Tweet One:
tristanleavitt Tristan Leavitt What happened to the House Ethics investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters? http://awe.sm/5I99q (via @nyt) #ethics
Maxine Waters represents a lot that’s wrong in Congress.
You might remember her from the YouTube video where she calls herself a socialist and then thinks better of it. She was complaining of high gas prices back then, but she’s kind of quiet about it now.
Congress was supposed to be investigating her on an ethics violation. In the midst of the worst banking crisis in 80 years, Waters allegedly intervened on behalf of a bank that her husband was involved with.
One of the most strident and partisan members of Congress, even the New York Times is asking what happened to the ethics charge relating to the bank. Long suspected of being venial and corrupt, it would be nice to see Maxine have to answer hard questions.
Tweet Two:
MichaelWilliams Michael Williams Conservatives and church goers give more to charity than liberals and secularists. Who's more compassionate?
If you have a chance pick up the book: Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism Who Gives, Who Doesn't, and Why It Matters. Written by Arthur Brooks, it looks at charitable giving and comes down heavily against government charity.
Last year Brooks published The Battle: How the Fight between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future which argues that elite statists are trying to use American economic problems to crush capitalism.
Both can be picked up at Amazon.
Brooks is the president of the American Enterprise Institute.
Tweet Three:
jimpfaff Jim Pfaff Is John Huntsman done as a prez candidate? "Love letters" to Obama/Clinton. #tcot dailycaller.com/2011/04/15/jon… via
Every time I put together a list of possible presidential candidates I forget to add Jon Huntsman. Or maybe I just don’t want to add him.
My Freudian forgetfulness was even before the publication of the obsequious letters he wrote to his former bosses, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
The letters go beyond polite propriety for a colleague. They’re complete with exclamation points!
Tweet Four:
angelfleming Angel Fleming #tcot #teaparty #tpp Food and gas costs push consumer prices higher... http://ow.ly/1cct49
Top officials from the administration have been telling us for months now that inflation in food and energy prices don’t matter. But economists are now revising downward the economic growth expected for the rest of the year because of the effects of inflation.
“Manufacturers, food processors and other producers are facing higher costs for oil, grains and other commodities,” reports the AP. “But only some of those increases are reaching the consumer. Many retailers are reluctant to pass on the higher prices for fear of losing price-conscious customers.”
That mean however there will be less money to hire employees.
IMF has cautioned that high oil prices may finally be catching up with economic growth. The IMF has issued downward revisions to GDP based on inflation, mostly in oil prices.
"The U.S. economy will expand 2.8 percent this year," reports Bloomberg, "slowing from 2.9 percent last year and less than the 3 percent for 2011 forecast in January, the IMF said. The Washington-based fund also cut its estimate of Japan’s growth to 1.4 percent from 1.6 percent in the previous forecast after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami."
Goldman Sachs has told investors to "lock in" profits in the commodity markets before the markets reverse course.
"Goldman Sachs has told its clients there is a strong chance of key commodity prices reversing and recommended they take profits."
Finally, here’s a roundup of blog posts this week from the Ticker:
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