Fox news and Obama. Is this a criminal statement?

Because we can? In an effort to track down unreported small business income, the U.S. Treasury is calling on Congress to create a sweeping new program that would require all credit card companies to report the income of all merchants to the Internal Revenue Service. The proposal, raised in President Bush’s FY2009 budget, would require […]

CoRev sends this note and picture. It is a good thing to see. We can argue what the meaning is on a different day.

Celebrated in a variety of ways, as a day to acknowledge sacrifice by soldiers who went to war, I have always felt conflicted about what to do on this day. It is a day to honor the dead and a day to count your blessings. It is a day to mourn remembered family and a […]

By semi-popular demand (or maybe to satisfy my monomania) I created a links list to my thirteen recent posts at my site under the title (BW’s) Social Security Posts on Angry Bear. This is more or less a convenience for me, allowing me to see at a glance what I have covered, but it might […]

The NYT reports: LOS BAÑOS, Philippines — The brown plant hopper, an insect no bigger than a gnat, is multiplying by the billions and chewing through rice paddies in East Asia, threatening the diets of many poor people. Luis Liwanag for The New York TimesBecause subsidized rice is limited, people must take numbers when they […]

Andrew Biggs responds to Bruce Webb regarding Arne’s seven questions on social security. The site is worth visiting. Thanks Andrew. Over at Angry Bear, Bruce Webb posts a number of questions on Social Security financing and reform put together by Arne. These raise a number of important and interesting issues which deserve treatment at some length, […]

LMS is shorthand for the Liebman-MacGuineas-Samwick Non-Partisan Social Security Reform Plan one of any number of Social Security plans out there but noteable because of its authorship. Maya MacGuineas currently head of CRFB was previously ‘Social Security advisor to the McCain presidential campaign’, Jeffrey Liebman served on Bill Clinton’s Social Security team and is now […]

I keep hearing on CNBC and reading at some blogs that if cars get better mileage that people will drive more by enough to offset the improved mileage. I can see that people could drive more because of the savings. But to argue that reducing mileage by 20%, for example will lead to people increasing […]

Information Clearinghouse gets a h/t for this article in LA Times — – May 9, 2008: In 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his famous farewell address as president, warned of the “acquisition of unwarranted influence” by what he called the “military-industrial complex” in the United States. Today, however, the “large arms industry” of Eisenhower’s day […]