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

The Cliff’s Notes for my post from yesterday subtitled “Does Romney’s Economic Plan Violate State Sovereignty?”*

The post garnered only one comment, from kharris, who complained that the post was incomprehensible and asked whether it was intended as facetious, and whether I could give a Cliff’s Notes version of it.  I can and did.  I wrote: [The] post was not intended as facetious, although I’m sure it will be taken that […]

International Law, As Established At Nuremberg*: The ACTUAL Grounds On Which the Supreme Court Will Rule For Shell Oil’s Parent Company In Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum

In her post earlier today on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, the sort-of-Citizens–United-like case argued yesterday in the Supreme Court, Linda discusses the issue that was supposed to be the one that the Court would decide, because, well, that was the issue that the lower appellate court, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, decided.  The […]

The Supreme Court’s corporate monsters–if money buys them "free speech" rights, can it help them avoid giving others human rights?

by Linda Beale The Supreme Court’s corporate monsters–if money buys them “free speech” rights, can it help them avoid giving others human rights? The Supreme Court decided in Citizens United that corporations could intevene to influence elections–giving money and aide to their selected candidates. This was an inordinate broadening of corporate “personhood”, claimed to be […]

Twenty-Six Republican State Attorneys General v. W. Mitt Romney (subtitle: Does Romney’s Economic Plan Violate State Sovereignty?)

Okay, folks.  The title of this post is not really also the title of a lawsuit.  Not formally, anyway.  But it could suffice as the title for the final hour of the six hours of oral argument in the Supreme Court late next month on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  […]

by Mike Kimel I haven’t written anything about Greece, largely because I’ve never been there, haven’t looked at Greek data, and otherwise until now have had no reason to think I have something useful to say about it. But reading this Tyler Cowen post, I realized that perhaps I have an insight to share because […]

Rick Santorum’s tax policies and more–imposing his moralizing choices on all

by Linda Beale Rick Santorum’s tax policies and more–imposing his moralizing choices on all Rick Santorum is a man who seems to hold sincerely held religious beliefs. The problem is that he thinks everybody that matters holds (or should hold) the same beliefs that he does, or at least should be forced to live in […]

American Enterprise Institute’s Arthur Brooks on budgets and taxes

by Linda Beale American Enterprise Institute’s Arthur Brooks on budgets and taxes Arthur Brooks of the American Heritage Institute had an op-ed in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, “Obama’s Budget Flunks the Marshmallow Test” (Feb. 24, 2012), at A13, in which he claimed that “unfunded entitlements to the middle class, runaway deficits to be repaid in […]

… And Whom Would President Romney Pay Off? Do Tell!

Car sales “are growing so fast that Detroit can barely keep up,” according to an AP report published this evening bearing a Detroit dateline.  “Three years after the U.S. auto industry nearly collapsed, sales of cars and trucks are surging. Sales could exceed 14 million this year, above last year’s 12.8 million.” The report says that as a […]