January 10, 2011. The far left hates Obama and the blue-dog Democrats. Giffords was a blue dog. And hopefully still is. By "far left" I do note mean violent extremists like we see on the right. But I am talking about hate, narrow mindedness and, well, stupidity. And I do mean hate. I have seen their faces when they talk about Obama. Enough already.

This in no way justifies tea-party hatred. In fact, the extremists feed off each other. And left-wing-nuts and right-wing-nuts that hate Obama are really not that different. Sure they say they're the opposite. But deep down, ... well you get my point. It's really pretty obvious. America's got some problems, and mostly they come from the extremes. What we need is creative common sense (not a mindless middle ground), and a real willingness to listen instead of screaming, shooting, and posing with guns.

January 9, 2011. The Palin camp says "depraved liberals" are politicizing the shooting of a U.S. Congresswoman by a right-wing lunatic at a political event. Right. Only a depraved person could see that as political. And attacking liberals as depraved, now that would not be political. And where did Palin's spokesperson choose to explain that there's no connection between right-wing gun-talk and politics, why of course, on Tammy Burce's talk radio show. She's the self-proclaimed "Chick with a gun and a microphone." And what does she talk about — nothing but politics. So don't be confused; there is nothing the least bit political about political mass murder. The Caucus, NYT.

January 8, 2011. “Don’t Retreat, Reload.” Sarah Palin is talking American politics. No she didn't make the crazy guy crazy. But we all know the crazies are out there, and we all know they can be influenced. If there were some need to talk shooting to make your point, ... but there's not. None at all. Unless, of course, your point is to incite right-wing crazies.

Now Palin offers "sincere condolences." Worse than useless. It helps no one, and implies there's no problem with politicians using shooter talk. Tea Baggers are free to egg on lunatics, but we are just as free to say they should get out of American politics if they won't stop. So why won't even one major Republican or T-bagger pledge to stop this evil un-American demagoguing? It's worth thinking about why they won't. Palin Targets Giffords on her shoot-em-up map.

To be fair, I think only a small percent of Tea Baggers talk the way Palin or Giffords' M16-firing, Tea-Bagger rival talk. And only a few are hoping their opponents get shot. But also to be fair, they do keep cheering on their leaders who engage in hateful violent rhetoric. It's time they took a stand for the democratic process.

November 1, 2010. I was teaching macro econ in 1981 and could not believe that not a single journalist could figure out Regan's lie. He'd been repeating it for over a year—"The national debt is the biggest it's ever been and out of control." All a journalist needed to do was pick up an Economic Rept. of the Pres. or a Budget from any Administration and take a look. There's a nice list of debt compared to our national income. 121% in 1946 and 32.5% when Reagan was lying about it. It was not the highest ever, it was the lowest in 50 years if you think of what matters — how big it is compared to what we can afford.

So then what happened? Well Reagan let the supply-side foxes (straight from Wall Street) into the government, and sure enough, the debt rocketed out of control. It had gotten better 27 out of 35 years after 1946, and then it got worse every year for 12 years under Reagan and Bush, and then better under Clinton, and then worse for 8 years under Bush II.

The supply siders said they were fixing the debt, but they struck out 20 out of 20 times. While all other Republicans and Democrats alike were batting over 750. So the supply siders needed a bigger lie.

So they blamed the Democrats in Congress. Take a look. For the 12 years when Reagan-Bush quadrupled the debt (and then some) Congress passed almost exactly the budget they asked for every year. The first year they were about 1% high, but that was passed by all the Republicans and about 30 Southern Democrats that Reagan did some horse trading with. But on average, Congress appropriated about $2 billion a year less than Reagan-Bush asked for. So how does that explain their running up the debt by $3,414 billion? Like I said, these supply siders don't mess around with little lies.

And G.W. Bush? He came in and promised "This will be the largest debt reduction ever achieved by any nation at any time." He didn't know what Cheney and his supply siders were planning — the same tax-cuts for the rich that skunked Reagan. So $6,100 Billion for Bush II. Combine Reagan and the Bushes and you've got $9.5 Trillion in debt. But don't forget there's interest. As Einstein said, the strongest force in the universe is compound interest. And 17 years on top of the Reagan-Bush $3.4 Trillion brings the total Reagan-Bushes debt to $12 Trillion. Damn near the whole $13.5 Trillion of our national debt. Don't believe it? Click here for a very simple calculation with color coded links to the U.S. Treasury for instant verification.

