Overview for News

Read It First On Newmajority

A pattern is forming. Today’s Wall Street Journal carries a story on the Obama Administration’s decision to close the border to Mexican truckers. A story that was covered here at FrumForum.com three days ago. And, today’s Politico carries a story on Obama’s …

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Monday March 16, 2009

David Frum On Meet The Press

An economic and political roundtable with David Frum, BBC's Katty Kay, CNBC's Steve Liesman, and PBS's Tavis Smiley.

Written by David Frum on Sunday March 15, 2009

Mark To What Market?

The debate over mark-to-market accounting – arcane and tedious though it sounds – has become relevant and (relatively) invigorating. The regulatory implications loom large over Treasury and the entire financial services industry. Warren Buffett and Ben Stein, among others, have …

Written by George Craddock on Friday March 13, 2009

Readers Respond

From the mail bag: I seldom get past the first page of most articles in Newsweek. It's my wife's subscription and while I do skim the magazine, I never scan it. Your article in this week's issue held me from start to finish. I am a Marine (left active duty the day before Bill Clinton took …

Written by David Frum on Friday March 13, 2009

Bernie Madoff, Democrat

The Center for Responsive Politics has just released a study of Bernie Madoff's political donations. Since 1991, he and his wife have given $238,200 - 88% of it to Democrats, including Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D., NJ), Hillary Clinton (D, NY), and Ron Wyden (D., OR).

Written by FF Washington Insider on Friday March 13, 2009

They Know Its Not Working

I guess the Obama White House noticed the same thing that I did about top economist Christina Romer's speech at Brookings Monday: that it strongly implied that the administration's economic plans were not working. To counteract the negative impression, WH top economic planner Larry Summers …

Written by David Frum on Friday March 13, 2009

Szia Magyarorszg

My debut appearance in Hungarian can be seen here .

Written by David Frum on Thursday March 12, 2009

Are Republicans Healthier Than Democrats?

In the International Journal of Epidemiology , S. V. Subramanian and Jessica Perkins write that, after controlling for age, sex, race, marital status, religious service attendance, highest educational degree, and total family income, Republicans were 25% less likely than Democrats to report …

Written by Andrew Gelman on Thursday March 12, 2009

Bristol's Myth

The news that Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston have canceled their engagement doesn’t come as very much of a surprise. The arrangement looked from the start like an election-season pretense. With the election decently behind us, the pretense can be dropped. Now Bristol and her baby can …

Written by David Frum on Thursday March 12, 2009

Depression Economics

White House chief economist Christina Romer this week delivered a lecture on lessons to be learned from the Great Depression. Her own words suggest however that she is acutely conscious that her own administration is not learning from them! Details in my latest column in The Week .

Written by David Frum on Thursday March 12, 2009

A Better Stereotype For Republicans

Voters don't think in terms of policy or facts but rather imaginary personalities (Walter Lippmann called them "stereotypes") -- that stand in their minds for a given class of people. Time was, the Republican stereotype was an elderly gent, cigar clenched in his teeth, grousing that the government …

Written by Austin Bramwell on Wednesday March 11, 2009

A Note To Readers - And Especially To Commenters

It's been an exciting week here at NewMajority. It was just Feb. 27 that Rush Limbaugh declared in his speech at CPAC that would-be Republican reformers must be stamped out. Since then, we've had some exciting exchanges with Rush and his many, many admirers, supporters and dependents. The issues at …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday March 11, 2009

Quote For The Day

From Luigi Zingales, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, at Economist.com I am not disputing the idea that some government intervention can alleviate the current economic conditions, I am disputing that a Keynesian economic policy can do it. With a current-account deficit …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday March 10, 2009

Healthcare Healthcare Healthcare

A fascinating article in Manhattan Institute's City Journal reports an amazing statistic: in 2006, New York City was home to 807,750 self-employed workers - about one out of every five non-governmental jobs. These freelancers might have been expected to lean Republican, because of the heavy …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday March 10, 2009

Flat-broke And Busted, Alexandria Shells Out $400,000... For An Ice Hole?!

The city of Alexandria, Virginia is flat busted. The city faces a massive budget shortfall – the worst in 30 years – with potential breakdowns in essential social services looming. In part this financial collapse is owing to the city’s over-dependence on residential property …

Written by Henry Clay on Tuesday March 10, 2009

Frum In Newsweek: Rush Is Wrong

This weekend's Newsweek carries a story by me about Rush Limbaugh and the GOP. Related stories from the NewMajority Scroll : Limbaugh at CPAC The Cringe of Recognition How the Dems Use Rush A reader writes to criticize my Rush Limbaugh piece. A discussion on …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday March 10, 2009

Steele The Moment

RNC Chairman Michael Steele received a lot of media flak for his March 2nd speech at Tavis Smiley's "State of the Black Union" summit. But I watched the summit and saw the speech go over with its intended audience. Seated amongst liberal luminaries such as Cornel West, Al Sharpton and Lani Guinier, …

Written by John S. Wilson on Tuesday March 10, 2009

Gop: It Is That Easy Being Green

As American conservatives struggle to find a new identity, British Conservatives have succeeded in defining theirs. A poll conducted just before Gordon Brown became Prime Minister showed that Conservative leader David Cameron enjoyed a 14 point lead in response to the question of who is “gr…

Written by Jamie Boulding on Monday March 9, 2009

Why Geithner Is Paralyzed

"Saturday Night Live" was not kidding: We're out of ideas . Here's the problem: Today's true market value of the U.S. banks' toxic assets (that ugly stuff that needs to be removed from bank balance sheets before the economy can recover) amounts to between 5 and 30 cents on the dollar. To …

Written by David Frum on Monday March 9, 2009

A Reader's Reproof

A reader writes to criticize my Rush Limbaugh piece: I'm broadly sympathetic to the Frum Forum's overall project. I agree that the worst course of action right now is to keep shouting the mantras of 1979; I agree that the worst posture right now is one of rank, unthinking oppositionism. And I …

Written by David Frum on Monday March 9, 2009