Nader and the Corvair
Wall Street Bolshies Watch
GOP To Harvard: Dump Warren
Debit For Debit
David Lazarus argues today in the Los Angeles Times that Bank of America has found a way to make money off Dodd-Frank. The financial reform bill directed the Fed to limit the "swipe fees" banks were charging merchants for the use of debit cards in retail transactions. Reform was needed because these swipe fees were about the same for debit and credit cards, which made no sense. READ MORE >>
Chris Christie's Crowd-Sourced Weight Is ...
The people have spoken. Averaging the 19 estimates offered by readers in TNR's comment section for this blog--including one that, annoyingly, required me to convert from kilograms to pounds--I arrive at a crowd-sourced weight estimate for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: 334 pounds. READ MORE >>
Guess Chris Christie's Weight!
Michael Kinsley, my friend and former boss at the New Republic and Slate, has a Bloomberg column today arguing that Chris Christie's fatness is a legitimate issue in judging his fitness (no pun intended) to be president. READ MORE >>
Yes We Cain!
Herman Cain fever! Have you caught it? Me neither. But for some reason this is his moment. A new Fox News poll conducted Sept. 25-27 actually places him third with 17 percent, up from 6 percent the month before. Cain seems to be catching some falling Rick Perry supporters and maybe a few disenchanted Bachmannites as well. READ MORE >>
Morning Reading Assignment: Small Business Sucks
Charles Kenny, a fellow at the Center For Global Development and the New America Foundation, has a good piece in Business Week disputing the notion that small business is the key to economic recovery. Small businesses tend to remain small, so they don't provide many new job opportunities. Start-ups begin small, but one study of companies created between 2004 and 2008 found that only 3 percent added more than 10 employees. READ MORE >>
A June Obamacare Ruling Might Be Win-Win.
I leave the legal analysis to my former Slate colleague, the divine Dahlia Lithwick. But surely from a political standpoint, President Obama is smart to press the Supreme Court for a health care decision this coming June, no? READ MORE >>
F for Effort
Fifty years ago, President John F. Kennedy had a great idea. He would create an agency, the Peace Corps, to send idealistic young Americans abroad to spread their wealthy nation’s know-how among the impoverished peoples of the world. Lately, public schools in the United States have taken JFK’s idea and turned it around. Why not invite the impoverished peoples of the world to come here to enlighten us? READ MORE >>
