I had the unusual experience on Friday, Feb. 22, of being a guest on former Gov. John Rowland’s afternoon drive-time radio show on WTIC Newstalk 1080. I’ve done a fair amount of radio over the years, but this is the first time I’ve ever been in the studios of a large-audience 50,000-watt network-affiliated operation. I’ve… Read More
Category Archives: Deficit
Pop Goes The Surplus
To all who insist that raising taxes necessarily results in higher revenues, we have this. Connecticut’s surplus, announced with great fanfare only a few weeks ago, has disappeared practically overnight. $83 million has suddenly become a paltry $1.4 million — and even that is likely to vanish and vault us into the red. This after… Read More
Goring An Ox
The president’s commission on reducing the national debt has issued some preliminary draft findings (PDF) on how to restore fiscal sanity to this once-great nation. Within minutes after The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform had released its thoughts, interest groups from here to Kingdom Come lined up in opposition. Indeed, co-Chairman Erskine Bowles joked that… Read More
Sock It To Me, Baby
I’m glad this idea is gaining currency, so to speak. In yesterday’s Washington Post, there was a piece on the current political climate and what to do about the Bush-era tax cuts. The prevailing options so far seem to be: 1) keep them indefinitely or 2) keep them only for households with incomes below $250,000.… Read More
A Call For Sacrifice — And Not Just From ‘The Rich’
On this Labor Day, I feel fortunate to have a good job with decent pay and wonderful people to work with. Of course, not all Americans are so lucky. And now as the federal government and its states grapple with a fiscal crisis that grows uglier by the week, organized labor is being asked to make… Read More
Ignoramus Or Cranky Old Man?
Should former Sen. Alan Simpson be fired from the Deficit Commission for using the T-word? Here’s an excerpt of his recent email to feminist activist Ashley Carson, who basically says Simpson doesn’t know what he’s talking about and that Social Security is healthy and doesn’t contribute to the deficit: And yes, I’ve made some plenty… Read More