Last Thursday in a speech at The Heritage Foundation, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) unveiled his “American Option” alternative to President Barack Obama’s Trillion Dollar Debt Plan. From DeMint’s speech: The Democrat bill takes money–actually, it borrows money–and decides where it should go. It does virtually nothing to stimulate the economy while it wastes billions of taxpayer dollars. It’s a hodge-podge of long-supported pet projects that the normal budget process would have thrown out. Using the troubled economy as their motive, Democrats have opened the floodgates for all sorts of outrageous …
Yesterday, President Barack Obama was interviewed by several cable and network news outlets on matters ranging from Tom Daschle to the Trillion Dollar Spending Bill. Below are some excerpts of what he said in those interviews, and why President Obama needs to visit readthestimulus.org as soon as possible, so he can learn why this Trillion Dollars would buy America nothing but debt. “Now, keep in mind that our intention has always been that, in addition to this recovery and reinvestment package, that we’re also going to have a housing bill, …
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had a front-page story on soaring unemployment among China’s rural migrants. While official Chinese employment statistics are spotty, the gigantic figures being thrown around are no surprise. The Journal and other outlets emphasize the Communist Party’s overwhelming fear of political instability caused by job loss. This fear will amplify calls for jobs to be created through more exports, either by devaluing the RMB directly or doing so indirectly via means such as still more tax breaks. Even more, it will reinforce Beijing’s unwillingness to make trade …
Does the financial crisis reveal a failure of American deregulation compared to better conceived European regulatory schemes? This thesis is shared by many, especially here in Europe where some see the current financial crisis as the proof of the superiority of the European “social market economy” over “cow-boy capitalism”. This view isn’t much grounded. Going back in time just a couple of years, before the subprime mess erupted, a major concern of observers was US finance being far too much regulated, with investors fleeing to the EU. New York was …
Media reports and anonymous US and South Korean officials suggest North Korea is preparing to test launch a long-range Taepo Dong-2 missile. A missile launch, or even observable preparations for such a launch, would be the next step in Pyongyang’s escalating efforts to pressure South Korea and the U.S. to soften their policies toward North Korea. Pyongyang’s increasingly bellicose campaign is directed primarily at forcing President Lee Myung-bak to abandon requirements for conditionality, reciprocity, and transparency in South Korean engagement with the North. Pyongyang is, however, also concurrently sending a …
Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL) is a member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee. He took time this week to answer questions from U.S. Fulbright Fellow Patrick Bell. 1. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the new Chair of the Energy & Commerce Committee, has said he would like to have global warming legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions passed out of committee by Memorial Day. What might be some of the sticking points to following that timeline? This is a huge undertaking. A bill that would monetize carbon has far reaching …
There are two competing story lines developing on the Trillion Dollar Debt Plan. The first is that the bill passed by the House is basically a sound spending plan that only needs a few minor changes in the Senate before it can be passed and single-handedly save the entire U.S. economy from total collapse. So National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers tells the USA Today, “We’re focused on the pie, not the crumbs. The president is prepared to compromise but our focus is on the fact that the American economy …
President Obama’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services stepped down today after it was discovered that he had failed to pay over $140,000 in taxes and amid allegations that he was too closely connected with health care lobbyists that would have had all-too-easy access to him as Secretary. This was the right thing to do, for the country, and for the President. We now fear that President Obama’s nominee for Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis, may soon have to make the same tough choice on his behalf. …
Washington – Michigan Congressman Dave Camp raised doubts and highlighted confused realities of the Democrat Spending Bill at today’s Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing, held at the Heritage Foundation. Camp compared provisions in the Spending Bill and the recently passed SCHIP Bill, calling their contradictions ‘absurd.’ “You’re too rich to get a tax cut, but your not poor enough to get health care for free,” he said, referring to Democrat’s refusals (in Ways and Means Committee and on the House Floor) to cut taxes on unemployment benefits for those who earn $50,000 …
In its latest issue, the Economist reports on the state of Britain’s armed forces. It answers the question posed in the title of the piece, “Losing Their Way?,” with a resounding “Yes,” blaming underfunding, recruiting shortfalls, and a loss of institutional confidence. The joke among Americans in Afghanistan, it reports, is that ISAF – the International Security Assistance Force –stands for “I Saw Americans Fight.” As the Economist points out, given the casualties Britain is taking in Afghanistan, this is wounding and unfair. But like most military jokes, it captures …
