Austerity Economics

Paul Krugman's book is called End This Depression Now! (exclamation point included). If that sounds like a self-help book -- the sequel to Listening to Prozac, maybe, or something by Dr. Wayne Dyer -- that's not altogether inappropriate in this age of collective near-despair.

Democrats should consider Sarkozy's fate a cautionary tale -- and a call to action. If they rally around the cause of growth, jobs, and optimism, the nation will benefit and they'll rewarded at the polls.

Austerity economics is dominating our politics, too. We're being subjected to the same warped economic strategies that decimated Britain's economy, and our austerity crowd isn't any more deterred by reality than theirs is.

The biggest question right now on Planet Washington is whether the congressional supercommittee will reach an agreement. That's the wrong question.

Unless the GOP agrees to a budget deal before year's end, the payroll tax cuts and extended unemployment benefits we have now will end. The scale of this fiscal contraction would be almost unprecedented.

We're seeing the demonization of the victim everywhere. It's in the public hatred for underwater homeowners and now reaches to the highest halls of power in both parties, where we told that helping struggling homeowners would be "rewarding the undeseverving."

Only time will tell whether the powers that be in politics and the corporate world will put aside their free market faith in the interest of providing a boost to middle and lower-income consumers.

London's fires are cooling into ashes, and with any luck they won't be rekindled. But even though the British economy is still a tinderbox, nothing that's happened has dampened some people's enthusiasm for doing the same thing over here.

"And in this week's economic news: They tried to make us go to rehab, we said no, no, no ..." Last week the world noted the decline and death of Am...

Where is the distinction being drawn between Republican and Democratic policies, so that voters have a choice and not an echo? Not in Washington.

This July 4, politics is too important to be left to the politicians. The stakes are too high and the system is too broken. Citizen action is everyone's job now.

The inevitable result of austerity economics would be a plan to hand the next generation a nation with crumbling infrastructure, collapsing government services, and bleak economic prospects. It's an all-out assault on the future of the young.

This country has been divided into two economies. One's the economy of Wall Street and Washington's lobbyists -- call that one the "Acela Economy." Then there's the other economy, the one where most people live.

The president and his party should consider the fate of Nick Clegg and his Liberal Democrats before committing themselves to a coalition government that's doomed to fail.

When you strip away the verbiage, all of the economic triggers discussed in the budget debate would have the same basic outcome: They would cut government spending without asking the wealthy to pay more in taxes.

Social Security doesn't add to the deficit, and the only way to fix Medicare is by reducing the profit motive's influence on health care costs. Could the president really be planning to cut these programs anyway?

Will people gather in the streets to resist this move, or sit on the sidelines as services they've paid for are shut down by an increasingly radical Congress and its wealthy patrons?

The election in Wisconsin is the latest example of a corrupted two-party system where neither party adequately represents the majority's will. One tramples on it, using lies and fear, and the other offers only the weakest defense.

Something has gone seriously wrong when Democrats can convince themselves that their path back to popularity lies in cutting Social Security and leaving poor people to freeze in the dark.

Income inequality is actually greater in the United States than it is in Egypt. Poverty and unemployment statistics for U.S. minorities are surprisingly similar to Egypt's.