Aubade
Attention Deficits
Wednesday, 6 July 2011

¶ David Leonhardt examines the annoying habit that business groups have of calling for deficit reduction while espousing tax policies that would continue the bloat. Abundant supplies of (virtual) earwax must be helpful: “When I ask roundtable officials and other lobbyists about this contradiction, they show an impressive ability to avoid specifics and stick to their talking points.” ¶ Steven Davidoff defends Silver Lake — the private equity outfit that Felix Salmon has branded as “evil” — and insists that former Skype employee Yee Lee ought to have been more diligent about nailing down the specifics of his options. We’d like to see a deficit reduction program that nullified private equity’s appeal.