From the beginning of his unlikely quest for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump has enjoyed the strong backing of those GOP voters who say they want a successful businessman in the White House. After only his outsider status, Gallup polling showed earlier this year, backers of the real estate mogul turned reality TV […]

GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump mystified economists with his prediction this week that the United States faces a "major recession." Their confusion is well-founded. After all, with unemployment at 5.0 percent and the job-seekers returning to the work force, the U.S. just turned in its best two-year performance since the booming 1990's. That said, there […]

So the debasement of the Party of Lincoln has come to this. While short-fingered Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump sought to reassure Americans by declaring "I guarantee there's no problem" with his schlong, his nearest GOP rival Ted Cruz (R-TX) nevertheless told all who would listen that "I have no desire to copulate with him." […]

Running third in the race in the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Ohio Governor John Kasich nevertheless insists he's in it to win it. His refusal to yield is based on two equally bogus selling points. Compared to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, the union-busting, abortion-ending Kasich portrays himself as a relative moderate. […]

Every four years, Republican White House wannabes climb over each other in the quest to proclaim themselves the heir to the sainted Ronald Reagan. So it was no surprise in South Carolina on Saturday when second-place finisher Marco Rubio proclaimed: "The children of the Reagan Revolution are ready to assume the mantle of leadership. Now, […]

With the 2016 election season now well underway, now is a good time to test your knowledge of modern presidential history. Which of the following events do you remember? (a) In fall 2002, California Rep. Nancy Pelosi invited French President Jacques Chirac to address a joint session of Congress to warn the American people against […]

Among the lesser-known facts of the Obama presidency is this: inflation-adjusted federal spending is lower now than when Barack Obama first took the oath of office. Nevertheless, after 7 years of flat-spending and declining deficits, the Republican budget committee chairmen in the House and Senate dismissed Obama's $4 trillion fiscal year 2017 budget proposal sight […]

It is an article of faith among Republicans that federal spending is "out of control" under President Obama. For the stenographers who seem to make up the bulk of the American media, the image of Obama the "tax and spend liberal" is taken for granted. Too bad it's not true. As the latest 10-year budget […]

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Friday called for an unprecedented constitutional convention to pass nine "amendments" designed to curb the power of the federal government. (If Abbott and his ilk really want to enshrine the power of "each State acting in its sovereign and independent character," they need look no further than the Confederate Constitution […]

The last days of 2015 brought some very interesting news about America's record-high income inequality. On December 29, Noam Schieber and Patricia Cohen of the New York Times revealed a "private tax system" that saves the wealthiest billions every year. In conjunction with the Bush cuts to income and investment income tax rates, between 1995 […]