Economy

There is an overarching reason we can't move toward a balanced budget, which underscores why we face ongoing stalemates over debt ceilings and continuing resolutions: President Obama doesn't want to balance the budget. I don't say this out of extremism or to be gratuitously controversial or even provocative. It's just that his words and actions lead to the inescapable conclusion that he is…

In a USA Today email I received 20 minutes after Tuesday's closing bell, I was informed that the exceptionally good day occurred because the stock markets were "buoyed by strong earnings reports by IBM, Coke and others." A visit to the email's linked article also partially attributed the rise to "renewed hopes that U.S. lawmakers would be able to break their stalemate and strike a deficit-…

Tucker Carlson on Tuesday said, "Very few people have done more to divide the country than Chris Matthews." Such occurred on Fox's "Hannity" show as the Great American Panel discussed the "Hardball" host's deplorable interview with Congressman Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) earlier in the day (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As NewsBusters previously reported, Chris Matthews had quite a heated debate with Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) on Tuesday's "Hardball." Amidst a series of ridiculous questions asked of the Congressman, possibly the most absurd was, "If we have a crisis in August [as a result of not raising the debt ceiling], will you resign?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

If MSNBC's goal is to give air time to the least-attached to reality of the left, then perhaps the network's doing the right thing by reportedly dallying with replacing Cenk Uygur with Al Sharpton. For in the 6 o'clock time slot this evening the Reverend Al actually asserted that Barack Obama sounds more like Ronald Reagan than Tea Party freshmen members of Congress.  I kid you not. Video…

Referencing the sweet reason of the New York Times's "conservative" David Brooks, CNN's Brooke Baldwin urged Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to listen to the voice of compromise in the debt ceiling debate. Baldwin pleaded with Hatch that "there are folks out there – including conservatives – saying President Obama has already offered Republican [sic] the deal of their dreams," although Hatch later…

Republican Congressman Joe Walsh didn't put up with Chris Matthews' "bullying" on Tuesday, mocking the liberal MSNBC anchor for his effusive praise of Barack Obama. Over the host's frequent interruptions, the Illinois Representative taunted, "Hey, Chris, your President, who sends a tingle up your leg-" Walsh appeared to discuss the debt ceiling debate and what Republicans are willing to cut…

Reporters have repeatedly portrayed Barack Obama as a deficit hawk committed to "slashing" spending, as MRC Research Director Rich Noyes documented in April ahead of the president's much-anticipated budget speech. While the media touted Obama's budget blueprint, which contained puny cuts, as "deeply painful," CBO Director Doug Elmendorf told Congress the president's framework lacked…

Today on the 2:00 pm segment of CNN Newsroom, anchor Randi Kaye spoke with CNN political producer Shannon Travis about criticism directed at President Barack Obama: TRAVIS: Yes, really, really quickly, billionaire Steve Wynn, you've seen his resorts all over Las Vegas. He's blasting President Obama. I'm going to read this quote from a call, an earnings call yesterday. Quote, "I'm saying it…

While President Barack Obama has not presented a specific alternative to Republican plans for reducing spending in the lead up to a vote on raising the debt ceiling, the White House has issued a formal veto threat to the “Cut, Cap and Balance,” plan that is expected to pass the House of Representatives on Tuesday. “If the president were presented this bill for signature, he would veto it,”…

Conservative Republicans are divorced from reality while Democrats are governed by the facts. That's the take Time's Alex Altman has on how the two congressional parties are addressing the looming debt ceiling deadline in his July 19 Swampland blog post, "The Fact Gap: Can Republicans Overcome Their Alternate Reality to Strike A Debt Deal?":

With growing frustration towards President Obama and certain members of congress for their lackadaisical approach in balancing the budget and reducing spending, many people are beginning to think they could do a better job than our country's leaders. Using data collected by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, American Public Media and the Woodrow Wilson Center put together an…

Whenever a prominent business leader like Warren Buffett says anything good about the current White House resident, the media are quick to report it. I highly doubt anti-Obama comments made Monday by Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn during an earnings conference call with analysts will get anywhere near that kind of attention (video follows with transcript and commentary):

The OK Corral in Tombstone, Ariz., was where Doc Holliday and Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp fought the Clantons and McLaurys on Oct. 26, 1881. At the end of that 30-second showdown, Virgil and Morgan Earp were wounded, and three cowboys were dead. President Barack Obama and House Republicans' showdown over the debt and deficit quickly is turning into Washington's OK Corral. And politicians on…