ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES

In the August 27, 2010 Investopedia.com article " 6 Signs That You've Made It To Middle Class ," James E. McWhinney says you are middle-class if you (1) own a home, (2) own a car, (3) send your children to college, (4) save money for retirement, (5) have health care coverage, and (6) have enough income for family vacations. Not so long ago, most people viewed the hallmarks of success as something along the lines of a house, a white picket fence, two weeks vacation, two children and the ability to send those kids to college. Today, the middle class is a vanishing breed according to nearly every survey and statistic on the topic. Its disappearance is of such grave concern to the fabric of American society that the U.S. government launched a task force to explore the issue. Despite all of the attention to the subject, defining "middle class" remains a challenge, as everyone wants to be in the middle regardless of their income. Instead of focusing on the dollars, le

In the August 26, 2010 TIME magazine article " How the Stimulus Is Changing America ," Michael Grunwald provides an analysis of its impact. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — President Obama's $787 billion stimulus — has been marketed as a jobs bill, and that's how it's been judged. The White House says it has saved or created about 3 million jobs, helping avoid a depression and end a recession. Republicans mock it as a Big Government boondoggle that has failed to prevent rampant unemployment despite a massive expansion of the deficit. Liberals complain that it wasn't massive enough. It's an interesting debate. Politically, it's awkward to argue that things would have been even worse without the stimulus, even though that's what most nonpartisan economists believe. But the battle over the Recovery Act's short-term rescue has obscured its more enduring mission: a long-term push to change the country. It was about jobs, sure, b

In the August 25, 2010 New York Times editorial " Building a Nation of Know-Nothings ," Timothy Egan suggests that in the consideration of politics, many people are willfully ignorant of the truth. Having shed much of his dignity, core convictions and reputation for straight talk, Senator John McCain won his primary on Tuesday against the flat-earth wing of his party. Now McCain can go search for his lost character, which was last on display late in his 2008 campaign for president. Remember the moment: a woman with matted hair and a shaky voice rose to express her doubts about Barack Obama. “I have read about him,” she said, “and he’s not — he’s an Arab.” McCain was quick to knock down the lie. “No, ma’am,” he said, “he’s a decent family man, a citizen.” That ill-informed woman — her head stuffed with fabrications that could be disproved by a pre-schooler — now makes up a representative third or more of the Republican party. It’s not just that 46 percent of Republicans belie

In the August 20, 2010 Salon editorial " Why are we so willing to repeat history's mistakes? ," David Sirota suggests that the pursuit of money and devotion to ideology cause people to overlook important lessons from history: Out of all the famous quotations, few better describe this eerily familiar time than those attributed to George Santayana and Yogi Berra. The former, a philosopher, warned that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." The latter, a baseball player, stumbled into prophecy by declaring, "It's déjà vu all over again." As movies give us bad remakes of already bad productions (hello, "Predators"), television resuscitates ancient clowns (howdy, Dee Snider) and music revives pure schlock (I'm looking at you, Devo), we are now surrounded by the obvious mistakes of yesteryear. And it might be funny -- it might be downright hilarious -- if only this cycle didn't infect the deadly serious stuff.

In this episode of The Colbert Report, " Basil Marceaux.com & Obama's Birthday ," "Stephen reminds Tennessee viewers to vote for Basil Marceaux.com and refuses to celebrate President Obama's birthday. (02:16)" Not all political candidates are as clueless as Marceaux, but too many of them are, especially on issues of economic policy.