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Media Infiltrations: Republicans and the Populist Temptation  Wall Street Journal February 9, 2010 Why Taxing Stock Trades Is a Really Bad Idea Wall Street Journal January 6, 2010
"What has been your worst blogging experience? "That's a guy who actually stalks me on the Web and once stalked me personally." "I'm saying this...guy's a jerk."
 The Happy Body Aniela and Jerzy Gregorek What I'm listening to:  Langley Schools Music Project What I'm watching:  Star Trek What I'm playing:  Speed Racer Order these from Amazon.com at Amazon's normal low prices... and a fraction of your order goes to help support this site. Thanks!
Thanks to Irwin Chusid, public editor.
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Chronicle of the Conspiracy
Join us as we discover, document, expose and challenge the bad people, the bad institutions and the bad ideas that stand in the way of wealth creation -- and show you how to fight back!
Saturday, February 07, 2009
BUT CAN WE BELIEVE IN IT? Seen in Sonoma, California, by "Mick Danger." Soon to be seen everywhere, I'm afraid.
Posted by Donald L. Luskin at 6:26 PM |
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THIS IS REALLY TAKING THE GLOVES OFF Economist Robert Barro on the response by Paul Krugman to Barro's stinging critique of Keynesian "stimulus":
[Atlantic blog:] Do you read Paul Krugman's blog?Thanks to reader Josh Hendrickson.[Barro:] Just when he writes nasty individual comments that people forward.
Oh, well he wrote a series of posts saying he thought the World War II spending evidence was not good, for a variety of reasons, but I guess... He said elsewhere that it was good and that it was what got us out of the depression. He just says whatever is convenient for his political argument. He doesn't behave like an economist. And the guy has never done any work in Keynesian macroeconomics, which I actually did. He has never even done any work on that. His work is in trade stuff. He did excellent work, but it has nothing to do with what he's writing about.
I'm not in a position to... No, of course not.
I'm not in a position to know things like the degree to which Paul Krugman counts as a relevant expert on new Keynesian economics. He hasn't done any work on that.
Posted by Donald L. Luskin at 12:22 PM |
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Friday, February 06, 2009
KUDLOW REPLAY Here's the YouTube video.Posted by Donald L. Luskin at 11:21 PM |
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Thursday, February 05, 2009
TIME FOR A CABINET APPOINTMENT FOR CHARLIE RANGEL Clearly, it's the only way to get him to pay his taxes. From the New York Times:Representative Charles B. Rangel’s financial disclosure forms had at least 28 omissions in the past 30 years and failed to account for what became of more than $239,000 in assets, according to a report issued Wednesday by a private government-ethics group.Despite Congressional rules that require members to list the purchase or sale of any assets, Mr. Rangel accumulated from $239,026 to $831,000 in assets that were not listed in subsequent reports, according to the report by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan group that advocates greater transparency by elected officials.
Lawyers for Mr. Rangel, a Democrat from Harlem whose personal finances and fund-raising are being investigated by the House ethics committee, or Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, have said that sloppy bookkeeping led him to file incomplete or inaccurate financial disclosure forms.
When asked about the report on Wednesday, Mr. Rangel’s spokesman, Emil Milne, said the congressman had already acknowledged the errors and was seeking to correct them.
But the analyst who prepared the private group’s report said that the assortment of inconsistencies was serious enough for the ethics committee to make Mr. Rangel’s filing history a part of its investigation.
“Although he predicted on Sunday that his multitude of ethics woes would soon disappear, these new findings show that the ethics committee clearly needs to take a close look at Rangel’s filings,” said the analyst, Bill Allison, senior fellow of the Sunlight Foundation. “Congress needs to revisit its entire financial disclosure-reporting procedure to ensure that filings provide accurate, understandable and complete information about lawmakers’ wealth.”
In some cases, Mr. Rangel listed assets without stating when he acquired them. For instance, his disclosure form for calendar year 2006 lists 13 mutual funds with values from $54,013 to $286,000 but omits any acquisition date.
In other instances, assets disappear from his disclosures, with no suggestion of whether they were sold or exchanged. Investments he had valued in 2004 at $95,004 to $250,000 were omitted in a later filing with no indication of whether they had been sold or at what price.
Posted by Donald L. Luskin at 12:45 PM |
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Wednesday, February 04, 2009
YOU CAN'T TOP THIS EITHER ...for sheer hypocrisy.Thanks to Julian Mann.
Posted by Donald L. Luskin at 1:33 PM |
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YOU JUST CAN'T TOP THIS ONE ...when it comes to sheer scare-mongering. Here is Nancy Pelosi pushing the "stimulus" spending spree because "500 million Americans have lost their jobs."
Correction... Reader Rick Gaber notes, "actually, being precise, if you play the video, she says, [if we don't get a recovery package fast enough] '500 million americans lose their jobs.'" Update...
Posted by Donald L. Luskin at 1:30 PM |
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Monday, February 02, 2009
KUDLOW REPLAY Can you say that on TV? When I heard soi-disant "well established specialist in the Austrian School of economic theory" Michael Pento stammering and blathering, it just slipped out...Posted by Donald L. Luskin at 11:05 PM |
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IT'S NOT ABOUT TAXES Who cares if Tim Geithner or Tom Daschle paid all their taxes -- until they knew they'd have to withstand Senate scrutiny as cabinet nominees. If we can't have tax-cutters in positions of power, having tax-evaders is the next best thing. But with Daschle the matter goes beyond that, to the "culture of corruption" in the Democratic party that is becoming clearer and clearer with each day that the Obama administration preaches about its own sanctimonious virtues. From CJR:
...we now hear that Tom Daschle, the president’s choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services, had neglected to pay some taxes on the free car-and-driver services provided by a prominent businessman and Democratic fundraiser. He is the second cabinet appointment to forget about his taxes—but in the euphoria generated by a new administration, apparently neglecting one’s taxes is forgivable as long as they eventually get paid.So perhaps the most significant revelations from the newspaper were those that came at the end of its story. Daschle, who has worked for the law firm Alston & Bird as a special public policy adviser with an emphasis on health care, received “more than $390,000 for speeches to groups like America’s Health Insurance Plans,” the Times reported. AHIP will be a key force in determining whether reform ever actually happens. Daschle also “received more than $5,000 for giving ‘policy advice’ to the insurer United Health.” UnitedHealthcare, one of the nation’s biggest health carriers, has a big stake in reform.
Posted by Donald L. Luskin at 11:27 AM |
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THE TIMES KNOWS ALL We're lucky to have geniuses like Steve Labaton on the economic reporting staff of the New York Times to explain the subprime crisis to us. In his story today, it turns out that only unsophisticated blockheads think there is any problem valuing toxic assets.
A frequent refrain in Washington and on Wall Street is that there are no current market prices for toxic securities. But people who buy and sell these investments say that is a simplistic reading of the problem. They say most kinds of securities can be valued and are being traded, but trading has slowed as sellers and buyers disagree about what that the price should be.You see, it's easy to value them. The only problem is that no one knows what the price should be. Got that?
Posted by Donald L. Luskin at 8:32 AM |
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