But don't blame Reagan so much as the Wall Street supply-side "economists" (mostly just journalists) that hoodwinked him. And Don't blame G.H.W. Bush so much. He had the guts to call it voodoo economics before Reagan even got elected. But he got sucked into the V.P. position and silenced. And don't blame G.W. Bush so much. He had no idea what was going on.

This game is run by the big money, and the debt has mainly gone to give them tax breaks. Sure, they gave the rest of us a little to keep us quiet. And the next generation can pay for all that. All I can tell you is that the Republican Pledge is pure supply side, and they are going to win big. This is not going to be pretty for Main Street. But you get what you vote for.

October 9, 2010. It was called voodoo economics by one of them. Check out the slide show here. The Supply-Side Story

September 13, 2010. What would have happened if Reagan and the Bushes had reduced the debt like every post-WWII president before them. That's not much to ask. They claimed they would do far better. The new green line on this graph tells a most remarkable story. See for yourself.

March 24, 2010.  Meanwhile, Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans approve of the health-care bill. And, of course some of those who don't wanted a stronger bill.

October 26, 2010. Texas oil companies have funded an attack on Schwarzenegger's climate bill, AB32, and lost. Almost everyone except 41% of Republicans is against the oil companies. But that's Prop. 23.

What about Prop. 26? Never heard of that have you? Well Chevron, ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, and others have spent over $14 million to get that passed and it would, in effect, do the same thing. Moreover, it would increases California's budget deficit by $1 billion a year. Vote No on Prop. 26. (Remember: 23 + 3)

October 24, 2010. [Socialism is their code word for China -- the country that is currently cleaning our clock on the renewable-energy front.] These guys are our secret weapon in the race for global competitiveness. Their secret funding source is BP and other major European companies. This is made possible by the Republican Supreme Court decision recognizing that the Founding Fathers really meant to give corporations (even foreign ones) equal rights to participate in elections, and they would have if only corporations had been invented at the time.

In any case, some curmudgeons are saying that BP may not have our best interests at heart and may only be doing this because the Tea Part is backing their efforts to warm the globe, but BP has said this is absolutely not true.

October 8, 2010. Which is the best government in the world? I've never heard you answer. But let me guess. No, not France. Not England or Canada with "socialized medicine." Mexico? China? Sweden? Russia? Hmmm. I'm pretty sure you're going to tell me it's the U.S. Government. I'm glad you said that. Now what I don't understand, is why you hate the best. Doesn't that seem a tad spoiled?

Sure, make it better, but that's not what I hear. I hear anger. I hear "strangle the beast — hate the President."

Now there was a time when America was really, truly patriotic. When Americans loved their government and when posters of Uncle Sam were everywhere. And he looked proud, not homeless and helpless, as the right wing now portrays him. Many things looked different then. The U.S. government was running up the debt far faster (and it got much higher), and Uncle Sam was asking people to buy U.S. Savings bonds to finance that debt. And he was spending like crazy. And doing unbelievably "socialist" things by tea-party standards. Like rationing meat, shoes and gasoline — and controlling prices and wages. He was even telling people to plant gardens. Imagine! Nearly half of the economy was producing goods for government use.

And what happened? Did this wreck the economy? Did Americans rebel against this hateful socialist oppression? Did people feel enslaved? No. They were Patriots. In fact, exactly the opposite happened in every respect. This ended the horrendous unemployment of the Great Depression. The economy boomed as never before or since, doubling output in only six years. Americans, 400,000 of them, gave their lives for their country. Women worked in shipyards as welders. This was patriotism.

Today we have Wall-Streeters whining that they are taxed too much on their million-dollar-a-day incomes. And, yes, the top 25 hedge-fund managers all make more than that. We have the Oil Barrons (Koch brothers) funding the organization of the Tea Party to demand tax breaks for the rich. And we have the U.S. Chamber of Commerce using some foreign funds to fund Republicans to make sure the government does not fix up America's infrastructure and end the Great Recession.

