It’s risky to lend money to a guy who might not be able to pay it back. It’s also risky to lend money to a guy who might decide on a whim not to pay it back. The debt showdown, in which Republicans are threatening to force the Treasury into default unless Democrats agree to their budget priorities, has turned the U.S. into that …
Miscellany
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Ouch
Below is the Friday cover of New Hampshire’s largest paper, the Union Leader. For the story on Mitt Romney’s official announcement that he’s running for President, you have to turn to page A3.
Morning Must Reads: Stall
- The economy appears to be in full stall: Just 54,000 jobs were added in May, the unemployment rate rose to 9.1% and data from April and March were revised down.
- The unemployment rate matters for incumbent presidential reelection efforts, but it’s not as simple as the topline number.
- Krugman sees two years of inadequacies coming to
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Another Debt Warning From Wall Street
The bond-rating service Moody’s has threatened to dim its outlook for U.S. Treasury bonds if the debt-limit showdown between the White House and Congressional Republicans drags on.
Although Moody’s fully expected political wrangling prior to an increase in the statutory debt limit, the degree of entrenchment into conflicting positions
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The Republic Is Saved From the Axis of Evil Laser-Pointers
Oh, well. Despite the efforts of Tea Party senator Rand Paul of Kentucky–and me!–the FAA just imposed civil penalties of up to $11,000 for bozos who point lasers at airplanes. I still think we should spend more time figuring out how to regulate complex industries like finance and nuclear energy to avoid national calamities, and less …
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Morning Must Reads: Panic
- Mitt Romney’s presidential announcement Thursday in New Hampshire will opportunistically hit on economic themes.
- This estimate of minuscule job gains for May should scare President Obama’s economic and political teams. The official report will be out Friday.
- Jim Tankersley doesn’t think a soft patch necessarily means it’s time to
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Q&A: Mitch McConnell Explains How to Get a ‘Really Big Deal’ on the Debt Ceiling
One day after Congress rejected a $2.4 trillion increase of the federal borrowing limit without preconditional spending cuts, House Republicans are visiting the White House on Wednesday to negotiate directly with President Obama …
Morning Must Reads: Follow-Up
- House Republicans head to the White House to meet with Obama on the debt limit.
- Walter Shapiro is bearish on the prospects for a deal. (Me not so much.)
- Jon Huntsman takes a pretty standard Republican line on deficit reduction.
- Jim DeMint reopens the door to 2012.
1,000 Words
Remembering “Dollar Bill” Clements, the Man Who Turned Texas Republican
Almost 17 years have passed since a fellow named George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas—17 years of uninterrupted Republican dominance of the Lone Star State. After all that time, it’s easy to forget that Texas did not always belong to the GOP. Like the rest of the former Confederacy, Texas was solid for the Democrats for …
Financial Sanity
I’ve always been a fan of Joe Nocera’s business writing–it’s crisp, clear, hype-resistant and moral–and today he gets to the human heart of what’s flagrantly wrong with our finance system with a column about Robert Wilmers, a regional banker in Buffalo, New York, who represents banking at its best.