“It does not take a majority to prevail…but rather an irate, tireless minority keen on setting brushfires of freedom and liberty in the minds of men.” -Samuel Adams Just a reminder to readers I’ll be covering the Woodbury Tea Party tomorrow morning. The rally kicks off at 11:00 a.m. in Kennedy Park at the the […]
Money & Investing
John Shadegg: Geithner Needs to Explain Shift
Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ) wants to know why Treasure Secretary Tim Geithner isn’t facing tough questions over his apparent change in positions on China’s request to abandon the dollar as the global currency: (CNSNews.com) – An Arizona congressman wants to know why Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner isn’t facing tough questions over his apparent about-face on […]
Idiot: Geithner Speaks, Dollar Sinks
In remarks before Council on Foreign Relations today Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said the U.S. is open to an SDR linked currency… Geithner later clarified his remarks by saying that “the dollar remains the world’s dominant reserve currency” and that that is likely to continue for some time, but the results of his remarks were […]
George Will: Congress is a Toxic Asset
This is one of the few times I agree with George Will: With the braying of 328 yahoos — members of the House of Representatives who voted for retroactive and punitive use of the tax code to confiscate the legal earnings of a small, unpopular group — still reverberating, the Obama administration yesterday invited private-sector […]
Barack Obama’s 2% Illusion
From the Wall Street Journal: President Obama has laid out the most ambitious and expensive domestic agenda since LBJ, and now all he has to do is figure out how to pay for it. On Tuesday, he left the impression that we need merely end “tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans,” and he […]
It’s Not Just Rick Santelli
White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs would like us to believe that Rick Santelli is an isolated crank who doesn’t know what he’s talking about… As Joel Stein points out he’s not: A lot of optimistic people bought houses near the historic height of the market, say November 2005, for absurdly high prices, say $1.12 million, […]
Michelle Muccio: The People’s Stimulus
The world’s hottest economist, Michelle Muccio, has created a bit of a stir with her simple commonsense stimulus plan, a one-year payroll tax holiday. Here she is discussing the plan with Bill Schieffer of CBS News. Watch CBS Videos Online I like it, a payroll tax holiday would put more money in people’s pockets immediately… […]
Unbelievable: Sallie Mae Refuses to Fogive Fallen Marine’s Student Loans – Updated
I’m at a loss for words here… This is simply unbelievable, obscene, insensitive, awful… I don’t know what to call it: Ungrateful Sallie Mae By Kevin Cullen, Boston Globe, December 18, 2008 Ian McVey could have been anything. He chose to be a Marine. It is not a path that most kids from Weston would […]
Treasury Throws Auto Industry a Life Line???
Damn! What is it with the Bush administration? Senate Republicans rightly stopped the auto industry bail last night and today the Bush Administration decides to use TARP funds to throw a life line to GM and Chrysler. From FoxBusiness: Despite the abrupt death last night of bailout legislation in Congress, it seems the Big Three […]
WSJ: Congress Whitewashing Fannie and Freddie
With all the buzz about the Feds corruption probe of Gov. Illinois Rod Blagojevich it’s easy for things like this Wall Street Journal column to be missed. Whitewashing Fannie Mae Congress begins its self-absolution campaign. Henry Waxman’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met Tuesday to examine “The Role of Fannie Mae and Freddie […]
Mitch McConnell: No
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has broken with the White House and come out against the auto industry bailout in a Senate floor speech: “These are turbulent times for the U.S. economy. Over the past several months, Americans have seen giant companies fail, significant job losses, and, after unprecedented problems in the credit markets, the […]
Will The Auto Industry Bailout Work?
I’ve been so focused on finishing up the projects I’m working before the holidays I’ve only been half attention to the news recently. I completely missed Holman W. Jenkins Jr. latest Wall Street Journal column: The Bailout That Won’t Would you buy a car from Congress? By Holman W. Jenkins Jr., Wall Street Journal, December […]
AP: Bad Economy Helping Internet Scammers Recruit ‘Mules’
From the Associated Press via Examiner.com: Bad economy helping Web scammers recruit ‘mules’ By Jordan Robertson, The Associated Press, December 9, 2008 SAN JOSE, Calif. – The worsening economy appears to be helping computer crooks with one of their toughest tasks: tricking people into opening their homes and bank accounts and becoming “mules” for laundering […]
The $25 Billion Question
Holman W. Jenkins Jr. has an excellent Op Ed piece in today’s Wall Street Journal. Mr. Jenkins ask the one question that no one Congress dares ask… Why is it Ford and GM can build viable auto businesses all over the world but not in North America? A Car Wreck Made in Washington Can Democrats […]
Creeping Socialism: Bush Defends Citigroup Bailout
I’m at a loss for words here… From the AP via Michelle Malkin: President Bush argued Monday that the government’s dramatic rescue of Citigroup was necessary to “safeguard the financial system” and help the economy recover, and he said there could be more such moves if other institutions need help. Bush said he approved the […]