Outside the Beltway

A WaPo writer takes a round-about path to demonstrate the obvious.

Economic growth slowed significantly in the fourth quarter of 2018 from where it had been earlier in the year. And it’s likely to slow down even more.

A new study reveals that the Republican tax cut package passed at the end of 2017 has not had the economic impact the GOP claimed it would.

Wearing Donald Trump’s famous campaign symbol creates a presumption of ill intent. Is that fair?

The government shutdown is beginning to negatively impact the public’s perception of the health of the economy.

Two years of Republican control of the Legislative and Executive Branches has put us back on a path toward $1 trillion budget deficits.

While the political media is spending a lot of time talking about it, the actual impact of this latest government shutdown is likely to be limited and possibly even unnoticeable to most Americans.

French President Emmanuel Macron made several concessions to the Yellow Vest protesters but it remains to be seen if this will be enough to quell the protests.

Trump has reportedly told aides that he doesn’t really care about reports of an approaching crisis of the budget deficit and national debt because he’ll be out of office before it becomes a problem.

The current economic recovery is nearly ten years old. It isn’t going to last forever, though, and that could pose a problem for the GOP in 2020.

It isn’t about foreign policy, it is about self-serving manipulation of the public.

The evidence that the GOP lost the midterms because of public repudiation of President Trump is overwhelming. The GOP will either accept this and learn from it, or they will not.

Now that the election is over, President Trump and his sycophants in the right-wing media seem to have completely forgotten about the “invading” “caravan” of Central American asylum seekers.

The economy may be doing well, but that didn’t help Republicans in the midterms.

National Republicans are worried that the President’s concentration on hot-button issues could end up backfiring. They should be.

Despite the relatively strong economy, President Trump and many other Republicans are relying on the politics of fear to drive voter turnout on Tuesday.

Trump’s words matter.

The economy appears to have grown strongly in the third quarter, but concerns about long-term growth remain.

Donald Trump is talking about a tax cut that appears to exist only in his own mind.

Republicans passed a tax cut bill in December they hoped would help in the midterm elections. It has turned out to be a big dud.

Nearly two years into Republican control of Washington, the budget deficit is headed back up.

Contrary to what they believed back in December. Republicans are finding that the tax reform bill is not helping them in the midterm elections.

The Federal Budget Deficit is set to end the Fiscal Year close to $1 trillion, and to continue growing after that.

Jobs growth in August was slightly better than expected, but still nothing overly impressive.

Donald Trump is a bad, inept, and potentially dangerous President. That doesn’t mean that a ‘soft coup’ inside the White House is the answer to the problem he presents to our democratic republic.

Gary Johnson was a successful two-term Governor in New Mexico. Now he’s making a bid to represent the Land of Enchantment in the U.S. Senate.

Former Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty failed in his comeback effort last night, confirming yet again that the GOP is now the Trump Party.

The Texas Senate race between Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke is looking close, but Democrats should not hold out much hope of flipping this seat.

Jobs growth fell short of expectations in July but was still relatively decent. Wage growth, however, remains stubbornly stagnant.

A powerful political network is distancing itself from the Trump-dominated Republican Party.

The recent report of 4.1% GDP growth over the previous quarter is indeed welcome news. However, taking a look at the data both recent and in the past and there are some reasons to be concerned about GDP growth in general.

Trump’s trade war will claw back 25% of the growth in GDP, slightly more than 20% of the wage growth and more than wipe out all the jobs his tax cuts would provide.

The economy grew at an exceptionally strong pace according to the first estimate of GDP growth, but several caveats remain.

Deficits continue to rise.

New York and several other states have filed an incredibly dubious lawsuit against the Republican’s new tax law.

Despite Republican hopes, the tax cuts passed by Congress in December are not manifesting themselves in increased wages.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 213,000 in June and the unemployment rate rose to 4.0 percent.

Donald Trump wants Republicans to make his immigration policies the centerpiece of the midterm campaign. What could possibly go wrong?

The President continues to enjoy enthusiastic support from the over-65 set.

May’s jobs report was stronger than the previous two months, but not entirely great.

Don’t look for a Trump agenda for the rest of the year. It doesn’t exist.

The first estimate of economic growth in the first three months of 2018 beat expectations slightly, but it doesn’t bode well for the immediate future.

The transformation is complete. The GOP is now the party of Donald Trump. If you’re sticking around and not speaking out against what the President represents, you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.

An essay from earlier in the year by Jacob T. Levy underscores some of the points I recently tried to make about democratic norms in the current era.

Republicans are blaming the President for the fading popularity of the tax reform law passed in December. It’s more complicated than that.

Republicans have been hoping that the tax bill passed in December would help them in the midterms. That’s appearing to be less and less likely by the day.

We’re set to return to the era of trillion dollar budget deficits, and Republicans won’t do a thing about it.

Trump’s tariff plan isn’t going over well in farm country, and that could cause problems for the GOP in November.

Speaking of trade war talk…

The DJIA (and other markets) are not too happy about all of this trade war talk.