Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Global Polls

Global Polls OK, so I think the nations surveyed are biased, but I have now seen two polls with roughly similar polls.   So Pew, with a larger base and solid credibility has that among foreign nations polls in their nations data set showed an improvement in favorability rating for the POTUS have gone from 17% […]

Credit Card Interest Rates

Marquette Nat. Bank of Minneapolis v. First of Omaha Service Corp., 439 U.S. 299 (1978). In a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision, the court held states anti-usury laws regulating interest rates unenforceable against nationally chartered banks based in other states. Justice William Brennan: It was the intent of Congress when it passed the National Banking […]

GAG. (And Paul Krugman is just so, so mystified that so many progressives support Sanders. Be mystified no longer, dear professor.)

Dan Crawford gave me the news this morning before I’d already learned of it. He emailed me with the subject title: “Merrick Garland…here we go!” He linked, without comment, to the NYT article on the announcement. I responded: UGH. I guess the idea is that there just aren’t enough super-establishment Supreme Court justices already. We […]

Biden Tips Obama’s Hand On the Choice for the Supreme Court Nomination. (I’m not unhappy about the selection.)

Obama’s choice to replace Scalia, it appears from Biden’s comments this morning, will be Jane Kelly, whom Obama appointed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in St. Louis, in 2013. Josh Lederman of the Associated Press reports: WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is looking to nominate a Supreme Court candidate who has […]

Hamlet’s Decision is Bad News for Janet Napolitano

Okay, I get Joe Biden’s extreme, unabated grief over the death of his son last May.  But there are, in my opinion, no circumstances under which the Hamlet pose, with its many, many leaks from friends, should have gone on beyond Labor Day.  There are, after all, (or should have been, anyway) some important considerations […]

Did Clinton Really Agree That Denmark Is an Inspiring Example for Democrats to Cite?

Denmark isn’t a middle-class, capitalist, entrepreneurial country?  Because it has universal healthcare, free college, free day care, and guaranteed family and medical leave?  Really, Secretary Clinton?  Really? — Me, here, Oct. 14 No doubt surprising many of the people watching the Democratic presidential debate, Bernie Sanders cited Denmark as a role model for how to […]

Harry Reid Throws Down the Gauntlet In Front of … Obama. Hurray. [UPDATED]

Obama pushed forward despite strong reservations expressed by top congressional Democrats — especially Reid — who privately described it as a “bad deal” that would increase Republican leverage in future budget fights. … Reid figured Democrats could get a more favorable agreement if they waited. When Reid saw an offer that Obama had considered pitching […]

On Being Jack Kennedy

Biden’s use of the famous Lloyd Bentsen put-down of Dan Quail—“Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy”—is getting pretty good play among the punditry. (Yay!)  Now, hopefully, Obama and Biden will educate the public about the tax rates on the wealthy and on capital gains in, say, 1963.  And on whether, y’know, America was a European-style socialist […]

Why Last Night’s Debate Will Really Matter—and, yes, it will. [– UPDATE: Dana Milbank GETS IT! It’s a start. Hopefully only JUST a start.]

Not surprisingly, the pundits have concluded that, while the debate last night will stop the bleeding for the Dem ticket—stop the momentum for Romney/Ryan—it won’t make a difference beyond that. People don’t vote for the vice presidential candidate; they vote for, or against, a presidential candidate. And anyway, Biden smiled too much!  And Ryan was […]