This sounds about right: Storms Show A System Out Of BalanceGOP Congress Has Reduced Usual Diet of Agency Oversight Congress… has had little appetite in recent years for executive branch oversight. And now, as lawmakers probe FEMA’s mistakes in responding to Katrina, they are waking up to the consequences of neglect. Government scholars and watchdog […]

Back in August, I somewhat tepidly endorsed John Roberts: Is Roberts really such a bad nominee? His record of arguing before the USSC, plus a bit of time as an appelate court judge, seem to make him well-qualified. And at least by Owen and Rogers-Brown standards, he’s not a giant nutbag. My thinking at the […]

CNN/Money reports: NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Some of the billions in windfall profits going to overseas oil producers are coming back to the United States in the form of foreign investment, according to a published report. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that oil exporters like Saudi Arabia are saving and investing far more and […]

Is the Club for Growth endorsing corruption? In their Tempers Flare in Red China, this club for rich people questions the intent of the Chinese government as expressed in this story: After 20 years of opening and reform, China has now come to a key stage of development,” said Ye Duchu, a professor at the […]

While the Unknown Professor may have a more favorable view of how Andrew McCarthy interpreted this Wall Street Journal story than I did, I agree with his statement: While a violation of insider trading laws requires a number of criteria to be met … at the minimum it requires that an insider initiate the trades […]

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that the starter rate for the one year Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) is now over 5% for the first time since early 2002. Click on graph for larger image. The above chart uses the month end rates as reported by the MBA. Interest rates bottomed in May/June 2003 and […]

I ask simply because of this statement: The weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) indicates that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist appears to have a very good defense to suspicions about whether he traded on inside information in selling his HCA stock. Specifically, there is a paper trail showing he set his […]

NPR recently ran a story about the proposal to increase the nominal price of a stamp from $0.37 to $0.39 noting that this approximately 5% increase will be the first increase since mid-2002. Before Donald Luskin starts wondering about tax increases versus prices increases again, let’s consult with this source for a history of nominal […]

Lawrence Kudlow defends President Bush’s decision to use Federal funds to address the aftermath of Katrina. While I also applaud the President’s decision, a couple of Kudlow’s arguments strike me as absurd: Bush knows, even if others have forgotten, that the terrorists are carefully watching the U.S. government’s response to the natural disasters in New […]

Some of the first signs of Katrina’s effects on the US’s national economic statistics were contained in this morning’s release of the estimates of August personal income and spending. From the news release: Personal income decreased $5.3 billion, or 0.1 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $7.4 billion, or 0.1 percent, in August, according […]