Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe The Great $16 Muffin Myth – Kevin Drum, Mother Jones Global Meltdown: Investors Are Dumping Nearly Everything – Patti Domm, CNBC US walks out as Iran delivers anti-US speech – Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press Boehner: ‘There’s no threat of a government shutdown’ – Nicholas Ballasy, The Daily Caller Bill Clinton: Obama’s Approach to the Deficit is ‘A Little Confusing’ – Real Clear Politics Census: Recession takes big toll on …
Since the S&P 500 hit its high for 2011 on April 29 to August 10, 2011, $3.3 trillion invested in the U.S. stock market has been wiped out. The value of American stocks owned fell from $16.82 trillion to $13.57 trillion—19.3 percent. See Chart. That is more than the Gross Domestic Product–the value of all of the goods and services produced in a country—in 2010 of Canada ($1.3 trillion), the U.K. ($2.2 trillion), or Germany (3.1 trillion). While we may not know precisely for some time what triggered this decline …
Was the Real Target Indo-Pak Peace? – Peter Brookes The Indians claim al Qaeda doesn’t exist in their country, and the lack of suicide bombers lends credence to the idea it wasn’t Osama’s cronies. Yet his direction or inspiration for an attack can’t be ruled out – many of the suspect groups have al Qaeda ties[...] Unleash the Investment Risk Watchdogs – Stuart Butler They certainly failed to spot the subprime market fiasco and resulting meltdown. But it turns out that they have a history of failing to give investors …
Here’s a preview of the week ahead in Washington. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an2ZGW85Ad0[/youtube] Recent troubles with the financial and housing markets have lead to proposed action by Congress to help distressed homeowners and to find a government solution to the Bear Stearns collapse. Massive new billion-dollar handouts to aid homeowners and utilizing sweeping new power for the Federal Reserve will do nothing to change the fact that our economy is in a slowdown. Why doesn’t Congress reduce regulation, reduce taxes and allow for more domestic drilling for oil to lower energy prices? These …
The recent failures of Bear Stearns and the Carlyle Group, coupled with turmoil in the housing markets and overall pessimism about the economy, has Congress rushing to microphones to promise a legislative quick fix. Meanwhile, President Bush and the Federal Reserve are being second guessed by liberal economists for not promising more government intervention. What is the best course of action for the government to take? Today former congressman Ernest Istook, a distinguished fellow at Heritage, sat down with Heritage’s top economists, Bill Beach, David John and J.D. Foster, to …
The campaign to turn the current economic turmoil into justifications for new invasive federal government intervention in the marketplace is in full swing. The Hill reports, “After Bear Stearns bailout, Dems renew push to help homeowners,” and E.J. Dionne comments: “Never do I want to hear again from my conservative friends about … how government should keep its hands off the private economy. … The Wall Street titans have turned into a bunch of welfare clients. They are desperate to be bailed out by government from their own incompetence, and …
