The Senate’s Biggest Blocker: Dikembe Mutombo (R-Colo.)
From yesterday's issue of the Onion:
Sen. Dikembe Mutombo (R-CO) showed that he is still one of the most dominant big men in Congress Thursday, blocking a record 16 bills in one legislative session…. His biggest rejection came 20 minutes into the first half of the session when 5-foot-10 Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) had his Peace [...]
Republicans Retain Edge
Scott Rasmussen finds that Republicans hold a nine-point advantage among likely voters in the generic Congressional ballot, a stunning turnaround from President Obama’s inauguration, when the Democrats were up by seven points.
Meanwhile, in CNN’s survey, 52 percent of respondents say President Obama doesn’t deserve a second term. Somewhat amusingly, CNN concludes its article on [...]
Stop Too Big To Fail
"It was not so much deregulation that caused the crisis," Niall Ferguson wrote in his 2009 report "Too Big To Live," "as excessive concentration, combined with regulatory capture or regulatory arbitrage as the big banks schmoozed their supposed supervisors or shopped around for the softest touch."
More than a year after the global financial system stood on the edge [...]
Business Word: ‘Senators Bob Corker, Chuck Grassley, Judd Gregg show Republicans ready to deal; will Obama?’
In his brief but ‘right on the mark’ post at The Business Word, Donald E. L. Johnson writes that it must be a cold day in Washington, and for good reason. Three Republican Senators today agreed to help break logjams on Democrats’ major legislative efforts to enact health, finance and jobs bills:
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) [...]
The Obama Bank Plan
Well, calling the administration's financial reform proposal a "plan" is something of an exaggeration. According to the White House's own release, the administration simply wants to "strengthen the comprehensive financial reform package that is already moving through Congress," though there are real differences between Barney Frank's House bill and Chris Dodd's Senate bill.
How will the [...]
Econ 101: Moral Hazard and How Government Policies Encourage Foolish Behavior
Via Daniel J. Mitchell, Nicki Kurokawa, a former Cato employee, explains “moral hazard,” and notes that government-subsidized risk played a pernicious role in the housing bubble and financial crisis, and warns that “too big to fail” may create similar problems in the future. Someone needs to send this video to Barack Obama, Timothy Geithner, Harry [...]
