Archive for the 'Ideas' Category

$5,000 for Every Child?

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Economy, Ideas

What if we gave every American baby a savings account with $5,000 in it? We then allowed their parents to contribute more, tax free, until the child is college age. The child could withdraw the money between the ages of 18 and 25 to pay for college, start a new business or buy a home. [...]

March 22nd, 2008 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

Divided government and ch-ch-ch-changes

By mw | Related entries in 2008 Election, Change, Democrats, Ideas, Republicans

“Skepticism of Mr. Obama’s “post-partisan” politics is partially developed out of a sinister second meaning appropriated by bandwagon “agents of change” — pushing an agenda through a unified government with little to no opposition. It’s not partisan because there is only one side. Yes, they could get a lot done. They could also do a lot of damage.“

January 23rd, 2008 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

It’s About Neo-Fascism Not Liberal Fascism

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Ideas, Liberalism, Republicans

Jonah Goldberg, author of the provocative new book Liberal Fascism is upset at how his book has been received. He believes most critics are missing his main point which is: [T]o the extent that fascism of any kind will come to America, it will do so in the guise of something “progressive.” Indeed, American progressives, [...]

January 22nd, 2008 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Divided Government, Iowa, and Markets

By mw | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Democrats, Economy, Hillary, Ideas

Perhaps the market is indeed trying to digest what an Obama presidency and a unified single party Democratic government will mean for 2009.

January 7th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

GWB vs. LBJ Redux

By mw | Related entries in 2008 Election, Congress, Ideas, Money, Republicans

What is the real story? It is not about whether GWB or LBJ is the biggest spender. It is not about whether Republicans or Democrats are bigger spenders. It is not about whether GWB is hypocritically claiming to be an advocate of fiscal responsibility. The real story is about what happens to spending under divided vs. single party control of the federal government.

October 30th, 2007 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

Chalk up another one for divided government.

By mw | Related entries in 2008 Election, Ideas

Stephen Sliviniski, economist, author of Buck Wild, Director of Budget Analysis for the Cato Institute, and DWSUWF favorite, comments on recently released CBO budget estimates in “Finally, Some Not-So-Bad News on the Budget” posted at Cato@Liberty: The big surprise in the Congressional Budget Office mid-year budget estimates released today isn’t that the year-to-year deficit shrank [...]

August 28th, 2007 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Carnival of Divided Government – August Dog Days Edition

By mw | Related entries in 2008 Election, Blogging, Ideas

I host a (more or less) monthly compilation of posts and articles on the subject of divided government at Divided We Stand United We Fall. The August Carnival of Divided Government Quîntus Decimus – Special Dog Days of Summer Edition was updated today. I’ll just highlight two recent links here – Bruce Bartlett is substituting [...]

August 10th, 2007 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Redistricting update

By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Elections, Ideas, News

In Wednesday’s post about a new redistricting algorithm, I focused on the technical specifics of the proposed method, and the pros and cons that made it different from previous proposals. I deliberately avoided delving into all the standing arguments about how best to draw districts, largely because I’ve discussed them in tedious detail before. But [...]

July 27th, 2007 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Fixing the Fairness Doctrine – A modest technology solution.

By mw | Related entries in Ideas, Law, Legislation, The Politics Of Film

Certainly there is a fairness problem with broadcasters, but if we look at this problem objectively, we see it cannot be solved by dealing with the broadcasters alone. The bigger problem resides in the listeners, watchers, and readers…

July 21st, 2007 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

Curing libertarian political impotence – a prescription for Electile Dysfunction

By mw | Related entries in 2008 Election, Elections, Ideas

As long as the bulk of the electorate remain polarized and balanced, even a small percentage libertarian swing vote organized around divided government will be enough for libertarians to wield the biggest swinging political “hammer” in town.

July 16th, 2007 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

I change my underwear political party affiliation.

By mw | Related entries in 2008 Election, Elections, Ideas

Today I announce that I am switching my party affiliation from Democratic to Republican.

June 23rd, 2007 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Investors love divided government.

By mw | Related entries in Economy, Elections, Ideas, Money

Eight months after the American electorate in their collective wisdom saw fit to install divided government in Washington DC, the investor class seems to be enjoying it more and more.

June 21st, 2007 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Carnival of Divided Government TERTIUS DECIMUS Post-Memorial Day Fishing Holiday Edition

By mw | Related entries in Blogging, Elections, Ideas

In this edition, as in all of the CODGOV series, we select volunteers and draftees from the blogosphere and main stream media on the singular topic of government divided between the major parties

May 29th, 2007 | Permalink| No Comments »

Carnival of Divided Government – Call for Submissions

By mw | Related entries in Blogging, Elections, Ideas, Kitchen Sink, Legislation

The next edition of the Carnival of Divided Government TERTIUS DECIMUS – Special Memorial Day Weekend Fishing Edition, will be cross-posted at Donklephant and at DWSUWF on Memorial Day, May 28, 2007.

May 23rd, 2007 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Video: Rotating Skyscraper Set For Dubai

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Energy, Environment, Ideas, The World, Video

Seriously, you have to look at this. Each floor moves independent of one another so the shape is constantly changing. AND, it creates enough wind power to power 10 buildings like it. WSJ has more: In a design to be unveiled today in the oil-rich emirate, David Fisher, an Italian-Israeli architect, has dreamed up a [...]

May 20th, 2007 | Permalink| No Comments »

Is Obama’s “Both/And” the Essence of Centrism?

By amba | Related entries in 2008 Election, Gender, General Politics, Ideas, Race, Smart Things Said By Smart People, Social Programs

It’s become fashionable to put down Barack Obama, just to compensate for the embarrassing fervor of his fans. But that too can go too far, and today I read something that reminded me what it is about him that genuinely appealed to me before he was a superstar. From an excellent Seattle Times column by [...]

March 13th, 2007 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

The genetics of altruism

By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Ideas, News, Religion, Science

Are humans innately good, or innately selfish? That’s a fundamental question when it comes to discussing morality, law and society. If humans are innately selfish, then the only way society functions is by the majority forcing everyone to behave, through tools of social control like government, religion and culture. Without such control, the argument goes, [...]

February 20th, 2007 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

A “Euston Manifesto” for American Conservatives?

By Dennis Sanders | Related entries in General Politics, Ideas, News

Over at my blog, Neomugwump, I am wondering why there is no “Euston Manifesto” on the Right and Center-Right. With conservatism as defined by the President and his allies, there needs to be a gathering of the faithful who can spell out a conservatism that is for things like gay rights, civil liberties, and the [...]

February 16th, 2007 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

How much should you give?

By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Ideas, Money, News, The World, United Nations, Welfare

Ethicist Peter Singer has an interesting article in the New York Times magazine on charitable giving. It’s largely a discussion of “how much should one give?” and makes the argument that it is perfectly defensible, on moral grounds, to tax the rich more heavily than the poor and to expect them to donate more. I’ve [...]

December 19th, 2006 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

The “Sink or Swim” strategy

By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Foreign Policy, General Politics, Ideas, Israel, Military, News, The War On Terrorism, The World, United Nations, War

It took me awhile, but I’ve read the entire ISG report. My detailed thoughts are over at Midtopia. Here at Donklephant I’ll do the executive summary. There’s nothing earth-shattering in their analysis of the current situation, and nothing paradigm-shifting in their proposed solutions. But both are very solid, very reasonable. I came away with two [...]

December 6th, 2006 | Permalink| 4 Comments »