Simpson Bowles

Paul Ryan's looks are often compared to an actor's, and that's no accident: He's being groomed for the role of a lifetime. more »

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It was a dream come true for the austerity crowd when Great Britain's conservative/"centrist" coalition government took power in 2010. And for commentators like Slate's Anne Appelbaum it was that kind of dream. more »

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The Jeff Daniels character from The Newsroom would know what to ask the operators of an allegedly "grass roots" group called "No Labels":

"Why won't you publish your list of donors?"
"What's wrong with having legislators debate the issues publicly? Isn't that how representative democracy works?" more »

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At the June 18-20 Take Back the American Dream conference, we'll organize to stop Simpson-Bowles from passing Congress in the December "lame duck" session. Hear Robert L. Borosage, Van Jones and Melissa Harris-Perry on "Winning in November – So We Can Win in December and Beyond" and hear Rep. more »

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When millions of dollars are being pumped into Washington by anti-government and anti-tax ideologues, you're bound to find Democrats willing to play along. And when your Washington press corps can't be bothered to get even the smallest details right - well, that must mean the Bowles/Simpson Medicine Show is back in town.

It's here, folks. Journalists are still cooing over a failed proposal they're calling "moderate" and "centrist," based on the radical and unpopular plan put forward by two individuals named Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles.

Another budget, one that's both economically sound and more politically popular, was summarily dismissed by the same media as 'partisan' and extreme. more »

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Whatever the President says about Social Security in his State of the Union speech, the push to cut it will continue. A great deal of time, effort, and money has been expended to make sure that it does, and to promote a very limited set of policies for reducing retirement benefits. The centerpiece of those proposals is a plan to raise the retirement age to age 69 by 2075.

This harsh idea is being defended with a promise that there will be a "hardship exemption" for workers whose jobs are too demanding. But that's a promise that's destined to be broken.

There are many reasons why this solution won't work, and here are eight of them: The future is unpredictable. It will be difficult and bureaucratic to define "hardship." The definition of hardship is too limited. Age discrimination leads to unrecognized hardship. It will create cumbersome administrative and legal processes. They're not setting enough money aside. Hardship's impact will be discriminatory. And last but not least, relying on the 'hardship exemption" calls on us to trust politicians even as they're in the act of breaking a commitment.

Let's look at those eight reasons more closely: more »

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