These Tea Party congressmen. They are nothing but common people, just like you and me. Right? One-fifth of the 50 richest members of Congress are freshman House Republicans sent to Washington last year with strong Tea Party support, according to The Hill’s 50 Wealthiest for 2011. Ohio’s Rep. Jim Renacci, the wealthiest of the 87 […]
The new Missouri law banning teachers from interacting with current and former students on social networking sites has been blocked by a court today. The law is supposed to go into effect on Monday. Here is a copy of the injunction: Injunction The judge, Joe Beetem, had some very strong words against the new law […]
One of the long known goals of Osama bin Laden was to financially break the United States: A key facet of bin Laden’s anti-American warfare has always been economic. It’s a lesson he drew from the Afghan-Soviet war, in which he first served as a financier of mujahidin efforts and then as a fighter. He […]
Today is d-day, as in debt: The U.S. government is expected to hit the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling Monday, setting in motion an uncertain, 11-week political scramble to avoid a default. The Treasury Department plans to announce Monday it will stop issuing and reinvesting government securities in certain government pension plans, part of a series […]
Yesterday, while speaking at a college in Virginia, President Obama laid the blame of high oil prices at the feet of speculators: Obama said that global oil supply is adequate and that speculators are driving up prices significantly. “It is true that a lot of what’s driving oil prices up right now is not the […]
Yesterday the Republican’s released a plan to cut $2.5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. The plan is being met with a lot of skepticism, even from FOX News where Neil Cavuto noted that the plan actually saves only $330 billion. The plan, which does not touch the Pentagon or Homeland Security, calls […]
There has been a lot of talk that President Obama might be open to some sort of deal to cut Social Security benefits. Well that is a very bad idea: President Barack Obama’s apparent willingness to consider cuts in Social Security benefits may be winning him points with Washington elites, but it’s killing him with […]
Ezra Klein lays out the odds of the GOP reducing the deficit should they regain control of Congress: If Republicans take the House and the Senate, how much likelier is a full extension of the Bush tax cuts? I’d say it goes up to 70 percent, and the only reason I don’t say 100 percent […]
Welcome to my newest acronym – Angry Men With Guns. I came up with it while reading this article from Politico talking about the rise in threats against lawmakers. The key passage: Though each threat case is different, the FBI documents reveal some common characteristics. The suspects are mostly men who own guns, and several […]
That’s the cost of the House health care bill. The full CBO report isn’t out yet, but it should be rather soon now. The Hill has some other early numbers: The nonpartisan budget office told lawmakers that the health bill set for a vote this weekend would cut the deficit by $130 billion over the […]