Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Vote

Enough reading blogs. Enough wishing that things were different. Enough obsessively looking for the latest poll results. Enough thinking about what a campaign should or would do. Enough hoping that democracy works. It’s time. Vote. And help others to do the same. Kash

Bring Your Umbrella

For the most part, I agree with Kash’s election projections. New Mexico could also go Kerry’s way. If voters decide, once they get their hands on they stylus/pencil/screen, that they really can’t take four more years of the same thing, then add AZ, MO, CO and WV to the win column (not likely, but on […]

Should Bush’s Economy Earn a Passing Grade?

Avrum D.Lank writes this in Saturday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: With Friday’s report that the Gross Domestic Product grew at a 3.7% annual rate in the third quarter, the economic report card for Bush’s first term was completed. By all historical standards, it provided a passing grade. “Three-point-seven percent is pretty good,” said Thomas M. Holbrook, […]

Prediction Time

Okay, for what it’s worth, I’ll throw my hat into the ring and make a prediction for the outcome of the presidential election tomorrow. Here it is (from the LA Times EV tracker): This will yield Kerry 306 EVs, and Bush 232 EVs. As far as the popular vote goes, I’ll pick some numbers out […]

Income, Spending, and (Lack of) Saving

This morning the BEA released its figures for personal income and spending in September. Personal income increased $15.1 billion, or 0.2 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $9.0 billion, or 0.1 percent, in September, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $49.8 billion, or 0.6 percent. The most striking […]

Reason #5 to Vote for Kerry: Terrorism

So now we come to it: the single most important reason that I’m going to vote for John Kerry. It is the near-certainty that Kerry will do a far better job than Bush when it comes to reducing the threat of terrorism. This might strike you (as it has me) as ironic, given that lots […]

Conservatives & Moderates: Vote Kerry! Vote Gridlock!

If Kerry is elected, he will likely lead a divided government. Although the Democrats have some chance of taking back the Senate, the conventional wisdom says the odds are against it, and also says that the Republicans will almost surely keep control of the House. For some conservatives and libertarians, the prospect of gridlock is […]

Missing Explosives: 1% or 40%?

One of the Bush cheerleader excuses for the 377 tons of missing explosives from Al Qaqaa was that this was only 1% of the total amount of explosives in Iraq since we recovered 400,000 tons of explosives. Jesse Taylor mocks this argument with Math is Fun. But this news suggests the rightwingers have the math […]

Russert Nods as Rudy Lies

Memo to NBC: Fire Tim Russert. Even Sean Hannity would be a better moderator for Meet The Press. Russert first grilled Bob Kerrey, which is fine as Kerrey was on the mark. But did Russert get this question from Karl Rove? But is it inconsistent for John Kerry to be criticizing the missing weapons of […]