The State of the Union ritual is by now familiar to most Americans. President Obama leads the Democratic side of the chamber to a series of standing ovations for proposals that everybody knows won’t become law. Republicans show their seriousness of purpose by smirking or making stony faces — and by inviting as guests to […]
by Linda Beale Let the Wars Start–only when we are willing to pay for them The op-ed page of the New York Times often has some thoughtful items worth reading. Russell Rumbaugh’s A Tax to Pay for War, New York Times (Feb. 11, 2013), at A17 is one of them. As Rumbaugh notes, the slight […]
I’m so surprised, and so happy. There were three or four lines in there early on that I was so happy about, and just so surprised at, that they they brought tears to my eyes. And that last few minutes of the speech–the part that segued from voting rights to gun violence issues and victims, […]
(Chart via Orcam Investment Research) http://pragcap.com/an-alternative-view-on-the-corporate-cash-hoard let me say, however, that I think there’s a very good case that the redistribution of income away from labor to corporate profits is very likely a big factor. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/corporate-hoarding-and-the-slow-recovery/
by Linda Beale The Inequality Gap Robert Reich, former labor secretary, has some worthwhile advice for the President’s State of the Union address: he notes that the focus should be the “central issue you want the nation to help you take action on”. That’s “not immigration, guns or the environment” (though “[a]ll are important”) but […]
Just a quick observation: for the past couple of days I’ve been seeing in a lot of places, including comments on this blog, the assertion that federal spending has risen 37 percent under Obama — that specific number. Does anyone know where it’s coming from? Because if I look at the actual data, I see […]
An exchange between reader nitu mishra and me in the Comments thread this morning to this AB post of mine from yesterday. nitu mishra: Here’s a good article on 2012 Q4 earnings outlook. http://tinyurl.com/investing002 Me: Ah. If only I could actually understand graphs, without having to stare at them for ten minutes or so first, […]
The National Review scoops the Senate GOP’s next move, and note in particular the last paragraph: Frustrated by the months of non-stop budget fights, Senate Republicans are set to mount a fiscal counteroffensive this week with the reintroduction of a balanced-budget amendment. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and minority whip John Cornyn are leading the […]
Speaker John Boehner @SpeakerBoehner House GOP has voted to replace the president’s sequester twice. Here’s why, courtesy @whitehouse: http://j.mp/WzhNgY #obamaquester — Twitter, h/t Politico, Boehner’s office dubs it “Obamaquester,” Feb. 8 Oh, dear. I guess this is going to be a regular thing. A few days earlier, our dignified House Speaker created the twitter hashtag #spendingstheproblem. […]