“Where’s the part in this bill where anyone who takes down the entire financial system has to live on the street in a box over a steam vent?” Wow surprise. Seems we have all 59 Democrats supporting a sprawling piece of reform legislation, and all 41 Republicans opposing it. And of course, those 41 votes [...]

Last week a New York Times/CBS poll found that Tea Party backers were, among other things, more educated on average than the general public. Some may assert, however, that this may not be the same demographic pool showing up at the group’s rallies, if you take to heart the photos in a Flickr pool called [...]

Yesterday we referenced a Floyd Norris column in the New York Times called “Why So Glum? Numbers Point to a Recovery,” which discussed the persistence of gloom in the air despite an improving economic outlook. The American economy appears to be in a cyclical recovery that is gaining strength. Firms have begun to hire and [...]

One of the sticking points in enacting the financial reform bill stuck in the Senate is the creation of a new consumer financial protection agency, which Republicans have ardently opposed.

This post from the financial sector policy blog Finance: Facts and Follies summarizes the dismantling of consumer protections in the mortgage and credit card industries in the 2000s.

Many of the steps violating unsophisticated consumers’ protections against predatory lending came from a cascade of federal, not state, regulatory actions and legislation.

Three days ago we posted an editorial from David Frum’s web site called “Waterloo,” in which the conservative pundit asserted that Republicans had committed an enormous tactical error in refusing to negotiate with Democrats on the health care bill. Now Frum has lost his job at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. Frum [...]

“Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s. It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster.” Former Bush speechwriter and Republican thinker David Frum has posted an article on his site that is making the Web rounds. It argues that Republicans have made a huge tactical error in refusing [...]

A lot of people are engaging in online debates and conversations about the health care bill today. and it’s especially interesting to observe the muted, if any, celebration of liberals and other engaged Democrats about their party’s success in pushing through the legislation, overcoming what many political handicappers pegged as extremely long odds. Their disappointment [...]

In January, after Massachussetts sent Republican Scott Brown to the Senate, destroying the Democratic supermajority needed to pass the health care overhaul without resorting to the reconciliation process, the plan appeared all but dead. Now, some view the bill’s success as comparable to the Resurrection, while others liken it more to the return of Jason [...]

Who’d have thought CSPAN was going to be the most dramatic thing on TV this weekend? Some assorted commentary on the impending health care bill vote in the House, which is slated for Sunday and which will in part resolve the long-running issue one way or the other. Managed Care Matters: Unsustainable, irrational, unaffordable health [...]

“I decided long ago that this is one of the few issues I will decide without regard for political impact – it is too important. I will cast my vote on the basis of what I think is in the best interest of our country, state and district; if there is a political price to [...]