Kevin Drum

TAX PLANS….Today’s LA Times headline on a story about Obama’s and McCain’s tax plans: True to party doctrine, the GOP candidate’s economic proposals would ease the burden on the rich, while the Democratic candidate’s would increase it. That’s admirably direct. And it’s even accompanied by a nice little chart showing McCain’s $32,000 tax cut for […]

IRAQ WITHDRAWAL THOUGHTS….If the Journal is right and we’re about to sign an agreement to withdraw combat troops from Iraq, what does it mean domestically? For starters, I assume that the agreement allows for some kind of long-term “residual force,” and I also assume there will be a bit of weasel wording about the withdrawal […]

U.S. OUT OF IRAQ BY 2011….Holy cats. According to the Wall Street Journal, we’re getting out of Iraq: U.S. and Iraqi negotiators reached agreement on a security deal that calls for American military forces to leave Iraq’s cities by next summer as a prelude to a full withdrawal of combat troops from the country, according […]

OIL SPECULATION….Was the recent spectacular rise, and subsequent fall, in oil prices driven by speculation? In June I admitted that “the huge increase over the past five months has had a bit of a bubbly feel to it,” but I didn’t really have any evidence to back that up. In July I linked to a […]

GEORGIA UPDATE….In a development which, at this point, should surprise just about no one, it turns out that Russia doesn’t plan to withdraw from Georgia at all: A ranking Russian military official today said Moscow plans to establish 18 long-term checkpoints inside Georgian territory, including at least eight within undisputed Georgian territory outside the pro-Russian […]

QUOTE OF THE DAY….From Barack Obama, in 1995, telling a story about the first time his grandmother came to Chicago to meet his in-laws: My grandmother walks in, it’s all black people in the room, she’s the only white person there except for my mother, and she’s feeling a little nervous and a little out […]

VOWEL SHIFTS….Over at The Corner, Jay Nordlinger bridges ideological gaps by turning the conversation to matters of pronunciation: Yesterday, had a little language note, particularly on “forte,” meaning strong point or expertise. It is pronounced “fort” (not “fortay,” which we reserve for the musical marking). That provoked a lot of mail, as you might imagine, […]

THE AMAZING RISE OF HIGH SCHOOL MATH….Over at EPI, Joydeep Roy reports that high school girls are now taking as many math classes as high school boys. Plus there’s this: In another interesting development, the study found that girls are now slightly more likely than boys to take advanced math courses. In 1982, fewer than […]

OLD ENOUGH TO FIGHT, OLD ENOUGH TO DRINK?….Since I don’t like the taste of alcohol and therefore hardly drink at all, the question of whether the legal drinking age should be 18 or 21 has always seemed a little academic to me. Naturally, then, I’m attracted to the academic approach of public policy dude Mark […]

BACKING DOWN….Ezra on George Soros: The Right’s success in making “Soros-funded” an epithet has been startling, and the effects depressing. Soros himself is now cautious about who he funds, refusing to act as lead donor in controversial initiatives where his presence could endanger the project’s credibility. Similarly, various programs and groups are now more cautious […]