Pushing for deficit spending as part of his own economic stimulus package in 1971, President Richard Nixon famously told ABC News, “I am now a Keynesian in economics.” Increasingly, it seems that everyone on Capitol Hill is adopting Nixon’s economic views … but a thousand times worse. Where Nixon wanted to deficit spend by mere billions, President Barack Obama wants to deficit spend in the trillions. Keynesian theory, suddenly back in style, holds that government can stimulate economic growth by temporarily increasing government spending. Problem is, there was nothing temporary about …
I read this on my Metro ride to work this morning: Between 1978 and 2001, Americans’ average life span increased almost three years to 77, and as much as 4.8 months of that can be attributed to cleaner air, researchers from Brigham Young University and Harvard School of Public Health reported in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. Some experts not connected with the study called the gain dramatic. “It shows that our efforts as a country to control air pollution have been well worth the expense,” said Dr. Joel …
In Tuesday’s inaugural address, President Barack Obama delivered the following words: Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.” The question remains: which of these challenges is our nation’s top priority? Unsurprisingly, according to the latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, the American people feel the economy takes precedence. …
In a decision that was virtually unnoticed in the media (imagine the stories if the holding had been different), the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of Georgia’s voter ID law on January 14 in Common Cause v. Handel. A three-judge panel compared the requirement for a voter to show a photo ID to the modern “burden of air travel in contemporary society.” Before you can board an airplane, you have to present to a federal official an identification card with a photograph. As the Court said, the …
For over a year, the federal government has been trying to stimulate the economy using the same Bush/Obama Borrow and Bailout approach. Specifically policymakers have: Increased total federal spending by 11 percent to nearly $3 trillion; Enacted $333 billion in “emergency” spending; Enacted $105 billion in tax rebates; and Pushed the 2009 budget deficit to a record $1.2 trillion in the name of “stimulus.” Now congressional leaders want to keep digging by adding another $825 billion in deficit spending and targeted temporary tax cuts. We have no reason to believe Congress’ next, and …
Russia and Iran seem intent on crashing President Barack Obama’s honeymoon. Last month the deputy chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s Commission on National Security and Foreign Policy told Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency that Russia had agreed to deliver S-300 missile components to Iran. Heritage Senior Research Fellow Ariel Cohen breaks down the impact: Allegations that Russia may be supplying Iran with S-300 missiles have circulated in the media since 2005. Such missiles could boost Iran’s defensive capabilities against possible airstrikes targeting its nuclear program. In the past, Moscow …
Will the United States government fund Italy’s Fiat’s attempt to own a majority stake in Chrysler? While most people were following other news on Tuesday, Chrysler and Fiat quietly agreed to a deal that would give Fiat a 35% stake in the Chrysler. For this, Fiat would provide Chrysler with technology and vehicles to sell in the U.S. But there’s a condition: “[T]he deal becomes binding only if Chrysler gets $3 billion more in financial help from Washington, said the people familiar with the terms of the agreement. Chrysler nearly …
Prior to the November election, the media was full of stories and claims that John McCain and those terrible Republicans would be trying to intimidate voters in order to win the election. Barack Obama’s lawyer even wrote a letter to the Justice Department demanding that a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate McCain and other Republican officials for talking about voter fraud because it was an obvious attempt to “suppress” the vote of minorities. All of these claims, of course, were composed of nothing more substantial than moonshine. The only …
Responding to news that President Barack Obama is issuing an executive order that will immediately suspend the military commission system at Guantanamo Bay and shut down the entire camp within a year, Vincent Warren, the executive Director for the leftist Center for Constitutional Rights told the Los Angeles Times, “It only took days to put these men in Guantanamo. It shouldn’t take a year to get them out.” Warren is dead wrong on so many levels. As President Obama has been increasingly more willing to acknowledge after the campaign, closing …
It should be no surprise that Americans favor new nuclear energy in the United States. Nuclear is clean, safe and affordable and already 20% of our electricity comes from commercial nuclear power plants. A new Rasmussen poll reaffirms American support for nuclear: For three decades, nuclear power plants have generally been unpopular and the target of environmental groups, but 55% of voters now say more nuclear power plants should be built in the United States. Just 29% oppose new plants, with 15% undecided.” There’s a couple things Congress can do …
