Minor Thoughts

We have to cut spending, so that we can stop borrowing, so that we can start paying down our existing debt. Why? Well, if we don’t, the interest payments on our debt will soon be the only thing left in our budget.

Income tax revenue, as a share of GDP, has stayed fairly constant throughout the past 50 years. Raising taxes on “the rich” won’t do much to solve the deficit problem.

I listen to the President’s Weekly Radio Address every week. It’s usually a painful process, since I almost always disagree with the President. (That’s been true for both President Bush and President Obama, in case you’re wondering.)

Last week’s address was particularly painful. It was almost scary to listen to. The President spoke quite passionately about …

President George W. Bush was the biggest spending U.S. President since President Lyndon Baines Johnson. He ”he presided over an 83-percent increase in overall federal spending, which includes defense, domestic, entitlements, and interest. Even without TARP and Fannie/Freddie, spending was up a huge 70 percent under Bush over eight years. By contrast, total spending under …

Scott Rassmussen wrote about Obama’s polling numbers in today’s Wall Street Journal.

Polling data show that Mr. Obama’s approval rating is dropping and is below where George W. Bush was in an analogous period in 2001. Rasmussen Reports data shows that Mr. Obama’s net presidential approval rating — which is calculated by subtracting the …

Sometimes the federal government is unusually annoying. This is one of those times.

Efforts to create new tax breaks to encourage home purchases are gaining attention on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers gird for a major debate this spring on how best to shore up the nation’s troubled mortgage markets.

Some Democrats, …

I was planning on visiting Chicago and doing some exploring with my wife and daughter this summer. Then I read about the cost of visiting Chicago.

Starting July 1, a shopping trip to Chicago’s Magnificent Mile will cost more. That’s when the sales tax in the city hits an astronomical 10.25%, which may be …

I must be missing something, because I don’t understand how this makes any kind of sense:

Eventually, Olson said he put up $2 million and got financing from Anchor Bank and First Business Bank, spending an average $250,000 per property and about $130,000 in each to convert them. The project, he said, was a …

I’ve always liked President Calvin Coolidge. This 1924 White House speech was the first ever White House video recording.

How cool is that? And why can’t he run for office in 2008?

How dodgy debt is transformed into High Grade Enhanced Securities, sold for million by creative bankers, then recognized as just some dodgy debt.