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Pat Choate
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Pat Choate is an economist and policy analyst. His most recent book is Saving Capitalism (Vintage 2009). In 1996, he was Ross Perot's vice presidential running mate.

Blog Entries by Pat Choate

Let's Balance the Federal Budget Now

(8) Comments | Posted December 3, 2012 | 7:21 PM

One of the goals of the Republican party since 1935 has been to kill Social Security. Since 1965, they have also wanted to kill off Medicare. The faux and GOP-created "Fiscal Cliff" crisis was largely created by those opponents as a means to partially accomplish those two goals.

Unfortunately, President...

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Some Tips for Dazed Republicans

(2) Comments | Posted November 12, 2012 | 1:36 PM

Republicans are trying to figure out why they did so poorly in the 2012 presidential and Congressional elections. I have a few tips that they may find useful in forthcoming elections.

1. Avoid any Presidential candidate whose slogan is "Believe in America," but keeps much of their money in Switzerland,...

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Tenured Economists For a Free Market President

(8) Comments | Posted October 2, 2012 | 6:00 PM

Governor Mitt Romney's economic plan has gained the enthusiastic public endorsement of more than 600 professional economists, including six Nobel laureates.

These economists particularly like that Governor Romney's plan would (1) reduce marginal tax rates (2) control (reduce) the growth of government spending to 20 percent of the...

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Lies, Bigger Lies, and the Ryan Budget

(63) Comments | Posted August 16, 2012 | 7:37 PM

The Presidential campaign now seems to hinge on whether the financing of Medicare and Social Security is going to kill the American economy. It is not. This is a faux issue being pushed by radical Republicans who want to eliminate these two programs altogether.

The financial reality is that the...

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Polluting the Olympics

(0) Comments | Posted August 6, 2012 | 5:42 PM

The London Olympics is thrilling. As do most Americans, I take a reflective pride as my fellow citizens perform so brilliantly.

But the joy of these events is being spoiled by the drumbeat of negative Romney campaign ads that seem to be aired every 20 minutes or so. The...

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Fair Trade Can Help Close America's Jobs Gap

(17) Comments | Posted July 16, 2012 | 11:36 AM

At the height of the recession, the economy was shedding jobs at a terrifying rate. Millions of jobs simply disappeared in the last year of the Bush administration. Under the Obama administration the economy has been slowly and steadily coming back, month by month.

However, we are not out of...

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Lead, Mr. President, Lead.

(17) Comments | Posted July 29, 2011 | 3:08 PM

The federal debt "crisis" is undermining the stability of the U.S. economy and must be ended quickly.

Thus, the president needs to immediately exercise his executive responsibilities under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides,

"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by...

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Dual-Loyalty Republicans

(26) Comments | Posted July 25, 2011 | 2:51 PM

The British hacking scandal and the U.S. federal debt crisis are revealing who really governs these two countries.

The British scandal reveals that Rupert Murdoch, the global media mogul, has intimidated the British government for years. Top officials in Scotland Yard even helped Murdoch's son and employees cover...

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Getting Past the 'Birther' Myth

(57) Comments | Posted April 22, 2011 | 11:46 PM

The 'birther' controversy is one of those political myths that just will not go away.

Missing in the debate is the fact that the president's mother was a U.S. citizen and his birth meets the statutory requirements to make him a natural born citizen Constitutionally eligible to be president,...

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Banks Still Acting Badly

(10) Comments | Posted April 13, 2011 | 7:37 PM

The big banks are still mugging America. They do so because they can, and they can because they pour tens of millions of dollars into our Presidential and Congressional elections.

Their political contributions politically exempt them from our criminal laws and serious regulatory oversight. As William Grieder notes...

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Time for Real Tax Reform, Again

(22) Comments | Posted March 28, 2011 | 12:55 PM

Given a choice between cutting spending and reforming our tax system, the President and Congress have taken the easy road of spending cuts. Yet poll after poll reveals that the American people want programs targeted for cuts such as Head Start, Medicare and aid to the elderly. The real problem...

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The Back Room Politics of Patent Reform

(2) Comments | Posted February 28, 2011 | 2:05 PM

President Obama took a political swing through the Western United States in mid-February and was a guest of Intel and several other Big Tech corporations. On February 18, he went to an Intel facility and spoke with the employees about what his Administration is doing about "Winning the Future."

He...

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All for One and All for One

(5) Comments | Posted December 13, 2010 | 9:46 AM

Protecting the assets of the super rich seems to be the primary goal of the Senate Republicans and President Obama in this lame duck session of Congress.

The tax package that the Senate will consider this week would give 25 percent of its benefits to only 2 percent of...

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In Praise of Hillary Clinton

(9) Comments | Posted December 1, 2010 | 7:12 PM

Ironically, the Obama Administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in particular are the primary beneficiaries of Wikileaks' release of 250,000 US diplomatic cables. Certainly, this was not Wikileaks intention but that is the effect.

The cables reveal a State Department operating near top form and clearly in the best...

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Jolting Congress on Patents

(0) Comments | Posted November 28, 2010 | 11:05 PM


Independent American inventors are becoming an endangered species. The numbers tell the story. In 1980, independent American inventors received 16 percent of U.S. patents granted. In 2000, it was 10 percent and in 2009, it was only 5.3 percent - a two-thirds drop in 30 years. This trend...

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The Last Helicopter from Capitol Hill

(0) Comments | Posted November 7, 2010 | 8:26 PM

The last time the Democrats had control of both Houses of Congress and the Presidency was in 1995 and it may be at least that long before they win the Big Trifecta again.

Consequently, the panic of those scrambling to get on the last American helicopter out of Saigon is...

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The Next Bank Bailout

(15) Comments | Posted October 15, 2010 | 5:16 PM

Taxpayers will soon be asked to bailout our largest banks -- again.

This time the public monies are needed to clean up the foreclosure mess created by the same bankers who melted the global financial system during the Bush years.

In their haste back then, the banks were careless...

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Legalizing the Bank Foreclosure Mess

(4) Comments | Posted October 6, 2010 | 11:43 AM

Under pressure from several state attorney generals, Bank of America has halted mortgage foreclosures in the 23 states that require court approval. So too, have Ally Financial (formerly GMAC) and JP Morgan Chase. Other banks are likely to do the same.

While Bank of America refuses...

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More Tax Cuts or More Spending for Economic Stimuli?

(1) Comments | Posted September 7, 2010 | 2:15 PM

More than 25 million American workers want a job, but the economy is not providing them one. The President's proposed solution is to provide more than $50 billion of additional infrastructure investment and more than $100 billion in tax breaks for businesses in the hope that the benefits will trickle...

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Washington's Deficit Games

(4) Comments | Posted August 12, 2010 | 2:44 PM

The federal budget deficit is the Number One political topic in Washington this summer. The Keynesians want to raise it as a means of avoiding another economic dip. Hard conservatives are trying to use it as a means to shred the social safety net that FDR, LBJ and Barack Obama...

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