TCS Daily : December 2008 Archives
Seat Roland Burris
Is Rod Blagojevich an idiot or an idiot savant? That is not a trick question. It turns out he is mostly an idiot. But Blagojevich's selection of Roland Burris to fill the Obama senate seat was a shrewd tactical move...
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Time for a Choice — Not an Echo
The GOP must bolster its argument for spending discipline with a loud case for tax cuts. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is absolutely right to warn against Obama's gigantic stimulus-spending package. McConnell says it "will be the largest spending bill...
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Putting Congress to the Test
It's hardly a secret that the U.S. congress performs miserably: The Gallup annual poll on confidence in institutions, released several months ago, found "just 12% of Americans expressing confidence in Congress, the lowest of the 16 institutions tested this year,...
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Malthus And Scrooge
"Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost...
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Even Keynes Wouldn't Like This Bailout
The conventional wisdom on the current financial crisis is that macroeconomic theory has little to say. I am not sure where this idea originated, but there is much that can be explained from existing theory especially in regards to policy....
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Cave Man Bush
George W. Bush has come full circle. He started his public career as the beneficiary of a government bailout, and he ends it as the benefactor of another a thousand times it size. George W. Bush, private citizen, purchased a...
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Romney for Car Czar?
With the auto bailout all but dead in the Congress, the White House has one last chance to send Detroit relief in a manner supported by a clear bipartisan majority of lawmakers: announce that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney would...
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Shock-and-Awe Easing
In a monetary version of shock-and-awe, the Federal Reserve unleashed a massive easing move with its FOMC policy announcement Tuesday — one that represents a sea change in central-bank operations. For starters, Bernanke & Co. established a new target range...
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Zimbabwe: The Nightmare Must End
It must end. Zimbabwe is a land devastated by disease, deprivation and despair. Once southern Africa's breadbasket, today it is a basket case. Robert Mugabe led the freedom movement against white minority rule. After coming to power in (1981) he...
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Who's Losing the U.S. Car Business?
After Chairman Mao's revolution about 60 years ago, people in the U.S. played the blame game by asking, "Who lost China?" Well, following the breakdown of an arduous seven-hour Senate negotiating session on Thursday night, many are asking, "Who lost...
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Casino Socialism
Risk-taking has gotten a bad name, as huge losses for investors large and small undermine our faith in the self correcting power of markets that has held for a quarter-century. As the global recession spreads, blaming free markets has been the knee-jerk..
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Argentina's Pay-Go Stoppage
In the United States, serious Social Security debate has accepted that promised benefits will soon outstrip revenues to pay them. Many have proposed changes to the program to move away from the "pay-as-you go" system where retirees' benefits are paid...
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Socializing Medicine in Three Easy Steps
The votes are in. America has chosen Barack Obama as President. Now America must live with its decision--particularly when it comes to Obama's grand strategy to kill private health insurance in America. Skeptical? Campaign ads depicting Obama's health care plan...
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Obama's Most Telling Appointment
The most telling appointment Barack Obama has made since becoming President-elect has nothing to do with his Cabinet or senior advisors. It was the appointment of Sidwell Friends School, a private grammar school in Washington D.C. to which the Obamas...
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Mr. Dingell's Bullying Pulpit
Most of the coverage of the departure of Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) from the powerful chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has focused on his anti-environmentalism and his staunch defense of the interests of dysfunctional Detroit automobile manu
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