As the Senate votes to pass the tax cut deal announced by President Obama last Monday night, political debate rages on. What’s left of the Left in Congress hates the deal. It’s the second drubbing in a row (November 2nd, being the first). The deal says “lower tax rates are better than higher tax rates.”

After years of complaining about the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy, two Democratic Presidents (Clinton and Obama) have now come out in support of them. President Obama’s chief political advisor, David …

Sometimes you have to take your political lenses out and look at the actual economic statistics in order to gauge whether we’re on the road to recovery or not. Without getting personal, I’m watching many of my friends on certain cable stations attempt to trash the March employment numbers released last Friday. Don’t do it, folks. The numbers were solid.
What’s my point? Credibility. Conservative credibility.
No one has written more about the future tax-and-regulatory threats from the big-government assault of Obamanomics. But most of that is in the future. The current …

The Dow industrials fell more than 380 points, or 4.67%. Nasdaq fell 4.2%.  The Dow has fallen from 18% from 9625 to 7888 since the election of President Obama.
Reuters

Economic growth at the end of 2008 was slightly deceptive.  Real GDP fell at a 3.8% annual rate, a smaller decline then the consensus expected.  However, without an unwanted accumulation of inventories at businesses, real GDP would have dropped at a steeper 5.1% annual rate.  This surge in inventories, and the reaction of business to it, means another steep drop in real GDP is likely on tap for Q1, as excess stockpiles are reduced.
At the same time, the widespread severity of winter weather …

What’s needed is getting prospective buyers back into the market. A direct subsidy could do that. Those who remember the seemingly forgotten Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 might be saying, “We tried that and it didn’t work.” The act did sound good–it provided a First-time Homebuyer Tax Credit of up to $7,500. But, according to surveys conducted by NAR, the credit isn’t working as well as hoped because homebuyers have to pay the tax credit back within 15 years. When first-time homebuyers hear about the repayment requirement, they …

Friday’s jobs report was awful, but contrary to popular belief does not signal the death of the consumer. This notion – that fewer people working means less consumption – has become conventional wisdom. And those who believe this, think government “stimulus” is the only way to prevent an economic bloodbath.
It’s easy to get dour. Along with the sharp decline in jobs during December, total hours worked plummeted 1.1%, in large part due to a sudden rise in the number of workers who want to work full-time but …