But what is truly shameful is that the haters of our government have appropriated the mantle of the real patriots. What the haters display is not a pale imitation of patriotism. It is the opposite. For those who hate the best government in the world, perhaps we need a new term. Perhaps, they should call themselves Hateriots. Or perhaps they should learn that America is of the people, by the people and for the people, and that means all the people. Not just the ones in some little tea party.

Now some will call me socialist and say I'm advocating price controls and rationing. There's no reasoning with such people. What I've said is this. The stupid formulas for what is socialism and what takes away freedom make no sense. Think a little harder, and learn a little history that is not on hate radio. Drop this hate and anger, and make America a better place.

September 20, 2010. It's a Fact. The 25th richest hedge-fund manager now makes only $360 million per year -- a mere 18 times more (NYT) than he made in 2002. Hard times. The problem, as Fortune Magazine explains is that "Incredibly, the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s. This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anticolonial ambitions, is now setting the nation's agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son." Boy, those guys are really sore losers. Think what they would do if they only made five times as much as in 2002, like the rest of us.

Hmmm. Can't help doing the math. 250 work days in a years, so $1.4 million per day. The U.S. average is $60k/year, so they make in 1 day what average Joe takes 24 years to make. But that's because they are only 25th richest. You can see why the Republicans want to give them tax breaks. I mean, these are hard times.

September 3, 2010. The Koch Brothers, the richest oil barons in the country, have joined the two Texas oil companies that launched the fight against California's climate law — the one passed by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. And yes, these are the same multi-billionaires funding groups that train and organize "tea party" activists across the country. Of course the climate bill would reduce California's use of oil, so the Kochs do have a legitimate financial interest the matter. story

August 19, 2010. The Fox poll asked two questions: (1) Do you think the Muslim group has a right to build a mosque there? 61% said yes and 34% No. Obama said "Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country, and that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan in accordance with local laws and ordinances. ... The writ of the Founders must endure."

Question (2): "Should the Muslim group locate so provocatively close to ground zero?" 64% said No. Obama said he would not comment on "the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there."

Republicans, especially two already running for president, attacked Obama for being insensitive and waffling. But Americans understand that having a right, does not mean it's a good idea. And many Muslims are saying it's not a good idea, even though they have the right.

June 28, 2010. Half of those who write to me about the national debt think the country has been bad and needs to be punished. And that means "cut government spending," which means fewer jobs. Fewer jobs! Can you think of a worse time to cut back on jobs? Well, can you? This is well-meaning, moralistic nonsense. If someone's back goes out ... more

May 29, 2010. The Ahmadi movement stresses non-violence and tolerance of other faiths, but that's not the only reason the Taliban slaughtered 93 Ahmadi Muslims in their place of worship. It was also because the Ahmadis believe their founder was a prophet. That's a no-no according to other Muslims, even though the Ahmadi's insist that he was not a "law-giving" prophet and his job was only to propagate the laws enunciated by Islam's Prophet Mohammad.

Since this is not a good enough excuse, Pakistan's 2nd Constitutional amendment declared them to be non-Muslims, and they have been persecuted in the extreme ever since. As far as I can tell, most Muslims are quite reasonable, but I think it's time for them to speak up.

May 28, 2010. Unlikely, and that should not be it's job. The real problem was the $75 million cap ... more>>

May 21, 2010.  He's just the kind of politician the T-Party say's their against — weasels. Check YouTube "Rachel Maddow v Rand Paul. He obviously believes business should be allowed to discriminate. That's right. No need to serve blacks at the lunch counter. But he won't say it. Backbone? I guess not. So now he gets whacked for the view he's to embarrassed to say, and for being too embarrassed. Smart?

March 6, 2010.     Checking the Vets' YouTube Video

Not quite. The US DOE says Iran had net oil export revenues of $55B in 2009, and their average price was $60 (DOE). So they make only $0.9B not $1.5B extra per year when the price goes up $1/barrel. Did the Vets lie? Not ... more>>

January 04, 2010  The Pakistan government complains publicly that the U.S. has violated its sovereignty each time a drone attack strikes down another handful of terrorists. But by all accounts, Pakistan authorizes, and provides intelligence for, these strikes. The complaint is just for show.

