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What Does the Working Class Really Want?

December 11, 2023 want, working, really, class0 comment

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. Political partisans are always dreaming of final victories. Each election raises the hope of realignment—a convergence of issues and demographics and personalities that will deliver a lock on power to one side or the other. In my lifetime, at least five “permanent” majorities have come and gone. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s landslide triumph over Barry Goldwater in 1964 seemed to ratify the postwar liberal consensus and doom the Republican Party to irrelevance—until, four…

What the DeSantis and Newsom Debate Really Revealed

December 3, 2023 debate, really, Revealed, Newsom, DeSantis0 comment

The best way to understand last week’s unusual debate between Governors Gavin Newsom of California and Ron DeSantis of Florida is to think of them less as representatives of different political parties than as ambassadors from different countries. Thursday night’s debate on Fox News probably won’t much change the arc of either man’s career. DeSantis is still losing altitude in the 2024 GOP presidential race, and Newsom still faces years of auditioning before Democratic leaders and voters for a possible 2028 presidential-nomination run. What the debate did reveal was how…

How bad would a government shutdown really be?

September 22, 2023 would, government, really, shutdown0 comment

There are lots of reasons why its bad when politicians fail to appropriate money to keep the government going at the end of a fiscal year. This year’s shutdown brinksmanship is sharper than ever. So what’s so bad if the government shuts down for a few days or a month? Federal Drive with Tom Temin talked about a list of reasons with Vice President of Research for the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Jeff Holland. Interview Transcript: Tom Temin And let’s go through your list, because the very first item on…

What do people really mean when they say government should operate like a business?

June 30, 2023 government, really, like, mean, operate, People, Business, Should, they0 comment

When the nearly endless debates over the debt ceiling were raging on, the United States didn’t look very businesslike to the rest of the world. Internally, though, you never stop hearing that federal agencies should operate more like a business. This is both true and not true, according to my next guest. The Federal Drive with Tom Temin got commentary from American University professor Bob Tobias. Interview Transcript: Tom Temin Somehow, at these times when things are stressful on the political front or whenever people turn to federal agencies like…

Can a 10-year federal infrastructure plan really sustain itself for 10 years

November 10, 2022 Years, itself, infrastructure, 10year, sustain, plan, federal, really0 comment

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne. The action plan from the Biden administration for the Infrastructure Bill seeks to ensure projects across the nation get done on time and on budget. They’ve already hired 2,500 people to help state, local and tribal governments. But the plan has a 10-year horizon. And that could spell trouble. The Federal Drive with Tom Temin gets analysis from Professor Bob Tobias of American University. Interview transcript: Tom Temin: And Bob, this…

What’s Really Going On With the Crime Rate?

October 21, 2022 Rate, really, What's, “Going, Crime0 comment

Turn on a television in any state with a competitive Senate or gubernatorial race, and you’ll see that the criminal-justice reform agenda is under constant attack. Republicans are pinning higher crime rates on Democrats who have expressed sympathy for almost any aspect of the movement to confront racial inequities in the criminal-justice system. In New York, a conservative super PAC opposing Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul is slamming her for defending “the state’s disastrous cashless bail experiment” and refusing to “remove liberal prosecutors, like [Manhattan’s] Alvin Bragg, who too often downgrade…