Inside Bachmann's Brain
Where is Michele Bachman coming from? What does the latest Tea Party champion really stand for? Ryan Lizza attempts an answer in a em> New Yorker profile.
Another Conservative Economist Goes Rogue
Carmen Reinhart is the co-author with Kenneth Rogoff of the immensely important history of financial crises, This Time It's Different . (Read it!) She's married to AEI Senior Fellow Vince Reinhart, the former senior Fed official cited in this space yesterday . If the words "free-market …
Signs of Progress
Charles Krauthammer endorses abolishing both the healthcare exclusion and mortgage interest deductibility. Add a carbon tax or VAT and you've got a Republican offer enticing enough to gain meaningful Democratic concessions on entitlement spending - while still meeting Republican goals of holding …
Is it 1937 Again?
Ezra Klein asks a good question : Where will the recovery come from? The problem is that no one has an answer. And as one hopeful hypothesis after another is dashed, the markets are beginning to panic. It won’t come from the United States. Our recovery has slowed, and updates to the …
Were Our Enemies Right?
In February 1982, Susan Sontag made a fierce challenge to a left-wing audience gathered at New York's Town Hall: Imagine, if you will, someone who read only the Reader’s Digest between 1950 and 1970, and someone in the same period who read only The Nation or The New Statesman . Which …
Not All of Today's News is Bad!
Ukraine to save bears from forced vodka drinking. Of course it's also possible that the bears only said they were forced, after they were caught.
Incentives, Not Punishments
... are the best response to the obesity problem, argues David Gratzer in the Washington Times: In the British “pounds for pounds” experiment, about 400 people were paid to lose weight. On average, the program cost about $300 per participant. Forty-four percent of participants finished …Why No Questions for Rick Perry?
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has taken some heat for his low profile during the debt-ceiling debate and then his having-it-both-ways comments afterward. Fair enough. But why no heat at all for Romney's current leading rival, Texas Gov. Rick Perry? The Austin American-Statesman …
Not The Onion
This is the Washington Post's emailed bulletin report on the budget debate: Asked for single-word characterizations of the budget negotiations, the top words in the poll — conducted in the days before an apparent deal was struck — were “ridiculous,” “disgusting” and “stupid.” Overall, …Republicans Win the Spin Cycle
It's going to be hard for Democrats to depict the Republicans as extremist and irresponsible when President Obama is hailing the results of the debt-ceiling showdown as a "bipartisan deal to avoid default and reduce the deficit."Too Soon Old, Too Late Wise
I wish my defense hawk friends at the American Enterprise Institute and the Weekly Standard had discerned before it was too late that a budget framework that calls for: (1) no additional revenues and (2) big cuts in discretionary spending, is not a hospitable climate for a robust defense budget. …
#Winning!
I listened to about 45 minutes of the first hour of Rush Limbaugh in the car today. The dominant theme of the hour, repeated over and over: "You" - meaning, Limbaugh listeners - are not "losers." It's Obama's who's a "loser." The word "loser" must have been repeated dozens of times, half as …
Debt Crisis? Really?
As of this morning, international investors stood ready to lend money to the US government for 10 years at a rate of 2.94%. They would lead for 2 years at a rate of 0.41%. And we're supposed to believe that it's markets that are forcing this borrowing crisis?How to Profit From the Debt Apocalypse
Those inclined to speculate can buy credit default swaps on US debt. Warning: the price has already reached a record high, reports the FT.One Question for Boehner Plan Supporters
Jen Rubin at the Washington Post has 10 questions for critics of the Boehner plan. I have just one question for the plan's supporters. And it is: If the Boehner plan is adopted, exactly what has been accomplished from a Republican point of view that could not have been accomplished by …A Famous Victory
Look, I know that it's urgent that we all pretend to believe that the Boehner plan represents a famous victory for fiscal conservatism. My question probably comes under the heading of "too soon." But ... ... should the Boehner plan become law, what exactly has this debt ceiling showdown …The People Speak
A friend vacationing in North Carolina sends this. He and his family had chartered a fishing boat. He got into conversation with the captain about the confrontation in Washington. My friend says: "You have to imagine an old weathered guy who has lived in coastal Carolina all of his life. Voted …Not Got the Votes?
Talking Points Memo summarizes the major internal opponents John Boehner faces as he tries and fails to whip the votes for his plan to raise the debt ceiling. It's the Chamber of Commerce v. Freedom Works. Also Sen. Lindsey Graham v. Rep. Allen West - although in the Graham-West case, each is …
The Obamas Should Fire the Press Aide...
who released this photo: I'm sure the Obamas are not the first First Family to go barefoot in the White House. Or to scatter plastic cups on the furniture and rugs. Or to eat junk food from the plastic platters. On the White House ottomans. But they're the first to put the evidence on …
How to Protect Your Finances in a Default
Six months ago I thought a federal default unthinkable. Default now seems all too sadly possible. How can individuals protect themselves from the economic consequences of a worst-case scenario? Some thoughts: In a default, cash will be worth less (because the dollar will plunge), and debt …