Cheney Speaks Up, Healthcare Makes Its Way to the Table, and Bloggers Talk Economics

Our daily look at stories and topics that are lighting up the Internets:

Cheney's Back!

Not that he ever left, though he did have his house removed from Google Earth. It seems like every few weeks Cheney says something over the weekend that gets him bashed by everybody and their mothers the following week (see, also, this Blog Buzz, for example). This week is no exception, and liberals are loving it. Today's op-ed from Maureen Dowd has others clapping gleefully. Republicans, however, don't seem to be as happy with Cheney, and some are putting up a fight. Liberal David Wild thinks Cheney would make a great judge on American Idol. A few conservatives, however, are sticking up for the former VP. Victor Davis Hanson, take us away: "While pundits still believe Cheney is a marginalized figure and an easy target of scorn, in fact, his methodical defense of the past is both logical and principled."

The Healthcare Debate

With the recent rhetorical push to implement healthcare reform by Obama and the Democrats, bloggers are delving more and more into the debate. Conservative Ronald Bailey gives a dissenting voice. Michael Watkins is skeptical: "But for a public confused by the myriad initiatives, frightened by the financial collapse and turn by political partisanship, his efforts so far lack the requisite power to motivate and unite." Ned Lips has his own ideas. Liberal blogger mcjoan explains why if healthcare reform is going to happen, it's going to happen soon. Conservative Rich Lowry sums up the change in the nation's capital: "We've gone from a Washington where Republicans argue that tax cuts pay for themselves, to one where Democrats argue that spending pays for itself (the stimulus will stoke growth and tax revenues, health-care reform will reduce costs, every spending program is an 'investment,' etc.)." And according to Conservative Brian Faughnan, it looks like Obama has more than just the Republicans to contend with.

Tracking the Economy

...Is exactly what blogger Econbrowser is all about, pointing us to this instructional music video. Felix Salmon writes a great post explaining the yield curve, "a much better way of predicting the [economic] future than listening to economists." Naturally, the explanation revolves around fruit. Calculated Risk correlates changes in saving rates over time to personal consumption expenditures (or PCE). Here's the upshot: "So with wages barely rising, and a rising saving rate suppressing PCE, I'd expect PCE growth to be sluggish for some time. And since PCE is usually one of the engines of recovery (along with residential investment), I expect the recovery to be very sluggish too (no Immaculate recovery)." And Kevin Drum and Matthew Yglesias debate cap-and-trade (a la Andrew Sullivan). Felix Salmon chimes in on the subject too.

... Meanwhile ...

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez whips out his own cellphone... Utah gets rid of the "Zion curtain" (and the rest of the country starts caring about what the "Zion curtain" actually is)... Never, ever fight a waitress at Waffle House... And the political scandal to end all scandals in Guatemala (hat tip to CTQN).