Highlights from the transcript of Rush Limbaugh’s uber-viral Wednesday diatribe against Sandra Fluke (in case y’all missed it): What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a […]

Barry Ritholtz, who generally knows better, blew a gasket at ISDA for yesterday’s ruling that Greek bonds are not yet in default. Specifically, “The International Swaps and Derivatives Association said on Thursday that based on current evidence the Greek bailout would not prompt payments on the credit default swaps.” > Here is a question for […]

Health Care Thoughts: Assaults on Nurses – Celebrity Edition by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt(updated author to clarify) Assaults on nurses are a growing problem, with emergency department nurses in the most danger, followed closely by nurses caring for the mentally ill, substance abusers and elderly patients with dementia problems. It takes a Kennedy though to assault […]

I did a couple of posts a while back asking (and concluding) what would result from the Fed ending their interest on reserves policies. (Not suggesting they do so — just wondering what the effects of that one change would be.) I got a lot of good answers and discussion, but nobody mentioned the very […]

Today’s personal income data release was interesting. Overwhelming, everyone is reaching the conclusion that the economy is strengthening and that stronger consumer spending is a major factor behind this conclusion. But today’s report shows that we now have three consecutive months of zero growth in real personal consumption expenditures( PCE ) — the single largest […]

The U.S. Election Atlas shows the Michigan county by county results for the general election in 2008.  Note that they have inexplicably reversed the normal Red-Blue color coding.   Contrast those results with the 2012 Republican primary results. In the Lower Peninsula, the counties that went for Romney in a big way generally went for Obama […]

by Linda Beale Comparisons of charitable giving among presidential candidates[Hat Tip to Tax Prof] Len Burman, now a professor at Syracuse but still affiliated with the Tax Policy Center, wrote a blurb for Forbes on Stingy Rich People, Santorum-Gingrich Edition, Forbes (Feb. 20, 2012), which was a followup to Caron’s comparison of presidential contender giving […]

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 […]

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 […]