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

One question for Ben Bernanke

by Mike Kimel The other day Ben Bernanke gave a speech in which he asked and answered five questions about the Fed: 1. What are the Fed’s objectives, and how is it trying to meet them?2. What’s the relationship between the Fed’s monetary policy and thefiscal decisions of the Administration and the Congress?3. What is the […]

AUTO SALES, PRODUCTION AND EMPLOYMENT

 Auto and light truck sales for September was just reported at a rather strong 14.96 million units. This puts sales back above the strong trend line for this recovery. But it might be more interesting to look at production that has also been very strong. Since production bottomed during the cash for clunkers program industrial production […]

Justice Scalia’s Super Body (And, no, it has nothing to do with the Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause. Really.)*

First, Justice Anthony Kennedy wants to know what possible connection there is between Esther Kiobel, the wrongs she says unfolded in Nigeria, and the United States. The answer the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Paul Hoffman, gives is that his clients live here because the U.S. government gave them asylum. Also, Royal Dutch Petroleum does plenty of business […]

The Devil’s Greatest Trick is Convincing You He Doesn’t Exist

  Felix Salmon (26 Sep 2012): [Secretary of the Treasury and former leaders of the FRB of New York Timmeh] Geithner just isn’t that Machiavellian: his biggest weakness is that he isn’t political enough, rather than that he’s some kind of master puppeteer. Brad DeLong (24 Nov 2009): Geithner is where he is because for […]

Unemployment Rates Across the Euro Area – Tough Times in Key Markets

by Rebecca Wilder Unemployment Rates Across the Euro Area – Tough Times in Key Markets Today Eurostat released its unemployment rate figures for the month of August. The Euro area unemployment rate held firm at 11.4% for the third consecutive month. Spain still has the highest unemployment rate in the euro area, 25.1%, and Greece […]

Conservative roots of Obamacare

by Kenneth Thomas  Conservative roots of Obamacare The pile-on continues. As I discussed in February, Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation wrote a breath-taking op-ed in USA Today (via Don Taylor) denying that he fathered the individual mandate. In fact, his revised 140-page research paper was published January 2, 1989, before President George HW Bush […]