The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Obama’s ‘Food Stamp Recovery’

The president’s government-oriented approach to economics is an obvious disaster as policy, but it’s also bound to be a political disaster for Obama: This has been the worst economic recovery in generations, at least as it is felt by the average American.  . . . Read the whole thing, which has a lot of empirical […]

Bubble Bursts? Wall Street Tumbles, as Silver Prices Slump on Margin Hike

DJIA . . . . . . 12,584.17 –139.41 (-1.10%) S&P . . . . . . 1,335.10   –12.22 (-0.91%) NASDAQ . . . 2,814.72  –13.51 (-0.48%) The headline this morning was another one of those “unexpected” bits of bad economic news: Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Jump Due to Anomalies What’s up with that? […]

Uganda: Inflation Sparks Riots

A 3.8% inflation rate is enough to make Americans complain about rising prices. Now imagine 14% inflation in Uganda — a much poorer country — and you have a formula for political disaster: KAMPALA, Uganda — This capital city was brought to a virtual standstill Friday as angry protesters set up roadblocks, setting them ablaze […]

Obligatory Video: Donald F–ing Trump

Honestly, I ought to ignore this, but it’s already everywhere else so I might as well do it: “Listen you mother f***ers we’re going to tax you 25 percent“ Y’know, there’s good populism — defending the honest interests of ordinary people against corrupt machinations of the elite — and then there’s bad populism: Bully-boy nonsense […]

None Dare Call It ‘Stagflation’

Economic growth in the first quarter slowed to an anemic 1.8% annual rate, which isn’t the only bad news, as Larry Kudlow explained on Twitter: 1.8% growth, 8.8% unemployment,3.8% inflation spells stagflation. It’s as if we have taken a long round-trip back to 1979. We are not surprised that a Marist poll shows approval for […]

Gold Tops $1,500 Per Ounce: Now Don’t You Wish You’d Listened to Glenn Beck?

A little less than a year ago — on May 20, 2010, to be exact — I first took notice of Democrat Rep. Anthony Weiner’s attack on Glenn Beck for encouraging people to buy gold. The headline of my post: Everybody Should Buy Gold, Even If Glenn Beck Gets Paid to Tell You So Weiner […]

What Interest Rate Would You Charge Yourself for a Loan of Monopoly Money?

This is the question posed by the Fed policy of “quantitative easing”: The Federal Reserve’s experimental effort to spur a recovery by purchasing vast quantities of federal debt has pumped up the stock market, reduced the cost of American exports and allowed companies to borrow money at lower interest rates. . . . The Fed […]

Matthew Yglesias, Neo-Confederate?

Reporting the findings of a recent academic analysis, our “progressive” (nudge, nudge) friend concludes: The basic story here would be something like northern manufacturing interests wanted to keep the southern client base behind the US tariff wall in order to maintain privileged access to the market rather than compete on a level playing field with […]

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