The ongoing row between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas supplies to Europe appears to be deepening. This comes just days after the European Union announced what was supposed to be a breakthrough agreement to get gas flowing again to at least 15 European countries, leaving millions in the cold. EurActiv.com reports that the ongoing crisis between Moscow and Kiev appears to be a strategy of “delusion, reminiscent of the Cold War.” Along those lines, an official at the Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom went so far as to accuse …
WASHINGTON – Ernest Istook, Chairman of the National Advisory Board for Save Our Secret Ballot, described at the Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing yesterday a grassroots, state-level strategy to nullify the effects of the Employee Free Choice Act should it be passed by Congress. SOSBallot.org, a 501 c(4) organization, is currently pushing for constitutional amendments to be placed on the ballots of Arizona, Arkansas, Montana, Nevada and Utah. “Save Our Secret Ballot exists to give the citizens in the various states the opportunity to creat state level protections for secret ballots that would include union representation elections,” Istook …
Last week, after the Congressional Budget Office report showed that the pre-stimulus budget deficit would reach $1.2 trillion in FY 2009, President-elect Barack Obama reiterated his campaign promise to make Social Security and Medicare reform a “central part” of his efforts to control skyrocketing federal spending. Democrats on the Hill are already pushing back against any reform that would lower government spending, but Obama is correct. Spending is the problem. In the coming decades, the cost of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will leap from 8.4 percent to 18.6 percent …
President-elect Barack Obama is set to take command a week from today. One of the programs he’s been touting from the beginning of his campaign is a massive green jobs initiative. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Obama can kill two birds with one stone with green jobs; he can solve our environment and recession concerns. The bottom line, as economist Walter Williams puts it, is this: Where does Congress get the money to create the jobs?” They won’t get it from the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus; they must get the …
The outcome of the fighting in Afghanistan and whether the coalition forces can prevent the Taliban from re-gaining influence there will largely determine how safe and secure civilized nations will remain from future terrorist attacks. Taliban terrorists and their al-Qaeda allies have stepped up attacks mostly in southern Afghanistan to test the mettle of NATO forces and to try to demonstrate to the Afghan people they remain a powerful force in the country. They have taken advantage of the Karzai government’s shortcomings and capitalized on the increase in civilian casualties …
For 15 years, The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation have been measuring countries’ commitment to free-market capitalism in the “Index of Economic Freedom.” The 2009 Index, published this week, provides strong evidence that the countries that maintain the freest economies do the best job of promoting prosperity for all citizens. The positive correlation between economic freedom and national income is confirmed yet again by this year’s data. The freest countries enjoy per capita incomes over 10 times higher than those in countries ranked as “repressed.” This year, for …
Bill Beach, director of Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis, explains that aggressive tax relief would create or protect 3 million jobs between 2009-2011. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7TBbOr6BWA[/youtube] Further reading: Any Stimulus Legislation Must Include Budget Reforms to Address Long-Term Challenges Economic Recovery: How Best to End the Recession Economic Stimulus: Dos and Don’ts
Last week Citigroup struck a deal with Senate Democrats accepting the Dems mortgage cram down in exchange for … well not much really. The Wall Street Journal explains why: Since October, the government has invested $52 billion in Citi, while agreeing to eat up to $249 billion in losses on the bank’s toxic real estate portfolio. And so it’s really hard to say no when those Washington “investors” call for a favor. In the 1990 Martin Scorsese movie, a restaurant owner realizes too late that a partner big enough to …
Speaking on a panel at the New York Times Center this Sunday, NYT correspondent Peter Baker put the lie to President-elect Barack Obama’s economic stimulus speech from last week: He hasn’t asked anybody for sacrifice. His whole economic package is about giving things to people. Truer words were never spoken.
President-elect Barack Obama and President George Bush have joined forces to obtain the second $350 billion of the original $700 billion TARP bailout fund. There is way more than collegiality at work here. Obama and Bush are proving to be true ideological twins. With Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson at the helm TARP has turned into an all purpose political slush fund and Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner has made it clear he plans to do the same, “broadening its scope … to municipalities, small businesses, homeowners and other consumers.” Enough …
