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Articles by Publius

Unexpected: Personal Income, Spending Weak in November

WASHINGTON (AP) – Consumers spent at a lackluster rate in November as their incomes barely grew, suggesting that U.S. households may struggle to sustain their spending into 2012. The Commerce Department says consumer spending rose just 0.1 percent in November,

Surrender: House GOP Agrees to Two-Month Payroll Tax Holiday

WASHINGTON (AP) – Capping a full retreat by House GOP leaders, Congress will convene Friday in hopes of approving a stopgap measure renewing payroll tax cuts for every worker and unemployment benefits for millions–despite serious opposition among some tea party

Friday Free-for-All: Fed Reserve Edition

Today, in 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation creating the Federal Reserve. All has been pixie dust and unicorns ever since.

Mayor Calls for Budget Cuts to Offset Millions in Occupy LA Costs

Ironic that the movement has forced the kind of austerity measures it protested coming from Congress. From CBS Los Angeles: City agencies have been ordered to calculate what was spent on the Occupy LA protests. Repairs to City Hall’s lawn

Poll: Ron Paul Moves into First Place in Iowa

From KCRG News: CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Just two weeks before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses there’s a new leader, but the race remains “remarkably fluid,” according to a new Iowa State University/Gazette/KCRG poll likely Republican caucus-goers. Texas Rep. Ron Paul

Two-Month Payroll Tax Holiday Cannot Be Implemented Properly

From ABC News: Officials from the policy-neutral National Payroll Reporting Consortium, Inc. have expressed concern to members of Congress that the two-month payroll tax holiday passed by the Senate and supported by President Obama cannot be implemented properly. Pete Isberg,

Supreme Court Sets Aside Three Days for ObamaCare Arguments

(Reuters) – Oral arguments on President Barack Obama’s sweeping U.S. healthcare overhaul will last 5-1/2 hours spread over three days from March 26-28, the Supreme Court said on Monday. The Supreme Court last month agreed to hear the 5-1/2 hours

Pelosi Economic Advisor Also a Business Partner

From Roll Call: May 2010, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi took to a podium in the Capitol to introduce a half-dozen economic experts she had convened for a meeting on how to jump-start the economy. The group had met for several hours

House GOP Revolts Over Senate Payroll Tax Bill

WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker John Boehner said Sunday that he opposes a Senate-approved bill that extends a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for just two months and said congressional bargainers need to write a new version that would

Sunday Open Thread: Downgrade Edition

Moody’s downgraded Belgium two notches, while other rating agencies have renewed warnings on France, Italy and other Eurozone members. 2011 may end with a whimper, but 2012 will probably start with a bang.

Romney Declares Himself 'Ideal' Tea Party Candidate

From ABC News: CHARLESTON, S.C. — Mitt Romney said today he’s “the ideal candidate” for the Tea Party movement because his stance on issues lines up “pretty darn well” with the movement he says will soon realize that GOP frontrunner

Senate Approves 2-Month Payroll Tax Cut, Keystone Pipeline

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate has approved a two-month extension of a cut to the Social Security payroll tax and jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. It’s a partial victory for President Barack Obama’s year-end jobs agenda. Democratic and GOP

Saturday Open Thread: Vacay Edition

Today, President Obama begins a 17 day (!) vacation in Hawaii. At least we know that nothing really bad can happen over the next 17 days.

GOP Debate Reactions, Part II

Last night the leading GOP candidates for President held their final debate before voting starts in Iowa next month. Below are reactions from two more Breitbart editors. Joel Pollak, EIC Breitbart.com: I thought each of the candidates did well tonight.

SEC Files Suit Against Ex-Freddie, Fannie Chiefs

From Bloomberg: Daniel Mudd, the former chief executive officer of Fannie Mae, andRichard Syron, ex-CEO of Freddie Mac, were sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for understating by hundreds of billions of dollars the subprime loans held by

In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011

From Vanity Fair: Christopher Hitchens–the incomparable critic, masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant–died today at the age of 62. Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the spring of 2010, just after the publication of his memoir, Hitch-22,

GOP Debate Reaction: Part I

Tonight was the last debate before voting starts in Iowa on January 3rd. We’ll have more from the Breitbart world, but her are initial takes from some of our editors. John Nolte, EIC BigHollywood: I have no idea who I’m

GOP Debate Open Thread

Tonight, the leading contenders for the GOP nomination meet in Iowa. Tonight’s debate, starting at 9pm EST on FoxNews is the last contest before voting starts January 3rd. For many of the candidates, its now or never. Check back throughout

Dems Drop Millionaire Surtax Proposal

WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats are abandoning their demand for a surtax on millionaires to help finance payroll tax cuts in a sign that lawmakers are trying to broker a compromise on Congress’ highest-profile year-end dispute. Even so, there is no

Insider Trading Ban Advances in Senate Over GOP Opposition

From The Hill: A Senate committee easily cleared legislation explicitly prohibiting members from profiting by trading on inside information, despite objections from some GOP lawmakers who called it unnecessary and politically motivated. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Senate Dems Block Bill to Require Balanced Budget

From The Hill: The Senate on Wednesday defeated each party’s version of a constitutional amendment that would have required a balanced federal budget. The rival proposals would have prohibited Congress from spending more each year than it receives in revenue.

'Protester' Named Time Magazine 'Person of the Year'

Predictable. From AFP: Time magazine named the collective “protester” around the world as its person of the year Wednesday, citing the change brought by street demonstrations from Arab countries to New York. The shared honor for protesters beat the traditional

Trump Says He Won't Host Debate in Iowa

NEW YORK (AP) – Donald Trump says he is pulling out of a Republican presidential debate he had agreed to moderate in Iowa. The real estate mogul announced Tuesday that he was stepping back in order to preserve the option

Police Clear OccupyBaltimore

BALTIMORE (AP) – Occupy Baltimore demonstrators who spent 10 weeks protesting economic disparity were removed peacefully from a downtown plaza near the Inner Harbor tourist district during a pre-dawn raid Tuesday. Baltimore City police in full riot gear moved into

Gallup: Fear of Big Government at Near-Record Levels

From Gallup: WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ concerns about the threat of big government continue to dwarf those about big business and big labor, and by an even larger margin now than in March 2009. The 64% of Americans who say

Reid: 'Millionaire Job Creators Are Like Unicorns…They Don't Exist'

The honorable member of the Senate delivered this intellectual commentary from the floor yesterday. We’re not sure which is more ludicrous; stating that millionaire job creators don’t exist or that unicorns are impossible to find. From The Hill: [youtube Nrfr5s6OofU]

Congress Finalizes $1+ Trillion Spending Plan

WASHINGTON (AP) – Weary after a year of partisan bickering, lawmakers tried Monday to wrap up a sprawling $1 trillion-plus spending bill that chips away at military and environmental spending but denies conservatives many of the policy changes they wanted