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

Still Alive

In case anyone is wondering, I’m still around; I’ve just been really busy. Unfortunately, this isn’t likely to change any time soon. On the plus side, it looks like Kash and PGL are keeping the A material coming. AB

Bush v. DeLay on IRS Funding

Tom DeLay’s idea of fiscal responsibility is to put the IRS out of business. From a Tax Analyst report: While the White House on September 14 expressed concern over weak IRS funding in the House’s Treasury/Transportation spending bill, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said he was dissatisfied with the IRS…A statement of administration policy […]

Kerry Lays It Out

From the NYTimes a couple of hours ago: In a tough-worded, focused attack, Senator John Kerry lashed out at the Bush administration today over tax policy, jobs, the economy and health care. Mr. Bush has “created more excuses” than jobs, Mr. Kerry said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Detroit Economic Club. “His is […]

Fafnir’s breaking news on the Killian memo controversy

Fafnir shows investigative reporters how it’s done. With all the controversy as to whether the alleged Killian memos released by CBS were fake, Fafnir has the brilliance to go directly to the central figure in this swilling controversy: the IBM Selectric Composer in question. Check here to see if his interview cleared this up.

“Conservative economist” on Bush’s tax agenda

Martin Wolk’s Kerry, Bush differ sharply on tax policy is an interesting read for a number of reasons – especially his suggestion tha the national sales tax idea is still being considered by the GOP leadership. I find the following both intriguing and insulting for reasons noted below: A recent article in The New Yorker […]

Context

According to the White House web page, Bush’s proudest economic accomplishment is this: “The economy has posted job gains for each of the last twelve months – creating nearly 1.7 million jobs since August 2003.” This is the boast they put at the top of the page, and the achievement that Bush mentions in every […]

A Real Economic Plan

John Kerry has a piece in today’s Wall Street Journal outlining the core of his economic proposals. If you want to see a list of some meaningful economic policy changes, read the article (free registration required). No, not every single item that Kerry proposes is perfect, and not all of them will necessarily make much […]

National Review Accuses Greenspan of Luddism

Luddism is attributed to English workers in the early 1800’s who felt technological progress threatened their jobs. I seriously doubt that Alan Greenspan is a Luddite, but Thomas Nugent writes: in the hearing last week one Democratic congressman went to great lengths to graphically depict employment growth during the Bush years. His aim seemed to […]

Underreporting Number of Wounded in Iraq

We at the Angrybear have argued that as President Bush emphasizes the benefits of his decision on 3/19/2003 to invade Iraq, we should also be mindful of the enormous costs. It is not simply the budgetary costs but also the costs in terms of lost lives both in terms of the over 1000 American soldiers […]

Marketing Bush’s Failure in Iraq

From Josh Marshall: Kerry needs a catch phrase or catch question about the Iraq war, one that provides offense against President Bush’s oft-stated, extremely lame, but also somewhat effective line that the world is safer with Saddam Hussein out of power. In political rhetoric, coherence and clarity almost always trumps substance. So substance must be […]