06 | February | 2012

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Eastwood and Obama in ‘A Fistful of Bailouts’

James Pethokoukis | February 6, 2012, 7:17 pm

Dirty Harry says if you didn’t support the taxpayer bailout of General Motors and Chrysler back in 2008 and 2009, you quit on America … punk! That’s basically the message of the Clint Eastwood-narrated Super Bowl ad which told U.S. … read more >

Carpe Diem

Markets in Everything: Virtual Retail Clinics

Mark J. Perry | February 6, 2012, 6:29 pm

American Medical News — “When patients walk into a NowClinic at any one of nine Detroit-area Rite Aid pharmacies, they can choose among multiple physicians to see about what’s ailing them. Not see in person. See on a computer monitor. … read more >

Economics

Reaganomics vs. Obamacare

Nick Schulz | February 6, 2012, 5:01 pm

Jimmy P., you make a good point about the Reagan record and the extent of the boom. It brings to mind one of my favorite lines from Reagan’s re-election campaign in 1984: “I could tell our economic program was working … read more >

Carpe Diem

Employment Trends Index Gains in January

Mark J. Perry | February 6, 2012, 3:56 pm

“The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) increased 0.73% in January to 105.81, from 105.04 in December (see chart above). The January figure is also up 5.9 percent from the same month a year ago. “The Employment Trends Index has … read more >

Economics, Taxes and Spending

Un-biasing the tax code

Daniel Hanson | February 6, 2012, 3:43 pm

One of the biggest arguments regarding current tax rates is that they are an prohibitively high impediment to small business growth and creation, which, in turn, creates an impediment to job creation and innovation. Yet singling out small businesses for … read more >

Carpe Diem

Monday Morning Links

Mark J. Perry | February 6, 2012, 2:09 pm

1. Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez has been denied permission to attend a film festival in Brazil, marking the 19th time in recent years that she has been denied an exit visa by the Cuban government. 2. The oil boom … read more >

Society and Culture, Education

For-profit college lobbying: Missing the forest for the trees

Andrew P. Kelly | February 6, 2012, 1:56 pm

On Friday, the Huffington Post, in conjunction with an advocacy group named United Republic, posted a piece about for-profit college lobbying during the 2010-2011 fight over new federal regulations. For those scoring at home, this is the latest article in … read more >

Economics

How Dodd-Frank is a big obstacle to closing down Fannie and Freddie

Peter J. Wallison | February 6, 2012, 1:55 pm

On Friday, Treasury Secretary Geithner said that the Obama administration is preparing to move forward with closing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and bringing back a robust private housing market. Ironically, the secretary’s statement was made almost one year to … read more >

Carpe Diem

Markets in Everything: Naming Weather Fronts in Germany, But It Backfired for BMW AG’s Mini

Mark J. Perry | February 6, 2012, 1:02 pm

WSJ — “A cold front that has raged across much of Europe over the past week has brought arctic temperatures, icy high winds and dozens of deaths. In addition to its human toll, it has been a marketing snafu for … read more >

Politics and Public Opinion

The economic factors that will and won’t affect the presidential race

James Pethokoukis | February 6, 2012, 12:43 pm

New York Times blogger Nate Silver recently did a neat analysis of 43 economic variables to determine which had the most and least influence on past presidential election outcomes. Silver found that no one variable by itself explained more than half … read more >