Enough to make taxpayers cry, "no mas." Manny Pacquiao takes on his toughest opponent in his next fight: the Internal Revenue Service. Roy Jones, Evander Holyfield, and Floyd Mayweather all fought the most powerful three-letters in boxing and lost. Manny Pacquiao, a Filipino who doesn’t possess their home field disadvantage, has already ... MORE
by Meredith Bragg & Nick Gillespie. Few energy projects have inspired the level of vitriol surrounding the Keystone XL Pipeline, that would run 1,700 miles from Alberta, Canada through the United States to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. The oil sands of Alberta are estimated to hold 170 million 170 billon barrels of petroleum, the largest reservoir of black ... MORE
Regarding goods from China and Middle East oil. At a conference in Philadelphia last October, a Wharton professor noted
that one of the country's biggest economic problems is a tsunami of
misinformation. You can't have a rational debate when facts are so
easily supplanted by overreaching statements, broad generalizations, and ... MORE
Empower the elites. Why do some societies maintain institutions that cause economic
backwardness? This is the vital question that MIT economist Daron
Acemoglu and Harvard economist James Robinson asked in their
seminal 2006 article, “Economic
Backwardness in Political Perspective” in the American
Political Science Review. ... MORE
Testing the boundaries of copyright laws. All eyes will be on Justice Elena Kagan on Monday, when the Supreme Court considers a copyright case that some fear could prevent people from reselling certain products they own such as the iPhone, as she may have the deciding vote. In a case that tests the boundaries of copyright law, ... MORE
One of the few growth industries. A new report out today from the solar industry touts a surge in the use of solar panels. The report states U.S. solar installations more than doubled in the second quarter of this year up 116%. In total, the U.S. now has 5,700 megawatts of solar capacity, enough to power more than 940,000 households. It all sounds great, but that's ... MORE
Don't count on political lip service. If there is any issue you can be sure will come up during a presidential election campaign, it's gasoline prices. They are simple, important and plainly visible to anyone who drives. They're the classic pocketbook issue: When prices are low or at least falling, voters somehow feel better than when prices are high or rising. ... MORE
What will be America's response to Russia and China? Faced with the prospect of United Nations regulation of the Internet, the United States has yet to appoint a leader for an upcoming battle with other countries over Web management. Less than a year from a historic treaty negotiation that will redefine international agreements on Internet management, the ... MORE
National debt to enter its "sudden" phase. I was in Australia earlier this month and there, as elsewhere on my recent travels, the consensus among the politicians I met (at least in private) was that Washington lacked the will for meaningful course correction, and that, therefore, the trick was to ensure that, when the behemoth goes over the cliff, you’re not ... MORE
Fed policy certain to fuel inflation. You may have heard by now of the Federal Reserve's "dual mandate." Not content to merely protect us against the ravages of price inflation (mandate No. 1), our fearless Fed is equally committed to fostering "maximum employment" (No. 2). And right now, with the unemployment rate still at 8.3%—far too high to meet anyone's ... MORE
Obama becomes vulnerable on energy issue. Nothing will focus the attention of voters on Obama's failed energy policies like the current rise in gas prices. The White House can spin it alll they want, but thwen voters start really feeling the pinch from high fuel costs, they are going to start asking questions. Fox News: Nationally, gas prices are $3.53 a gallon, up ... MORE
Congress, not China, is causing our unemployment. Republicans and Democrats, liberals as well as conservatives, have bought into anti-Chinese trade demagoguery. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that tariffs against China are a "key part of our 'Make It in America' agenda." During his 2010 campaign, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. ... MORE
What China knows that we do not. A little noticed Associated Press news story last week reported that China now plans to phase out college majors that consistently produce unemployable graduates. Any program in which 60% of the graduates failed to find work for two consecutive years would face funding reductions until supply was brought back into balance ... MORE
Up to 40 million Chinese people still live in caves. That's more than the populations of Texas and Illinois, combined. In fairness, a fraction of these caves are apparently pretty nice, complete with electricity and well-compacted dirt floors. But that's grading on a curve because, well, they're still caves. Meanwhile, 21 million Chinese live below what the Communist ... MORE
Pinning a nation's economic hopes on bridges to nowhere gets nowhere.