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

A different look at torture

Dan here…Several liberal friends reacted viscerally to the beheadings by ISIS, an appropriate response of anger and horror. It is the simplicity of viewpoint and the conclusions drawn that bother me. by Linda Beale from 2010… Torture, it’s the economy stupid

Courts and executive actions

Dan here…while this kind of post reads esoteric to non-lawyers, it is another example of courts being used to change basic functions of government. In this case on tax court jurisdictions. Lifted from ataxingmatter. by Linda Beale Kuretskis Seek Certiorari at Supreme Court about Tax Court Peter and Kathleen Kuretski submitted a 2007 tax return […]

Senate Torture Report (executive summary)

lifted from Robert Waldmann’s Stochastic Thoughts Dan here…lest this issue disappear, I am taking my cue from an earlier set of posts from Waldmann and reposting here. Senate Torture Report (executive summary) I am starting at page 192 III “Intelligence Acquired and CIA Representations on the Effectiveness of the CIA’s Enhanced Interrogation Techniques to Multiple […]

PGL and the 80’s

PGL at Econospeak adds to criticisms of current ‘Reaganolatry’: Federal Tax Revenues During the 1980’s Paul Krugman takes on another aspect with respect to the latest intellectual garbage from Stephen Moore by commenting on Moore’s claim that Federal tax revenues soared from 1980 to 1989: I have a suspicion that the Post forced him to […]

Krugman and Moore

Paul Krugman points us to problems with economic writing by Moore: Last summer the editorial page editor of the Kansas City Star declared that she won’t be running any more op-eds by Stephen Moore, chief economist of the Heritage Foundation. She had cause: Moore had published an article that purported to refute my debunking of claims […]

TARP Bottom Line

Lifted from Robert Waldmann’s Stochastic Thoughts TARP Bottom Line TARP Books Closed (give or not give less than $ 1 billion). According to Lew, the total profit for American taxpayers on TARP investments stands at $15.35 billion. The NYT report added, “Less than $1 billion in taxpayer funds remain scattered in about 35 community banks […]

Marginal producers of oil?

Yves Smith adds her thoughts on possibilities of the market price decline for oil: When the Saudis announced their intention not to support oil prices when they were sliding towards $90 and plunged quickly through that level, we deemed the move to be a masterstroke. It served to damage both economic and political enemies. On […]