Month: July 2011

Debt Ceiling

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This information comes from the Office of Management and Budget’s Historical Tables of the US Government’s budget.  Just some basic information on the debt ceiling that might put the current political wrangling into greater context.  I will add the usual disclaimer that this is not my usual playground, so if anyone catches any mistakes please let me know. Below is a quick graphic illustrating the points at which the debt ceiling has been raised since 1940.  These figures have not been adjusted for inflation.  The dots show the point at which the debt ceiling was raised, or a point at Continue reading Debt Ceiling→

Aid to Pakistan II

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Apparently some US policymakers have decided to cut some of the US' aid to Pakistan.  I'll keep the commentary short on this one as I've already commented on the topic before at greater length.  I still have a suspicion that getting some distance between the US and Pakistan is not for the relationship's greater good—assuming that what is "good" entails keeping the Pakistani government afloat.  The government needs to maintain some semblance of authority or credibility amongst their own people, and publicly bickering with the US may be one way to do that.  Suffering some sort of tangible cost should Continue reading Aid to Pakistan II→

Update

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Between dissertating, data collection, and side projects, blogging has been pretty lite here lately.  I'll try to keep up with the occasional updates so as not to dissappoint our loyal reader… Protests continue in Syria. France drops arms to Libyan rebels.  What's particularly interesting about this event (a couple days old I admit) is the notion that the French are reported to have made the arms drops on their own and without informing NATO allies.  France has been one of the more belligerent of the NATO allies involved in the operations in Libya, so this isn't too surprising.  I'm just Continue reading Update→