We know that the Obama Adminstration has a shaky commitment to free trade at best, but this statement by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs is troubling: “We have to ensure that the cars of tomorrow are built here by Americans, for Americans,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters yesterday. Does the Obama Administration not want American car companies to sell cars to non-Americans? Non-Americans have money too ya know.
The more we learn what is buried in the 1400+ pages of the economic stimulus bill, the more we’re sure it will fail. The latest boondoggle: broadband. The Los Angeles Times reports: [I]nsiders said some of the compromises forged by House and Senate negotiators could lead to problems in how the billions of dollars of new grants for broadband access are distributed. For instance, the final bill divides the money — and the power to dispense it — between the Commerce Department and an Agriculture Department agency with a history …
Last month Heritage fellow J.D. foster wrote: The global recession has caused deficits to balloon almost everywhere, and governments worldwide are considering their own massive programs to stimulate their economies. So the United States will be offering this great wave of federal debt to the credit markets while most other countries will be doing the same. Because interest rates are set on global markets, this even larger global wave of government debt is likely to have much greater interest rate effects than would be the case if the United States …
Supporters of the just-passed stimulus bill have called it a lot of things, but one thing they can’t yet call it is a success. Only time will tell if the measures actually jump- start the economy as promised or instead prove to be a costly drag on it. History and economic common sense strongly suggest the latter, as the Heritage Foundation has repeatedly warned. Among the promises made is that the energy and environmental measures in the stimulus- 43 billion in direct outlays and 20 billion in tax measures – …
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Inspector General Richard Skinner published a white paper this week that reiterates the need to keep FEMA in DHS. IG Skinner cites three reasons for keeping FEMA in DHS. First, making serious changes to the “homeland security apparatus” could put the system in haywire—jeopardizing the ability of DHS to prevent and respond to acts of terrorism. Second, a DHS-led FEMA enjoys access to synergies and resources that it did not have when it was a stand alone agency—ensuring better and faster disaster response. And …
Apparently the Obama Administration is not happy about how a major portion of their economic stimulus package is being covered. The Atlantic reports that the White House has been pointing out to journalists that President Barack Obama signed “one of the largest tax cuts in history.” But just because the Obama Administration calls something a tax cut, doesn’t make it so. More than a third of Obama’s “Making Work Pay” tax plan goes to people who do not pay income taxes. That makes it a welfare income redistribution plan, not …
An hour later than promised, General Motors submitted a restructuring plan to the Treasury calling for an additional $17 billion in government funds, on top of the $13.4 billion promised by the Bush Administration less than 2 months ago. Today’s request, if granted, would be $12.4 billion more than the company asked for in its last turnaround plan, sent to Congress in early December. In its 177-page summary, G.M. promises a return to profitability in 2 years via a “comprehensive” transformation of its business. To achieve that goal, the plan …
Washington – The Tax Foundation’s Josh Barro and Joseph Henchman provided sobering analysis of state budget woes across America today at the Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing held at the Heritage Foundation. In a newly released report detailing the spending practices and tactics of all 50 states, Joseph Henchman, Director of State Projects for the Tax Foundation, proscribed a return to basic principles of good taxation for all ailing budgets, but especially California, which faces a $42 Billion shortfall. “California’s biggest problem, and a problem for a lot of the states that …
We don’t have the plan, yet, but we already know the bottom line: $5 billion. That’s how much money private-equity-owned Chrysler LLC wants from federal taxpayers to finance its “turnaround plan” submitted to the Treasury at 5 pm today. Chrysler’s previous turnaround plan, released less than 2 months ago, indicated the company would need about $3 billion on top of the $4 billion it has already received from the government. Cerberus Capital Management, the beleaguered automaker’s owner, refuses to invest any money in it. The Obama Administration, however, has been …
Or should the question be how much will they waste? Economist Arnold Kling has a list of risks associated with a large stimulus. Number one on the list is: It is harder to spend larger amounts quickly and cost-effectively. One of Obama’s chief economists, Larry Summers, emphasized that stimulus spending must be quick and temporary. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the energy projects in the bill. From the WSJ: Minnesota’s Sage Electrochromics Inc. has been ready for months to move on just the sort of project the …
