David Atkins

It’s tiresome to continue repeating the same mantra again and again, but it must said once more: until wages go up, the economy will still continue to fail the middle class: The economy is adding jobs at a rapid pace, the Labor Department reported Friday, but there’s still one major holdout to the recovery: wages. […]

With each passing month it appears increasingly likely that Hillary Clinton will go all-but-unchallenged for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency. Assuming no unexpected scandal or health problem stops the Clinton train, Elizabeth Warren is almost certainly not going to run. Few other serious candidates have been engaging the invisible primary. In fact, the only […]

The more we learn about Jeb Bush, the more less he appears ready for primetime: “Some states, like yours here in New York, are choosing not to grow. They won’t approve fracking,” Bush said, his veiled shot at Cuomo drawing roars of approval from Republicans gathered at a Sheraton in Manhattan. “Meanwhile, in parts of […]

Look who just banned teaching evolution in schools: The extremist-held Iraqi city of Mosul is set to usher in a new school year. But unlike years past, there will be no art or music. Classes about history, literature and Christianity have been “permanently annulled.” The Islamic State group has declared patriotic songs blasphemous and ordered […]

Rudy Giuliani think that Barack Obama doesn’t love America. Scott Walker won’t say whether or not Obama is a Christian. Both of them have spent the weekend being relentlessly mocked in the press. Why engage these questions? President Obama isn’t up for re-election in 2016, and speculating on what’s in his heart is not only […]

Jared Polis (D-CO) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) have done what would have been nearly unthinkable just a decade ago: seriously propose federal marijuana legalization bills in Congress: Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) introduced the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, which would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act’s schedules, transfer oversight of the substance from the […]

Amanda Marcotte has a great piece on conservative opinion leaders finally stepping up and becoming even slightly upset at the tens or even hundreds of millions being straight up scammed off of scared conservative voters by flimflam artists like Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin. This isn’t a new development, of course. Richard Viguerie and his […]

For decades the Republican mantra on income inequality has to been to deny it matters, both practically and morally. From a practical point of view, conservatives have argued, a rising tide lifts all boats–and what does it matter if some boats are rising much more quickly than others if everyone’s boats are rising? That was […]

It’s easy to mock the various organizations attempting to draft Elizabeth Warren for President. The arguments nearly make themselves: Warren has shown no indication she will run, Hillary Clinton looks more inevitable by the day, and she continues to dominate all her opponents both Republican and Democratic in polling. But it’s hard to fault progressive […]

Talk to most policy wonks about the prospect of artificial intelligence, and eyes start to roll. Religious conservatives aren’t afraid of AI because they don’t believe humans can create truly human-like intelligence. Fiscal conservatives aren’t worried because they see the robotic age as generating more wealth for shareholders, and because they’re far more worried about […]