Cumulative Model

"four years of failure - enough is enough - why hasn't Osama Bin Laden been captured or killed, and how will he be destroyed before he next appears on tape to spread his disgusting message?

"That discussion -- rather than criticizing American citizens who exercise their right to free speech and express dissenting opinions - is the discussion that America needs.

I like how he criticizes criticism of criticism in the context of criticizing not having killed a man before he could spread more criticism.

The primary reason I voted for Bush over Gore was that Bush's budget made much more sense to me. Bush advocated paying down the national debt, as did Gore, but Bush's plan payed down more and started out more slowly. It just seemed more considered.

Gore's paydown, on the other hand, was front loaded. It didn't make sense to me to pay down the national debt at a time when interest rates were low, the job market had evaporated, and we were clearly about to enter a recession.

The thing I've come to realize is that deficits matter when interest rates are high. It's the cost of capital that matters. It almost doesn't make sense to run a surplus or balance the budget when rates are so low. What we should really be concerned with is what the money is spent on. Is it being used for education and infastructure, or is it being wasted on inflationary, non-value added projects?

Only recently have interest payments on the debt began to increase as a percentage of GDP (there was a large drop after interest rates dropped). Question is, as interest rates rise, can the budget deficits be cut before interest payments excede 1990s levels.

Common sense tells us that opertional security was likely significantly compromised by the NSA leak publication. This seems different than the rendition revelation in that most of the damage there appears to be cosmetic and the revelation may actually have led to improvement of operations.

I am, however, willing to reserve judgement of the Times for publication of the NSA wiretapping program. I would consider the possibility that the administration and the military were complicit in the publication; perhaps the program had outlived its usefulness and al Queda reaction is of more value. Perhaps the appearance of weakness and the superficial blackeye on the Administration are useful.