The looming government debt ceiling crisis has cause Obama to threaten inability to pay Social Security checks. It’s renewed the debate, which I’ve hashed out many times (here, here, here and here, for posterity’s sake), whether the Social Security “Trust Fund” is a veritable asset or merely a convenient accounting fiction used to hide deficits. [...]

Is Gold in a bubble? The Economist thinks so. But instructive is something they wrote back in 1980, just before the culmination of the last major gold bubble: In equity markets, there is much truth to the saying never sell on a strike. In the gold market, which has become in some ways the reverse [...]

Having “grown up” online — a bit more than most of my contemporaries, as I had the techno-geek life of BBS’ing and AOHell in the early days of the internet — I’ve always had as much of an “online” presence as off. Today, this means that many of my personal hobbies, whether it be making/drinking [...]

…but California is living proof that a supermajority requirement doesn’t “make it virtually impossible to raise revenue,” it only encourages stupid politician tricks.

Today’s post was written by regular commenter Dr. Gregory Tetrault (aka “Dr. T”). Dr. Tetrault is a clinical pathologist who has directed four different medical laboratories since 1989. He was an Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Tennessee Medical Center until 2009. His plan below is, IMHO, a realistic way [...]

One would think that one has very little to do with the other. That is, unless one is Gary Bauer, who seems to be taking a tactic I’ve seen too often out of leftists suggesting that if someone in the private sector wants to fire you for saying something bigoted, that it’s an assault on [...]

I was passed this story by a relative, and thought it was absolutely genius: Would you take advantage of a federal loophole that gives you a free first-class flight anywhere on Earth? That’s what hundreds — possibly thousands — of shrewd travel enthusiasts are doing, in light of a 2005 law that unwittingly created a [...]

Apparently Federal Employees in many jobs are more likely to die than be fired… And we’re not talking the Dept. of Defense here… Of course, it’s entirely understandable, as the Federal Government only hires dutiful, public-minded and competent people: HUD spokesman Jerry Brown says his department’s low dismissal rate — providing a 99.85% job security [...]

From Megan McArdle, a list of reasons why the Federal Government is too big to fail (or even pause): The nation’s nuclear arsenal is no longer being watched or maintained The doors of federal prisons have been thrown open, because none of the guards will work without being paid, and the vendors will not deliver [...]

Many of my detractors may assume that I am someone who encounters the police on a regular basis since I am very critical of bad cops. The truth is personal encounters with the police are very rare for me; it’s very rare that I get pulled over and I haven’t had the cops called on [...]

President Obama and his sycophant Keynesian friends in the MSM can’t quite figure out why his policies haven’t improved the economy. Maybe President Obama should listen to an actual job creator, Steve Wynn to get some clue about why businesses aren’t expanding. Here is an excerpt from Wynn from a recent conference call where he [...]

I have a saying: “When everyone around you seems crazy, it’s probably you.” Useful advice, to be sure. Well, everyone around Paul Krugman seems to be misinformed: Well, here’s a little secret: most voters don’t sit around reading Clive Crook columns or debating the Bowles-Simpson plan. They have a gut sense — things are getting [...]

Can the Republicans trust Democrats and compromise by raising taxes in exchange for spending cuts in this debt ceiling debate? Ron Paul says “no” in his first 2012 political ad. Why not trust Democrats? Ask former President George H.W. Bush what happened to him when he broke his infamous “Read my lips” promise that he [...]

Whether you consider yourself more of a conservative or a progressive (as defined below), have you ever stopped to think about what our culture would be like today if your side had ever “won” the culture war? Would this truly be a culture you would like to be part of? Before I go any further, [...]

Kevin Drum don’t grok numbers. I think we all knew that. But occasionally he goes so far over the edge that it calls for correction, and today’s one of those days. Kevin has taken a handy chart (originally here), and drawn some trendlines onto it to proclaim that we don’t have a spending problem at [...]

“The state is broke. Unemployments about to tank. Public Health insurance has no funds. All other agencies as well. Its a mess. What in Gods name is happening?” — A question from a friend It’s rather simple really… The government spent everything they could squeeze from us when the economy was good. Then, when the [...]

United States Constitution Article 1, Section 7 All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills. The issuance of debt is a revenue raising measure. The “debt ceiling” is, in fact, legislation initiated in the House of Representatives, which [...]

We runs out of da booze: Hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores across Minnesota are running out of beer and alcohol and others may soon run out of cigarettes — a subtle and largely unforeseen consequence of a state government shutdown. In the days leading up to the shutdown, thousands of outlets scrambled to renew [...]

Just last week, a “pro-family” group that calls itself “The Family Leader” laid out a 14 point “Marriage Vow” pledge for G.O.P. presidential primary candidates to sign as a condition of being considered for an endorsement from the organization. Among the more troubling points of this pledge, at least for those of us who care [...]

Now, I’m not one to regularly bang the feminist drum around here… But this is f’ing ridiculous: Officer Sashay Brown returned to work in May after having her second child. At first, she worked a desk job. Soon after, though, she was forced to patrol the city streets under a new department policy that was [...]