Four More Days to Secure Iraq Today there was another major car bombing in Baghdad. That reminded me of the report issued this summer by a team of experts hand-picked by the Pentagon to assess the situation in Iraq. The group, led by former Assistant Defense Secretary John Hamre, concluded that the U.S. administration in […]

Economists For Dean I’m not one (yet), but if you like Howard Dean and you like numbers then you’ll love Economists for Dean: We are a growing network of economists who believe that Howard Dean is the man to beat George W. Bush in 2004 and end what George Akerlof, 2001 Nobel laureate in economics, […]

Joe Wilson Following in Josh Marshall’s footsteps, Salon now has an interview, by Dave Talbot, of Joe Wilson. Here’s something interesting that answers a question I’ve pondered a few times: TALBOT: Why did you contribute to both campaigns? WILSON: Well, I take great pride in being an American, and I don’t believe either party has […]

Economists Who Should Know Better Via the new Bush Blog, Max Sawicky caught a WSJ editorial (editorial here, subscription required) by three very sharp labor economists who should know better. Max gives their argument a quick drubbing and then issues a powerful warning to academic economists: The greatest threat to academic economists is the chance […]

The Arnold Effect in Germany From Reuters today: The straight-talking Hollywood action star’s election win in California has had an electrifying impact on Germany, leading to calls Friday for top politicians to voice clear ideas in simple language or be swept away at the polls. “The more confused we are by what they say, the […]

Producer Prices are Still Not Rising Unfortunately, the US still appears to be flirting with deflation. The BLS released new PPI numbers this morning, showing no increase in prices (excluding food and energy): The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today that the seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index for Finished […]

This Isn’t Your Father’s IMF Yesterday I came across this tidbit, published yesterday by the IMF. It’s a synopsis of a speech made by Peter Heller, IMF Deputy Director for Fiscal Affairs: Over the last decade, the IMF has moved forcefully to integrate issues of poverty reduction into the mainstream of its policy objectives in […]

Help President Bush MoveOn.org has had some so-so ideas, and some very clever ideas. I like this suggestion that it just sent out to its members yesterday: President Bush told the press on Tuesday that he doesn’t “have any idea” whether the senior administration officials who blew a CIA operative’s cover will ever be found. […]

Texas Nearly Redistricted In the end, it took the exterminator-turned-Congressman, Tom DeLay, to iron out the differences among the Texas Republicans over how best to divvy up the spoils of John Whitmire’s cowardice (Whitmire is the Texas Senator who returned to Texas and gave Republicans a quorum): …House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) spent three […]

What a Difference 30 Years Makes The Washington Post has Nixon Tapes excerpts mentioning current Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld: Using the Nixon Tapes — the gift that will forever keep on giving — Mann found Nixon one night fretting about “the Rumsfeld problem.” …In an April 7, 1971, chat, Nixon, Kissinger and then-Chief of Staff […]