Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Looms
Tuesday’s hearing of the House Oversight Committee gave Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) a chance to vent, and witness Elizabeth Warren, President Obama’s Special Advisor for the Bureau of Consumer...
About: Bob Adelmann
Posts by Bob Adelmann
Greek Austerity, Privatization Programs Won’t Be Enough
In its efforts to avoid restructuring (i.e., defaulting on) its debt, Greece announced the sale of some of its assets to raise funds and to satisfy the austerity requirements...
Saving the American Dream: How the Heritage Foundation Plans to Do It
When Peter G. Peterson sold his interest in his investment company the Blackstone Group in 2007, he took $1 billion of his gains to fund his foundation, which...
Social Security: Way Beyond Tweaking
Just one year ago this week the Senate Special Committee on Aging, headed up by wealthy and aging Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), announced that massive shortfalls in funding for...
Tax Breaks, Subsidies, and Big Oil
Echoing the Obama administration’s characterization of the tax breaks being enjoyed by the five major oil companies (Exxon, ConocoPhillips, BP America, Shell, and Chevron) as "subsidies," the Senate tried...
Trump Fires The Donald, Ends Presidential Bid
Few were surprised, and many were relieved, at Donald Trumps announcement on Monday that he was ending his campaign for the Presidency: After considerable deliberation and reflection, I...
Insider Scoffs at Default Concerns, Blasts Geithner, Bernanke
Although Monday, May 16th is the day the financial world was supposed to end as the federal government’s spending hit the debt ceiling, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (left) announced...
Runaway Inflation on the Cusp?
Buried in the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on the Consumer Price Index was some disconcerting news. On the surface, there appeared to be little...
Greece is Out of Options
Writers for The Wall Street Journal’s lead article on Tuesday expressed surprise that Greece’s fiscal problems are “coming to the boil once more.” After all, when Greece went...
Trump in New Hampshire: Undecided on Presidential Run
Sounding very much like a declared candidate for the Presidency, Donald Trump gave a rambling rehash of his positions on various issues to a small but supportive crowd...
Boehner Caught in the Middle
House Speaker John Boehner?s speech to the Economic Club of New York on Monday night revealed much about the pressures he is facing in the fight over increasing...
Huckabee Tells the Truth: Politicians Lie
In a moment, perhaps, of unintended clarity, potential presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said, “You have to govern in a way that is different than the way you campaign.”...
Republicans Take Medicare Changes Off the Table
Writers Carl Hulse and Jackie Calmes, in the New York Times, could scarcely contain their delight that House Republicans have decided to put any proposed changes to Medicare on...
Senator Orrin Hatch: This Pitchfork’s for You
Last Wednesday Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) verbally polished his 'fiscal conservative' spectacles for the benefit of non-believers in Utah who are threatening to support opposition to his run for...
Chile’s Privatized Social Security Program is 30 Years Old, and Prospering
As a quiet example of how privatizing Social Security works in the real world, Chile’s 30-year experiment is succeeding beyond expectations. Instead of running huge deficits to fund the...