Dan Dunn

I sent a tweet about this topic earlier, but it deserves more than 140 characters. There are plenty of ongoing investigations about last week’s terrorist attack on the plane from Amsterdam to Detroit.  It seems safe to say that all the facts are not in.  Still, I think this post is on safe ground – […]

Dick Cheney has been actively defending his administration’s policies.  He knows (I think) that those policies were soundly rejected by the American people last year, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying to convince everyone that he was right.  Maybe he’s making his case for the historians? One of his repeated themes is that the […]

I’ve been getting more and more annoyed as the AIG bonus scandal has cranked up into a hysterical tornado of indignant politicians performing before the similarly self-indulgent press corp.  Let’s take a step back and look at what’s happened so far. The government has handed over $170 billion to AIG.  That’s $170,000,000,000. Less than .1% […]

I’m not a New Yorker.  This post is about sticking my nose in someone else’s business.  That said, this is just an opinion, and Governor Paterson is free to disregard it; he doesn’t even have to worry about me voting against him. My mother asked me last week about what I thought of Caroline Kennedy […]

October was a month of breathless financial reporting.  There was a lot to be breathless about – the markets were crazy, day after day after day.  I know that every editor told every reporter “Explain why this is happening!” It was what the readers wanted, and hell, it might even land a Pulitzer if you […]

Obama is going to be President.  That’s a big historical milestone for our country, and I’m glad I could witness it.  On a more tactical level, I can’t say that I’m excited about it.  Passing union-supported card-check legislation?  Writing blank checks to failing car companies? I’m not jumping for joy.  I will admit it beats […]

Sarah Palin got 909 votes when she ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1999.  I got 1506 votes when I ran for state rep in 2004.   I’m just sayin’.

The Senate tonight voted to approve the bailout bill.  Not only did they approve $700 billion (BILLION) in spending, but they approved $150 billion in tax breaks.  Apparently our financial crisis is so severe that we need to rescind a $.39 tax on wooden arrows.  Wooden arrows?  Are you kidding me? Are our legislators so […]

Bush says that if we don’t do a bailout, then we’ll get a recession. It’s tough to argue that, but. . . when there are huge financial mistakes, don’t you expect a recession? I’m unconvinced that a bailout actually averts a recession. It just costs more. Brad Feld: “I reread Nassim Nicholas Taleb’ brilliant book […]

President Bush has proposed a three-page document that he says will cost up to $700 billion of taxpayer’s money. There aren’t many people who think that the document has enough detail. There aren’t many that think it actually will stop at $700 billion. Senator Dodd puts it better than I could: “After reading this proposal, […]