A break from health care reform. The Obama administration has apparently finally embarked on the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy implemented during the first Clinton administration. Reinforcing the conclusion that he was just as much a politician that will say whatever needs saying to be elected (except he didn’t succeed), John McCain has [...]
One would expect an economics professor from Harvard, and a president emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research at that, to know whereof they speak on matters of dollars and cents. Martin Feldstein argues that the Obama administration should withdraw its proposal to reduce the charitable tax deduction of higher income (over $250,00 for [...]
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I come late to the party, honoring the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. I won’t waste space here reinventing what news and commentary you can find elsewhere. I do want to mention the sad irony of the recent report of the Senate Armed Services Committee on detainee abuse under the Bush [...]
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“Great events never have minor omens. When great evil occurs, great good follows.” So says Nichiren, founder of the largest sect of Buddhism practiced in the United States. While it would be an overstatement to characterize the entirety of the Bush administration years as great evil, there certainly has been plenty of it. Greed, lies, [...]
I am getting impatient. I want the election to be over so I can stop watching Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Larry King, Nightline and local news. What else is there to blog about right now but the election? Plenty of stuff; the same stuff that I used to blog about. But I am consumed [...]
Obama will tell you it’s Bush and his buddy McCain that helped make the current money morass happen. He is not entirely wrong but he is not entirely right either. Congress facilitated the mess by repealing the Glass-Steagal Act that kept the insurance, investment and banking businesses firewalled from one another. Institutional investors, including the [...]
Hyperbole is a customary part of politics. But calling Bill Richardson a Judas for endorsing Obama is way over the top. Carville defends his commentary in an op ed today by asserting, essentially, that Richardson fails to show sufficient appreciation for the Clintons making him the man he is today. Firstly, it was Bill, not Hillary that [...]