But…but…this goes against the Republican narrative! American Jobs Act — Final There really aren’t any controversial elements in here at all. Yes, Republicans are going to push back on any additional spending, but it’ll be hard for them to break this apart and only get the tax cuts through. So it’ll be up to them [...]

A very sobering piece to write, no doubt, but needed nonetheless. Especially when you consider the revised GDP numbers from 2008. From Frum Forum: Two years ago, Commerce estimated the decline of the US economy at -0.5% in the third quarter of 2008 and -3.8% in the fourth quarter. It now puts the damage at [...]

Looks like businesses are finally feeling some confidence. Maybe they read my post? Probably not. Regardless, if the above number holds up when the government reports on Friday it would represent triple what Wall Street was predicting. Daily Finance has more good news: Separately, private placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said planned layoff announcements [...]

When an economic bubble bursts, normalcy can only return if the price excesses created during the bubble are wrung out of the market. A recession is often a painful but necessary market mechanism that corrects the pricing distortion and consequent misallocation of capital that occurs in a bubble. When government intervention prevents the mispriced asset class from fully deflating, capital continues to be misallocated and economic malaise lingers on. This is the takeaway message from Peter Schiff’s Wall Street Journal editorial.

Big time speech today from the guy who definitely has his eye on the White House. Here’s the video… I’ll offer the transcript below after my analysis. Personally, this feels disingenuous from a guy like Bloomberg who has repeatedly used the government to regulate New York City businesses and consumer behavior six ways to Sunday. [...]

Take a look… I’m sorry, but I literally can not understand the thought process here. They talk about deficit spending until they’re blue in the face, but they favor massive, unpaid tax cuts for the super rich, while wanting to deny unemployment benefits for the people who need it most. Baffling.

Obama is baiting the trap and if the GOP candidate doesn’t take it in 2012, it could spell trouble for the Dems. Last night the President said this… I have no doubt that everyone will find something in this compromise that they don’t like. In fact, there are things in here that I don’t like [...]

In order to get the votes he needs to make sure unemployed Americans get the relief they need (and deserve) and employed Americans continue to enjoy payroll tax cuts, Obama is cutting a deal with the Repubs on the extension of the Bush tax cuts. As I’ve pointed out previously, this goes against the anti-spending [...]

President Obama and his political brain trust were diligently taking notes while getting schooled in the midterms. On Monday President Obama announced a federal employee pay freeze for non-military employees. On Tuesday he met with congressional leadership and assured the American people that he heard the voice of the voters.

Observing the carving of our currency, as it is sliced by administration fiscal policy and diced by Fed monetary policy.

The move will save nearly 2,500 jobs.

Hey there corporations! Hope all is well. If the news today is any indication, looks like things are going great! Your profits have gone up seven straight quarters and collectively reached a record high. Here, just take a look at this graph… Wow! You must be pumped!

Looks like the new batch of Republicans are already signaling that they’ll refuse to raise the debt ceiling… even though John Boehner is telling them they must. From WSJ: [...] on Thursday, Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) said he’s been talking to the newly elected GOP lawmakers about the need to raise the federal [...]

This election cycle precipitated a conversation about the virtues and vices of a divided federal government in both new and traditional media. In the last few days before the vote, the amplitude spiked. Much of the most recent attention is in the form of an attack from the left on the foundation of the divided government voting rationale. One such attack – an awe inspiring, world class hysterical hissy fit by Paul Krugman from the lofty platform afforded him by the New York Times:

First, the facts from Bloomberg… The Obama administration cut taxes for middle-class Americans, expects to make a profit on the hundreds of billions of dollars spent to rescue Wall Street banks and has overseen an economy that has grown for the past five quarters. Now the perception… A Bloomberg National Poll conducted Oct. 24-26 finds [...]

I do not believe there is any case to be made for a statistical correlation between market direction and political parties in power that will stand up to rigorous mathematical scrutiny over the long term. However, in the short term, if investors believe that divided government is good for markets, then that expectation can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. That may be what we are seeing in the market now in anticipation of the November results. Apparently the investor class really believes that divided government is good for the market, and we are going to get it in the election.

Bloomberg has some news that reinforces what many of us suspected…the rich save their tax cuts: Hand the wealthiest Americans a tax cut and history suggests they will save the money rather than spend it. Tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 under President George W. Bush were followed by increases in the saving rate among [...]