Politics

Obama’s Failure

Last night Obama made a properly muted speech about our retreat from Iraq. A war that should never have been. Not a military defeat, but not a win. Just a massive cost, with no gain, and a huge loss of prestige. Then came the zinger: now we should turn our focus to domestic issues.
Huh?
A little… »

British Election: Take Two

In the absence of anything much to report on the economy, allow me to comment again on the British election.
There are some extraordinary goings on.

Gordon Brown, the current Prime Minister, has announced he will resign and that his Labour party will have to undergo a search for a new leader. This throws open the issue… »

Off Topic: British Elections

Yes there is a world out there beyond the shores of the US. And, yes, it is equally as tribal in its politics. Yesterday’s election in the UK was widely thought of, prior to the event, to be a once in a lifetime occurrence. This view was founded on the polling that showed the third… »

Republican Conundrum

One of the more delicious events in recent politics has been played out over the last few days. It was the complete undermining of the GOP’s Senate leadership by its own ranks.
Last week we went from one extreme to another as the GOP desperately tried to maintain any form of relevance in the face of… »

Times and Parties Change

My son sent me a great link to the Daily Kos, where he highlighted an intriguing entry. I have copied the opening for your reading pleasure:

Please help me discover the origins of this brilliant party platform:

We are proud of and shall continue our far-reaching and sound advances in matters of basic human needs—expansion of social… »

Freedom of Speech?

This is a little off topic for me, but the recent Supreme Court decision defending corporate ‘freedom of speech’ is something worth commenting upon because it is based upon a free market doctrine drawn from economics.
The decision was in a case called Citizens United v. The Federal Election commission. By a five to four majority… »

Cheer Up Obama

The fine line between economics and politics has frayed this last week in the aftermath of the Massachusetts election result. I never thought the line was substantial anyway, but that only served to place me on the edge of economics rather than invalidate what I thought. After all for the first hundred and fifty years… »