Economy & Budget

After two weeks of hiking with my 21-year-old and plenty of time to be concerned about nothing more than falling off a mountain or whether my body would endure eight hours a day of pounding, I do find a clarity of perspective that I hope will make some sense to even my harshest critics on the other side of the aisle.

As Rove and Snow and many others leave the Bush ship and the presidential campaign moves to the forefront, the question is where we are going, not just with politics but with seemingly forgotten policy issues.  Read more...

Here is the problem with the Federal Reserve bailout of banks, rather than providing support to homeowners, citizens or the economy as a whole:

Check out the New York Times Aug. 20 story about how those who had their homes foreclosed on by banks often get huge tax bills from the IRS, while the banks buy the home back, at times for $1. Read more...

Driving to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, the route goes through poor neighborhoods where house after house have signs: For Sale.

What this really means is: foreclosed. Read more...

First of all, give me some credit. I haven't written about Karl Rove. That's because I had nothing unique to say about him. Not that that stopped damn near everyone else from weighing in. In recent days this successful practitioner of demagoguery has been elevated to the status of political prophet.

No, I would like to write about that other kind of profit, the kind that has motivated so many companies to dump their workers and head for cheaper labor elsewhere. The abandoned plants and communities stand as lasting memorials to corporate greed.  Read more...

Imagine there’s no first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus. No need to pander to corn farmers. No politicizing ethanol for votes. No pressure to support hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded ethanol subsidies. Read more...

Once upon a time a brokerage company had the slogan: "We make money the old-fashioned way. We earn it."

How quaint. In modern times we careen from one get-rich-quick scheme to another, cheered on by the hustlers who make their commissions from our mistaken belief we can defy financial logic.

When will we learn? It was inevitable that credit would dry up. Read more...

Help me understand why someone, anyone, should be allowed to get paid several hundred million dollars in any year and keep it.

What would be wrong with a confiscatory tax rate, maybe 90 percent on personal income that exceeds, say, 10 million dollars annually?

Is this class warfare? You bet it is. But isn't hoarding such massive fortunes and keeping the money away from the millions of people struggling to subsist also class warfare? Read more...

When you walk around the halls of Congress, especially on the House side, you see two kinds of displays outside members’ offices. Outside some, mostly those of anti-war Democrats, you will find a chart of all those killed in Iraq. Outside others — the offices of the so-called Blue Dogs — you will find a deficit chart, letting you know your portion of the national debt.

By posting the debt chart, the Blue Dogs are signaling their concern and indicating their strong opposition to the national debt. It is a political stunt meant to show moderation to their voters — many of whom wouldn’t vote for Nancy Pelosi for dogcatcher. Read more...

David Brooks had an interesting article in Tuesday's New York Times about the different approaches taken by John Edwards and Barack Obama when it comes to the issue of poverty. Brooks is an astute political observer, and he didn’t mention any approaches taken by any Republican candidates, probably because no Republican has really focused that much on the issue. It is time for the Republican candidates to get in the game.

Poverty is a real issue in America. Poverty crushes the dreams of millions of Americans. Efforts to take care of the poor cost the Treasury billions of dollars, money that seems to get little results. Poverty encourages crime. Where there is poverty, the chances of disease, like TB, increases.  Read more...

My favorite part of the Democratic CNN/YouTube debate was the guitar-playing anti-tax guy. He was playing my song.

I think taxes should be a big issue in the next campaign. I believe we pay too many taxes to fund too much wasteful government. I think it is an issue that Republicans should unify over. I think people should be taking to the streets to protest outrageous tax rates.

Unfortunately, I am in the distinct minority. Taxes fall way down on the list of the most important issues in most polls. Read more...