I tip my hat to James Hamilton being the only real economist during this Blogjam at the PJ Corral. The recurring theme from Lawrence Kudlow, Andrew Roth, Paul Hoffmeister, and Russ Roberts was that the economy is roaring – all due to Bush’s tax cuts. Dr. Hamilton, however, properly noted: I don’t agree that the […]

Barry at The Big Picture has a nice pair of posts up on the state of the economy as revealed by economic data (mixed) vs. the state of the economy as seen in Business and Economy headlines (roaring). Worth a read: Part 1 and Part 2. AB

I have two pet peeves starting with a free lunch claim from Bruce Bartlett: The wealthy pay more in taxes when tax rates fall … the share of total income taxes paid by the wealthy has risen even as statutory tax rates have fallen sharply. Bruce’s op-ed notes that the share of Federal taxes that […]

AP reports: WASHINGTON – Valerie Plame, the CIA officer whose exposure led to a criminal investigation of the Bush White House, spent her last day at the spy agency Friday. Neither the agency nor Plame’s husband would confirm her departure, but two people who have known Plame for a number of years confirmed she was […]

Does Jonah Goldberg get it? For some strange reason, he wants to accuse Hollywood types (whatever than means) of having a double standard on torture. His evidence? After all, tactics which qualify as torture for the anti-crowd shows up in film and television every day. On NYPD Blue, Andy Sipowicz, played by Dennis Franz, smacked […]

As illustrated in my previous post, the growth of federal spending under Bush has actually been quite modest, other than in the categories of defense and health care. As a result, if we were to try to imagine what the budget deficit would have been with more restrained spending growth, we find that it would […]

I had the pleasure of seeing this very good movie, which focused on one part of the distinguished journalism career of Edward R. Murrow – his decision to take on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy. Even if you have not seen the movie, the transcript of the March 9, 1954 episode of See It Now can […]

The National Review gives Congressman Thomas space to defend fiscal irresponsibility: When it comes to financial security, “continuity and certainty” are important to America’s households. They are equally important for job creation and economic growth. It is up to Congress to provide Americans with the certainty needed to create a stable, pro-growth, job-creating environment to […]

Jonathan Weisman reports: The House passed three separate tax cuts yesterday and plans to approve a fourth today, trimming the federal revenue by $94.5 billion over five years — nearly double the budget savings that Republicans muscled through the House last month. GOP leaders portray the tax bills — for the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, affluent […]

Are the budget deficits due to profligate spending by the Bush administration? Are Congressional Republicans truly more spendtrift in their ways than French socialists? I find a little historical context helpful in assessing these claims from the right. The chart below shows federal spending broken into several major categories over the past few decades, expressed […]