Michael D. Brown

Watching the reports on President Obama’s speech today after the market went into a free fall, I realized I have Obama Derangement Syndrome (ODS). The affliction previously affected Democrats watching George W. Bush, but seems to have jumped the blood brain barrier to conservatives watching BHO. Seriously, how much more of this do we have [...]

At the end of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Dr. James McHenry is reported to have asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” Franklin is quoted as replying, “A republic, if you can keep it.” I wonder if we can keep it. The short analysis is no, we cannot [...]

The party is over. The drama ended. So where are we? According to Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute, only slightly better off than before this deal, but only if you consider how Washington works. In the great scheme of things, we’re not really any better off than before. Here is all you need to [...]

Without naming the blog, one of the regular ones I read summed up why they think the approval of the Boehner bill tonight is a victory for Republicans: Are we better off that the Boehner bill passed the House? I say absolutely, the narrative is that the House passed a debt ceiling extension and the [...]

Walter Cronkite, at the time the most trusted man in the United States, reported on the Vietnam War during the 1968 Tet Offensive. Upon returning to the United States, Cronkite made history at the end of his “CBS Evening News” broadcast on February 27, 1968, by questioning the war, “For it seems now more certain [...]

The President’s former Chief of Staff and now Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanual, once quipped that you should never let a crisis go unused. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner must believe that, too, based on his appearance today on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. The administration has no plan, has not contributed to the discussion, [...]

Perspective is important. I have long contended that it is difficult to fathom the staggering amount of debt this country (meaning you and me) owes. $14 trillion is the latest national debt figure. But when quickly refer to $14 trillion in a sentence where someone claims to cut $100 billion, the numbers 14 and 100 [...]

The Drudge Report is carrying a link today to the voting record of the United States Senate on the Joint Resolution (H.J.Res.47 ) of March 16, 2006, which was a resolution to increase the debt ceiling. As noted on the Drudge headline and on numerous blogs, the hypocrisy is that all Democrats voted against increasing [...]

In a February 21, 2011 USA Today editorial, Barack Obama’s Budget Director Jack Lew wrote: Social Security benefits are entirely self-financing. They are paid for with payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers throughout their careers. These taxes are placed in a trust fund dedicated to paying benefits owed to current and future beneficiaries. [...]