Weisberg: Blame the Libertarians | Newsweek Newsweek Voices - Jacob Weisberg

What To Do With The Prisoners
Grenville Byford 1/24/2009 12:00:00 AM
We are going to close Guantánamo, it seems, but its inmates are the real issue. Barrack Obama's line from his Inauguration Address ("We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals") was artfully vague. The problem is that American ideals presume such a choice. It was articulated by the British jurist William Blackstone, a contemporary of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. "It is better," said Blackstone "that 10 guilty persons escape than one innocent man suffer." This is the foundation of U.S. criminal law. Clearly, Blackstone's is a doctrine of courage. He knew as well as we do that letting guilty people walk is risky. America, though, has mostly found the courage to do so. What our new president should have rejected—as I believe he does—is the Bush-Cheney assumption that America is a nation of cowards, who will approve anything that might save our precious hides. Reject that and much becomes clear.
FACTCHECK.ORG
Who Caused the Economic Crisis?
Joe Miller 10/1/2008 12:00:00 AM
A McCain-Palin ad, in turn, blames Democrats for the mess. The ad says that the crisis "didn't have to happen," because legislation McCain cosponsored would have tightened regulations on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But, the ad says, Obama "was notably silent" while Democrats killed the bill. That's oversimplified. Republicans, who controlled the Senate at the time, did not bring the bill forward for a vote. And it's unclear how much the legislation would have helped, as McCain signed on just two months before the housing bubble popped.
THE ECONOMY
Bailout Bill Goes Down
9/29/2008 12:00:00 AM
The House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue package, ignoring urgent pleas from President Bush and bipartisan congressional leaders to quickly bail out the staggering financial industry.
DANIEL GROSS
Why Congress Is Failing America
Daniel Gross 9/26/2008 12:00:00 AM
Last night, the troubled financial system had to absorb two fresh blows: the failure of Washington Mutual and the failure of the White House and Congress to reach a consensus on a proposed bailout package for banks like Washington Mutual. The big irony? The failure of a bank with $307 billion in assets, the largest bank failure ever by far, is causing the tiniest of ripples, while the failure of business as usual—who could have imagined that the Bush administration would be unable to bring along its allies in the House and Senate?—is inducing rage and panic among CNBC talking heads.
COVER STORY: BUSINESS
The Captain of the Street
Daniel Gross 9/20/2008 12:00:00 AM
It was a message he never expected to deliver. Henry Paulson—free-market thinker, former CEO of Goldman Sachs and Treasury secretary to a conservative Republican president—was unveiling to the world a massive taxpayer bailout of the American financial system. Afterward, as he headed into yet another weekend of nonstop work with his team, carrying the weight of the troubled markets on his shoulders, the former college-football star was clearly conflicted about what he'd just proposed. "It's very unpleasant for me, but it's a lot more attractive than the alternative," Paulson told NEWSWEEK. "We can spend a lot of time talking about how it happened and how we got here. But we have to get through the night first."
Bushed
Daniel Gross 6/10/2008 12:00:00 AM
On Friday afternoon—with the Dow off nearly 400 points on the day, a gigantic rise in oil prices, terrible unemployment numbers, and rumors of yet more losses at another large Wall Street firm—CNBC began flagging the fact that President Bush would speak publicly about the economy. At the swearing-in ceremony of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston, Bush ignored the economic chaos and regurgitated his standard lines: he cited the passage of the stimulus package. He proposed greater domestic oil production—sometime in the next decade. "Congress needs to pass legislation that expands—that will allow for the expansion of American energy production." He offered tax cuts (or the avoidance of tax increases) in 2010 and 2011. "The last thing Americans need is a massive tax increase—so Congress needs to send a clear message that the tax relief that we passed will be made permanent."