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In an earlier post I attempted to correct Dr. Austan Goolsbee’s incorrect and inflammatory statements about President Bush.  I would like here to add my views to one additional question on the auto industry discussion on this morning’s edition of Fox News Sunday. Host Chris Wallace moderated a discussion this morning with: Dr. Austan Goolsbee, [...]

This morning on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace moderated a discussion about the auto industry.  One of his guests was Dr. Austan Goolsbee, who is a Member of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist on the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. I want to focus on some incorrect and inflammatory statements [...]

Many of you are new to this blog since I wrote extensively about autos six weeks ago.  As background, I coordinated the auto loan process for President Bush last fall as the Director of the White House National Economic Council (the position now held by Dr. Lawrence Summers).  I wrote a series of posts on [...]

In a few hours I will offer my thoughts and reactions to the General Motors bankruptcy filing and the President’s noon announcement.  For now, here is what I have been able to figure out from the White House fact sheet and secondary source reporting through CNBC and the Wall Street Journal.  I assume that both [...]

(Editorial note:  I was doing so well moving to shorter posts.  I fail miserably in achieving that goal here.  I went the comprehensive route instead.  I promise to return to shorter posts in the future.  Buckle up – this is a long ride.  I hope you find it’s worth it.) (Update:  There’s an important correction [...]

Today the Administration released more detail for the President’s budget.  The President tried to emphasize his fiscal responsibility by highlighting some of the programs he proposes to terminate or reduce.  Budget Director Orszag released the Terminations, Reductions, and Savings volume. This morning the President said, But one of the pillars of this foundation is fiscal [...]

As a novice blogger I have been repeatedly surprised and humbled by the thoughtful comments posted on this blog.  I want to thank all of you who are contributing to a civil and thoughtful discussion. At the risk of offending some of you, I am going to push back on some of the comments to [...]

President Obama may not realize that the people who work for him are required to ignore hundreds (thousands?) of Congressional earmarks.  The President has the ability to stop them from doing so.  I hope that he will not. Thanks go to former OMB General Counsel Jeff Rosen for pointing this out. An Executive Order is [...]

Yesterday I wrote about the history of tax increases since World War II, and about the battle over the total level of taxation.  Now I want to turn to spending. I am a low-tax guy.  I have worked on tax issues for 12 of my 15 years in Washington, helping elected officials lower taxes and [...]

Thanks to Reuters’ MacroScope blog for noticing: Keith Hennessey, a former top economic adviser to President George W. Bush, saw this one coming. He rightly predicted that the Group of 20 would drop a key word from its communique at the conclusion of the London Summit: Free. Here is my original post from Wednesday:  A [...]