Peggy Noonan puts her finger on why Mitch Daniels and Chris Christie have been able to make recent speeches on fiscal responsibility that were so compelling: Everyone knew they meant it. Everyone knew they’d been living it. She quotes this … Continue reading →
On the topic of the budget fights, the NY Times becomes unintentionally humorous.
Continue reading →This could be the beginning of wisdom for Andrew Sullivan. Or, depending what you think of Sullivan, the return to wisdom. Or just a temporary return to wisdom. Sullivan’s disillusion with Obama seems to have been generated by the President’s … Continue reading →
I’m not sure why the big deal about Obama’s submitted budget. After all, no one expected it to have any substantial deficit-cutting teeth in it. And, with Republicans controlling the House, it’s merely the opening gambit in a chess game. … Continue reading →
The state of Maine has requested that it be exempted from that portion of Obamacare, about to go into effect soon, which dictates that “insurers must devote at least 80 percent of the premiums they collect to medical claims or … Continue reading →
And one can hardly blame them: “The return of the mark? I can imagine that we could see the rise of a German Tea Party focusing on precisely this issue,” says Thomas Mayer, chief economist at Deutsche Bank, referring to … Continue reading →
It seemed to come out of nowhere, as all these mammoth bills have lately—all two thousand pages of it. For a few days it caused a commotion, but now it has vanished as mysteriously as it came. Or maybe not … Continue reading →
The sticking point at the moment seems to be something to do with tacking on a raise in the estate tax, but you try to figure it out (see also here). It should never have come to this, of course; … Continue reading →
Maureen Dowd seems deeply offended by Sarah Palin’s shooting a moose on the latest episode of her TLC Alaskan show (actually, Dowd seems to be deeply offended by nearly everything Palin does, including drawing breath). You may wonder why I … Continue reading →
We’ve gotten so unused to Congressional deals during the past couple of years (except among the Democrats themselves, to get votes from Blue Dogs) that the prospect of this one seems odd and novel. But the Dems are poised to … Continue reading →
Lots of blah, blah, blah in Washington about whether or not to extend those Bush tax cuts, and to whom, and for how long. The problem with arguing about such things, of course, is that no one really knows what … Continue reading →
Send not to know for whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee. The more Europe yokes its economies together, the more likely it is that problems with one country will pull the others down. The idea, of course, was … Continue reading →