Steven Rattner

Originally appeared in the New York Times. Bemoaning the worrisome state of liberal democracy has become a cottage industry. With each erosion of individual liberties, with every election gone awry, the commentariat disgorges a fresh flotilla of analyses of the world’s ailments and favored prescriptions for fixing them. Some fret about the slide toward absolutism in […]

Originally appeared in the New York Times. Even by Trumpian standards, the president has been in high dudgeon this week, railing about everything from illegal immigrants to unfair Chinese trade practices. For that, at least some Trump watchers blame his smashing defeat in the passage on March 23 of the omnibus spending bill. That legislation, […]

Originally appeared in the New York Times.  President Trump’s attacks on Chinese trade practices may be garnering the headlines, but underpinning that dispute lies a more consequential struggle, between liberal democracy and state-directed capitalism. Of late, it’s a competition in which the Chinese approach has been delivering the more robust economic result. Indeed, implicit in […]

Originally appeared in the New York Times. In August 2015, the leading Washington budget watchdog predicted that the federal deficit would total about $600 billion the next year. Now, just about two and a half years later, the projected gap for 2019 has grown to $1.2 trillion, in large part because of a boisterous round […]

Originally appeared in the The New York Times. Hardly a day goes by without President Trump tweet-bragging about the relentless rise of the stock market to fresh record highs — Exhibit A in his mind about how he is, indeed, making America great again. But, while strong equity markets are certainly a Good Thing, let’s not […]

Originally appeared in The New York Times. The overbearing persona of President Trump dominated 2017. From his angry early morning tweets to the stain of corruption bleeding into his administration to the sharp rightward tilt in his governing philosophy, Mr. Trump in his first year in office could not stand in starker contrast to his […]

Originally appeared in the The New York Times. In my career, I have been a substantial beneficiary of the so-called “carried interest” loophole, the tax provision that provides an indefensibly lower tax rate on profits earned by private equity investors, hedge fund operators, real estate developers (presumably including President Trump) and the like. And I continue […]

Originally Appeared in The New York Times. Perhaps not surprisingly, President Trump seemed to treat the appointment of a new head of the Federal Reserve — arguably the most important personnel decision he has faced — a bit like a season of “The Bachelor,” dangling tantalizing hints before handing the rose to Jerome H. Powell. In […]

Originally appeared in the The New York Times. Repeal-and-replace may be done for now, but for Senator Bernie Sanders, the war is just beginning — and it has already become a fracas that is dividing the Democratic Party, to its detriment. Mr. Sanders — who, of course, isn’t even a registered Democrat — is banging […]

Originally Appeared in The New York Times. The Congressional Budget Office never exuded sex appeal, at least not until recently. Its bland office building, which sits unobtrusively by a freeway in southwest Washington, houses an often-overlooked assemblage of wonkish economists whose idea of professional happiness is producing 10-year fiscal forecasts. Nevertheless, it’s an agency of […]