Drone Attacks are extremely difficult to research, but Farhat Taj has done it. She's a researcher with the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research in Oslo, so you can be pretty sure she's no right winger, and probably not too pro-U.S. So when she tells us the drone attacks are very popular with the tribes-people of Waziristan, I think you can believe her. It makes sense. If I lived under the Taliban and Al Qaeda, I'm sure I'd be more than a little pleased every time one of those bloody bombers of Mosques, volley ball games and girls schools got blown to pieces. So read her and see if she does not give you a new perspective: Drone Attacks.

October 15, 2010. Roy Spencer, probably the smartest and most honest of the climate skeptics, keeps track of one of the 4 main global temperature series. The press usually does not report this one, maybe because it's cooler. They usually report the hottest one. Roy graphs the 13-month running average (13? Who knows.) and that average just hit an all-time high. This is in spite of the fact that we are in a La-Nina (a cool spell) and the previous (1998) record was in a massive El Nino (hot spell). Roy chalks it up to "Mother Nature's sense of humor." I guess she just loves playing these jokes on conservatives. She's probably a socialist, don't ya think? See for yourself.

May 29, 2010. At the very top, in the finest print, it says "Advertorial." Say what?!  At the bottom of the masthead, in equally fine print, it says "This site is not affiliated with any newspaper publication," although it sure looks like it is. If you notice this, you can be sure the entire page is a load of c*** designed to cost you money. You must have clicked on an ad by "Pulse 360." Unlike Google, their motto seems to be "do only evil."

One of their ads will usually say "Acai Berry Exposed"—actually an advert for Acai—or "Chicago: Mom Makes $77/hr Online!" This "Mom" is always in your city, no matter where you live. Pulse-360 detects your location and tailors the ad to suck you in. Now my libertarian friends will tell you Pulse has a perfect right to do this to you. But let me tell you something more interesting. Watch for these ads on you favorite news site and click them as many times as you like, then back up and click again. This will make the advertisers pay your favorite news site, oh, about $0.40/click. Of course it will also force them to pay Pulse 360, but it may not make the advertisers that happy with 360.

November 17, 2009. A short new book explains what to do now that cap-and-trade has hit a dead end at Copenhagen. Read the abstract and download it at SSRN

Also visit the website of the new Global Energy Policy Center. The trouble with Copenhagen is not a disagreement over the need for strong policy. The problem is that the world cannot agree on how too cooperate. Strategy is required..

July 16, 2009. If you want to set back environmentalism, just enlist California's Air Board. They gave us those millions of Zero Emission Vehicles back in the 1990's. This time we're getting way-cheaper-than-free climate control. They say "It's amazing." Here's ... more >>

June 29, 2009  No, no, no said the Environmental Defense Fund. We can't have a re-funded carbon tax. Any tax would sink like the 1993 BTU (gas) tax, which passed the House 219 to 213. So they pushed through a cap, which passed the House 219 to 212.

June 22, 2009  Shot to death by the Iranian government after getting out of a car trapped by the demonstration in Tehran. She has become the dictatorship's most feared symbol of Iran's Democracy Movement. Processions on the 40th day of mourning for fallen ... more >>

July 9, 2009  At the Major Economies Forum (MEF) in Italy, the top 17 polluting nations decided they cannot even set an "aspirational goal" for the world for 2050. This reflects the more serious problem that China and India will not accept any cap on their own emissions until at least 2020. The G8 summit, one day before the ... more >>

July 8, 2009. Microsoft security glitches, amplified by Microsoft policy, are now being used to disrupt the White House, the NY Stock Exchange, and ... more >>

July 7, 2009. One side says green subsidies will create jobs, and the other side says the cost of those subsidies will destroy jobs. Both sides see half the picture—the half they want to see. If the government taxes us and subsidizes corn ethanol ... more >>

June 6, 2009   No American President could leave Afghanistan—even if they thought our chances there were poor. What would happen if Obama just brought our troops home? (1) The Taliban would take over most of the country for sure—they almost have now. (2) They would invite al Qaeda in again—they are still ... more >>

Why didn't Time just call up the Energy Dept. and ask what they meant? DOE's forecast is more than double what it was in 2007, the year before we hit $147. And DOE is not talking about peaks. It's like the weatherman ... more >>

June 1, 2009  When we chased bin Laden from Afghanistan, he went to Waziristan in Pakistan. The Pakistan army is now starting operations there, and today the Taliban took 100 hostages. Bin Laden works closely with the Taliban. He's worried because the Pak army is getting too close, and that this time most Pakistanis support the army and oppose the Taliban. Pakistan is doing us a huge and costly favor by going after al Qaeda's hideout. Update: Good news, the Pakistan army has freed all but one hostage.

