Read and comment on blog entries about the election written by NBR staffers, including Washington Bureau Chief Darren Gersh.

Defense Spending Priorities

posted by Stephanie Dhue, Correspondent on December 1, 2008

War is costly. The Bush administration has been paying for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with "emergency supplemental" spending. Think of it as an "off balance sheet" transaction; it's there, but it's not in the annual budget and doesn't go through the usual appropriations process. With supplementals, defense.... + More

Obama Sets Expectations

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on November 5, 2008

Last night's victory speech by Barack Obama was historic. Not only was it the first time an African American has been elected president, it is also the first time the loser in the race seemed happier than the winner. Seeing Barack Obama on stage in Chicago last night, you... + More

Some Predictions

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on November 3, 2008

The first rule of the prediction game is to predict early and often. That way you have lots of chances to be right and people forget -- hopefully -- when you're wrong. Prediction 1: If it's Obama, watch for early sign that he will resist the more liberal tendency of Congressional... + More

60 Votes in the Senate and What a Filibuster-proof Majority Means to Investors

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on October 30, 2008

By now, most every political analyst in town is telling their money manager clients that Obama is a lock to win on Tuesday. Far less attention is being paid to the Senate. That will soon change, because the difference between a big win and a total... + More

Was the Decision to Let Lehman Fail a Mistake?

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on October 22, 2008

A few weeks ago I wrote that I expected a heated debate over whether the decision to let Lehman fail was the right call. I thought that would be an economic debate. Now I think political scientists will debate whether that decision... + More

Financial Meltdown Brings Worry, Not Panic to Main Street

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on October 21, 2008

It's great to get out of town now and then. The financial crisis had me hunkered down, a siege mentality taking hold. A long car ride was in order. Fortunately, I had the opportunity last week to do just that, visiting Pennsylvania, Virginia... + More

The Financial Crisis and the Next President

posted by Stephanie Dhue, Correspondent on October 15, 2008

Reducing budget deficits will be in vogue again, but it will take a while. Cutting government spending and/or increasing taxes will be politically difficult until we begin to recover from this financial disaster. How long that will take is anyone's guess. The most optimistic scenario... + More

Obama and Business Taxes

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on August 28, 2008

This is a big night for Barack Obama and the nation. It's the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech. This is certainly a night to consider how far American has come on race relations and how far it has to go. War and peace are on the table. The sorry state of our financial... + More

Texting Towards the Future

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on August 22, 2008

When I first got into journalism, people who gathered facts and wrote about them were called reporters. Now we are increasingly called "filters." You know, people who get in the way of a message. Fortunately for politicians and companies, powerful new tools exist to bypass filters and... + More

Media Money and Power

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on June 24, 2008

Follow the money is a good rule in policing, politics and journalism. So let's see where the ad money is going this election. To begin with, check out this table from Benchmark media analyst Edward Atorino. The take away here is that broadcasting is still the most powerful way politicians reach... + More

The Hole in the McCain and Obama Tax Plans

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on June 11, 2008

Len Burman and his staff at the Tax Policy Center have performed a valuable service by crunching the numbers in the McCain and Obama tax plans. The results are disturbing: McCain proposes to increase the deficit by more than $4.5 trillion... + More

Presidential Business

posted by Scott Gurvey, New York Bureau Bureau Chief on June 4, 2008

Just about everyone except Hillary Clinton has agreed that Barack Obama will be the nominee of the Democratic Party for President. And so with presumptive nominee Obama joining the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain, let the games begin... + More

Carly Fiorina on McCain and H-1b Visas and HP/EDS

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on May 16, 2008

Here are a couple questions I put to Carly Fiorina, a top adviser to the McCain Campaign, which I did not have room to put on the air: Would the former CEO of HP press John McCain to ramp up the number of H-1b visas the government offers... + More

Climate Change and the Price of Carbon

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on April 15, 2008

A trip to Pittsburgh has convinced me that the Carbon Economy is real. he defining feature of this economy is that manufacturers, indeed any business, will soon be paying for carbon. Want to make steel, electricity or cars? Companies will... + More

Youngstown vs. Bangalore?

posted by Darren Gersh, Washington Bureau Chief on March 3, 2008

When you think of Youngstown, Ohio, Jim Cossler wants you to think software, not steel. As Chief Evangelist for the Youngstown Business Incubator, Cossler has faith this manufacturing town can compete with Bangalore and Silicon Valley and, in the process... + More