doesn’t do a very good job.

More thoughts on deficits.

It is always useful to go inside the numbers.