Economy

Chris Matthews on Monday got a much-needed lesson from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) on how tax hikes impact the budget as well as the economy."Congressman Ryan, is there any tax role for reducing our $1.4 trillion to $1.7 trillion debt this year -- deficit this year?" Matthews asked during the 5PM installment of MSNBC's "Hardball." "Is there any role in tax increasing to help do that job?"When Ryan…

Newsbusters reported earlier on the double standard of MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer on reporters appearing at fundraisers. During the same news hour, Brewer simply couldn't understand the Republican position on extending the Bush tax cuts for all taxpayers, and jokingly wondered if the Republicans are even human."What I don't get is a lot of the people who are shouting about letting these tax…

ABC's "World News" on Sunday caught up to CBS and NBC in fretting about the potential problems caused by illegal immigrants who may be leaving Arizona before the state's new law takes effect on Thursday. Correspondent Barbara Pinto devoted her entire piece to lamenting the possible damage to small businesses whose customers are presumably now leaving the state, but offered less than a sentence to…

Here's the White House's latest deficit projection, as illustrated at the Corner (HT Instapundit): As explained in two previous NB posts (here and here), FY 2010 is worse than it appears by about $115 billion.This is why, as explained previously:

Good Morning America's Elisabeth Leamy used an exclusive interview with Barack Obama on Friday to toss mostly softball questions, such as wondering, "I want to ask you, what are you and the First Lady teaching your daughters about money?" [MP3 audio here]After the President suggested that his children could earn some money on the side, Leamy gushed, "I've got a job for them babysitting." The…

Apparently not grasping the public's growing unease with Barack Obama's big government/big debt approach to the economy, MSNBC's Contessa Brewer on Thursday touted as admirable how the President and Democrats in Congress have "passed job extension benefits again and again. They passed a big health care reform bill that's gonna lower health care costs." Highlighting the passage of the Democratic…

Senate Democrats defeated a GOP filibuster of a $34 billion bill to extend unemployment benefits to 2.5 million out-of-work Americans on July 20, after Obama blasted the Republicans for blocking the bill. Obama tried to cast Republicans in a hypocritical and callous light with his Rose Garden speech June 19: "The same people who didn't have any problem spending hundreds of billions of…

The Obama administration’s policies in steering the auto bailout drove unemployment up, according to an audit by the Office of Special Inspector General for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (SIGTARP).   “At a time when the country was experiencing the worst economic downturn in generations and the government was asking its taxpayers to support a $787 billion stimulus package designed…

Some investigative reporters still live up to their job descriptions. On the July 20 edition of "CBS Evening News," reporter Sharyl Attkisson exposed how government-sponsored entity (GSE) Fannie Mae and mortgage lender Countrywide "scratched each other's backs" while their toxic loans fueled America's mortgage crisis. Attkisson revealed new documents showing that Countrywide gave "very…

Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Tuesday delivered a one-sided report on unemployment benefits and the fact that they end after 99 weeks. Reporting on those who have reached the limit, the so-called "99ers," she asserted, "...There's no hope in sight right now." Shipman featured three clips of those who are at the cap and one of Democrat Debbie Stabenow, who is advocating for an extension…

Mango diplomacy, maybe.  Mango defense, not so much.It would be much less disconcerting to say the above headline is a joke, ripped from the headlines of The Onion.  But alas, it is frighteningly accurate.Hillary Clinton recently lauded the benefits of Pakistani mangos in a discussion of better trade cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan.As Reuters reports, "Hillary Clinton has lots to…

The New York Times today touted two polls that supposedly demonstrate support for the Democratic position on unemployment benefits. But a further examination of the poll questions reveals that their findings were inaccurate; the questions misrepresented the issues at play, and the Republican position on the matter."Two national polls published last week suggest that most Americans are on […

We all probably knew the sentiment of the American left for just not getting the entire Tea Party movement concept, but this statement ought to cement that notion. On the July 18 broadcast of "The McLaughlin Group," host John McLaughlin asked his panelists what the long-term implications of national debt could be for the United States. "Is America in danger of the current debt crisis becoming…

Geez, can't anybody here play this game? During his visit to Holland, Michigan on Thursday, President Obama spoke with NBC's Chuck Todd. NBC aired the interview on the NBC Nightly News and The Today Show. (On Friday morning, NB's Geoffrey Dickens covered a separate aspect of that interview relating to the recess-appointed Donald Berwick.) In reporting on that interview, the Associated Press…