The Washington Post is not a perfect newspaper. Along with most major newspapers in this country, it has been guilty of uncritically reporting the administration’s garbage many times over the past 5 years, particularly when it comes to the administration’s fiscal train wreck. But increasingly, the Post is willing to examine the administration’s statements for […]

David Altig cites the Tax Foundation for “evidence” that a windfall profits tax will gather little additional revenue. David writes: The shortfall from projected revenues in that picture had a lot to do with missed projections on energy prices. But did the tax on U.S. providers of oil cause Russian and OPEC to start supplying […]

You may have noticed (or you may not) that I have remained conspicuously silent on the excellent debate currently going on in the liberal blog world these days regarding the costs and benefits of international trade. It all started at the TPMCafe with a debate amongst Gene Sperling, Alan Blinder, and David Sirota, among others, […]

The accounting problems at Fannie Mae just keep growing. From Marketwatch: NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Fannie Mae said Thursday it’s uncovered new accounting problems in the course of an ongoing review, with the mortgage giant identifying more than $10 billion in issues related to derivatives, insurance accounting and other matters. In a filing with the […]

I always like this query from AB: Speaking of trade, wandering through the grocery store today, I noticed that they were selling tax software. This naturally lead me to wonder why it’s viewed as a great thing when people can do their taxes quickly and cheaply using a computer and software, but a bad thing […]

Lawrence Kudlow finally said something I agree with: While the GOP is attacking oil companies and perhaps reneging on tax-cut extenders, without offering any strong budget-cutting plan, the Dems are thinking about putting together their own Contract with America. While Democrats still have to craft a coherent message, and while their glee may yet be […]

As Kash reports, the California voters pitched a shut-out at the polls yesterday. Among the various Propositions that I voted no on was Proposition 73: Should the California Constitution be amended to require notification of the parent or legal guardian of an unemancipated, pregnant minor at least 48 hours before performing an abortion on the […]

In general, the election results yesterday were good for Democrats, liberals, and progressives, and bad for conservatives. Democrats won the governorships of both New Jersey (unsurprising) and Virginia (a bit more remarkable). Democrats apparently even picked up seats in the VA state legislature; In California, Schwartzenegger’s ballot initiatives were defeated; And in a very rare […]

From USA Today: Democrats won hotly contested governor’s races Tuesday in Virginia and New Jersey on an Election Day closely watched for hints of how the 2006 races might shape up. The victory in Virginia by Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine over Republican Jerry Kilgore came despite an appearance by President Bush at a last-minute […]

I have yet to read Gene Sperling’s new book but how can I resist something with this title. The TPMCare is providing us with some interesting reviews and discussions including David Sirota’s “Do Free Traders Think the American Public is Stupid”.