Kevin Drum, in response to a Tyler Cowen post explaining that we have very little evidence that fiscal stimulus actually works, suggests we try it anyway: But do we need examples? I’d argue that we’re basically in terra incognita today. In the postwar era, we’ve virtually never seen an industrialized country, let alone the whole [...]

Don’t think it’s just Wall Street & the Big 3, everyone’s coming for this: “We’re talking a significant bump up in Pell,” says Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. The association is one of the organizations signing on to a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, [...]

One thing that disturbs me to no end is the way despotic Communist serial killers like Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Mao Zedong are iconic figures in American pop culture. When I see someone wearing Che’s ugly mug on his/her chest, I want to ask him/her: “Do you really have any idea who this man was [...]

Prior to the election, the question loomed — would a potential Obama administration govern as a political moderate? The recession and financial crisis have solidified the answer… FDR and LBJ may have nothing on BHO! President-elect Barack Obama is focusing his economic recovery strategy on making the biggest investment in the nation’s infrastructure since President [...]

You know, Nouriel Roubini is smart. I’ve long believed that we should never treat those in opposition* like dullards, because that leads to sloppiness in fighting them. But I just don’t know how a smart person — an economist — can advocate the nationalization of our auto industry with a straight face. “We’re spending $2 [...]

Dear Senator Kerry, I was aghast to read your response to my email on the subject of requiring people to get Federal government approval to work.  It is the sort of totalitarian policy I would expect from some right wing fascist dictatorship. I am especially stunned see a former nominee of the Democrat party send [...]

But maybe I can make use of this too: The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department on Tuesday unveiled a plan to pump $800 billion into the struggling U.S. economy in an attempt to jumpstart lending by banks to consumers and small businesses. The government hopes that these initiatives will enable more money to flow to [...]

While I am a vociferous opponent of socialized medicine or even some of the mandated-coverage plans floated by the left-ish folks in society, you’ll not find me defending our current healthcare system in America. Why? Because it’s “our healthcare system”, and not anything approaching a free market. Through coverage mandates, Medicare, restrictions, licensing, employer-sponsored healthcare [...]

President-Elect Obama has already signaled his support for a Federal bailout for the automobile industry, but that only seems to be the beginning of what seems to be a plan to involve the Federal Government in the automobile industry to an unprecedented extent. For example, he seems to like the idea of appointing a single [...]

…Is going to Republicans in Washington: Congressional Democrats announced today that they had agreed to a bailout plan for Republicans after last week’s devastating election results. While exact details are unavailable, sources tell us that the Republicans will be given 4 seats in the Senate and 15 in the House. Nancy Pelosi said in a [...]

Yesterday from Obama (google cache here, screenshot here): Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama today: Obama will call on citizens of all [...]

Regional bank BB&T, prevalent throughout the Southeast, is known for their opposition to government intervention in markets. After Kelo, they announced that they would not lend for private projects that made us of eminent domain. It is, then, sad to see them jumping into this: Most of the banks say they want the capital so [...]

The City Club of Cleveland extended an invitation to the top six presidential candidates*. Of the six candidates, Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr, Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin, and independent candidate Ralph Nader participated; Democrat Barack Obama, Republican John McCain, and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney were no-shows. Unlike the debates we have already seen [...]

If you think the “bailout from hell” is going to be painful to taxpayers, wait until the bill comes due for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. According to Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, the unfunded liability for Social Security and Medicare sits at an incredible $99.2 trillion. This figure does not account for the myriad [...]

Found via Michelle Malkin UPDATE: The campaign retaliates by denying the TV station access for the rest of the campaign. WFTV-Channel 9′s Barbara West conducted a satellite interview with Sen. Joe Biden on Thursday. A friend says it’s some of the best entertainment he’s seen recently. What do you think? West wondered about Sen. Barack [...]

A question was asked of me recently: “Why don’t libertarians and real conservatives win elections”. Simple really. True libertarians and conservatives share the same electoral disadvantage: True libertarians and real conservatives, CANNOT win electorally, in a climate where everyone is allowed to vote; and that “everyone” includes the huge politically created classes (both underclass, and [...]

Recently I had an interesting conversation with someone who leveled the following accusation: “You libertarians don’t care if people die from lack of medicine, or if someone can’t afford a doctor.  Libertarianism is the freedom to die from a cold while the doctor who could treat you is doing a checkup for a rich guy [...]

For the better part of a decade, Hugo Chavez has been running “La Revolución!” It’s been an attempt to remake Venezuela and then the rest of South America into a socialist powerhouse that would stand up to el Diablo del Norte. He’s financed this movement on high oil prices. As an oil exporting nation, and [...]

$700B here, $900B there, and now another $250B on top! The government put itself four-square into the country’s banking business Tuesday, resorting to what President Bush conceded was the unwelcome choice of buying into the system to loosen paralyzed channels of credit. The president said the decision to buy shares in the nation’s leading banks [...]

McCain on the Campaign trail, referring to the massive Treasury power-grab: “The first thing I would do is say, ‘Let’s not call it a bailout. Let’s call it a rescue,’” McCain told CNN. He said, “Americans are frightened right now” and political leaders must give them an immediate solution and a longer-term approach to the [...]