Suitably Flip

FoxNews.com Live 10-11

I'll be on FoxNews.com Live this morning from 10-11, discussing ObamaCare, which heads to the Supreme Court today, and election 2012.  If you  miss it live, you can catch a replay at the link until Tuesday morning (dial the wheel to 10:00:00).

Obama's Secret Plan To Handle America's Greekification

You didn't really believe Tim Geithner's assertion that the administration has no plan to deal with the spectre of crippling debt pulling the country apart at the seams, did you?  Well, good on you, cynic!  Turns out Obama & Co. do indeed realize that borrowing our way to ostensible propserity is a non-starter.  And, forward thinkers that they are, they realized this as early as 2009, when they were still polishing their various trillion-dollar initiatives.

Less encouraging, though, is the idea that their plan isn't so much a roadmap for avoiding fiscal armeggedon, but for managing the disaster when it befalls us.

Judging by the author of a fabulously well-guarded memo drafted for the President in May 2009 on what to do when the levees break, you won't be shocked to learn that the likely policy prescription is massively higher taxes across the board.

Problem solved!

This is "never let a crisis go to waste" taken to its natural conclusion: never let an opportunity to usher in a useful crisis go to waste.

Belated: FoxNews.com Live

I was on FoxNews.com Live yesterday, discussing today's southern primaries.  A clip is below.

 

 

ADPick'em

Yesterday humbled my lowly predictive skills, so I'm hesitant to hazard a guess as to this morning's ADP employment report.  The market is looking for private payroll growth of around 210,000 in February (up from 170,000 in January).

I rather doubt that kind of a jump actually took place, but then ADP does have a way of throwing wild pitches every few months, so who knows what we'll see.

They could equally show us a blowout at 260,000 or a bummer at 160,000.  And neither would/should do much to sway careful ADP watchers about Friday's official employment report.

Still, in the interest of avoiding being completely mealy-mouthed, I'll just go ahead and buy a straddle preditction - that the number will deviate from that consensus by at least 40,000.

The report is due at 8:15 am.

Update:  Wow.  216,000.  Shockingly close to estimates (CNBC actually reported that the consensus was exactly 216,000 just before the release).

I'm becoming a very fine contrary indicator.

FoxNews.com Live #SuperTuesday Special

I'll be participating in FoxNews.com Live's special Super Tuesday coverage tonight from 7:30-11 ET.  I'll be one of four "Super Chatters" interacting with viewers in real time and checking in with hosts Rick Folbaum, Jenna Lee, and Harris Faulkner.

You can watch the coverage and participate in the conversation at live.foxnews.com and stay up to date on the results at foxnews.com/SuperTuesday.

For posterity, here are my predictions.

Romney:  MA, VT, VA, OH, TN, ND, ID, AK
Santorum: OK
Gingrich:  GA

The only state-specific surprise in there would be Romney ekeing out a win in Tennesse, but I think the big picture surprise will be that Romney's wins will generally be bigger than expected and his losses will be narrower (owing both to the sustained momentum shift away from Santorum since his increasingly stale February trifecta and to Romney's heavy organizational advantage being brought to bear like never before with so many simultaneous contests), meaning his delegate haul across these proportional states will be outsized.

I look for Romney to take home just over 230 delegates, with neither Gingrich nor Santorum quite breaking 75.

Update: The technical term for my prediction is "wrong".  Big night for Santorum.  Bigger for Romney in absolute terms, obviously, but Rick is the outperformer tonight.

FoxNews.com Live 10-11

I'll be on FoxNews.com Live this morning from 10:00-11:00, discussing the countdown to Super Tuesday.  If you  miss it live, you can catch a replay at the link until Tuesday morning (dial the wheel to 10:00:00).

Cost Curve Officially Bent

Yeah, whoops.

Cost estimates for a key part of President Obama’s health care overhaul law have ballooned by $111 billion [30%] from last year’s budget...

Not to worry.  The folks who didn't see it coming don't foresee any problems.

Administration officials say the big increase from last year’s estimates is no cause for alarm and that the administration is not forecasting an erosion of employer coverage or higher insurance costs.