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Nolan McCarty's Blog

Andy’s post below alerts me to Nolan McCarty’s new blog. Find it here. There is already a steady stream of interesting posts. Some tidbits:

… government intervention that tries to hold bad executives accountable has its own problems. It generates huge incentives for companies and executives to cultivate political favoritism to avoid punishment — pay-to-play writ large. (here)

For eight years now, congressional Democrats have been (rightfully) criticizing President Bush for abusing and expanding his exective powers. So how ironic is it that they now call upon him to violate the expressed will of Congress and use TARP funds (i.e. the first $700 billion) to bail out the automobile industry? (here)

…The 110th House was not only the most liberal since the New Deal, but the percentage of liberals has been increasing for some time. (here)

Recommended.

Comments

The idea that Bush has increase his power is way over blown in my opinion. He hasn’t done it any more than Clinton. He certainly hasn’t done it as much as FDR or LBJ. Unchecked centralized power is always bad imo, but historically, Bush’s consolidation of power is negligible.

does this take into account his historically ambitious use of signing statements to subvert the purpose of legislation without being subjected to potential veto-override?

if you read some of those things, and if they are at all binding, i’d say his power was practically limitless.

David and Joel,

Thanks for your comments, but I bet you’d get a more informative response if you left them on Professor McCarty’s blog too.

perhaps, but at what cost?

another click, and then actually reading the article?

yikes, man. were i truly interested in productive intellectual exchange, i would be grading finals.