Because of the copious amount of media attention the July 23rd minimum wage hike has received, it's possible you missed - what we here at the Budget Blog consider the best reporting on the subject to date - The Onion's coverage: WASHINGTON, DC—Two weeks after the hourly federal minimum wage was raised from $5.15 to $5.85, families across the country were still celebrating the historic increase by running their electric fans, buying coveted half-gallons of milk, and, like Charice Williams of Shreveport, LA, purchasing name-brand ketchup to share with loved ones.

There's a complex relationship between the condition of the nation's capital markets and its macroeconomic performance. Equally complex is the parallel relationship between monetary policy set by the Fed the via interest rates and money supply and the far broader distributive fiscal policy options at the disposal of lawmakers. The past month's heavy losses among big, institutional investors coming at a time when the GDP has been contracting over the last couple of quarters are generating a spate of thought and opinion about this relationship.

A popular topic of discussion among the budget folk here at OMB Watch is the mystery of President Bush's veto threats, which he's made against just about every remotely progressive piece of legislation being considered by Congress. His party just lost an election, and President Nixon was better liked. Where does he get off trying to stymie Congress?

What is with this guy? The Bush administration, engaged in a battle with Congress over whether a popular children's health insurance program should be expanded, has announced new policies that will make it harder for states to insure all but the lowest-income children.