Venture capitalists are poised to ‘disrupt’ everything about the ‘education market’ (bye-bye democracy if they succeed) Next year, the market size of K-12 education is projected to be $788.7 billion. And currently, much of that money is spent in the public sector. “It’s really the last honeypot for Wall Street,” says Donald Cohen, the executive…
The Clinton team is following reporters to the bathroom. Here’s why that matters Amy Chozick is the reporter tasked with covering the Clintons—and the runup to the now-almost-inevitable Hillary Clinton presidential bid —for the New York Times. Sounds like a plum gig, right? Until, that is, a press aide for the Clinton Global Initiative follows you…
Angry letters to the one member of Congress who voted against the War on Terror Barbara Lee was the lone dissenter in the post-9/11 vote authorizing military force. Many called her a traitor. But her constituents shared her concerns—and history has vindicated them. In the hours after the attacks of September 11, 2oo1, they were…
What Democrats don’t get about 2014 Last week’s reports that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will take out a $10 million loan to fuel a major closing push for the midterms indicate a smart move. It’s much better to finish the campaign in debt, knowing you gave your team’s players all the assistance they could…
Republican proposal for labor law ‘reform’ ‘a disgrace,’ labor leader says Senate Republicans say they have a plan to save U.S. labor law from partisanship and dysfunction. But their prescription for reform could make for even more gridlock—and critics say that’s the whole idea. On the Senate floor last Tuesday, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) unveiled a…
Democrats turn on Debbie Wasserman Schultz Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is in a behind-the-scenes struggle with the White House, congressional Democrats and Washington insiders who have lost confidence in her as both a unifying leader and reliable party spokesperson at a time when they need her most. Long-simmering doubts about her have reached…
‘They refuse to admit they were wrong’: How nightmare prosecutors pervert American justice Last week, historian Rick Perlstein wrote an important piece about the Nixon pardon, which he shows was the true beginning of the political culture that holds that business elites and government actors cannot be held accountable for corruption and malfeasance because it will “destabilize”…
Democrats take the offensive in culture wars After a generation of campaigns in which Republicans exploited wedge issues to win close elections, Democrats are now on the offensive in the culture wars. Democrats see social issues as potent for the same reasons Republicans once did, using them as a tool to both stoke concerns among moderate…
This is what’s truly at stake in the battle for Senate control Arguably the most significant consequence of a Republican Senate takeover in 2014 is absent from the campaign trail, and hardly registers in any polls asking Americans what their top election issues are. It’s not Obamacare. It’s not taxes or spending or immigration. It’s not…
The inflation cult: They’re always wrong, yet they persist Wish I’d said that! Earlier this week, Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica, writing on the Times’ DealBook blog, compared people who keep predicting runaway inflation to “true believers whose faith in a predicted apocalypse persists even after it fails to materialize.” Indeed. Economic forecasters are often wrong. Me, too! If economists…