Currently, public initiatives offer free, or heavily subsidized, birth control in some states through organizations like Planned Parenthood. With most state budgets in the tank, these options may not be there forever. Some religious groups scoff at the idea of publicly-funded birth control as it flies in the face of their spiritual beliefs; and more seriously, public financing for abortion. We can save abortion for another day, however, it’s safe to say you won’t find too many public health experts on the platform that distributing birth control is a bad idea.

After Ron Paul, every Republican in the House and a large number of Democrats pushed through H.R. 1207 (against the efforts of the Federal Reserve and their former Enron lobbyist), Bernie Sanders went soft. It appears he has comprised the teeth out of S. 604 and put the effort to audit the Fed in jeopardy.

The differences between different economic systems, explained via cow distribution… Hmmmm:

The Group of 20 (G20) met in Scotland over the weekend, bringing together central bankers and financiers of nineteen countries, and the European Union (EU). The collection of nations constitute 80% of world trade and two-thirds of the world’s population. (1) Discussions of “re-balancing” the world economy have taken place over the last few months by members of the G20; those sentiments continued this weekend in St. Andrews, but apparently only in general terms. (2)

According to estimates by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, 47% of U.S. households are projected to owe zero federal income tax in 2009. (1) Is this good, bad, or inconsequential?

Needless to say, Brett Favre has a difficult time making up his mind, loves attention and does not give a crap what anyone else thinks about him (he also like gunslinging, having fun, mowing lawns and wearing blue jeans while playing pick up football). So how does this relate to economics? Well, it doesn’t much. But I’m going to try to make an inane connection in order to cash in on frequently searched Google terms.

What this whole mess elucidates is, as far as politics (and subsequently, economic policy) are concerned, actual positions are of little importance. All that matters is that you root for your team, be they Democrats or Republicans. Thus, we see Fox News begin to attack every push for increased state power, while MSNBC defends such policies. Under Bush, it was the opposite.

Milton Friedman is interviewed by Phil Donahue about the “downfalls” of capitalism and free markets. Friedman didn’t see eye to eye.