Monthly Archives: September 2011

No shutdown this week

We avoided a shutdown for at least this weekend. But will it last? I never like the blanket attack on legislative bodies for failure to enact budgets. Usually the failure is caused by rules imposed from outside (e.g. in California … Continue reading

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Obama, Los Angeles, and Traffic

Obama made a brief visit to Los Angeles (actually mostly he was in West Hollywood, which is a different city) and the local news mostly focused on traffic issues. This happened one day after many more streets were closed for … Continue reading

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Federal shutdown 2001, the sequel

Didn’t we go through this once before? I know the international coverage I got while on vacation in Europe this summer was focused on a shutdown. But I guess it is only the second episode of the soap opera. First … Continue reading

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Tax revenue and tax rates

While listening to the Daily Show, I heard Mitch Daniels (former governor of Indiana) make the claim that revenue “soared” after the Bush tax cuts. (You do need to credit Daniels with raising the issue in the Bush administration of … Continue reading

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Boehner attacks the Federal Reserve

In a continuation of the extraordinary attempt to politicize the Federal Reserve (see yesterday) Boehner has personally attacked the Federal Reserve by blaming it for gridlock in Washington. This from the man who was unable to get the House to … Continue reading

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What is the GOP most afraid of?

Apparently, anything that will help the economy. From the CNN Story: Republican leaders in Congress have asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to refrain from any further monetary stimulus during policy makers’ two-day meeting ending Wednesday. The Federal Reserve is … Continue reading

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Israel, Palestine, and the UN

The issue come down to the basic question: Is it one country or two? As a general rule, I think every location should be in some country (exceptions include the uninhabitable (Antarctica) which are covered by international agreements (though not … Continue reading

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Current Direction of the Economy — What is the direction?

A variety of polls have shown that people are dissatisfied with the current direction of the economy. But the real problem with coverage of this story is understanding what this really means. The primary method to deal with the continued … Continue reading

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Social Security, Ponzi Schemes, and the future

The future potential collapse of the Social Security system has been discussed a lot lately. It seem that almost everyone has accepted that it is going to fail. Since the collapse is accepted fixing Social Security has become the standard … Continue reading

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Rick Perry and Social Secuity

Perry has made a number of incoherent and inconsistent statements about Social Security (it is criminal, it will continue), including saying either make it a state program or put state employees into it (that was his incoherent comment). A lot … Continue reading

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