Obama a No-Show in Paris

Neither President Obama nor his inner-circle attended the Hebdo inspired rallies in France.

The Myth of Big Money Republicanism

One of the persistent myths of American politics is that big money in America tilts to the right. After all, the argument goes, the wealthy favor lower taxes and smaller government because they are greedy. The evidence says otherwise. Big money breaks in all directions and recently toward the left. Politico has a nice article on how 2014’s political donations among the wealthiest donors were a bit more likely to go to Democrats as opposed to Republicans. Big money goes toward power at least as reliably as it goes toward ideology.

Economy Still Years from Full Recovery

The Huffington Post ran an interesting take on the most recent economic news. The employment numbers continue to improve, but given our population growth, and the number of jobs lost throughout the recession, a bipartisan analysis concludes we are still short nearly six million jobs if we hope to make up for all ground lost. If the job growth continues at the present rate, a full recovery will not happen until August 2016.

Moderate Democrats May Hold the Senate Keys

The U.S. Senate is a unique institution. A simple majority is not enough to forestall a filibuster, so having 51 votes is a nice start, but 60 votes are needed to guarantee passage of any bill. The Republicans picked up the majority in 2014’s mid-terms, but their 54 seats are still not enough. There are, according to The Washington Post‘s story, ten or fifteen moderate Democrats who are willing to work with the Republicans, at least as long as the GOP handles things well. This is the balance between governing and attempting to embarrass President Obama. Of course, President Obama will likely veto such bills regardless of moderate Democrat support. We will see.

Taken 3 Wins Weekend Box Office

The domestic box office is always interesting, at least to people like me. Taken 3, the Liam Neeson action film, made around $40 million this weekend. If we want to avoid additional Taken films, this is NOT the way to do it. Expect more to follow. Selma finished a distant second, but the $11 million is not bad for the kind of film it is. Unbroken nudged over the $100 million threshold for its run, and The Hobbit has now taken in over $235 million in the U.S. alone. Peter Jackson’s money machine keeps clicking away.