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

FHA reduces Fees Finally

In the latest episode of Barack Unbound, the Obama administration has announced an important executive initiative. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will cut the fee it charges to insure mortgages from 1.35% of the value of the mortgage to 0.85%. It will also try to encourage lenders to relax lending standards. I suspect that this […]

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 […]

Krugman, 1980 And All That

Dan here…Paul Krugman New York Times Dec. 24 notes Robert’s thinking on current story lines by some economists in macromedia.  Other posts by Robert on the subject can be found here, here, here, and here.  Krugman writes:  Robert Waldmann is shocked, shocked, to find conservative economists not doing their homework: Even now, I am shocked that economists didn’t bother to […]

The Oil Choke Collar: 2015 may be the acid test

http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-oil-choke-collar-2015-may-be-acid.html The Oil Choke Collar: 2015 may be the acid test – by New Deal democrat It’s nice to be proven right.  Even more, it’s nice to be proven right, for the right reason. Back in 2011, I described what I called the “Oil choke collar,” writing: For the second time in two years, Oil’s […]

Cynthia Lummis’s (Stunningly) Glib Fraud: A Follow-Up

Cynthia Lummis, a wealthy Republican House member from Wyoming, claims her husband passed away, thanks in part to Obamacare. Lummis cited the law as a major contributing factor to her husband’s demise. Instead of blaming her husband, who could easily have afforded the test (who elected to skip the necessary diagnostic), she blames the best […]

Cynthia Lummis’s (Stunningly) Glib Fraud

The big news story of the last 24 hours, of course, is the Senate Intelligence Committee’s sickening torture report.  But you might also have heard about Wyo. Rep. Cynthia Lummis’s dramatic statement yesterday as a member of Darrell Issa’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Jonathan Gruber/Marilyn Tavenner Obamacare hearing. The purpose of the hearing […]