opinion – News Stories About opinion - Page 24

Fix the Budget Deficit by Reforming the Tax Code: Clive Crook

Tax Reform: The
Simple, Perfect
Budget Fix

OPINION

Apr 18, 2011 1:51 PM CDT

Tax Reform: The Simple, Perfect Budget Fix

Both parties can get what they want: just fix the 'lunatic' tax code, writes Clive Crook

(Newser) - Tax Day is a painful reminder that Form 1040 "is to personal finance as waterboarding is to asking some questions," writes Clive Crook in the Financial Times . But it doesn’t have to be: "If ever there were a free lunch, if ever there were a dollar...

No One's Being Honest About Fixing Budget Deficit: Robert Samuelson

No One's Being
Honest About
the Budget

OPINION

Apr 18, 2011 1:43 PM CDT

No One's Being Honest About the Budget

Both parties' fixes amount to 'wishful thinking': Robert Samuelson

(Newser) - Republicans and Democrats both claim to have a plan to fix the budget, but neither party is offering a realistic approach. It’s time for Dems to admit that “spending control requires genuine cuts in Social Security and Medicare”—and it’s time for the GOP to recognize...

Jack Shafer: Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism Are Pointless

Pulitzers Are
Pointless

OPINION

Apr 18, 2011 1:17 PM CDT

Pulitzers Are Pointless

They're weightless 'footnotes,' not 'headlines': Jack Shafer

(Newser) - The Pulitzer Prizes for journalism are awarded today, but they don’t mean a thing, writes Jack Shafer. “I doubt that one newspaper reader in 10,000 could tell you a day after the Pulitzers are awarded who got the prize for explanatory reporting,” he notes in a...

Heavy Metal
Speaks the Truth

OPINION

Apr 17, 2011 6:14 PM CDT

Heavy Metal Speaks the Truth

And in a world of fiction, it's due for a resurgence

(Newser) - Heavy metal is outlandish, it’s ridiculous, it’s frightening—and it relates fundamental truths about the dark side of human nature, writes James Parker in the Atlantic . Indeed, its dark lyrics echo the writings of mythographer Sir James George Frazier: “We seem to move on a thin crust...

Next Bubble to Burst?
Higher Education

OPINION

Apr 11, 2011 1:59 PM CDT

Next Bubble to Burst? Higher Education

We invest vast sums in a future that may not exist, says Peter Thiel

(Newser) - We’re in the midst of another bubble, and it's not an Internet one, according to PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. It's a higher education bubble, and "like the housing bubble, the education bubble is about security and insurance against the future,” writes Sarah Lacy, who sat down to...

Barack Obama Has Gone AWOL

paul krugman

Apr 11, 2011 1:51 PM CDT

Barack Obama Has Gone AWOL

Not only is Obama caving to the GOP—he's 'celebrating' it, writes Paul Krugman

(Newser) - Barack Obama has left the building. Granted, with Republicans running amok, all Obama really has is “the bully pulpit,” but incredibly, “he’s using it to reinforce his enemies’ narrative,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Maybe he did have to make big concessions...

Romesh Ratnesar: Pentagon Budget Must Shrink to Fix Deficit

Face It, Washington:
Defense Budget Must Shrink

OPINION

Apr 11, 2011 12:20 PM CDT

Face It, Washington: Defense Budget Must Shrink

Pentagon's policies 'outdated'; deficit's the biggest threat: Romesh Ratnesar

(Newser) - The latest budget compromise may have resulted in “sweeping” and “historic” cuts, as the White House, Congress, and the media have claimed—yet “not a solitary penny” was cut from defense spending. Instead, spending will break $700 billion in 2011, which happens to be a post-World War...

Why Obama
Gets No Credit
for Success

OPINION

Apr 4, 2011 1:33 PM CDT

Why Obama Gets No Credit for Success

His presidency's been about 'preventing disaster,' writes Michael Grunwald

(Newser) - President Obama “prevented an atrocity” in Libya, but no one’s giving him credit. Why? “Because he prevented an atrocity,” writes Michael Grunwald in Time . It’s called the “counterfactual problem:” “It's hard to get credit for avoiding a disaster when it's impossible to...

Ethics, Science
Both Inconvenient
for Climate Deniers

paul krugman

Apr 4, 2011 12:51 PM CDT

Ethics, Science Both Inconvenient for Climate Deniers

High stakes demand high seriousness, not 'cynical careerism': Krugman

(Newser) - Climate change deniers aren’t just flouting scientific evidence—they’re flouting morals, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Case in point: Last week, Republicans invited a pair of scientists to testify at a Congressional hearing on climate science. When Berkeley’s Richard Muller, a climate change skeptic,...

Secrets of a
Beck-Loving
Liberal

Secrets of a Beck-Loving Liberal

Right-wing radio is lefty Orrin Onken's guilty pleasure

(Newser) - There’s something about right-wing talk radio that’s undeniably attractive—even for a “sushi-eating, Prius-driving, gay-marriage-supporting Oregon liberal” like Orrin Onken, he writes in Salon . Though he’s always been a lefty, Onken began listening in high school, and he’s maintained his “dirty little secret” for...

