The Foundry

Archive for 2008

• Consumer Education, Not Heavy Net Neutrality Regulation, Is the Answer

  Posted October 21st, 2008 at 11:07am in Enterprise and Free Markets with 0 comments

  According to the Financial Times, the leading think-tank Copenhagen Economics will release a study next week showing that “broadband prices could rise by up to one-third if regulators in Europe insist on strict ‘net neutrality’ rules.” The reports warns that letting politicians dictate how internet service providers manage their traffic flows will “pass on the [...] More

• Why Is DoJ Ignoring Election Fraud?

  Posted October 21st, 2008 at 10:56am in Rule of Law with 5 comments

  This past Friday the Supreme Court issued an order setting aside a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals order forcing Ohio’s secretary of state Jennifer Brunner to verify the accuracy of the information provided on applications for voter registration. The Ohio Republican Party had sued to force Brunner to comply with the 2002 Help America Vote [...] More

• Grading the Nation’s Governors

  Posted October 21st, 2008 at 10:41am in Ongoing Priorities with 2 comments

    West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin received an “A” from Cato. (Newscom) The Cato Institute released its ninth biennial fiscal report card on the nation’s governors yesterday, and topping the list with “A” grade were Charlie Crist of Florida, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Cato grades the governors based on data [...] More

• Morning Bell: That’s Enough Big Government for Right Now, Thank You

  Posted October 21st, 2008 at 9:02am in American Leadership, Enterprise and Free Markets with 9 comments

  This past weekend President Bush announced plans to host an “emergency” summit of world leaders to “overhaul the regulatory framework for global finance.” Bush offered few details on what actual policy fixes would be addressed, but British Prime Minister Gordon Brown penned an op-ed in for The Washington Post calling for unprecedented levels of [...] More

• China’s Economic Report: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Unbelievable

  Posted October 21st, 2008 at 8:45am in American Leadership with 0 comments

  China announced economic results yesterday. The results are simultaneously good, bad, and completely unbelievable. The good: GDP growth was put at 9% in the third quarter of this year. This would please almost any country in the world at almost any time. For this particular third quarter, the U.S. would be happy with 0.9%. The bad: 9% [...] More

• What Should Congress Do to Help the Economy?

  Posted October 20th, 2008 at 5:22pm in Enterprise and Free Markets with 4 comments

  Following the testimony this morning of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the House Budget Committee turned to three economists for their recommendations. Bill Beach, director of Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis, outlined his views on crafting a long-term, pro-growth economic policy. Here’s video of his opening statement: More

• Obama’s Poverty Trap

  Posted October 20th, 2008 at 4:43pm in Ongoing Priorities with 12 comments

  (Newscom) Barack Obama has claimed he would lower taxes on 95% of workers — even though more than 40% of tax filers don’t even pay taxes. What he says is true, but what it really means is that he is reintroducing a massive increase in the welfare state, costing about $30 billion per year. According to [...] More

• Obama Moves to Silence All ACORN Critics

  Posted October 20th, 2008 at 4:01pm in Rule of Law with 25 comments

  Want a preview of what an Obama Department of Justice would look like? Look no further than Obama for America general counsel Bob Bauer’s letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey last Friday. Bauer wants the special prosecutor investigating the U.S. attorney firings to start investigating John McCain, Sarah Palin and other Republicans such as Sen. [...] More

• Paul Krugman ‘Egregiously Wrong’ on Fannie and Freddie

  Posted October 20th, 2008 at 1:07pm in Enterprise and Free Markets with 6 comments

  Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman did some fine work on international trade theory 20 years ago. When he writes about economic policy today, however, he often just gets his facts dead wrong. This past summer Krugman devoted an op-ed to exonerating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from their key role in the current financial crisis. We [...] More

• Dog Bites Man in Los Angeles

  Posted October 20th, 2008 at 12:49pm in Enterprise and Free Markets with 1 comments

  The facts of this story hardly qualify as news. Everybody knows Big Labor is indistinguishable from the Democratic Party. But the brazenness with which the president of California’s largest Service Employees International Union local used nonprofit staffers to campaign for Democrats is stunning. The Los Angeles Times reports: Six people who worked for either the union [...] More