By Paolo von Schirach May 19, 2012 WASHINGTON – On May 16 former US President George W. Bush made a speech in Washington, DC at the “Celebration of Freedom”, an event aimed at presenting the Freedom Collection, interviews with freedom activists. Here is an excerpt from his remarks.
By Paolo von Schirach May 17, 2012 WASHINGTON – I am quite uneasy with the hype surrounding the Facebook IPO. I thought I was in a minority of one when I saw an equally skeptical The Wall Street Journal op-ed piece by Rich Karlgaard, Forbes publisher. (The Future Is More Than Facebook, May 17, 2012). Well, [...]
By Paolo von Schirach May 7, 2012 WASHINGTON – Watching on C-SPAN, (the meritorious public affairs TV channels), a session of the US House Budget Committee was quite depressing. There was no real debate on the issues aimed at getting to some constructive policy outcome. I heard only prepackaged slogans and a lot of predictable posturing.
By Paolo von Schirach May 6, 2012 WASHINGTON – When discussing illegal immigrants from Mexico, for some reasons the conversation becomes immediately emotional. And the latest May 4, 2012 Bill Moyers show on PBS is no exception. Moyers had a an excellent guest, author Luis Alberto Urrea. Urrea has the admirable, almost magic, quality of giving life to the harrowing experiences [...]
By Paolo von Schirach April 28, 2012 WASHINGTON – The interview on the Charlie Rose show broadcast on PBS (US Public Television Stations) and Bloomberg TV sounded intriguing. The two authors, Nick Hanauer and Eric Liu were there to discuss their new book “The Gardens of Democracy, A new American story of citizenship, the economy [...]
By Paolo von Schirach April 26, 2012 WASHINGTON - Trying to minimize the Secret Service Colombia prostitution scandal, as President Obama did on a TV show (“just a couple of knuckleheads”) may be politically expedient, just a few months before the elections. But it is not a good way of disposing of an egregious episode revealing a surprising level [...]
By Paolo von Schirach April 10, 2012 WASHINGTON – By dropping out of the Republican Party nomination process, Rick Santorum did the only sensible thing he has done in a campaign founded mostly on preposterous, sentimental and hopelessly archaic themes. The scary part is not that another out of step with the modern world politician wanted to run on family [...]
By Paolo von Schirach April 9, 2012 WASHINGTON – Professor Walter Russell Mead believes that all this talk about “American decline” is incorrect. (The Myth of America’s Decline, The Wall Street Journal, April 9, 2012). The real issue –he claims– is the decline of the Trilateral System, ( the US, Europe and Japan), that shaped the [...]
By Paolo von Schirach April 3, 2012 WASHINGTON – After primary wins in Maryland, the District of Colombia and Wisconsin, it appears that Mitt Romney has turned a corner. It seems now that the Republicans are finally getting the message that this acrimonious and bitterly contested primary season is not advancing their objective of creating a compelling anti-Obama [...]
By Paolo von Schirach Related story: http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2011/09/30/the-buffett-rule-is-pure-demagoguery-taxing-the-rich-more-in-america-would-do-nothing-to-spur-enterprise-the-only-engine-for-investments-and-jobs-creation/ March 20, 2012 WASHINGTON – I wrote a while ago (see link above) that the “Buffett rule” is just feel good populism. The ”Buffett rule” is a proposed tax code change that would require the few very wealthy Americans who are taxed at a low rate because their money comes from [...]