Another Day, Another Election . . .

The Candidate in a special election for a House seat in western New York has been a successful business person since the age of 8.  Really.  A Buffalo News report today cites the campaign literature of the Republican candidate as saying she was a success in business for 36 years before being elected to the New York General Assembly at the age of 44.  Yep, that would mean her business career started at age 8.

http://www.buffalonews.com/topics/chris-lee/special-election/article417450.ece

Now exaggeration is one thing, but the really interesting thing here is that when confronted with this obviously false claim the candidate stood by the literature and defended the claim. 

And you thought those pesky child labor laws were still in force.

As Brad DeLong often states,

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/

this is why friends don’t let friends vote for Republicans.

The AP reports that the Federal government has re-allocated the $2 billion in high speed rail funds that the state of Florida refused.  The new ultra conservative governor of Florida turned down the money.  Since he campaigned on creating jobs, maybe he can explain how not accepting federal money for transportation infrastructure helps the employment process. 

Conservative governors in Ohio and Wisconsin also rejected federal money.  Something for the citizens of those states to think about while their unemployment benefits run out.

Want to read Paul Krugman without having a subscription to the NYT.  Here is a link to a very good blog set up by Mark Thoma

http://economistsview.typepad.com/