May 25, 2009.  Nonconservative Dick Cheney's undocumented claim to have "prevented the violent death of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands" reminds me of last fall's big neocon scare story, which eventually made it onto FOX News. On August 21, 2008, the MV Iran Deyanat, sailing from Nanjing China, was hyjacked off the cost of Somalia. By the time it left Somalia, the neocon rumor that it was delivering "weapons to Somalia's Islamist insurgents" had escalated across the extremist blogosphere, turning the ship into a dirty bomb full of ... more >>

May 24, 2009  China cares about global warming, but it knows how to bargain. Gore just cares: "If the United States leads, China will follow," AP foreign. Why should China follow? Just to be nice? Like in Tibet? Meanwhile Waxman's cap-n-trade bill is offering China a $5 billion bribe not to follow. Here's how that "works." Cap-n-trade ...  more >>

May 14, 2009.  Afghanis earn an average of $1 per day. That includes all the drug lords and government officials. We can bribe the bottom half of the population away from the Taliban for what the military costs us in three weeks. The only trick is knowing how to make the bribe in a way that knocks out opium and helps develop the country.

The trick is to pay them to grow the crop they need most and that ...   more >>

Obama did not release any new information about U.S. torture, only about who authorized it and when. I personally read the details of all of the torture techniques used by the CIA a week before President Obama released the Bush memos.   more >>

... compared to conservation. More wind turbines or more insulation—which is best? I've always loved cool new technology. But that's no excuse for more wind subsidies.

Consider three factors: carbon saved, jobs created, ... more >>

Well that's what Bloomberg recommends. The market values them at 30 cents on the dollar, “But that 30 cents is going to look good in three months. [Later this year ...] those assets will be going for five cents or 10 cents on the dollar. Absolutely they [the Treasury] should move faster.”

Move faster so we can buy them and take the loss? Geithner may be... more >>

I know. We gotta stop global warming, and cap-and-trade has been our band-wagon for 15 years, and ... well that's my point. It's been nothing but trouble and that's not changing. Keep repeating what doesn't work—that's crazy. All our best economists economists say this econo-scheme is bad. And Al Gore's climate adviser says it "will practically guarantee disastrous climate change." Cap and Trade: The Dark Side

As Krugman explains, this could be a bank panic—just psychology, or it could be the banks are insolvent. The market for toxic assets is saying "insolvent," and Krugman agrees. Geithner says their assets are good—just you wait and see.

Why the disagreement? Geithner thinks he can turn the economy... more >>

"It's time for government to tighten their belts and show the American people that we 'get' it." —House Republican Leader John Boehner

The old mistake, repeated by Boehner, kept us in the Great Depression. But our government spent like never before or since to win WWII and end the depression.

The recession has knocked over $25,000 per person off the value of stocks. Obama's carbon cap-tax, which is refunded except for $15 billion spent on green energy projects comes to $50 per person per year. So why do extremists get so worked up over ...   more >>

GDP dropped at it's fastest rate since 1982 in the last quarter of 2008. Why? Mainly because consumer spending dropped faster than at any time since record-keeping began. But supply-side economics says: "That's no problem. When people buy less, business cuts prices, and people buy more at a bargain price. Markets are ...  more >>

Obama's Budget, proposes a carbon cap and trade system with "a 100% auction"—no free permits (but $ handouts). Revenues from the auction have been estimated at anywhere from $50B to $300B per year.  more >>

Van Hollen, a close associate of Nancy Pelosi, will soon introduce a "cap and dividend" proposal. This will challenge the main House cap-trade bill coming out of Waxman's Committee. As Carbonomics explains, this is the best type of cap, and will likely lead to the untax proposal of Senator Corker and James Hansen, Al Gore's   more >>

I've just published Carbonomics, which explains the climate-energy how policies like cap and trade work, why they're needed and how they may fail. Includes Hansen's 100%-refunded carbon tax and much more. —Steven Stoft