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

Student loans

The Project on Student Debt at The Institute of College Access and Success (ticas.org) reports: The current credit crunch has students and parents concerned about whether they will be able to get the loans they need to cover college costs. The good news is that federal student loans are and will remain widely available to […]

Admiral Fallon retires early

An admiral takes on the White House: By Gareth Porter WASHINGTON – A new article on CENTCOM commander Admiral William Fallon confirms that his public statements last autumn ruling out war against Iran were not coordinated with the White House and landed him in trouble more than once with President George W Bush and Vice […]

Karl Rove swears….

Think Progress carries this report on Rove in Iowa. The links, which provide much better context, did not port to here, so go have a look should you desire. Karl Rove, former senior aide to President Bush, spoke to a hostile crowd at the University of Iowa yesterday evening. Students and local citizens protested his […]

DoD and the GAO

CORRESPONDENCEStatus of Selected Aspects of the Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program. GAO-08-270R, March 11 http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-270R LETTER REPORTJoint Strike Fighter: Recent Decisions by DOD Add to Program Risks. GAO-08-388, March 11http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-388Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08388high.pdf TESTIMONYDefense Management: DOD Needs to Reexamine Its Extensive Reliance on Contractors and Continue to Improve Management and Oversight. GAO-08-572T, March 11http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-572THighlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08572thigh.pdf Joint […]

Spitzer and the OCC – Who you gonna call?

OCC press release WASHINGTON Feb. 14, 2008 — Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan issued the following statement today, responding to comments from New York Governor Eliot Spitzer:Almost everyone who has paid attention to the subprime lending crisis has concluded that OCC-regulated national banks were not the problem. Instead, the worst abuses came from […]

Tina Fey gets a little backup…AMEX promises nothing to cactus

Tina Fey or John MacEnroe over at AMEX should give cactus a call. Is this related to the change in bankruptcy law on Chapter 7 escape clauses? Less backup for the customer. Keep posted. Naked Capitalism might be exposing the economic model prior to the credit crunch still being implemented. As wards of the state […]

Another voice on unemployment rate issues

Inflation USA (Ivan Kitov) comments about : Andrew Samwick at VoxBaby posted on unemployment rate “What the unemployment rate misses? “. This post obtained a relatively high visibility and was commented on by Angry Bear and Big Picture. I think that this approach is slightly biased and misleading . What we really need (to consider)is […]

‘Winter Soldiers’ Hearings

Notice has been given to be aware of the Winter Soldiers hearings testimony to be given March 13 to March 16. On another blog it was mentioned that liberal blogs never posted videos made by terrorists that showed beheadings, dismemberments, and other atrocities. Which as far as I can tell is true. They are mostly […]

INT’L RATE SPREADS &THE DOLLAR

Here are some charts to demonstrate what I was talking about. the recent drop in US bond yields has not been accompanied by a similar drop in European rates.Consequently the spread between US and foreign bonds has narrowed and it no longer compensates foreigners for the currency risk they take when investing in the US.The […]