John Tamny observes that the capacity utilization rate has reached 81.3% and wonders why the FED is raising interest rates. Mark Thoma reads Tamny’s argument that we should only worry about world aggregate demand as compared to world supply and says: This is wrong. OK, that statement was actually in response to the tired old […]

King Gyanendra of Nepal is promising to restore power to the people, while KLo is under the illusion that George Bush has ousted another long standing tyrant: If I were Tony Snow, I’d totally give Bush credit for the freedom’s advance in Kathmandu. Maybe KLo should learn more about the history of Nepal: The declaration […]

I received the same email that Mark Thoma received as to the latest from Peggy Noonan. In my view, Mark is too kind to Ms. Noonan. For example – if I had the opportunity to write something for the adult readers of the Wall Street Journal (OK, I bet most of them skip the op-ed […]

Credit to Belgravia Dispatch for catching more Swiftboat smears from Glenn Reynolds: If things were so bad before, they should have resigned in protest instead of complaining publicly once they were safely in retirement and, in some cases, had books to promote. Ah, Glenn – some of the generals did resign in protest. General Zinni […]

We had a couple of data releases this week telling us something about inflation. Today’s release was the CPI data for March, which comes on the heels of yesterday’s PPI data release. Today’s news release showed surprisingly high inflation in non-energy consumer items. For some, this has raised alarm bells: WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. core […]

Jonah Goldberg says GOTCHYA after he read Brit Hume: Former Clinton CENTCOM commander, Anthony Zinni … But in early 2000, Zinni told Congress “Iraq remains the most significant near-term threat to U.S. interests in the Arabian Gulf region,” adding, “Iraq probably is continuing clandestine nuclear research, [and] retains stocks of chemical and biological munitions … […]

John Tamny wants to remind Lawrence Lindsey about the Hume Specie Flow Model: To begin, just as Chinese authorities fix the yuan’s value, so too do U.S. authorities fix the dollar’s value. As the Journal’s George Melloan noted in a recent editorial, “no currency actually ‘floats.’” As opposed to commodities set by market forces, currencies […]

Donald Luskin praises Treas. Sec. Snow with the following: I’ve come to believe that John Snow is doing a terrific job. Since he was nominated by the president in January 2003, he has been at the center of the Bush administration’s best economic initiatives. In his first months in office, he helped push through the […]

The Department of State’s July 9, 2003 continues to be discussed in the PlameGate matter. The latest is from the New York Sun article entitled “No Hint Seen in Memo that Plame’s Role Was Secret”: Contrary to published reports, a State Department memorandum at the center of the investigation into the leak of the name […]

Sensible and honest conservative Bruce Bartlett emails me the latest nonsense from Deroy Murdock: Modest legislation to extend President Bush’s tax cuts for two years, rather than make them permanent, is trapped in a House-Senate conference committee. Such inaction might be understandable if tax cuts actually “ballooned the deficit,” as tax hikers always charge. In […]