Scrivener.net

[] Noted political analyst Charlie Cook is down on Democrats...

... the Republican Party, they've got some huge brand problems, where their brand got badly damaged during the eight years of President Bush and the six years the Republicans had the majority in Congress.

But if I had a choice of the Republican Party's problems right now or the Democratic Party's problems, I think you could triple the Republican Party's problems and I'd still rather have their problems than the problems facing Democrats.

It's been barely over one year since the declaration of the Permanent Democratic Majority and new America The Liberal. A year is a long time in politics.


[] Politicians and editorialists damn today the same arguments they embraced yesterday, just filling in the blanks to change the issues.

Really, it's nearly enough to make one cynical about politics altogether.


[] Hmm...

An important recent academic study called “Regulation and Distrust” shows that, paradoxically, the worse government performs, the more citizens demand greater government intervention. [EconLog]

Really, it's nearly enough to make one cynical about people altogether.


[] Well, it's not cynicism if you are right...

[Professors Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff have written the definitive survey of national insolvencies and financial crises, This Time is Different, Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. They say the U.S still has plenty of problems ahead of it regarding both debt and the economy. Interviewed in the Wall Street Journal, Prof. Reinhart has a final thought...]

WSJ: You and Ken Rogoff have been working together for nine years on these issues. What are the areas where you disagree most?

REINHART: I think Ken may have a little more faith in markets than I do. Unfortunately, I don’t have faith in the government either.