Obama’s ‘Brewster’s Millions’ Problem

The classic 1985 film Brewster’s Millions is strangely analogous to the tale playing out in Washington these days as lawmakers — and President-elect Barack Obama — draft plans for an enormous spending bill to buoy the sinking economy.

You remember the story: Monty Brewster (Richard Pryor) is forced to More…

Krugman: Scrap the Stimulus Tax Cuts

Democrats and many economists were none too happy last week when President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team announced plans to include $300 billion in tax cuts as part of its economic stimulus blueprint — and the number of critics just keeps growing.

In his column in The New York More…

Recession Stirs Advocates for a Fully-Nationalized Medicaid

Last week, we wrote about the budget troubles facing states in this sputtering economy, with nearly half of them already proposing or enacting cuts to Medicaid. The reason is clear: 49 states have some form of legal balanced-budget requirement, and Medicaid, which is paid with a combination of state More…