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Since we checked in last week, the Presidential candidates have solidified their support considerably for Rep. Jim DeMint's "Cut, Cap and Balance," a pledge to oppose raising the debt ceiling in the absence of fairly draconian spending cuts and a balanced budget amendment. The pledge also includes a mandate for a supermajority in both chambers for raising taxes, effectively making such actions impossible.

Insurers justify the use of credit screening for insurance purposes by pointing to internal industry data showing that, on average, people with lower scores are more likely to make an insurance claim. The problem is, they don’t have a convincing explanation for why people with poor credit tend to make more claims.

The shale gas industry has been booming in recent years, not only fueling growth in stated U.S. gas reserves, but also controversy over its environmental impact. Although high-volume fracking combined with horizontal drilling has allowed producers to get at hard-to-extract shale gas, many argue that the technique’s impact on the environment requires further study. Despite the environmental controversy, the industry still has plenty of supporters.

Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney prosecuting the insider trader cases, is quoted in a recent New Yorker article as saying that a lack of manpower was the reason that authorities hadn't prosecuted more people involved in the financial crisis: "If the well is dry," he said, "a thousand more people aren't going to get you water in that well." 

When Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes published a book entitled The $3 Trillion War, they were criticized by some academics and reviewers for inflating the costs of the Iraq war. Well, now it appears that the authors' figures may have been too low.

Representative Sandy Levin is one of the top Democrats in Congress when it comes to trade issues and given that he represents Michigan -- where the economy has been battered by globalization -- it is no surprise that he has long taken a critical stance on free trade agreements. But Levin is not entirely hostile to such pacts.

According to a recent Pew poll, evangelical Christians believe they're losing influence in the United States. That's far from clear; From 2004 to 2008, the evangelical share of the vote in the Presidential election increased, from 20 percent to 23 percent.

I have been predicting for the past few months that as part of a bipartisan budget deal Republicans will agree to raise revenues by reducing tax breaks and then cloak this retreat in high-minded rhetoric about "tax reform."

Here's what I don't get about House Majority Leader Eric Cantor quitting the budget talks because he opposes any tax increases: Nearly every conservative budget plan out there -- including the Ryan plan -- embraces a fiscal scenario in which taxes consume a greater share of GDP than they do today. Everyone on the right knows taxes will have to increase somewhat, so why doesn't Cantor just accept the inevitable -- especially with the stakes so high?

Consider the details.

Reckless speculation on Wall Street -- which helped cause the financial crisis and Great Recession -- is a big reason why budget deficits have spiralled skyward since 2008, so it's only fair that Wall Street do its share to reduce these deficits. 

The anniversary of welfare reform is a fitting occasion to consider how opinion can trump fact and bias policy. The problem with “ending welfare as we knew it” was that it did not end or meaningfully reduce poverty, nor did it secure a decent standard of living for struggling Americans. The poor are still poor, and now they have neither a hand-up nor a hand-out. Jake Blumgart reports that, since 1996, states have been clearing the welfare rolls but leaving poor families with few alternatives:

The public is overwhelmed by budget deficits, shrinking public supports, and the inability of its government to compromise. In this climate, so-called minority issues seem like a distraction. But black and Latino men between the ages of 16 and 24 are profoundly more likely to be poor than whites, more likely to be unemployed or the victims of violent crime, and less likely to graduate from high school.

A communications consultant I know tells me that two of her clients decided this week to take a break from her services. Why? Because both have suffered losses in the stock market and are suddenly worried about money.

With Elizabeth Warren preparing to run for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, an epic -- and telling -- electoral battle is shaping up that will pit one of the most eloquent voices of progressive populism against a star of conservative populism.

Rupert and James Murdoch have even more explaining to do after today's arrest of James Desborough, the former U.S. editor of News of the World, and Tuesday’s allegations that top editors at the paper knew about the use of phone hacking by reporters. While the Murdochs have pleaded ignorance about the sordid doings of their underlings, a growing pile of evidence suggests that at least James was very much in the loop. That is not surprising. You don’t build a business empire – or even inherit one – by being a hands-off boss.

Here's some positive news out of Europe for a change: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy called yesterday for a tax on financial trades. This isn't a new idea -- European leaders have pushed it before -- but a financial transaction tax (FTT) is a good idea that deserves to be taken seriously on both revenue-hungry sides of the Atlantic.

According to Fox News Latino, Texas' economy isn't the only one showing that the road to prosperity is paved by austerity. Since March of this year, the unemployment rate in Puerto Rico has fallen from 16.9 to 14.9 percent. Never mind that the Puerto Rican economy still endures an unemployment rate greater than any other state.

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a pair of decisions affirming campaign finance disclosure provisions in Maine and Rhode Island. I let out a sigh of relief when I read them.