Success! Well, kind of.

It looks like House leaders, Senate leaders, and the White House have struck a deal on raising the debt limit. According to a presentation created by Speaker of the House John Boehner, it will initially cut $917 billion from the budget over 10 years in return for raising the debt ceiling by $900 billion, and requires Congress to find more cuts before it can be raised by another $1.5 trillion.  It also requires a vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution by the end of the year.  And it doesn’t include any tax increases.| MORE ›

Most economic conservatives are understandably criticizing Speaker of the House John Boehner for reportedly compromising on the budget by either agreeing to some increases in revenue, or worse, agreeing to repeal the Bush tax cuts (although now it appears he’s walked back from this).

I hold a slightly different opinion that he might be on the right track, depending on the details.| MORE ›

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire.

That’s basically how one can summarize the situation in Europe. Several (Southern) European countries are on the brink of collapse. Greece is as near bankruptcy as can be. At the same time, Western and Northern Europeans are becoming increasingly disturbed by the irresponsible behavior of the Greek, and of other nations.

Other nations, you ask?

Why yes.| MORE ›