This column is long but, the issues are complex and demand full development Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) brought a talking point and a sound bite to a real policy discussion again today. The former IRS tax attorney continues to exhibit a complete lack of understanding of how our government works. Additionally, she continues to be fearless when it comes to wading off into complex policy discussions...

President Barack Obama has requested time to speak before a joint session of Congress on his jobs plan ideas — a request that if granted (it will be a major story if House Speaker John Boenher refuses his request) would plop him on the tube around when Republicans were to have a debate. And, as CBS points out, some liberal commentators are already applauding the timing. From their point it’s smart....

In a previous article reflecting on plans, suggestions, rumors and just plain nutty ideas for cutting the defense budget, I pointed to the complexities, murkiness, inter-relationships and inter-dependencies of and among the various so-called defense budgets and cautioned: Whether we are talking about the controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program or about our entire national security “program,” our...

Every day you see something that makes you wonder: are some of the current crop of Republican conservatives engaged more in a race to obliterate any semblance of George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” more than they are in a race to try and win the White House? That has to be it. Otherwise, why would Michele Bachmann say something like this at a time when so many people are hurting and...

As I promised TMV readers earlier today, I would feature other bloggers from around the Internet while I am suffering from “writer’s block.” Another reason for reprinting or quoting other writers is that they have written succinctly what I may have already thought and started to write into a TMV post that was abandoned. Alternatively, even if I do not fully agree with them, they have presented such good...

There is an excellent business/economics blog that has a “big-picture” outlook. It’s called “Jesse’s Café Américain.” (JCA) The author has numerous interests and he is a professional trader in stocks, bonds, gold, and silver. However he is not beholden to the corrupt status quo of global capitalism. He posts at least daily and he writes in a very objective, knowledgeable, succinct and clear...

As I promised TMV readers (to the possible chagrin of TMV editors) this is another authorized reprint of someone else’s excellent work who writes on the blog “Of Two Minds.” I have reprinted other opinions written by Mr. Smith in prior posts at TMV. Mr. Smith admitted recently that he’s taking a hiatus from writing – also due to burnout and other pressing business. Luckily for me, he has included...

Were the 2001 Bush tax cuts more damaging to the United States that the September 11 attacks? Columnist Cesar Avo of Portugal’s Sol newspaper praises billionaire investor Warren Buffet for his assertion that America’s wealthy should give up the Bush tax cuts and pay more – for the good of the nation. For Portugal’s Sol newspaper, Cesar Avo starts out this way: In the year that the Twin...

Should China use its massive holdings of American debt to interfere in U.S. domestic politics? According to this column by Senior Editor Ding Gang of the state-controlled People’s Daily, American arms sales to democratic Taiwan undermine China’s sovereignty, and must be countered regardless of the financial losses to both the U.S. and China. For the China Daily, People’s Daily Senior Editor...

WASHINGTON — You have to ask: If unemployment were now at 6 percent, would President Obama be getting pummeled for not having us back to full employment already? The question comes to mind in the wake of the Libyan rebels’ successes against Moammar Gaddafi. It’s remarkable how reluctant Obama’s opponents are to acknowledge that despite all the predictions that his policy of limited...

Does it take a collapsed superpower to recognize a declining one? In this analysis of the importance of the United States and the consequences of its diminishing influence, Gazeta columnist Semen Novoprudski examines why Russians have been demonizing America since the fall of the Soviet Union, and what earth’s leading nations must do now that the end of the ‘superpower era’ has arrived. For...

As he prepares to dedicate a Washington Memorial to the spiritual leader on the 48th anniversary of his “I have a dream” speech this weekend, Barack Obama should be drawing inspiration as much from Martin Luther King’s dedication to fighting poverty as racial inequality. At this historic moment, the nation’s first African-American president is a profile in irony. The candidate who campaigned against...

Were the London riots just a hint of what is to come in the United States? Hafez al-Barghouty of the Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah in the Palestinian Territories writes that in the West, democracy is a thin veneer ‘without soul’ that cannot endure in the presence of scarcity, and that as prosperity diminishes, so will a way of life Americans take such pride in. For the Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah, Hafez al-Barghouty...

Our linkfest offering you a buffet of different takes on issues by a variety of websites. The Dictator is Falling in Libya and some folks can’t say “I told you so” and in fact will want people to forget their words. And the question Republicans face now is how to respond: to cheer or not to cheer. I predict talk show hosts will not cheer and find some negatives and therefore most Republican...

A NATURAL GAS WELL NEAR DIMOCK, PENNSYLVANIA The states of Pennsylvania and New York share more than a common border. Areas of both lie atop an immense shale formation and energy companies are hard at work extracting natural gas from the formation through the use of a controversial method known as fracking, which is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. Yet despite the potential risks, Pennsylvania...

Start Over by Craig Barnes On a Monday in early August, 2011, AIG (American International Group) filed claims in federal court against Bank of America alleging losses of $10 billion. The insurance giant claimed that the bank had intentionally disguised the risks of products to be insured. At the same time, Bank of America was already being sued for $82 billion in a multitude of other suits. According to...

WASHINGTON — President Obama has only one option as he ponders a world economy teetering on the edge: He needs to go big, go long and go global. Obama should not be constrained by what the tea party might allow subservient Republican leaders in Congress to do. He should state plainly, eloquently and in detail what he thinks needs to be happen. Neither history nor the voters will be kind to him if...

As a major holder of U.S. debt, Beijing is frustrated over its lack of leverage over U.S. monetary policy, since as the dollar depreciates, China’s dollar holdings lose value. But according to this editorial from China’s state-controlled Global Times, Beijing still has a card to play. This editorial suggests that unless the U.S. halts arms sales to democratic Taiwan, another issue it considers...

Republican Ben Stein offers Texas Gov. Rick Perry an economics lesson. A MUST READ IN FULL so we are giving you the link rather than excerpt it. (I’ll quote it in the Cagle Cartoons column I’ll write for Tuesday).

How Washington Could Create Jobs Right Now by Michael Winship I like to ask friends about the oddest summer job they ever had. One talks about how he used to don a rubber suit every morning at a Sylvania electronics plant in Syracuse, NY, and climb into a tank, where he dipped television tubes into some sort of mercury solution. He now moonlights as a thermometer. Another spent a summer walking from floor to...

Take it from Eric Cantor, no less: It’s time for the Congressional wrecking crew that damaged the nation’s credit to cool it. The House Majority Leader, who helped derail his Speaker’s Grand Bargain on the debt limit, is now urging Tea Party followers not to sabotage next year’s spending bill “I have heard some assert that certain sectors would be better off under the sequester,” he writes to members...

Gary McCoy, Cagle Cartoons This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Is it possible that Michele Bachmann could be the next president of the United States? Columnist Levente Sitkei of Hungary’s Magyar Nemzet writes that while it might be said that President Obama – through no fault of his own – was in the wrong place at the wrong time, just the opposite could be true of Bachmann. Hinting at what might happen if the economy worsens and Bachmann wins, Sitkei...

In “How much is that F-35 in the window,” I wrote about the difficulty of pinning down the true cost of a single F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft or, for that matter, of the entire Joint Strike Fighter Program. Multiply the uncertainties, vagaries, and red tape of pinning down the cost of this aircraft— this program—a thousand fold and one gets an idea of the complexities of coming up with...

While Germany is regarded as an axis power that has really confronted its behavior and activities during World War II, Japan is not. That is what makes this editorial from Japan’s Asahi Shimbun so eye-opening. According to Asahi, Japan’s failure to acknowledge and alter the organization of Japanese society since its defeat 66 years ago has led not only to economic crisis, but the post-tsunami nuclear...