WASHINGTON - As President Barack Obama and other world leaders meet in Italy, a global survey released Thursday reflects wide concern that governments won't meet their budgets in this economic climate - and a universal preference to respond by cutting services rather than raising taxes.
Assessing the
gigantic new budget proposed by Barack Obama is hard enough, but the
$3.6 trillion behemoth turns incomprehensible when left- and
right-leaning journalists assigned to analyze it seem unable to
separate wishful thinking from political reality.
An early
skeptic about the left-handed phenom from Chicago, I've never had any
illusions about Obama's commitment to left-wing "change." Yet that's
exactly what pundits across the political spectrum say Obama is putting
forth.
The US Senate spent yesterday freaking out
on Capitol Hill about the spending bill. Senators are wrangling about
its passage because so many of the proposed spending items fall under
the broad category "earmarks." Can we pause for just a minute? I need
to point out that earmarks are not necessarily evil.
Let me say it one more time is this totally psychotic political environment: Earmarks are not necessarily bad.
WASHINGTON - The nation's largest banks, battling an image of jet-setting executives with multimillion-dollar salaries, will face tough scrutiny Wednesday from lawmakers who are struggling to understand the financial health of the institutions and the impact of a $700 billion taxpayer bailout.
Eight chief executive officers, including Bank of America's Ken Lewis and Wells Fargo & Co.'s John Stumpf, are scheduled to testify at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.
It's hard to believe, but there was a time not so long ago when charity was going to save the world. The right argued for a "compassionate conservatism" that would transfer the care and feeding of the poor from government to churches, while liberals, who saw government funds for good works shrinking, increasingly relied on the kindness of foundations and NGOs.
