Outside the Beltway

Hurricane Irene has been much, much less severe than heralded.

He’s been out of office for more than two years, but George W. Bush is still being blamed for the state of the economy.

Social Security is like a Ponzi scheme in one way but not in other, more important ones.

For the past 18 months, Medicare spending has slowed down considerably – especially compared to the private sector.

If we cannot adequately diagnose our problems it will be even harder to fix them.

Another government program isn’t going to bring health care costs under control.

Some history of the last 7+months.

House and Senate Republicans are pushing a Balanced Budget Amendment. It sounds like a good idea, but it isn’t.

Tim Pawlenty’s new fiscal plan isn’t very grounded in reality.

The main issue, above all else, is taxes.

Congress is coming back to Washington and gas prices continue to rise. Expect a lot of demagoguery, but very little in the way of solutions.

Since Barack Obama took office, federal taxes have been lower for pretty much everyone.

I drink more coffee a month than the average person does a year. Indeed, I easily go through more than the 12 kilograms that represents the top end of the scale.

When determining the effects on the deficit of a certain legislative action, both revenues and spending have to be accounted for. Indeed, you can’t determine whether there is a deficit, surplus or balanced budget without both variables.

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

Rand Paul is taking some heat for remarks that may or may not indicate that he’s backtracking on his previous vow not to seek earmark spending for Kentucky. Yes folks, the phony war on earmarks is back.

GOP to take the House.

The GOP is headed for big gains on Tuesday. The only question now is how big they’re going to be.

Voters head to the polls in thirteen days, and current indications are that they’ll be handing a big victory to the Republican Party.

It’s looking less and less likely that the GOP will gain control of the Senate, but they’re going to come awfully close,, and that might be just as good from their point of view.

New Jersey’s governor has killed a vital infrastructure project because of huge cost overruns. It’s penny wise and pound foolish.

White America is within thinkable distance of a moment when it will no longer be the majority.

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has proclaimed, “The most significant threat to our national security is our debt.” Is he right?

A combination of news and some lunchtime satire.

Wired proclaims, “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet.” It’s great linkbait but completely wrongheaded.

Paul Krugman’s Medicare projections don’t line up with what the actuaries are telling us.