Business as usual. Yes, they heard us. And yes, they got the message. They’re just choosing to ignore it, is all.

Does the model of human nature we embrace guide and shape everything else, from the economic system we prefer to the political system we support? Arthur C. Brooks and Peter Wehner seem to think so: The American founders believed, and capitalism rests on the belief, that people are driven by “self-interest” and the desire to better our condition. Self-interest is not necessarily bad; in fact, Smith believed, and capitalism presupposes,

WSJ: A Virginia federal judge is expected to rule Monday on whether the Obama administration’s health law violates the Constitution, opening a new stage in the administration’s defense of its biggest legislative achievement. The ruling by District Judge Henry E. Hudson is perhaps the most significant so far among a slew of state-based legal challenges to the law, which also faces attack by newly resurgent Republicans in Congress. More than

Jonah Goldberg: Hater. At least, that’s what David Frum might label him, given Goldberg’s refusal to sign on to the “no labels” idea. Writes Goldberg: What no-labelers really mean is that they don’t like inconvenient disagreements that hinder their agenda. And that’s what is so troubling, indeed so undemocratic, about this claptrap. When they claim we need to put aside labels to do what’s right, what they are really saying

Sign the petition here. Since this deal was announced I’ve been arguing against it, noting that in the wake of a massive electoral victory spurred on by the Tea Partiers and their message of fiscal responsibility and accountability, it makes little sense to be happy with the status quo on most tax rates, a tax hike of 35% on certain estates upon death, and an additional $200-$300 billion in unfunded

Last week, 13/16; season, 123/193. Colts over Tenn – YAY! Cleveland over Buffalo (this is the beginning of a long string of away team picks. That makes me very uncomfortable, frankly) – X (sigh. Told you so…) Tampa over Washington – YAY! Atlanta over Carolina – YAY! Oakland over Jacksonville (upset alert! I like the match-up here; and I’ve not been sold on Jacksonville all season. That’s on me, though)

Why, indeed. When the middle class is paying the poor to live above the means of that very same middle class — and can vote to keep it that way — the country is well on its way to collapse.

Just to give you some perspective on the numbers Krauthammer was decrying this morning. Washington Examiner: Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., one of the House’s highest-profile conservatives, said that Democratic discontent highlights the difference between the two parties. “The compromise that was forged wasn’t rich enough for Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats,” Bachmann said on NBC’s “Today” show, referring to Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “They want the taxes up even higher. And

Gary Jason, RCP: The UAW was given a big chunk of new GM in the crooked bankruptcy settlement. To be precise, the very monster that drove GM off the cliff — the UAW — received 35% of the stock in the new company. With the sale of the stock in the new GM, the UAW earned an immediate $3.4 billion in selling about one third of its shares. Moreover, if

Cafe Hayek’s Don Boudreaux reprints his letter to the LA Times: You write that “Washington’s compromise on estate taxes provides an unnecessary handout to a few thousand wealthy families” (“The state of estates,” Dec. 9). Whatever are the merits, or lack thereof, of a tax on estates, you are deceptively wrong to call a decision not to raise that tax a “handout.” Because taxes are paid from resources created and