The Buffalo Chronicle
Opinion
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PETHOKOUKIS: Attacking corporations for their political views is bad for American business and the economy
BY JAMES PETHOKOUKIS It may seem merely silly, a GOP senator tweeting #GowokeGobroke over Major League Baseball’s decision to pull the All-Star Game from Georgia over the state’s new voting law. Despite the controversy,…
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PETHOKOUKIS: That Senate parliamentarian did Democrats a favor
BY JAMES PETHOKOUKIS More trouble ahead for President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief/stimulus bill? Last week, the Senate parliamentarian told lawmakers that the plan’s proposed increase in the federal minimum wage to…
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ORRELL: What is the CDC waiting for on workplace masking?
BY BRENT ORRELL Masks work to prevent the spread of COVID-19, something we’ve known since early last year back when masking got caught up in the culture war despite the best attempts of…
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ABRAMS: Trump did not extinguish the American dream
BY SAMUEL J. ABRAMS Despite nationwide protests, acts of sedition, utter chaos in governance, constant divisive rhetoric, a global pandemic, and many troubling policy pronouncements, the Trump administration did not destroy the…
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McMAHON: State budget shaping up as embarrassment of riches—for now
BY E.J. McMAHON Governor Cuomo’s Division of the Budget (DOB) and the Legislature’s fiscal committees have agreed to boost New York State’s revenue projection for fiscal years 2021 and 2022 by $2.45…
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HAMMOND: COVID mortality patterns must inform nursing home regulation in New York
BY BILL HAMMOND A closer look at newly released data about coronavirus in New York nursing homes raises questions about what factors contributed to high infection and mortality rates—and what reforms should…
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BARFIELD: In SolarWinds hack, was America the helpless Gulliver?
BY CLAUDE BARFIELD Almost a month after the most recent — and most devastating — Russian cyberattack, we know a bit more about what we know, but still alarmingly little about what…
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SCISSORS: India clings to a failed status quo
BY DEREK SCISSORS Earlier this week, India’s Supreme Court indefinitely stayed new, important farm laws, creating a court-appointed committee to . . . do something, maybe. This has been hailed as prudent and…
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VIARD: Payroll tax deferral ends with a whimper
BY ALAN D. VIARD In previous posts (here and here), I discussed the Trump administration’s decision last August to allow employers to defer the Social Security payroll taxes that they would otherwise have withheld from their…
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PETHOKOUKIS: Why pro-progress policymaking should inform almost everything Washington does
BY JAMES PETHOKOUKIS Economic optimists (like me) who are hoping for a second Roaring Twenties have to concede version 2.0 isn’t starting off so good. Not only is the COVID-19 pandemic getting worse —…
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POMERLEAU: Biden should improve his corporate tax proposal
BY KYLE POMERLEAU Last week, Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won their Senate races in Georgia. Joe Biden will enter the White House on January 20 with a large Democratic…
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HOWELL: Should traditional or social media content include warnings about misinformation?
BY BRONWYN HOWELL The debate over whether social media platforms should be held accountable for ensuring the content they carry is “truthful” (whatever that means — perhaps “not fake news” is a…
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EBERSTADT: Big government’s overlooked Americans: a dearth of data has kept suffering hidden
BY NICHOLAS EBERSTADT Despite the information revolution, the Big Data explosion, and the advent of all-but-universal connectivity, American social policy is dogged by a huge knowledge gap. For years — sometimes decades…
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COX: The benefits of going to a place ‘where everyone knows your name’
BY DANIEL A. COX The ritual of going to a place where one is a “regular” is a cherished one. Sarah Firshein of Eater said, “When you’re a regular, you become a creature of…
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PETHOKOUKIS: The US economy needs more help from Washington — preferably ASAP
BY JAMES PETHOKOUKIS America’s “K-shaped” recovery is a convenient phenomenon for analysts who focus a lot on income inequality, not to mention those convinced America already suffers from severe “late stage capitalism.”…
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KINGSBURY: A roadmap for reimagining education
BY IAN KINGSBURY The disruptions to K-12 education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic spurred Governor Cuomo to announce an initiative to “reimagine education.” This challenge should have policymakers asking what inadequacies have…
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Beyond 230: Reframing the conservative debate over social media regulation
BY DANIEL LYONS Recent tech policy debates have been animated by the surprising push by both Democrats and Republicans to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the cornerstone of internet…
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We should close the revolving door between government service and our rivals’ companies
BY ELISABETH BRAW A group of British MPs wants to restrict the opportunities for former politicians and senior officials to work for foreign companies. The idea sounds terribly protectionist, but it is…
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The tradeoff between civil liberties and public health
BY SITA NATARAJ SLAVOV In April of this year, polls indicated widespread support for lockdowns to stop the spread of COVID-19. Stories emerged of people shaming and reporting their neighbors for even…
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Congress still needs to respond further to the COVID recession
BY STAN VEUGER AND JEFFREY CLEMENS Friday’s data on the October employment situation provides a sobering reminder of the ongoing need for sound economic policy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Labor…
