Economy & Budget

We have seen the call for consensus all week. If we don’t get the agreement by Friday, the bear will come out of the woods. It is as if consensus itself is the answer, and I’ve heard a former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) say just that. Makes us all feel good about ourselves. This is not about Democrats and Republicans; this is about being Americans.

But it is just that fraternal nature that has reinforced bipartisan incompetence in Congress and even catastrophe in our times — especially when both parties rushed in a similar manner to approve George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq without, as West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd (D) said, so much as a brief discussion on the floor of Congress. Wasn’t time for discussion; needed to act fast before al Qaeda sneaked a dirty bomb into Cleveland or dropped WMDs into the porridge. They’re coming through the windows! Read more...

In 1803, Thomas Jefferson paid about $23 million for 828,000 square miles that included Louisiana, some parts of Texas, most of Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, some parts of Minnesota, Kansas, Oklahoma, most of Montana, most of Wyoming, parts of North and South Dakota and most of Colorado.

Jefferson got a lot of grief for his purchase. Some ideologues said it was unconstitutional. But he did it anyway, because he wanted access to the port of New Orleans. Napoleon Bonaparte sold the territory to the U.S. because he needed the money, and because he thought that the Americans would become a rival to the British, whom he despised.

He said, upon completion of the agreement, "This accession of territory affirms forever the power of the United States, and I have given England a maritime rival who sooner or later will humble her pride." Read more...

The U.S. economy is teetering on the edge of a cliff — with a hungry bear nipping at its heels. Yet, we cannot turn around and return from where we came — that would be as disastrous as stepping off the cliff.

We have but two choices — turn right or turn left. However, we have no time to contemplate what might await us at either turn. There is no time to debate what the optimal solution might be because stepping off the cliff or awaiting the bear to come upon us are not viable options.

Bush, Paulson and Bernanke have put forward a monumental and historic plan that many seem eager to debate or find flaw with. It might not be hard to do — but what politician can’t find flaw in the other party’s plan? The problem is the crisis facing the U.S. economy and the American public is so dire that such rhetoric will surely push the economy over the cliff or render us helpless to the fast approaching bear. Read more...

John McCain says the economy is strong and sound. Days later, John McCain says we might have a depression and cancels his campaign. McCain has not been in the Senate since April. Now McCain airlifts his desperate campaign and presidential politics into the heart of sensitive negotiations on a subject he knows nothing about and has been wrong about for 26 years.

Here is McCain's latest lie: that he wants to deal with the crisis in a bipartisan manner. Obama calls him early Wednesday morning seeking bipartisanship. McCain does not take the call and does not return the call for half a day. He then talks to Obama about being bipartisan and minutes later runs to the cameras to cancel the debate and airlift himself into the crisis. What a phony! Read more...

I was talking to my good friend Dave Winston yesterday morning, bitching about the state of the McCain campaign and its mishandling of the economic message over the last week. Winston suggested to me that McCain should stop his campaign, come back to Washington and help forge a deal on the economic bailout.

I thought it was a brilliant idea. And I thought it would never happen.

Well, it was a brilliant idea, and by Jove, McCain did it!

McCain turned a tough situation into his advantage by going on offense and by putting the country first. Obama was flat-footed in his response, unable to change course and unwilling to suspend his campaign. Read more...

Some campaigns are fueled by big ideas. Not John McCain’s. His campaign is fueled by one gimmick after another. Last summer, it was the gas-tax holiday. At the convention, it was Sarah Palin.

And now, McCain’s latest gimmick: suspending his campaign, and Friday night’s debate, in order to go back to Washington and deal with the country’s financial crisis.

Who’s McCain think he’s kidding? We all know why he did this. Because, after floundering around for 10 days on the economy, he’s sinking in the polls. Because he’s getting killed by news of campaign manager Rick Davis’s taking $2 million from Freddie Mac. And because he’s desperately trying to change the subject. What a joke. Read more...

When Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson went to Capitol Hill last week, it was like a scene out of Michael Lewis’s book Liar’s Poker.

In the book, Lewis describes a time when the chairman of the board of Salomon Brothers confronts John Meriwether, a member of the board, and challenges him to a game of Liar’s Poker — a game similar to poker but played with the serial numbers on dollar bills — “One hand, one million dollars, no tears.” Meriwether then ups the ante. “Ten million dollars. No tears,” he tells the chairman, forcing him to back down as the stakes were just too high.

Many traders on The Street felt that Liar’s Poker was a good substitute for trading. They would ask themselves, according to Lewis, “Is this a smart risk?” and “Does he have any idea what he’s doing?” Read more...

The McCain camp has just announced that it is suspending the campaign and getting down to the business of the country and this debilitating financial crisis we’re facing.

Now we’re talking! That’s the most presidential move I’ve seen since the Russian invasion of Georgia. I’d be willing to wager that McCain made this call on his own.

That’s the type of guy he is. Damn the consequences, there are some things more important than rushing around the country merely talking about this issue and spewing a lot of populist rhetoric.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect. After endless hours on Capitol Hill, a weak Bush administration is having trouble selling this plan even to members of its own party, let alone Democrats — who never miss an opportunity to pummel the POTUS on behalf of the little guy. Read more...

The Hill' A.B. Stoddard answers viewer questions about Sen. John McCain's bipartisan record, the upcoming Presidential debates, and she takes a look at where Sen. Obama stands on the electoral map.

John McCain rose up in high dudgeon the other day to essentially blame Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman and former congressman Chris Cox for the financial meltdown in which the nation finds itself, in spite of the fact that the SEC — whether it might have done more or not — could neither have prevented what has led us to our current predicament nor done much about it once we got here.

Many were taken aback by McCain’s target and the personal vehemence of the attack. Cox should be fired, McCain roared, because he’s “betrayed the public trust.” George Will has pointed out, however, that this is vintage McCain, who sees the world around him in rather simple moral blacks and whites. In McCainWorld there are good guys (who might best be described as men and women who agree with him) and there are bad guys (who disagree with him for reasons that can only be described as “evil”). There seem to be very few honest disagreements in McCainWorld, because anyone of good heart would, of course, agree with the man. Read more...