by Bruce WebbIraq Christians face ‘bleak future’ Christians in Iraq face a “bleak future,” said Kassab, executive director of the Chaldean Federation of America, a nonprofit group that helps Iraqi Christians. “We are heading for a demise,” he said. “It’s getting to the point where it might be an ethnic cleansing in the future.” A […]
by cactus (lifted from comments) Obama is already out there, doing some pre-presidenting so to speak. We’ve already had an opportunity to glimpse what he’s about. So far, he’s been about supporting giving reams of money to the Wall Street Welfare Queen class. I had a post noting that it couldn’t and wouldn’t work as […]
Robert Waldmann In the Washington Post Jane Black has an interesting article on an interesting policy proposal — Agsec Tom Vilsack is opening a discussion of whether federal nutrition programs can be used to encourage (or force) people to eat healthier food. The argument for pro is that obesity is a terrible problem in the […]
by cactus Excerpts From Two Stories About Pemex Story 1, Bloomberg, this week. Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil company, said crude oil output fell 6.5 percent in November from the year-earlier period as production at its Cantarell field declined at a faster-than-expected rate. Production dropped to 2.711 million barrels a day, from 2.901 million barrels […]
It’s the holidays. Time for some color on the AB. Happy Holidays!by divorced one like Bush
by cactus Hubbard’s New Nonsense The only thing that comes to mind after reading this from James Kwak (hat tip: Mark Thoma is WTF: After seeing dozens of mortgage proposals emerge over the past several months, there are news stories that Larry Summers and the Obama economic team are converging on an unlikely candidate: the […]
A Vicious Cycle Ohio and Michigan are falling apart. In the case of Michigan, it is literal. Pieces of bridge deck are falling onto cars on I-94. Infrastructure maintenance is that far behind. To put this into perspective, the two states lost more manufacturing jobs since the start of the 2000-2001 recession than total jobs […]
by Bruce Webb 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government (Report) provides the President, Congress, and the American people a comprehensive view of the Federal Government’s finances, i.e., its financial position and condition, its revenues and costs, assets and liabilities, and other obligations and commitments. The Report also discusses important financial issues and significant […]
cross posted from ataxingmatter Madoff’s ponzi scheme tax losses and union workers’ home losses Wall Street has not had a good year (and of course, the taxpayers have borne the brunt of the resulting chaos). Credit default swaps, for several years the darlings of the industry, have become a giant albatross around taxpayers’ necks, especially […]
by cactus Ignorant Decision Makers in the Public Sector, Ignorant Decision Makers in the Private Sector I once had a rant about attorneys. I noted: I remember something my father, a physicist, once said about Bill Richardson when Richardson was Secretary of Energy. My father doubted that Richardson could come up with a reasonable definition […]