The Budget Speech  —  Style: I liked the way Obama made a case for government at the beginning.  I liked the way he accused Republicans of pessimism, of abandoning a hopeful vision of America.  Good that he went after the Ryan plan — and good that he went after the cruelty of that plan.

Obama Urges Cuts and Taxes on the Rich  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama called for cutting the nation's budget deficits by $4 trillion over the next 12 years in a 43-minute speech at George Washington University on Wednesday, countering Republican budget plans with what he said was a more balanced approach …

Asleep on the Job: What Was Vice President Joe Biden Doing During Obama's Debt Speech?  —  ABC's Z. Byron Wolf reports:  —  Vice President Biden chose an inopportune time for either a nap or some deep reflection today.  —  As President Obama weighed in on one of the most important issues of the day …

CBO: Budget deal cuts this fiscal year's deficit by just $353 million, not $38 billion touted  —  WASHINGTON — A new budget estimate released Wednesday shows that the spending bill negotiated between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner would produce less than 1 percent …

Text of Obama Speech on the Deficit  —  Here is the prepared text of President Barack Obama's speech on the deficit, as released by the White House:  —  Remarks of President Barack Obama - As Prepared for Delivery  —  The Country We Believe In  —  The George Washington University  —  Washington, D.C.

LensCrafters v. Bachmann  —  Washington (CNN) - The optics don't look great for Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.  That is, if you're talking about her relationship with LensCrafters, the one-stop shop of eye care and eyewear.  —  The possible GOP presidential candidate supported her belief …

Obama's “bad negotiating” is actually shrewd negotiating  —  In December, President Obama signed legislation to extend hundreds of billions of dollars in Bush tax cuts, benefiting the wealthiest Americans.  Last week, Obama agreed to billions of dollars in cuts that will impose the greatest burden on the poorest Americans.

WHOOPS: AP Falls For Hoax Press Release Saying That GE Will Repay Government $3.8 Billion Tax Break  —  Original post: The AP just fell for a hoax press release, which claimed that GE would repay the government the $3.8 billion tax loss carryforward it received.

Graham Vows To ‘Tie Senate In Knots’ Over $50K Left Out Of Budget Deal  —  Not all Republicans were celebrating Tuesday about the fine print of the $38.5 billion in cuts House Republicans managed to wrangle in last week's 11th-hour budget showdown.  Tea Party loyalists who wanted tens …

Sidney Harman 1918-2011  —  Sidney Harman died last night of complications from acute myeloid leukemia at the young age of almost 93.  He first learned of his illness one month ago and remained vigorously engaged as Executive Chairman of Newsweek, and Chairman of the Academy for Polymathic Study …

Barack Obama's Deficit Plan  —  Brad DeLong's summary of Barack Obama's budget ideas is useful (though caveat emptor here, there's rounding so the numbers don't add up right): … Some of these are fine however.  However, the basic premise continues to be weird.

COLBERT KEEPS TWITTER HEAT ON KYL  —  Sen. Jon Kyl's claim that “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does” is abortion-related is getting a continued skewering from political comedians.  —  Comedy Central late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart have since Monday laid …

Pray.  Hope.  Prepare.  —  When I was in Cairo during the Egyptian uprising, I wanted to change hotels one day to be closer to the action and called the Marriott to see if it had any openings.  The young-sounding Egyptian woman who spoke with me from the reservations department offered …

Inflation Actually Near 10% Using Older Measure  —  After former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was appointed in 1979, the consumer price index surged into the double digits, causing the now revered Fed Chief to double the benchmark interest rate in order to break the back of inflation.

America's Human Capital Slowdown  —  A new Brink Lindsay paper “Frontier Economics: Why Entrepreneurial Capitalism Is Needed Now More Than Ever” (PDF) aims to persuade you that even though US growth has been slower in the neoliberal era than in the postwar era, and even though growth is faster …

Case Shiller 100 Year Chart (2011 Update)  —  In 2006, just as the Housing market was peaking, the NYT ran this graphic of the 100-year Case Shiller chart.  It showed how radically overvalued Housing had become.  —  Two years later, TBP reader Steve Barry updated that graphic, including the projected Home Price mean reversion.

Barry Bonds found guilty of obstruction  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice Wednesday but a jury failed to reach a verdict on three other counts that the home run king lied to a grand jury when he denied knowingly using steroids and human growth hormone.