The left loves to scare monger over the threat global warming presents to the United States. Last year the Natural Resources Defense Council put out a report claiming global warming would cost the U.S. $3.8 trillion annually. The report was full of fanciful assumptions and its conclusions had no basis in reality. Actual scientists from MIT and Northwestern University recently examined annual variations in climate to determine the impact of temperature changes on national economies. And what did they conclude: Our main results show large, negative effects of higher temperatures …
For more than three years, a diverse coalition from all quarters of the legal community has been pushing Congress to help restore Americans’ Sixth Amendment guarantee to assistance of counsel in all criminal prosecutions. This right has been steadily eroded since a Deputy Attorney General issued a memo in 1999 outlining how the Department of Justice should make prosecutorial decisions when investigating possible wrongdoing by companies and their employees. That attorney … Pressident-elect Barack Obama’s Attorney General appointee Eric Holder. Criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate writes in …
The usual suspects on the left are very concerned that Obama is pushing too many temporary tax cuts and not enough government spending in his constantly evolving stimulus package. But how much money can the federal government really pour into public spending? Harvard professor Ed Glaeser notes: While the mechanics of a payroll tax cut are simple, spending hundreds of billions wisely on infrastructure is hard. Currently, the federal government spends about $40 billion a year in transportation, and another $20 billion on other forms of infrastructure. There is a …
Heritage Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs James Phillips on what principles should guide U.S. policy regarding the Gaza crisis: A cease-fire agreement must include and immediate and permanent end of rocket attacks by Hamas and other extremist Palestinian groups. A return to the status quo ante, in which Hamas felt free to launch rockets at Israeli civilians while hiding among Palestinian civilians, is unacceptable. Legitimizing the false moral equivalence between terrorist attacks aimed at murdering civilians and counter-terrorist actions taken by a democratic government to protect its citizens …
This year already we’ve heard calls for reintroduction of the Fairness Doctrine, and Internet censorship. Now, the first call for public funding for newspapers is here. Lining up behind GM and AIG, media outlets could join the many “distressed businesses” begging for government aid. But, government funding for media – nationalization of the press – is no small step. Right now we have just PBS and NPR. Generally seen as left-wing outlets, these media sources are not shy to support government expansion, but maintain some independence. However, this is assuredly …
Across the country today, President-elect Barack Obama got exactly the headlines he wanted from his supporters in the establishment media. “Obama Pitches Stimulus Plan: GOP Asked to Help Design” says the Washington Post. “Obama Sweetens Stimulus for GOP” reports the Los Angeles Times. Obama Finds Lovefest on Capitol Hill blares the San Francisco Chronicle. Obama’s strategy is clear: make as big a show of bipartisanship as possible to provide the most amount of conservative cover for what all signs point to being at least a $1 trillion stimulus package. Hence …
Government spending does not create economic growth. Regrettably, many in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, have ignored this fact. Just today, Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), declared in his Wall Street Journal op-ed How to Make Sure the Stimulus Works that, “it is fairly obvious that serious deficit spending is needed immediately.” While his four rules for an effective stimulus bill are generally correct, government spending does not lead to economic growth. This notion is grounded in the outdated and often disproved Keynesian economic theory that more government spending invariably increases …
My Heritage colleagues have already noted that the auto bail-out violates the terms of the TARP legislation by extending funding beyond “financial institutions.” It also appears the latest funding pledge to bail-out auto makers may have violated another Federal law, one normally taken quite seriously: the Anti-Deficiency Act. When Congress approved TARP it approved up to $350 billion, with more funds available only after a certification by the President and a 15 day Congressional review. The president has not made a certification, Congress has not reviewed it. With the auto …
Paul Krugman blogs: Let’s lay out the basics here. Other things equal, public investment is a much better way to provide economic stimulus than tax cuts, for two reasons. First, if the government spends money, that money is spent, helping support demand, whereas tax cuts may be largely saved. So public investment offers more bang for the buck. Second, public investment leaves something of value behind when the stimulus is over. Krugman cites no evidence for these assertions. As if just because the government doesn’t spend money on something nothing …
Reuters reports this weekend: Obama’s transition team said it is mulling “buy American” provisions for the stimulus package that could favor U.S. companies over foreign competitors. Protectionism is the last thing our economy needs right now. The last time the U.S. reverted to protectionism in a time of economic turmoil President Herbert Hoover’s Smoot-Hawley Tariff helped usher in the Depression. This is not the direction our country needs to go. Meanwhile, University of Michigan economics professor Mark Perry reports: Tariffs are usually used to protect domestic industries from more efficient …
