Do you remember that scene from The Jerk, when Steve Martin’s idiotic character is collecting the “bare bones” items he “needs”? “This ashtray is all I need! And this paddle game. This ashtray and this paddle game. That’s all I need! …” That’s sort of what the federal budget talks must have looked like. A […]
Continue reading →They must think we’re stupid. The new budget deal presented by Paul Ryan is a joke. A serious, solemn, straight-faced joke. Obama likes it—mostly. Democrats like it—mostly. Republicans like it—mostly. You know who doesn’t like this budget deal at all? I don’t. When will our civil government realize that we don’t have any money? I […]
Continue reading →In spite of two weeks of government shutdown (read: paid vacation for non-essential bureaucrats), federal regulators are set to add the fifth-highest annual number of federal regulations in history. If the trend continues to the end of the year, the Federal Register (which compiles all of the federal regulations in any given year) for 2013 […]
Continue reading →Well, the Senate has finally hammered out a new debt deal to raise the debt ceiling and fund an increasingly non-essential government. So if the House passes the legislation, everything in Washington will be hunky dory. Except for one small detail overlooked by pretty much everyone in the Senate but Rand Paul: You can’t spend […]
Continue reading →Many of the Bear Stearns executives responsible for the subprime mortgage fiasco that set off a worldwide economic downturn didn’t have to share in the financial ruin they helped precipitate. In other words, these captains didn’t go down with the sinking ship. In fact, they jumped off Bear Stearns and started piloting other major American […]
Continue reading →Texas oil production is higher than it’s been since 1985. It has doubled in less than three years, and the boom doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Meanwhile, gas prices keep going up. Why? The most major reason is inflation. If you look at an inflation-adjusted curve for gasoline prices, you’ll notice that inflation-adjusted prices […]
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