Richard Nixon famously said to David Frost, “Well, when the president does it…that means that it is not illegal.” President Trump recently engaged in negotiations to increase the price of oil. Price fixing in the US is illegal. Was there a better, and legal, policy response?

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The good news is that we will survive the COVID crisis. The bad news is that when we do, all the same challenges facing our country will be here. Is there a coherent way to think about the coming 2020 election debate? Here is a suggestion.

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Director of the NIAID since 1984, Dr. Fauci has become the media darling of the COVID-19 crisis. Clearly masterful at describing the crisis, has he also been masterful at shirking responsibility for it?

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With problems abounding here and now, it is hard to get excited about a problem that is in potential, in the future, hard to understand, and worst of all, requires current sacrifice to address. Fat chance of selling that. Ever. Nonetheless, here goes.

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Criticism of corporations remains a staple of several of the Democratic candidates’ stump speeches. Could it be that the rise of corporate power in the US requires a regulatory response?

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Would you be surprised to learn that the universal healthcare systems in Germany and Japan were designed by the US? It’s true. Here is how it happened there and why it didn’t happen here.

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What may be the definitive Democratic primaries take place tomorrow across 14 states. As voting begins, how can we distill what really matters?

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The utter vacuity of the modern media-as-entertainment complex was on full display during the last two debates in Nevada and South Carolina. This is no way to pick a dogcatcher, let alone a president.

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After two years of tariffs and bellicose rhetoric, a revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was recently agreed upon. What really happened?

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Corporations are taking a beating in this election year. Depending on who you listen to, they don’t hire enough or pay enough taxes. They buy back too much stock, and they outsource too much. Do they do anything worth applauding?

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Both sides of the political spectrum promote infrastructure plans. Who, after all, could be against fixing potholes and failing bridges? And yet, while our infrastructure deteriorates, we fail to reach agreement. If we can’t do this, what can we do?

Today, we released our research on US infrastructure. Potholes, rusting bridges, and late trains are annoying but these problems are the least of what should concern us. Here is a brief highlight of what we have found.

Little to no legislative progress is being made on the major issues of our time. Are the radical factions of each party preventing progress? Do Americans care? Do we even have consensus on any of the issues?

President Trump recently ordered 3,800 troops back to Iraq. What if one of them were your child or your friend? How would you justify it? Is the mission clear? Is there an end in sight?

One thing folks in Washington always seem to agree on is that Russia is an enemy. Candidate Trump shocked both sides when he said that he would “get along with Vladimir Putin,” asking rhetorically, “Wouldn’t that be a good thing?” Well, wouldn’t it be?

The recent publication of The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman is noteworthy for several reasons. But is it credible?

Because the Democrats control only the House, evaluating their effectiveness is challenging. While introducing legislation is essential, doing so with no Republican support accomplishes little. Let’s see what has worked and what hasn’t.

Republicans have been in power in the White House and Senate continuously since 2017 and also controlled the House during 2017 and 2018. How should voters assess their progress in implementing their 2016 platform?

The debate over wealth inequality is often obscured by the commingling of solutions, taxes, and blame. Solutions, including taxes if necessary, advance the discussion; blame does not.

Several wealth tax proposals have been made to address the existence of wealth inequality. Before these proposals can be considered, the cause of wealth inequality must be understood.