High School Students Ask President for "Hope"

(BackStory)

Party Politics: Beneath the Latest Fox News Poll

The headline on the most recent Fox News poll is that 79% of those surveyed say that "it's possible the economy could collapse".

I haven't been able to locate the underlying data, which Fox has published for other polls in the past, but I have to say that the potential wordings and the misleading manner in which responses could be grouped makes the headline more than a little suspect.

Yes, in theory the economy could collapse, but right now, we have no idea how many people think this to be a likely scenario or a probable outcome and how many just agree that it's possible.

So, once you discount the top line, you're presented with some other data and though it's purely political, one thing that jumped out is that only 16% of those surveyed by Opinion Dynamics think the Republicans in Congress have a plan to "fix the economy" and only 25% of Republicans believe that their party has a solution.

Reconciling the Talking Points

The video archive from Monday's lecture at the Panetta Institute of Public Policy, where former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich and the Bush Administration's SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt discussed the economy with CNBC's Ron Insanta moderating is not yet available, so it's hard to see why two points from Mr. Pitt don't conflict.

From the Santa Cruz (CA) Sentinel's report;

Pitt said little has been done to prevent a repeat of the economic crisis and collapse of the past two years. He criticized the Obama administration for giving stimulus money to the very companies and banks whose misconduct caused the systemic failures in the first place and said the money should have been put into the pocketbooks of taxpayers to create a ripple effect in the economy.

vs.

Pitt agreed gridlock is the worst he’s seen in 42 years working around the federal government, but he blamed the problem on an unwillingness from the White House to seek compromise solutions. He also accused the president of trying to create a "class war" by demonizing bankers and other Wall Streeters.

I guess you can "demonize" the President for rewarding the bad behavior without "demonizing" those who behaved badly -- don't hate the playa, hate the game -- but it seems a little disingenuous to me.

Usury Law & Banking Circumvention Explained

Al Lewis of Dow Jones Newswire profiles Terry Smiljanich, former U.S. Attorney and current Managing Editor of Consumer Warning Network about the history of usury laws, consumer interest and the strong language used in Mr. Smiljanich's latest video.



Update: Credit Rules Worry S.D. Banks