Here I thought I was fed up with the Empty Suit in the White House: What it says to me is all that matters is Obama’s reelection (see, for example, the pivot to deficit reduction) — when the timing’s right for that, things will happen — but don’t keep your fingers crossed otherwise. If you […]

Maybe the appropriate title for this is: Do as I say and not as I do…. Just listening to Thom Hartman and he noted something that struck a cord (chord?) with me: voter ID, electronic ballots. In the caucuses last night, the Republican party did not require and ID, they allowed onsite registration and hand […]

An organization that is called: American Institute of Certified Tax Coaches has put up a summary graphic of the various tax proposals ofthe GOP candidates. It not only notes the major points of their plans, but what their plans would cost. It is presented in a sort of game board race layout. The Institute introduces […]

What’s a person to do? or ‘Motivated avoidance’  From the American Psychological Association comes two studies here and here. Individuals are often confronted with information that they do not know how to comprehend or evaluate, even though this information can be of critical importance to the self (or society as a whole). In the case […]

In the midst of an essay on Louis C.K., Bob Lefsetz (chez Ritholtz) explains what the Lemieuxes and (now, sadly) Mannions of the world keep ignoring: One of the reasons artists have lost power is they no longer lead.It’s kind of like our President. He’s so busy appeasing people thateven his natural constituency is turned […]

by Linda Beale Gingrich tax ‘plan’ starves government, feeds the wealthy, rests on flawed assumptions In case you hadn’t heard about it, Gingrich would offer taxpayers a choice to pay tax under current policy or at a 15% rate, with zero taxation of capital gains, dividends and interest that accrues mostly to the rich and […]

Lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts: All evidence from the debates notwithstanding, there is a Republican with a brain. Asif Mandvi, reporter for the “Daily Show,” tried to prank Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, asking for a sample of her urine. She immediately forked it over, though it was only apple juice — yazakchattiest. I want […]

Note: I wasn’t going to post this, but after all the flack Willard Romney is receiving about offering to bet his fellow millionaires $10,000, I find myself in the unusual position of being sympathetic to him.  Therefore, the story of the day in early November of 1992 on which I offered to bet $10,000: UPDATE: […]

Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) poses a question that needs a careful look and response: In its top of the hour news segment NPR reported that President Obama hoped that voters would give him credit for avoiding a second Great Depression. If this is an accurate representation of what President Obama said then […]

Here is the speech by President Obama in Oklahoma: Here is Robert Reich’s more optimistic analysis of a speech that lays out issues.