The failure of Obama's economic agenda. Mired in excruciating negotiations over the budget and the debt ceiling, President Barack Obama might reflect that things didn't have to turn out this way. The impasse grows mainly out of one major decision he made early on: pushing through a giant stimulus. When he took office in January 2009, this was his first priority. ... MOREFriday, July 1, 2011
Steve Chapman: Stimulus To Nowhere
The failure of Obama's economic agenda. Mired in excruciating negotiations over the budget and the debt ceiling, President Barack Obama might reflect that things didn't have to turn out this way. The impasse grows mainly out of one major decision he made early on: pushing through a giant stimulus. When he took office in January 2009, this was his first priority. ... MORE
Randall Hoven: Ten Lessons From Federal Spending
One can learn a lot just from looking at federal spending over time. The history of our relationship with our government can almost be summarized in graph. Research shows that from the founding of our nation, 1787-1849 (63 years) federal spending averaged 1.7% of GDP. For the next 51 years, 1850-1900 (including the Civil War) spending averaged only 3.1%. From 1901 ... MORE Thursday, June 30, 2011
Peter Moskos: Collars For Dollars
Sacrificing real policy for easy arrests. When I was a police officer in Baltimore, one sergeant would sometimes motivate his troops in the middle of a shift change by joyfully shouting, “All right, you maggots! Let’s lock people up! They don’t pay you to stand around. I want production! I want lockups!” He said this while standing in front of a small sign he most likely authored ... MOREVIDEO: Unintended Consequences of Price Controls
Prof. Antony Davies explains that prices are not levers that set value, but rather, are metrics that respond to value. Therefore, since government cannot legislate value, attempts to control prices will generate unintended consequences. Using the minimum wage as an example, Davies demonstrates that minimum wage laws increase unemployment rates amongst low-skilled workers.
Thomas Sowell: The Fourth Of July
The Fourth of July may be just a holiday for fireworks to some people. But it was a momentous day for the history of this country and the history of the world. Not only did July 4, 1776 mark American independence from England, it marked a radically different kind of government from the governments that prevailed around the world at the time — and the kinds of governments that had prevailed for thousands ... MOREWednesday, June 29, 2011
John Stossel: A New Day In Politics
Most Americans used to call themselves Republican or Democrat. These days, more call themselves independent. What does that mean for American politics? A lot. "Independents are everywhere, and they're becoming the largest single voting bloc in the country," Reason magazine Editor Matt Welch says. " (T)hey can determine every national election and every ... election for state office. ... MOREWalter E Williams: Ignorance, Stupidity or Manipulation
Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., referring to his race and the Constitution on John Stossel's recent show "The State Against Blacks," said, "I wasn't even considered three-fifths of a guy." The Rev. Al Sharpton, debating on Sean Hannity's show, said, "Any black, at any age at any stage, was three-fifths of a human." Even eminent historian John Hope Franklin charged the Founders with ... MORETuesday, June 28, 2011
Gene Healy: Beware The Depends Bomber
The TSA's latest ritual humiliation of an innocent traveler. On June 18, officers of the Transportation Security Administration forced a wheelchair-bound, 95-year-old leukemia patient to remove her adult diaper, lest it contain a bomb. As always when the TSA commits some new atrocity—like last April's "freedom fondle" of a 6-year-old girl—a designated bureaucratic ... MOREPreviews Of Coming Health Care Attractions
Shoddy Swedish health care is headed our way. Sweden's socialized healthcare is sometimes used as an example that America should follow. It proves that you can get good care for everybody. Does it? In the Swedish media there has been one report after another of people not getting any healthcare at all. In fact, they do not even get an ambulance. ... MOREMonday, June 27, 2011
Breaking Down How Government Spends Your Money
by John Sides. The notion that Americans should get a "tax receipt" has gotten a lot of attention. Third Way has promoted the idea and developed an on-line calculator that actually provides one. The White House has a calculator too. The idea is that any American should be able to see where their tax money goes - what percent to Medicare, national defense, education, and so ... MORECharles Krauthammer: Who Takes Us To War?
Is the Libya war legal? Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, it is not. President Obama has exceeded the 90-day period to receive retroactive authorization from Congress. But things are not so simple. No president should accept — and no president from Nixon on has accepted — the constitutionality of the WPR, passed unilaterally by Congress over a presidential veto. ... MORE
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