Since this story is back in the news, here (I hope) is a link to an interview with Deborah Jeane Palfrey from last August (note: the blog is not-safe-for-work).

Posted at April 7, 2008 12:59 PM in response to Witness for The Prosecution

Have you conducted -- or do you plan to conduct -- any hearings on the amount of transparency that was used in the process of delivering these mortgages in the first place? Many people seem to argue (I heard this on the radio just today) that people "ought to have known" what they were getting into, but it seems like that is hardly an accurate description of things like bait and switch mortgage rates and fuzzy formulas which were used to convince homebuyers that they could afford the mortgages they were being offered.

Posted at December 19, 2007 8:57 AM in response to Discussion Forum on Bankruptcy and Foreclosures

I completely agree - and I think complex analyses like Bernstein's are well-meaning but tend to obscure that simple point. The top 1% may pay 25% of all taxes - but if they possess 35% of all wealth, suddenly that doesn't seem so unreasonable.

Going into things like "effective tax rates" and the need to account for payroll taxes is a distraction.

Posted at April 17, 2007 1:01 PM in response to Tax Day Silliness

Fortunately we won't have Bill Thomas to kick the American people around in 2007-- he's already announced he's retiring.

Posted at October 5, 2006 7:24 AM in response to Of Coups, Their Plotters, and the Next Era of Politics

"...why the hell is your son throwing up on his date at Ivy League frat parties?"

Good line, but I would substitute "cotillion" or "debutante party." Because for better or for worse, when people hear the word "Ivy League" they're going to think Democrats.

Posted at June 24, 2006 7:33 PM in response to GOP on Iraq = More of the Same