Congress Must Stop
Ignoring Article 1, Section 8

OPINION

Mar 28, 2011 1:32 PM CDT

Congress Must Stop Ignoring Article 1, Section 8

If Congress had debated recent wars, we'd have saved trillions: Walter Rodgers

(Newser) - Congressional Republicans have been hard at work cutting a few million in funding from NPR; but if they’d just played by the rules a decade ago, they could have saved at least $4 trillion, writes Walter Rodgers in the Christian Science Monitor . That's one estimate of how much the...

Lesson From Europe:
'Savage Austerity' Won't Help

paul krugman

Mar 25, 2011 1:28 PM CDT

Lesson From Europe: 'Savage Austerity' Won't Help

Paul Krugman: Portugal, Ireland, UK learned the hard way

(Newser) - Just a few years ago, global leaders knew they had to focus on job creation before they tackled deficits. But that strategy “has been abandoned in the face of phantom risks and delusional hopes,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Now, it’s all about reducing...

Rebecca Black
Proves New
Rules of Fame

meghan daum

Mar 24, 2011 3:23 PM CDT

Rebecca Black Proves New Rules of Fame

Meghan Daum: To be really popular, you have to be really unpopular

(Newser) - With Friday, 13-year-old Rebecca Black has a top 20 song on iTunes and a video that’s reached 35 million views—but what she’s most noted for is widespread derision. “We don't hate you because you're famous. You're famous because we hate you,” reads one of the...

Remember
Taylor as
She Was:
In Bed

OPINION

Mar 24, 2011 1:56 PM CDT

Remember Taylor as She Was: In Bed

Screen legend managed to be prostrate in nearly every movie

(Newser) - We remember John Wayne in the saddle, Brigitte Bardot on the sand—and as for Elizabeth Taylor, we’ll remember her on a bed, writes Tim Robey in the Telegraph . Somehow, she managed to sprawl over soft furniture in “most of her key roles,” he notes. “One...

'Earth Hour' Is a Joke

Bjorn Lomborg

Mar 24, 2011 11:08 AM CDT

'Earth Hour' Is a Joke

We need real green solutions, not just 'feel-good' movements: Bjorn Lomborg

(Newser) - This Saturday night, environmental activists are calling on the world to dim the lights for “Earth Hour”—a nice idea, but one that may actually be counterproductive. Look at it this way: "If everyone in the world participated in this year's Earth Hour, the result would be...

6 Morsels of
Good Foodie News

mark bittman

Mar 23, 2011 12:22 PM CDT

6 Morsels of Good Foodie News

School lunches are improving; Walmart's into sustainability: Mark Bittman

(Newser) - Sometimes it’s important for a critic to drop the criticism and offer some praise. In the New York Times , Mark Bittman presents a taste of good news in the food world:

Backers of better food policy are gaining real traction: The reauthorized Child Nutrition Act will improve school lunches,

...

How Not to Write a Diary

Michael Palin

Mar 22, 2011 1:38 PM CDT

How Not to Write a Diary

Michael Palin: If you're not interesting, don't pretend to be

(Newser) - Keeping a diary is well worth your while—but there are some “do’s and don’ts” to keep in mind, writes Monty Python’s Michael Palin in Vanity Fair . The big one is, “don’t try and make your life interesting when it isn’t,” notes...

Dave Eggers:
Enough With the
Teacher Layoffs

opinion

Mar 22, 2011 12:54 PM CDT

Dave Eggers: Enough With the Teacher Layoffs

System leaves already-struggling public educators in lurch

(Newser) - Public school teachers grapple with 80-hour work weeks on tight salaries, with little creative freedom, while the media attacks their unions—and on top of all that, they face mass layoffs on a regular basis. In San Francisco, for example, 2,800 teachers were warned last week that their jobs...

Washington Has
Abandoned the
Unemployed

paul krugman

Mar 18, 2011 12:15 PM CDT

Washington Has Abandoned the Unemployed

Krugman: Why are we obsessed with the deficit when millions need jobs?

(Newser) - One-sixth of American workers can’t find full-time jobs, and things aren’t getting any better for them: There are nearly five times more jobless people than there are job openings, and the "average unemployed worker has been jobless for 37 weeks." Yet all we hear about from...

Hey, NPR:
Stand Up
for Yourself

OPINION

Mar 17, 2011 12:20 PM CDT

Hey, NPR: Stand Up for Yourself

Station keeps mum in the face of widespread criticism: Meghan Daum

(Newser) - Accusations of a liberal slant are raining down on NPR, and its leaders are putting up with it. It’s time for the station to “show some self-respect and fight back,” writes Meghan Daum in the Los Angeles Times . Tell us: “Are you liberal? Are you neutral?...