The Hollywood Liberal

On Taxes, Liberals Are the Real Extremists
Jonathan Tobin, Commentary
President Obama made it clear he wasn’t going to be satisfied with the tax increase on upper income earners that he forced on Congress during the showdown over the fiscal cliff. Though in fact all wage earners suffered a loss this week as the payroll taxes surged, the president and his liberal supporters are determined to inflict even more pain on more people in any upcoming budget talks. However, one of the leading advocates for the president’s redistributionist position, the New York Times editorial page, is worried that in settling for a deal that raised taxes on those…

Rich Makers, Corporate Takers and Obamanomics
Arthur Brooks, CNBC
Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, discusses the fiscal cliff deal on CNBC's “Squawk Box.”—JOE KERNEN: The fiscal cliff fight's over, a battle that is still looming large. Our guest host today is Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, author of “The Road to Freedom.” Arthur, I want to just start just quickly with you. OK, your point — and we were talking about it in welcome, it's good to see you — out of the $62 billion, we've got a trillion dollar deficit, this raises how much in revenue? $62…

Bloomberg Speaks the Truth

Another Lost Year for U.S. Workers
James Pethokoukis, AEI Ideas
While the December jobs report — 155,000 net new payrolls, 7.8% unemployment rate — was more or less in line with official analyst expectations, plenty of Wall Street economists thought it just might surprise to the upside. Maybe 200,000 jobs or more went the “whisper” estimates.It didn’t happen.Instead it was same old, same old. The increase in total nonfarm payroll employment was only a smidgen better than the average 2012 employment growth of 153,000 jobs per month. And that was exactly the same as the average monthly gain for…

Curt Schilling’s Crony Capitalism Debacle
Anthony Fisher, Reason.tv
The 2012 bankruptcy of Rhode Island-based video-game developer 38 Studios isn't just a sad tale of a start-up tech company falling victim to the vagaries of a rough economy. It is a completely predictable story of crony capitalism, featuring star-struck legislators and the hubris of a larger-than-life athlete completely unprepared to compete in business.Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, an iconic figure in New England after anchoring a historic playoff comeback which ended a legendary 86-year title drought, founded 38 Studios near the end of his baseball…

Al Gore Went to Bat for Al Jazeera, and Himself
Brian Stelter, NY Times
Al Gore’s Current TV was never popular with viewers, but it was a hit where it counted: with cable and satellite providers. When he co-founded the channel in 2005, Mr. Gore managed to get the channel piped into tens of millions of households — a huge number for an untested network — through a combination of personal lobbying and arm-twisting of industry giants.He called on those skills again after deciding in December to sell Current TV to Al Jazeera for $500 million. To preserve the deal — and the estimated $100 million he would personally receive…

Take the Debt Ceiling Off the Table

The President Who Wants It All
Fred Barnes, Wall Street Journal
President George W. Bush made bipartisan deals with Democrats on education, energy and, shortly before leaving office, the bank bailout known as TARP. President Reagan got together with Democrats on tax reform and Social Security. President Clinton reached agreement with Republicans on welfare reform, balancing the budget and Nafta's free trade. Mr. Clinton also negotiated reform of Social Security, a landmark compromise that died (before being announced) when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke.”Each president defined these deals as success, as principled compromises,”Keith…

Return of the Real Obama
Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post

Washington Trades Away America’s Future
Carlson & Patel, Daily Caller
If someone had woken you from a dead sleep 20 years ago and asked what the Republican Party stood for, you would've had no trouble answering: Fiscal restraint, a strong national defense and lower taxes. Those were the three pillars of the GOP. The party's brand was clear. Voters understood it, and many approved. In the days before Obama, Republicans won seven out of ten presidential elections.Things have changed for the muddier. Scratch the surface and you'll find there is no longer a consensus among Republicans on foreign policy. Fiscal restraint? Years of earmarks, record…

The President Who Wants It All
Fred Barnes, Wall Street Journal
President George W. Bush made bipartisan deals with Democrats on education, energy and, shortly before leaving office, the bank bailout known as TARP. President Reagan got together with Democrats on tax reform and Social Security. President Clinton reached agreement with Republicans on welfare reform, balancing the budget and Nafta's free trade. Mr. Clinton also negotiated reform of Social Security, a landmark compromise that died (before being announced) when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke.”Each president defined these deals as success, as principled compromises,”Keith…

Lost Decade, Revisited
Holman Jenkins, Wall Street Journal
We said it four years ago: A lost decade was coming, though not as some mechanical inevitability of the housing bust. Rather, that financial crisis put politics in charge in a way that would burden the economy's growth for years to come.The latest fiscal cliff half-deal reached early Tuesday is not proving to be a constructive episode. It is not leading to some great bipartisan whoosh of consensus to ensure our future prosperity so we can afford all the entitlements we can afford. There will be no grand bargain.

Ten Ways for Obama to Remake the World

A New Agenda
Erick Erickson, RedState
As we start the new year, it is sad to see so many Republicans patting themselves on the back, Grover Norquist included it seems, saying, “It’s ok, it really was a tax decrease because it is Tuesday.”The one pledge to rule them all got obfuscated away conveniently and it is time to move on to a new agenda for the Republican Party. We are now in the era of the McConnell Tax Hike of 2013, which raises taxes on 80% of Americans making between $50,000.00 and $200,000.00.

Businesses Begin Bracing for ObamaCare
Anthony Mason, CBS News
NEW YORK CITY – Most parts of Obamacare will take effect next year, but a lot of small businesses are already making plans.At the Five Guys restaurant in New York City, burgers and fries are the specialties, but owner John Rigos worries he'll have to cook up some cost savings when the affordable care act is fully implemented.”It'll likely affect the number of people we can hire,” Rigos said.

Have the Nation’s Leaders Ever Seemed Smaller?

Rupert Murdoch’s Make-or-Break Venture
Michael Wolff, The Guardian
Turn autoplay offTurn autoplay onPlease activate cookies in order to turn autoplay offAs the octogenarian mogul marshals his ailing newspaper group, he faces the sternest test of his business acumen to dateIn my world, one of the great sports of the New Year is going to be watching Rupert Murdoch de-hitch his newspapers from his entertainment companies. Seldom, in a business context, has a man of such stature and accomplishment and at so advanced an age been asked not just to reinvent himself, but to prove himself all over again. He may retain the CEO title for his entertainment company, but…

Long Walk, Short Piers
James Taranto, Wall Street Journal
America once produced its own bumptious television hosts. Men like Phil Donahue, Wally George, Morton Downey Jr. and Geraldo Rivera did rough and degrading work, but at least they knew the dignity of having a job.Now, they say, it has become one of those jobs Americans won't do. American media companies are forced to import workers like Piers Morgan, an Englishman who for just under two years has hosted a prime-time program on CNN. Although the show is little-watched, Morgan made news recently because of his abusive interview tactics.On his Dec. 18 show, NewsBusters.org notes, Morgan…