Market and Exchange

Washington's tug of war over the federal budget has many wonders, but the biggest one of all must be the lengths to which politicians and pundits will go to deprive Granny and Grandpa of $30 a month. That's the amount by which benefits for the average...

— Well, at least we're starting to get the procedure right. Washington has rediscovered the beauty of the boring. It's called "regular order," using the normal, routine, constitutional process to arrive at, for example, a budget. Normal had...

WASHINGTON - Well, at least we're starting to get the procedure right. Washington has rediscovered the beauty of the boring. It's called "regular order," using the normal, routine, constitutional process to arrive at, for example, a budget. Normal had...

President Obama won't release his proposed budget for 2014 until Wednesday, but liberals and AARP have been howling all week about something they expect to be in it. What has our president done to provoke such outrage among his supporters? He's...

WASHINGTON -- The bailout of Cyprus -- if it can be called that -- bore all the trappings of Europe's standard response to its economic crisis. The last-minute, melodramatic rescue was complex, contentious and controversial. Decisions were taken that, for...

As gasoline prices climb, President Barack Obama's poll numbers plummet. In February, a Washington Post/ABC poll had Obama up 6 points against Mitt Romney. Monday's poll has him down 2. According to the polls, gas prices are a huge part of the story,...

The first people to tell the public that the world's oldest bank was cooking its books weren't the bank's executives, its outside auditors at KPMG, its regulators at the Bank of Italy, or anyone else who had a duty to keep the place honest. They were...

The good news for the U.S. economy as we enter 2013 is that the election's over. The bad news is that the election's over. What's good about it is that both parties in Washington can shed their preoccupation with the campaign theatrics that dominated...

WASHINGTON -- The "fiscal cliff" is a massive failure of presidential leadership. The tedious and technical negotiations are but a subplot in a larger drama. Government can no longer fulfill all the promises it has made to various constituencies. Some...

Food prices in general, especially beef prices are on the way up, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The stark news comes as nearly a fifth of Indiana is now in an exceptional drought, and the rest of the Midwest isn't looking much better....

I'm writing this column in Europe, where the headlines are full of "crisis" talk about a possible economic "collapse." The talk has escalated lately after last week's elections in which both French and Greek voters seemed to be saying "enough, already" to...

When the price of gasoline rises, the supply of hot air expands. Just look at the recent GOP attacks blaming President Obama for prices that exceed $4 a gallon in some parts of the country. Not only is Obama responsible, according to some Republicans,...