17 | January | 2013

Saturday, May 18, 2013

USA Inc.’s balance sheet: Assets $2.7 trillion, Liabilities $18.8 trillion

James Pethokoukis | January 17, 2013, 9:00 pm

This is the balance sheet from hell. And not a great fiscal legacy for Timothy Geithner. From the U.S. Treasury Department’s just-released Financial Report of the U.S. Government for Fiscal Year 2012: Chart 4 is a summary of what the … read more >

Pethokoukis

Does this chart show the real legacy of the Obama White House?

James Pethokoukis | January 17, 2013, 8:51 pm

The U.S. Treasury Department has finally released the Financial Report of the U.S. Government for Fiscal Year 2012. The above chart comes for this report. And about the chart, Treasury has this to say: While these projections are subject to … read more >

Carpe Diem

US oil output increased by 23% during the second week of January, to highest level of domestic production in 20 years

Mark J. Perry | January 17, 2013, 8:33 pm

For the second week in a row, crude oil output surpassed 7 million barrels per day (bpd) during the second week of January in “Saudi America,” and increased to the highest output level (7.04 million bpd) since the third week … read more >

Carpe Diem

Quotation of the day

Mark J. Perry | January 17, 2013, 7:25 pm

“With few exceptions, entrepreneurs who start successful businesses don’t do so to maximize profits. Of course they want to make money, but that is not what drives most of them. They are inspired to do something that they believe needs … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Middle East and North Africa

Is Assad calling Obama’s bluff?

Gary Schmitt | January 17, 2013, 3:23 pm

On Tuesday, Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy’s “The Cable” published a story on a possible chemical weapons attack by Syrian government forces against Syrian rebels two days before Christmas. Rogin’s story was tied to a leaked State Department cable (signed … read more >

Image Credit: Elvert Barnes (Flickr) (CC BY 2.0)

Politics and Public Opinion, Polls

As Roe v. Wade turns 40, Americans’ opinions on abortion have barely shifted

Henrik Temp | January 17, 2013, 3:08 pm

January 22 will mark the 40-year anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Perhaps the most controversial Supreme Court decision ever, the ruling sparked an intense debate that has shown no signs of abating in the decades since. Moreover, despite … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, AfPak

How many troops does the US need in Afghanistan?

Frederick W. Kagan and Christopher Harmer | January 17, 2013, 2:36 pm

Discussions about how many troops are needed in Afghanistan after 2014 have come to seem like a competition—I can name that war in 3,000 troops; well, I can name it in 2,500… The proliferation of numbers without any explanation of … read more >

Pethokoukis

Responding to Ramesh Ponnuru on health care benefits and wage stagnation

James Pethokoukis | January 17, 2013, 2:33 pm

Ramesh Ponnuru in Bloomberg: Academic studies and news media regularly report that in recent decades the middle class has been stagnating economically. Conservative and libertarian analysts often downplay these stories by saying that while wages for people in the middle … read more >

Pethokoukis

The Goldfinger Option: Here’s the latest goofy idea for avoiding the debt ceiling

James Pethokoukis | January 17, 2013, 1:33 pm

We’ve had the 14th amendment option. And the trillion-dollar platinum coin option. Now there’s the Goldfinger option to avoid the federal debt ceiling, as explained by Art Cashin of UBS (via Business Insider): The Platinum Coin Meets Goldfinger – The thesis … read more >

Image Credit: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Economics, Pethokoukis

Dallas Fed president: Time for Congress to break up the big banks

James Pethokoukis | January 17, 2013, 12:57 pm

Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Fed, has been a proponent of breaking up America’s biggest banks and ending Too Big To Fail. In a speech yesterday, he floated a plan on how to do it. 1. Under our proposal, … read more >

Lean In… to Government?
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The Perpetual Passion for Paper
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Could California Make a Comeback?
An unexpected glimmer of hope might cast a new light on the Golden State. […]