Coming to the end of the second quarter earnings season, the naturally optimistic business media are caroling how second quarter earnings have “exceeded expectations.” Maybe so, but much accounting chicanery has been used to get them to do so, and the “expectations” had themselves been manipulated.

He got into a war without an obvious exit route, on the basis of evidence that was later held to be false. He instituted new Federal spending programs without worrying about how to pay for them until too late. And, after huge popularity for several years, he began to suffer a serious credibility gap.

The boom in U.S. federal governmment spending since 2001, that is clearly about to go into even higher gear with the Medicaid drugs entitlement and the extension of the Iraq conflict, is nothing short of disgraceful. It is being implemented by people who claim to believe in smaller government, who were voted for on that […]

Bullish analysts have been calling since last fall for an economic recovery and vigorous economic growth in the second half of 2003. We’re now in the second half. So where’s the growth?