Outside the Beltway

Freshman Members of Congress are threatening to block a vote to raise the debt ceiling that Congress will have to take by this Spring. They’d be irresponsible if they did so.

Wealthy Manhattanites are clamoring for a new status symbol: their own washer and dryer!

Streets in New York City like this one on Staten Island went unplowed for days thanks to a work slowdown by sanitation workers, which raises the question of what Public Sector Unions should be allowed to do.

So, Kodak is suing Shutterfly because it claims to have invented the idea of putting pictures on the Internet.

The Federal Communications Commission is using a statute from the 1930s to try to regulate the technology of the 21st Century. It’s a mistake.

The Atlantic made a $1.8 million profit, mostly from Andrew Sullivan’s blog.

Humorist David Sedaris says that he can get $500 a night in his tip jar “for candy” but the same people would probably give a beggar outside 75 cents.

Minor fluctuation in tax rates is not the most significant thing happening in the world’s largest economy.

Some DC based hipsters want to know why America doesn’t have good pubs like in London. It turns out, they’re everywhere.

Many Congressional Democrats both campaign for a higher minimum wage and employ interns at less than the existing minimum wage, many for no pay at all.

An odd union contract creates powerful incentives against making escalators at subway stations in the nation’s capital work.

Republican maneuvering to extend the Bush tax cuts for all Americans appears about to pay off.

Today’s job numbers make it clear that Congress has only one duty, and that is to do everything it can to stimulate real economic growth.

Unemployment rose to 9.8% from 9.6% in November.

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner plans a radical overhaul of how Congress spends our money.

Citibank is helping the US catch up to the rest of the world with free, easy wire transfers.

The US has always outspent our G7 brethren on healthcare but the divergence has skyrocketed over the last three decades.

President Obama’s plan to free federal employee pay is getting praised by Republicans but is wildly unpopular among progressive activists.

“Cyber Monday” is a myth created by a marketing company.

Duke economist Dan Ariely argues that the Western notion of gift giving is irrational.

The Republican talking point that lowering taxes lowers spending and raising taxes increases spending is denied by reality.

President Obama is likely join the ranks of the unemployed come noon on January 20, 2013 if a Fed forecast is right.

The latest forecast from the Federal Reserve foresees stagnant growth and high unemployment for the next two years.

Airline food sucks. Mostly, it’s the food. But it’s also the altitute.

Economist Bryan Caplan argues that our educational system does not prepare our children for the modern economy.

Thomas Ricks laments that the combination of the all-volunteer military and lower top marginal rates mean that the wealthy have “checked out of America and moved into physical and mental gated communities.” To solve this problem, he proposed bringing back the draft.

Within the first few months of 2011, Congress will be required to take another unpalatable vote to raise the debt ceiling. Already, some incoming Republicans are talking about waging an effort to block the vote. That would be politically, and financially, stupid.

A new poll about the proposals coming out of the Deficit Commission makes it clear that the American public needs to grow up.

The Washington Independent goes dark in December, failing to find profitability in three years.

Here’s my plan for creating a budget surplus of $126 billion by 2015 and $592 billion by 2030.

The NFL’s “especially mercenary” push to extract new stadia from cities–even where the stadium’s practically brand-new.