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

It’s Only the Bottom of the Second: Fearful of Losing My Bet with Lance

Greg Sargent, whose Gatekeeper Job at Kaplan Prep Daily makes him somewhat important in determining the results of elections, cast a pale over my good mood about my dinner bet with Lance Mannion this morning:* Having trouble getting outraged with Romney campaign sending out only good parts of Det[roit] News endorsement. Seems like par for […]

Mandate Up

Mandate Up by The Bell offers some advice to his readers on the mood of the country: Their Promised Approach to Governance Didn’t Work Out So Well for the Last Guys During one of their debates, Nevada Tea Party Senatorial candidate Sharon Angle famously told Majority Leader Harry Reid to “Man up!” meaning he needed […]

Current fiscal deficit hawks…oops!

Projected growth in spending on the federal government’s big health and retirement programs–Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security–dominates the long-run budget outlook. If current policies continue, that spending is likely to grow significantly faster than the economy as a whole over the next few decades. By 2040, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects those outlays will […]

Tax expenditures, tax cuts, and IOUs (bonds)

We have seen the argument from some commission participants (Peterson for one) that Social Security is too expensive for those who need it and pay for it because it is an ‘entitlement’. We also have read from some Congress members (Senators Kyl and McConnel) that tax cut extensions of the Bush presidency are not deficit […]