Recently, Mike Huckabee decided to run for president. This means another entry in the Candidate Evaluations series–where we examine a US presidential candidate’s background, policy history, and explicit statements in an attempt to figure out whether the candidate would actually be any good at being president, rather than focusing on electability or likeability, as is common in the mainstream press. There have been quite a few of these, and if the rumor mill holds any truth, there will be quite a few more before the race is over. Previously, we’ve covered:
Author: Benjamin Studebaker
Inequality Under Obama: Where Did The Money Go?
Today I’m continuing the Polished Politics series on YouTube. Here’s the new video:
If you prefer reading to viewing, the text version follows, complete with links to sources.
Continue reading “Inequality Under Obama: Where Did The Money Go?”
The 3 Ways Governments Raise Money Part I: Taxation
One of the things I’ve noticed lately is that there is a lot of confusion about how governments finance themselves. Many people try to make sense of the state’s finances by extrapolating from their own experiences with household budgets or running businesses. This leads to a lot of misconceptions, the most prominent of which is the idea that whenever governments borrow money, they must be acting irresponsibly. So I’m embarking on a 3-part series that I hope will clear things up for some people.
Continue reading “The 3 Ways Governments Raise Money Part I: Taxation”
New Facebook Page
Dear Readers,
It has been repeatedly drawn to my attention that the blog does not have a dedicated Facebook page. In the past, I have invited readers who wish to follow on Facebook to friend me, but as the blog has grown this has become increasingly impossible. In the aftermath of the viral UK election post (which was spread predominately through Facebook) I now recognize that it is no longer reasonable to go on this way. For these reasons, I have created a Facebook page for the blog bearing my name. The page is called “Benjamin Studebaker”. Click here for a direct link. You’ll also find a place where you can “like” it at the bottom of the website, right under where it says “Facebook Updates”. If you like me on Facebook, here’s what you get:
- New blog posts in your Facebook feed the moment I publish them.
- Additional political thoughts I may have that are too long for Twitter and too short for the blog.
- Every Thursday I will share a “Throwback Thursday” post–something I published a while ago that I think is still relevant and important.
You won’t get any irrelevant content, just blog stuff.
I also want to take this opportunity to personally thank those of you who shared the UK election post. There have been over 812,000 hits on it (as of May 9, 2015), and I am gratified by the 160,000+ people who chose to share it on Facebook. I only wish it had been able to have a larger impact on the result.
Thanks again,
Benjamin
Candidate Evaluations: Carly Fiorina
With three republicans deciding to run for president within the last week, I have a lot of writing to do. Today we’re covering Carly Fiorina, who declared on May 4. As regular readers know well by now, the Candidate Evaluations series is about examining a US presidential candidate’s background, policy history, and explicit statements in an attempt to figure out whether the candidate would actually be any good at being president, rather than focusing on electability or likeability, as is common in the mainstream press. There have been quite a few of these–so far, we have looked at:
Benjamin Studebaker 