by Michael Mandel, Chief Economic Strategist | Elliott Long, Senior Economic Analyst
Despite broader trends, some companies stand out for their multi-billion investments in America. Since 2012 the Progressive Policy Institute has provided unique and unmatched estimates of domestic capital spending for individual major U.S. companies.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s thumping victory last week confirms that 2016 was a political watershed. It marked the beginning of a new political alignment that is rewriting the rules of party competition here and abroad.
That was the year voters stunned the UK political establishment by voting narrowly to leave the European Union. Then followed Donald Trump’s equally shocking election. Both votes highlighted new political divides based on culture, identity and geography, as well as the waning relevance of old left-right debates.
So far, conservative parties have adapted to this changing landscape better than progressive parties. That’s why it’s crucial that Democrats come to terms with why Britain’s Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, was routed last week.
Ben Ritz, Director of the Center for Funding America's Future, for Forbes
Congress voted this week for a $1.9 trillion tax and spending deal, over a quarter of which was added to our $23 trillion national debt. Thanks to this and other fiscally irresponsible legislation signed into law by President Donald Trump, the federal government will run an annual budget deficit of over $1 trillion this year and every year that comes after it. Yet of over 500 questions asked throughout six presidential debates, not a single one has raised the issue.
Our limited power to raise tax revenue, those who want to make some programs universal — as well as those who want to criticize other candidates’ universal program proposals — need to justify or critique universality on an issue-by-issue basis, not on its general merits.
In all likelihood, of course, this question won’t be asked and entrepreneurship will barely be mentioned. More attention will be paid to the labor issues that almost derailed the debate. Yes: unions and the minimum wage should be topics of discussion. But, without the businesses to employ union workers and pay higher wages, those issues are moot.
Ahead of the #DemDebate in Los Angeles, Democrats can draw useful lessons from last week's #UnitedNations Conference of Parties (COP25) in Madrid, which by all accounts failed to kickstart progress toward implementing the Paris Climate Accords.
