The Times Spots a Squirrel
The New York Times, the very apotheosis of agenda-driven “journalism,” has a front-page story today that takes up a quarter of that page, above the fold, and half an inside page, entitled, “Not Even...
View ArticleBarack Obama, Negotiator
At his press conference yesterday: The president demanded that the Republicans surrender their most powerful bargaining chip—the debt ceiling—first and then “I’m happy to have a conversation about...
View ArticleAlfred E. Neuman, Scarlett O’Hara, and Wilkens Micawber Advise Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman is in a channeling frenzy in today’s column, entitled “The Dwindling Deficit.” His inner Alfred E. Neuman says, ‘What, me worry?”: The budget deficit isn’t our biggest problem, by a long...
View ArticleSunday Inaugurations and Immortality
Today is the seventh time that Inauguration Day has fallen on a Sunday. As in the past, the president will be sworn in a small ceremony in the White House and the public inauguration, inaugural...
View ArticleThe Twilight of the Unions
Unions had a really lousy year in 2012. Governor Scott Walker was retained in office despite an all-out union effort to have him recalled. Indiana and Michigan (!) became right-to-work states. And now...
View ArticleObama’s Power Grab Slapped Down
President Obama suffered a serious embarrassment today when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously ruled that he overstepped his constitutional powers when he used recess...
View ArticleRE: Obama’s Power Grab Slapped Down
As a follow-up to my previous post, I have now read the decision, and it is a very strong one indeed. All three judges agreed that the Senate is only in recess when it has adjourned sine die (Latin for...
View ArticleThe GDP Takes a Hit
The GDP shrank in the last quarter of 2012, declining a small 0.1 percent. While that is minimal, it is the first negative quarter since the second quarter of 2009 and a sharp slowdown from the 3.1...
View ArticleThe Jobs Report
Well, another month, another mediocre jobs report. The economy added 157,000 jobs in January while the unemployment rate ticked up a notch to 7.9 percent. Those who have been unemployed long-term...
View ArticleObama’s State of the Union
The delivery of the annual State of the Union Address by the president is a high moment of state. But they have seldom been memorable, at least for the speech. Like most inaugural addresses, the next...
View ArticleThe Chelyabinsk Event
Planet earth got considerably more from outer space than it bargained for on Friday. We were expecting the flyby of a small asteroid, about 150 feet across. And it sailed on by, right on schedule and...
View ArticleThe Minimum Wage Folly
There are few policy prescriptions dearer to the hearts of liberals than the minimum wage. In theory it provides a “living wage” to those at the bottom of the economic pyramid and what could be wrong...
View ArticleDetroit at Bay
Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan announced today that he will be appointing an emergency manager to oversee Detroit, which is bankrupt in every way but officially. Its liabilities exceed $14 billion...
View ArticleThe Jobs Report
The latest jobs report from the Bureau of labor Statistics was released this morning. It has some good news in that the unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percent to 7.7 percent, and a net of...
View ArticleThe Strike of Capital
In the 1930s an economic phenomenon known as a “strike of capital” helped prolong the Great Depression. A strike of capital occurs when companies, banks, and individuals with capital to invest or money...
View ArticleBalancing the Budget
I certainly agree with Seth Mandel that the federal budget can never be brought under control without entitlement reform. Entitlements are well over half the budget. And the dates when each program...
View ArticleEPA: Hiding One’s Light Under a Bushel
The Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970, a few months after Earth Day had demonstrated to even the most obtuse politician that the American population wanted the environment cleaned up....
View ArticleThe Gay Marriage Debate
I certainly agree with Peter Wehner and Jonathan Tobin that the sudden shift in public opinion in favor of same-sex marriage is quite remarkable and surely portends that in another generation, same-sex...
View ArticleThe Political Implications of the Increase in Life Expectancy
The new, April, issue of National Geographic has maps of life expectancy for each county in the United States for 1989 and for 2009. (Apparently the digital version allows you to click on any...
View ArticleWhat Obamacare Isn’t
If you would like to know what insurance really is, and why Obamacare (and much private “medical insurance”) is not insurance at all, but an economic and humanitarian disaster waiting to happen, you...
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