According the a Zogby telephone poll from last week, “voters with active passports prefer Kerry 58% to 35%, while those without a passport are for Bush 48% to 39%.” Perhaps there’s some subtle interpretations of this finding: maybe passport holders are more common along the Canadian Border, and states like Washington, Minnesota, and Maine tend […]

I always enjoy reading Economic Reporting Review, which offers a dozen or so short, mild-mannered, critiques of economic reporting each Monday. Oh, after you’ve read it for a few years, it becomes a little repetitious, and you become a little tired of Dean Baker’s hobby horses, but it’s still well worth reading. This week’s issue […]

Proponents of the Bush Social Security partial privatization plan wish to pretend there is some free lunch as if taking $10 out of the Social Security Trust Fund and placing it into private retirement accounts would turn the $10 bill into a $20 bill. Free lunch proposals are often based on flakey economics or bad […]

While President Bush has asked that these lies be removed from television ads, his words are insufficient. Asked specifically whether the ads by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth should be stopped, he said: All of them. That means that ad, every other ad. Absolutely. I can’t be more plain about it. I hope […]

For some reason, this letter to the editor from Vietnam veteran Jim Russell is in the Telluride Daily Planet instead of the New York Times and Washington Post. Nevertheless it’s a must read: … Three things that are forever pictured in my mind since that day over 30 years ago are: (1) The No. 3, […]

I got this title listening to George Will spin and Paul Krugman correcting the spin on ABC’s This Week. Will excuses the weak economy by saying voters care not about the state of the economy but its current direction saying recent real GDP growth has been strong. Never mind that Bush himself has said he’s […]

On the morning talk shows, one GOP member after another was asked about President Bush’s refusal to honor the request of John McCain in regards the Swiftie ads. Over and over, they wanted to change subject and claim Kerry had no plans regarding the Iraq mess. When reminded that Kerry has made statements as to […]

The NY Times’ Eduardo Porter asks a bunch of economists about the impact of the oil price shock on the economy. The bottom line turns out to be: Undoubtedly, the recent price surge will hurt. But maybe not that much. Most economists have only shaved their growth forecasts slightly. The 30 analysts polled by the […]

Stephen Moore and Phil Kerpen want the readers of today’s National Review to believe that the well to do are paying a lower effective tax rate only because their incomes fell: But the Left continues to work as best it can around these facts. The Kerry-Edwards campaign is now touting a new study by the […]

Postcards from Old Europe – When the past comes back to haunt you The current news backdrop reminds me of the situation faced by Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day. In the movie the main character is caught in a time loop and is forced to relive the same day over and over again. […]