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February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
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Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Nov. 4, 2008
/ 6 Mar-Cheshvan 5769
The end of the Reagan-Clinton Era?
By
Rich Lowry
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
All hail the end of the Reagan era! That's the cry going up throughout liberaldom as the financial crisis and the impending Democratic electoral sweep threaten the Reaganite troika of deregulation, low taxes and free trade.
What's at stake in the response to the financial turmoil and the deepening recession is more than Ronald Reagan's legacy. It's a bipartisan consensus in favor of a robustly open economy welcoming competition at home and from abroad that began to take hold in the 1970s in the Carter administration, found its ultimate champion in Reagan and got cemented into place under Bill Clinton.
In terms of our globalized economy, we've been living in the Reagan-Clinton years. As David Smick writes in his compelling new book on the financial system, "The World Is Curved": "Globalization was not a Republican or Democratic phenomenon. Indeed, there was not much difference in economic policymaking between Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican Ronald Reagan."
Conservative bogeyman Jimmy Carter deregulated the aviation and trucking industries. His Labor Department loosened rules restricting how pension funds could invest, freeing up a vast pool of new capital. In 1978, the Democratic Congress cut the capital-gains rate and established 401(k)s.
Reagan accelerated the trend toward deregulation, while cutting taxes, killing off inflation and promoting free trade. Leveraged buyouts honed the competiveness of American companies, and entrepreneurial creativity bubbled up from below. "By the mid-1980s," Smick writes, "liberalized financial markets were feeding capital to the once-ignored small- and medium-sized ventures through a modernized, multilayered financial system."
Clinton moderately raised taxes. Otherwise, he operated within the Reagan framework. He signed bills deregulating agriculture, telecommunications and financial services. A tireless advocate of globalization, he pushed through NAFTA and the establishment of the World Trade Organization. Later in the 1990s, he cut capital-gains taxes and the estate tax, earning the condemnation of his former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich for "the largest federal tax cut on higher income since Ronald Reagan."
Clinton himself remarked sarcastically: "We're the Eisenhower Republicans here, and we are fighting the Reagan Republicans. We stand for lower deficits and free trade and the bond market. Isn't that great?" For the economy, the answer to his frustrated rhetorical question was undeniably "yes."
In his book "The Competition Solution," former Clinton economic official Paul London credits the prosperity of the 1990s to "more than two decades of bipartisan policymaking affecting specific industries, which ultimately made competition in these sectors far more intense." Time and again, policymakers rejected the pleas of industry and unions for government protection from competition, thus stoking investment-driven productivity gains. This kind of special pleading had often carried the day in the 1960s and 1970s.
The deregulatory thrust of the Clinton years has frustrated opportunistic attempts to pin financial deregulation solely on Republicans. Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin advocated repeal of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act that separated commercial from investment banking and that critics (unpersuasively) blame for the current financial mess. Rubin also opposed regulating derivatives under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and a bill to bar their regulation sailed through Congress in December 2000 with bipartisan support.
Even Alan Greenspan has admitted this was too sweeping. We'll have to update our financial regulations while avoiding a lurch into overkill, like the onerous Sarbanes-Oxley law passed after the accounting scandals of the tech bubble.
But the temptation to break fundamentally with the past 25 years will be strong. The government already has, in response to the economic turmoil, its tentacles in the banking, insurance and auto industries. Barack Obama is declaring deregulation a failure, proposing higher taxes on capital, promoting unionization and signaling a hostility to free trade. The danger is that we will blunt the economy's entrepreneurial edge and lose out as a prized destination for global investment.
Declaring the demise of Reaganism will be emotionally satisfying for Democrats, but Reaganism only dies if Clintonism does too along with a golden period of bipartisan economic policy.
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© 2008 King Features Syndicate
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