All That Is Necessary

Month: July 2011

  • Suze Orman Doesn’t Seem to Know How Credit Cards Work

    "To not raise the debt ceiling is akin to refusing to pay your credit card bill." Nope. It’s akin to making minimum monthly payments on the credit card, while applying for an increase in your credit limit. Tea Party Republicans are saying, this is it — no more increases in credit limits, you’re too far in debt already.

  • Obama’s “I Blame George Bush” Act Is Growing Old

    More than 30 months into the era of Obamanomics, the administration is still desperately seeking to blame all of the nation’s woes on George W. Bush. They’re getting less and less traction with that argument — Obama’s approval rating just hit a new low of 40%, according to Gallup’s tracking poll.

  • Enough on the Debt Ceiling, Let’s Talk Bicycles

    Cranky political commentary will resume soon enough. For this afternoon, there’s ribeye, shrimp and corn on the cob for the grill. I’m on vacation with a beautiful blonde who just spontaneously felt moved to tell me how much she loves me. Life is good.

  • Surprise! New Jersey Has the Highest Tax Burden

    Econ 101: Investment supports job formation. Raising taxes on anyone deters job formation. In particular, tax increases on "the rich" should be thought of as coming dollar for dollar out of a pool of money that otherwise would be invested.

  • Glenn Greenwald on Norway: It Must Be America’s Fault

    Greenwald implicitly assumes that the attack is probably "jihadi" related. Why else go into detail about Norway’s participation in the wars in Afghanistan and Libya? He’s less interested in giving Islamists the benefit of the doubt than he is in saying "we’re just as bad."

  • In the Budget Battle, GOP Should Not Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good

    If purists force a government shutdown in August to avoid exceeding the debt ceiling, each side will of course point fingers at the other. But Republicans have seen this movie before. In 1995, Bill Clinton triggered a government shutdown by vetoing budget bills — yet Republicans ended up shouldering the blame, and Clinton was re-elected.

  • Happy Independence Day to You;
    Happy Blogiversary to Me

    Three years ago today I posted my first substantive blog post, about Senator Obama, the Democratic nominee for president. Here’s how it began: "From the start, my take on Obama has been that he’s a talented and charismatic politician who some day could become an important senator."