So a man puts a gun to his own head and begins screaming, " If you don't do what I want, I will shoot myself."  There is a murmur from the crowd around him, but no one steps forward to engage him. What's left for him to do but pull the trigger? Such is… more »

The National Debt has never been far from the forefront of our political discourse in recent years, serving as the ration d’etre for the Tea Party and similar groups, mostly conservative. It has again percolated to the media surface- on television last… more »

This week, the Senate is taking up filibuster reform. This somewhat arcane procedure employed by the Upper Chanber to guarantee the minority is heard by allowing for extensive debate on pending legislation has mutated into a tool of obstruction. By rule… more »

As we approach the centennial of the ratification of the 16th Amendment, which gave the Federal Government the power of the income tax, it seems an appropriate time to consider  a hundred years of this authority   has wrought  .  Beginning with the Civi… more »

Following up on this morning's post, in which I neglected to referencet Edward Kleinbard's op-ed in this morning NY Times. As I suspect @jbarro and @TheStalwart intended, the discussion precipitated by their advocacy of the trillion-dollar platinum coin… more »

Josh Barro and Joe Weisenthal are on a tear. Their crusade to have the Treasury mint a one trillion dollar platinum coin and deposit it with the Federal Reserve so the government can continue to pay its debts without borrowing has the various media outl… more »