Kudlow on the economy
Ever since Rukeyser became ill, I've been turning to Larry Kudlow for financial inspiration.  Yesterday Kudlow had an article on NRO titled Kerry’s Economic Deficit:  The challenger will have trouble darkening this bright picture.  Kudlow notices that

The latest budget numbers show a $19.1 billion surplus for June, $3 billion higher than the $16 billion Wall Street expectation. It seems that a flood of new tax collections, spurred by fatter employment payrolls and corporate profits, is rapidly reducing the federal budget gap. Tax receipts from businesses rose an astonishing 38 percent over the past twelve months and personal income-tax collections increased almost 9 percent.
Just as the 1.5 million new jobs created since last August has terminated talk of a jobless recovery, the chatter over widening budget deficits will end. The fiscal-year 2004 budget deficit now looks to come in around $435 billion, less than 4 percent of GDP. This would be almost $100 billion below early-year estimates from the Office of Management and Budget and about $50 billion less than Congressional Budget Office forecasts. The administration is also getting its arms around federal spending. Fiscal year to date, domestic discretionary program spending has slowed to 2.7 percent from 6.8 percent a year ago.
. . .Like the modern Democratic party, the Kerryites neither understand nor acknowledge the tax-incentive model of economic growth that simply restates an old truism: Individuals produce and invest more if it is more profitable after-tax to do so.

Don't miss the numbers on the uninsured. 
Kudlow finishes by saying "Greater individual responsibility and personal choice in the context of our free-enterprise market system. It’s what will make this thriving nation even more prosperous".