Badger Cottage Versus Toad Hall by Froma Harrop
Sometimes you need children to set you straight. They are so attuned to what they like and what feels good. The status-value of things doesn't register as much as with adults.
Political Commentary
Most Recent Releases
July 26, 2012
July 25, 2012
America, the Law-crazed By John Stossel
Over the past few decades, America has locked up more and more people. Our prison population has tripled. Now we jail a higher percentage of people than even the most repressive countries: China locks up 121 out of every 100,000 people; Russia 511. In America? 730.
July 24, 2012
When Only a Human Will Do By Froma Harrop
I'm a well-trained child of the human-less world of customer "support." I don't ask for much. When I need an answer, I first check the FAQs (frequently asked questions). I visit forums to find others discussing similar problems and sometimes offering good advice.
July 23, 2012
Booming North Dakota City Shows Wisdom of Markets By Michael Barone
This is a tale of two cities. No, not Dickens' phlegmatic London and passionate Paris. Nor the two neighborhoods Charles Murray contrasted in his recent bestseller "Coming Apart" -- prosperous but isolated Belmont (actually, Mitt Romney's home for decades) and needy and disorganized Fishtown.
July 20, 2012
Must We Go Here Again? Birthers, Neo-birthers and Right-wing Sleaze By Joe Conason
As the Obama years unfold, observers who lived through the Clinton era sometimes have the eerie feeling that they have been here before -- particularly when directing their gaze toward the far right. The roiling paranoia and hatred that marred American politics when Bill and Hillary Clinton were in the White House has resurfaced in attacks on Barack and Michelle Obama, who like the Clintons have been maligned repeatedly as communist, subversive, Satanic and, above all, illegitimate.
July 20, 2012
Bain Attacks Fail to Shake Up Presidential Race By Scott Rasmussen
Over the past few weeks, President Obama and his campaign team have launched a furious attack on Mitt Romney's record as head of Bain Capital, a highly successful venture capital firm.
July 19, 2012
If You Like Local Government...By Froma Harrop
A rebounding economy will not be enough to pull state governments out of their fiscal mess, says a new report from the State Budget Crisis Task Force. While health and other costs continue to grow, important sources of revenues are shrinking, the group led by former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch noted. One of those sources is sales taxes. Some states rely on them heavily for revenues. (Only four don't have sales taxes -- Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon.)
July 19, 2012
Obama Believes Success Is a Gift From Government by Michael Barone
Perhaps the rain made the teleprompter unreadable. That's one thought I had on pondering Barack Obama's comments to a rain-soaked rally in Roanoke, Va., last Friday.
July 18, 2012
First Jobs By John Stossel
What was your first job? I stuck pieces of plastic and metal together at an Evanston, Ill., assembly line. We produced photocopiers for a company called American Photocopy.
July 17, 2012
Are Some Republicans Ready to Deal on Taxes? by Froma Harrop
Nowadays, few politicians will stray from party orthodoxy without also taking unfair whacks at the opposition. Sen. Tom Coburn, Republican from Oklahoma, is braver and more principled than most. But even he felt obliged to take partisan cover in his most recent blast at activist Grover Norquist, enforcer of the absurd pledge never to let anyone's taxes rise ever.
July 16, 2012
Like Charter Schools, Britain's Academies Aim High by Michael Barone
1776 is a number with great resonance for Americans, but not one you expect to be featured on a British government website.
July 13, 2012
If We're Headed Toward Greece, Republicans Are Driving Us There By Joe Conason
When Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters on Tuesday that Mitt Romney's foreign investment accounts don't trouble him because "it's really American to avoid paying taxes," he must not have realized that he was calling his party's nominee-to-be a liar.
July 13, 2012
An Over/Under on Democratic House Gains By Kyle Kondik
In sports betting parlance, an “over/under” is a bet on whether there will be more or less of a given statistic in a certain game. So, in a football game, say the over/under is 50; gamblers would bet whether the total points scored would be more or less than 50. We include this reference just to make sure readers know what we’re talking about here, and also to include a regular Crystal Ball disclaimer: It’s our policy to never bet money on elections because we do not want to compromise our ratings.
July 13, 2012
Why Obama's Still in the Race Despite the Bad Economy By Scott Rasmussen
There are plenty of reasons that the economy is the most important issue of Election 2012. Unemployment has remained high for a long time, and even 27 percent of those who have a job are worried about losing it.
July 12, 2012
The Worst Financial Scandal Yet? By Froma Harrop
If only one in four American adults can name his or her U.S. senators, we can assume that even fewer know what Libor is. Libor (pronounced lie-bor) is at the center of another major financial scandal, but that may not improve its name recognition much. This is summer, after all, and making sense of financial manipulation requires effort.
July 12, 2012
A Muddled Outlook for Olympics-ready London by Michael Barone
The best view of London's Olympic Park is from the picture windows at the top floor of the John Lewis department store in the vast Westfield Stratford mall five miles east of the Tower of London.
July 11, 2012
Budget Insanity By John Stossel
Last year, Congress agreed to $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts, unless politicians find other things to cut. They didn't, of course. So now, with so-called sequestration looming in January, panic has set in. Even the new "fiscally responsible" Republicans vote against cutting Energy Department handouts to companies like Solyndra and subsidies to sugar producers. Many claim that any cut in military spending will weaken America and increase unemployment.
July 10, 2012
Where They Play, Rich Conservatives Like Zoning by Froma Harrop
The weekend's memorable photo is of Mitt Romney driving his massive powerboat past a privately built castle, not unlike his own, on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee. On Sunday, he moseyed across the Long Island Sound to the beachy pleasure dome of billionaire conservative David Koch, in Southampton, N.Y. -- for a $75,000-a-couple dinner to raise money from like-minded Republicans. Not far away, Koch's brother Bill, a fellow funder of conservative causes, holds court in the exclusive waterfront enclave of Osterville, on Cape Cod.
July 9, 2012
With Little to Say, Obama Eats Grits in Rust Belt by Michael Barone
"A step in the right direction." That's what Barack Obama said in Poland, Ohio, about Friday's Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment report, which showed only 80,000 net new jobs and unemployment remaining at 8.2 percent.
July 6, 2012
To Fix Health Care System, Put Consumers in Charge By Scott Rasmussen
Democrats were riding high in the polls in 2006 and 2008, and one of their big issues was health care. Then, after passing the president's health care law, the politics shifted, and the issue helped sweep the GOP to victory in the 2010 midterm elections. A few months later, Republicans had a 14-point advantage in terms of voter trust on the health care issue.
