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David P. Goldman is a senior editor of First Things.

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How Are You Pronouncing “Pyrrhic”?

From First Thoughts

A degree of resignation over the gay marriage issue is evident from the conservative camp, marked by Matthew Lee Anderson’s exchange with Ross Douthat over how supporters of traditional marriage should respond. It seems likely that our side will lose, but in my view we should fight tooth and . . . . Continue Reading »

David Malpass’ Senate Campaign

From First Thoughts

I’ve known David Malpass for more than twenty years. He was a comrade-in-arms in the supply-side wing of the Republican party as an official at the Reagan Treasury Department, and later a colleague at Bear, Stearns (he was chief economist while I was fixed-income strategist).  He’s . . . . Continue Reading »

The Great Muslim Disconnect

From First Thoughts

My old business partner and mentor in supply-side economics, the late Jude Wanniski, used to say that the electorate is like a diamond: it looks cloudy, but if you cut it just right, all becomes clear. Think of “wedge” issues as a diamond-cutter’s chisel. Americans are tolerant . . . . Continue Reading »

The Publicly Employed and the Under-Employed

From Web Exclusives

Here’s a Rooseveltian way to address unemployment now at 1930s levels: Let’s create a National Infrastructure Corps to make urgently-needed repairs to roads and bridges, and put to work the disproportionately blue-collar army of unemployed. According to Shadow Government Statistics, a website that constructs alternate data measures, 22 percent of the workforce is under- or unemployed, right up there with the worst of the Great Depression… . Continue Reading »

Cherchez la Femme

From First Thoughts

A Google search turns up 75,000 hits for the search term “Michelle Antoinette.” That’s sub-viral, but still noteworthy. At the Huffington Post, one pundit denounces New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman for a “hit piece on First Lady Michelle Obama,” referring to . . . . Continue Reading »

The Public Employment Disaster

From First Thoughts

The most important data point in this morning’s employment release—both for economics and politics—is the loss of 48,000 state and local government jobs. That almost wipes out the 71,000 increase in private employment. Because of the layoff of Census temporary workers, the headline . . . . Continue Reading »

Bloomberg and the Clerical D-List

From First Thoughts

For multibillionaire celebrity political honcho, New York’s Mayor Bloomberg is not doing terribly well with the clergy of his city.  At a press conference yesterday morning with the Statue of Liberty in the background, called to support the Ground Zero Islamic center, Bloomberg . . . . Continue Reading »

The Karachity Pakistanis

From First Thoughts

Pakistan’s largest city (and one of the largest in the Muslim world) exploded in riots this week following the murder of a leading politician, and the government has not yet brought it under control. This is a development of enormous significance; it is just this sort of prospective . . . . Continue Reading »