Thanks to Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Democrats, a shutdown of the federal government was barely averted last weekend. Why is this happening so soon after Republicans and Democrats were supposed to have resolved their fiscal differences during the debt ceiling drama less than four months ago? The short answer: because the hard-right Republicans decided […]

The federal government is careening toward a shutdown as soon as Saturday night. Why is this happening so soon after Republicans and Democrats were supposed to have resolved their fiscal differences during the debt ceiling drama less than four months ago? The short answer: because the hard-right Republicans decided to ignore that agreement. In the […]

As expected, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and also as expected, signaled that at least one more rate increase may be in the offing. But amidst continuing economic strength and inflation still well above the central bank’s 2% target, the Fed also indicated that rates are likely to remain higher for […]

Absent a surprise, the United Auto Workers are likely to strike one or more of the U.S. car companies at 11:59 pm, the latest in a string of labor actions. What has been going on with organized labor in the U.S. and why?     After many quiescent years, working days lost to strikes have […]

Why have Republicans stuck so closely to Donald Trump, his four indictments and other failings notwithstanding? One theory, advanced in a recent Wall Street Journal article, is that our politics have become more tribal, more partisan, and far angrier. The data provides support for this notion. For starters, over the past five decades, Americans have […]