Microsoft Republicans
WASHINGTON | US Republicans have been exceedingly successful at targeting the white population vote. The problem, Pablo Pardo argues, seems to be that it is a shrinking market while Democrat support grows.
Republicans
Show me the money: it’s voting time!
Mark Twain said once that The White House was the “best Congress money can buy.” In this battered economy, while millions of Americans are tightnening their belts, this presidential election is expected to be the priciest in U.S. history. Make a guess: how much do you think it will cost? The predictions by the Center of Response Politics (CRS), a nonpartisan research group tracking money in politics, are of almost…
Paul Ryan, the man who wants to avoid “European sclerosis”
Interested in the world’s economy? There’s somebody you should meet. He doesn’t have an outstanding experience in the private sector but is determined to drastically cut U.S. government spending, boost market flexibility and avoid the “clouds” that are coming from Europe. If Republicans make it to the White House in november, Congressman Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s pick for vice president, will have a bigger say than the president. If not,…
U.S. data good, but not good enough
After the Draghi’s drag, deciding not to take any immediate action to stop the euro bleeding, markets are digesting a very awaited yet not so bright U.S. job report. It was the best data in five months -July was the best hiring month since February- but still not sufficient to reassure. America added 163,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in July, the Labor Department said (compared to a revised 64,000 jobs in…
Obama is waiting anxiously for the jobs’ boost
NEW YORK | U.S. investors are looking forward to this Thursday’s jobless claims figures after the pretty lame monthly jobs report last week. Wall Street needs a sweetener, otherwise investors will keep on the sidelines of the stockmarkets. Only a better than expected (366,000 new jobless claims) figure could boost U.S. market and economical confidence. Indeed, last Friday’s report was shocking: America is creating employment almost at the same rate…
Obamacare in Court: is it unconstitutional to imitate Europe?
NEW YORK | You are going to hear it more than often. It is called individual mandate: citizens required to purchase health insurance, or face a penalty. It is the Gordian knot of Obamacare, the new US Health law. And it is also the essence of both the Netherlands health system (it has been since 2006) and the Swiss (since 1994). In that regard, the US is trying to imitate…
The US campaign’s expense reports
NEW YORK | All presidential candidates and the people who run all independent political action committees must file campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission. These Reports and statements filed by political committees may be inspected and copied by anyone. You can check them at: http://www.fec.gov/disclosure.shtml. Now that every candidate is relying on Super PACS, a type of political group that can raise and spend unlimited funds, the key is…
Are US non-profits doing the work that European governments do?
NEW YORK | It’s a catastrophe, experts say: about 1.2 million US students drop out every year and this imposes a huge cost on the whole economy. “Many of these schools [with high dropout rates] are in the inner-city and are made up of blacks and Latino students who are not graduating at great rates. This increases the level of poverty, it increases crime, it increases the incarceration rate. 80…
What Obama didn’t say in his State of the Union speech
NEW YORK | In his fourth speech in front of the nation, president Barack Obama addressed the financial crisis and pledged to fight for economic fairness. In the middle of the race to the November election, the president couldn’t find a better moment to speak about inequality. Earlier on Tuesday, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney –Obama’s most likely opponent, according to some experts– disclosed that he paid an effective income…
Beware of an Europeanized America!
