Clive Crook

Before I take a break, my new column for the Financial Times aims for a note of cautious economic optimism. To begin with, as you know, I see the tax deal as good news...The revenue cost of the tax deal is more than $800bn over the next two years, prompting commentators to call it an even bigger stimulus than the fiscal plan adopted in 2009. This is nonsense. Almost all of the forgone revenue is due to the extension of tax rates and other measures already in place.… More »

The best tributes to the late ambassador More »

To understand the legal issues behind the Virginia federal judge's ruling, read this column by Stuart Taylor More »

Is the White House now committed to a Clintonian triangulation strategy, or it his pact a one-off? More »

Charles Krauthammer says that Obama has conned Republicans into agreeing to a second stimulus even bigger than the first. Democrats are too stupid to see this (and Republicans are even more stupid, presumably, since they are the victims). Barack Obama won the great tax-cut showdown of 2010 - and House Democrats don't have a clue that he did. In the deal struck this week, the president negotiated the biggest stimulus in American history, larger than his $814 billion… More »

And why he needs to learn that he can't please both the progressive wing of his party and the middle of the electorate More »

The president's tax-cut concession was minimal, and he secured urgently needed stimulus measures in return More »

Kevin O'Rourke, one of Ireland's most distinguished economists, on the Irish crisis More »

Whose job is it to resolve the conflict between the public interest of understanding how the world works, and the public interest of keeping foreign policy confidential? More »

So much for the Obama Administration emphasizing its focus on East Asia, partly as a respite from mixed news from Afghanistan and Iraq More »

Recent diplomatic setbacks have called US global leadership into question More »

A more honest version of the summit's goals More »

Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Ron Wyden have a radical plan to change the health-care law that, according to Max Fisher at Atlantic Wire, could please both proponents and opponents of the reform law. I'm not sure "plan" is quite the right word, though. In section 1332(a) of the Affordable Care Act, change 2017 to 2014. That's it. As Politico explains, starting in 2017, Section 1332 of ACA already allows states to opt out of the individual mandate and other… More »

Joel Kotkin has an excellent column in Forbes about the economic plight of California (thanks, RCP). The notion that the state embodies American enterprise and innovation at their most flourishing is seriously out of date. Broken government and a lagging economy have become mutually reinforcing, and the state seems to lack the capacity, or even the desire, to break the circle. As Kotkin says, California's poverty and unemployment rates are two and three percentage… More »

House Democrats are preparing to re-elect Pelosi as their leader -- what are they thinking? More »

Will the president continue to avoid hard questions about ends and means? More »

The Bowles-Simpson proposals are a great public service, I think, even though the form and timing of the announcement were disconcerting. The full deficit commission is due to report soon. It would have been better to announce a single plan then, supported by an impressive majority of the members; doubtless the two co-chairmen would have preferred that too. Presumably, with no such consensus emerging, they decided to rush a joint proposal out rather than have it… More »

The polling analyst reflects on the most shocking elements of the midterm elections More »

A disappointed Democratic base, an energized GOP base, and the migration of independents from Obama were all factors behind the results of last week's elections More »

His plan should involve something bigger than simply an extension of the Bush tax cuts More »