Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd has had better days. Looks like the AIG bonus scandal just found a political whipping boy: Dodd just admitted on CNN that he inserted a loophole in the stimulus legislation that allowed million-dollar bonuses to insurance giant AIG to go forward – after previously denying any involvement in writing [...]

A new look at U.S. births in 2007 revealed some interesting trends, from the good (we’re at the replacement rate), to the not-so good (teen pregnancies are up), to the complicated (40% of births were to women out of wedlock). The 4,317,119 births [in 2007], reported by federal researchers Wednesday, topped a record first set [...]

Perhaps one of the reasons why the administration didn’t think they could challenge the bonuses in the first place? From the Guardian… The company said it was legally obliged to pay traders $165m (£118m) in “guaranteed” bonuses, despite the near collapse of the insurer last September and its subsequent $173bn bailout by US taxpayers. Staff [...]

From the moment I heard Republican hacks like Michelle Malkin start referring to the themes in Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’, I knew it was destined to fail. After all, to think that they don’t understand that the selfishness of the few led us to where we are today conveys a particularly acute brand of ignorance. Still, [...]

So, today’s the day we celebrate the plight of alcoholism in the Irish the fun-loving spirit of the Irish with good beer and good friends. Here’s some factoids from a guy with a bit of the Irish in him: Over 35 million Americans have Irish blood. But the rest of you are welcome to wear [...]

A new type of threat requires new ways of combating it. Thankfully our Defense Secretary is leading that charge with some needed changes to the Pentagon’s budget. From Boston.com: WASHINGTON – As the Bush administration was drawing to a close, Robert M. Gates, whose two years as defense secretary had been devoted to wars in [...]

Too much easy credit, not enough income and scant capitalization have created yet another perfect storm. From Reuters: AmEx, the largest U.S. charge card operator by sales volume, said its net charge-off rate — debts companies believe they will never be able to collect — rose to 8.70 percent in February from 8.30 percent in [...]

AIG’s decision to pay out bonuses despite the financial company’s massive troubles has angered a lot of people. Place the president in the angry category. Joining a wave of public anger, President Barack Obama blistered insurance giant AIG for “recklessness and greed” Monday and pledged to try to block it from handing its executives $165 [...]

After less than two months of Barack Obama’s presidency, pundits across the spectrum are competing to “frame” the new administration. There are lots of narratives, but, in my mind, the most potent ones are expressed in two editorials appearing today. From the negative side, Janet Daley at Britain’s Telegraph argues that Obama is handing the [...]

One thing that has long baffled me has been the idea on the American Right that Europe is some kind of socialist hell-hole that borders on Communist. The thrust of the argument always seems to be that European government is so large and intrusive, and it public mores so lacking and dare I say nihilistic [...]

This is more political theatre than anything, but the populist rage against those irresponsible bonuses is at a fever pitch and if Obama doesn’t handle this one smartly it could seriously hurt the administration’s chances to get more bailout money down the road if it’s needed. From CBS: (CBS/AP) The Obama administration is looking for [...]

While everybody is focused on the ups and downs of the top 30 companies, Obama and Geithner have plans to free up money for the little guys. From AP: Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday planned to announce a broad package that includes reduced small-business lending fees and an increase on the guarantee [...]

“I’m listening to the “market analyst” on CNN, and she assured me the market is going to rally today because, and I’m paraphrasing, “they were reassured by Ben Bernanke’s appearance on 60 Minutes.” “Really. No wonder we are in this mess. That is how my ex-girlfriend picked restaurants- “Let’s go here. I liked the look [...]

The Bushies have been out in full force this week trying to burnish the former president’s legacy with the argument that “at least he kept us safe.” Former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer and Chris Matthews went at it pretty good earlier in the week, and today Dick Cheney sat down with CNN’s John King [...]

If you’re in Missouri, it might be better to take that old Ron Paul or Bob Barr bumper sticker off your car. A February 20 report to help Missouri law enforcement identify domestic terrorists has some alarming advice. The report is put out by the Missouri Information Analysis Center, which is a “public safety partnership [...]

WTF? Obviously I don’t take part in jingoistic, populism often, but this just strikes me as just plain unamerican. From NY Times: In a sentimental gesture from a no-nonsense kind of guy, Jory Spears lifted his camera phone on Friday in a somber salute to this city’s beloved Sears Tower. “The Sears Tower has some [...]

As expected, it’s the “gateway drug” theory v. reality of human existence. Guess which one sounds more credible… I do still love Ron Paul in many ways, and I wish he wouldn’t have been mixed up in that remarkably dumb newsletter operation he was. Because then he’d be a viable third party candidate. Oh well.

Our trade deficit is out of control, and in this video Warren Buffett explains why that’s so dangerous. I remember a discussion I had recently on this blog where I said that consumer spending drove this economy. Somebody disagreed and said our economy is based on making things. Well, that’s obviously not true if our [...]