I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes. – then-candidate Barack Obama, 9/12/2008. A senior administration official said the new standards would raise the cost of an average car by $1,300, $600 of which could be attributed to the rules being announced today. – Washington Post, on the Obama administration’s new auto emissions standards, 5/19/2009.
Just because you sometimes travel at 64 mph in a 55 mph speed zone, doesn’t mean you can’t criticize someone driving 174 mph. This video explains: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5yxFtTwDcc[/youtube]
Instead of emulating California, maybe we should look north. The Cato Institute notes: Long derided by American conservatives as “socialist” and praised by the left for its generous government spending, Canada is casting off those stereotypes. Over the past few years, while U.S. politicians presided over huge increases in spending and debt, the Canadian government tightened its belt, slashed tax rates and balanced budgets. Consider these trends:
Today voters in California will go to the polls to decide the fate of six ballot propositions, four of which would raise taxes on Californians. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has pushed heavily for all six ballot measures which are designed to close the state’s $15 billion budget shortfall. But even though Schwarzenegger’s legacy depends on the passage of these initiatives, he will not be in California tonight to see the results. The Los Angeles Times reports: “His absence in the face of widely forecast defeat drew mockery from his foes.” Instead …
Throughout the next two weeks, the Foundry will be highlighting some testimonials of General Motors bondholders. When President Obama describes bondholders, you get the distinct impression of pinstripe-suit-wearing bankers with scotch in one hand and cigars in the other. However, that is far from the case. In fact, GM bondholders are retirees, parents, civic organizations, even union workers. But since the main aim of the Obama Administration is to pay as much taxpayer money to Big Labor Unions as possible, they neeed to create a bad impression of bondholders. Meet …
What if they ran a bailout program and no one came? Last year, the Bush Administration Treasury Department opened TARP’s doors to insurance companies, a number of which promptly filed for aid. Last week, the applications of six of those were approved, totalling some $22 billion. But rather than rush to claim their winnings, most of the firms are reconsidering. According to the Wall Street Journal, one — Ameriprise Financial — has already said no, and another — Prudential — is expected to decline soon. Two others, Allstate and Principal …
Today, the national media are lauding President Obama for seeking “common ground” on the abortion issue during his commencement speech yesterday at the University of Notre Dame. In an article entitled “Obama a Champion at Notre Dame,” Washington Post columnist Eboo Patel called the speech a “near perfect demonstration of public leadership in an environment of polarization.” If public leadership means saying what your audience wants to hear while pursuing your own hard-line agenda with gusto, then the author is right on target. The trouble is, the President’s words of …
Tort lawyers are about to get another big payoff from Congress and the Obama administration for the hundreds of millions of dollars they contributed to candidates in the last election cycle (over 75% of which went to Democrats). If it reconciles the differing versions of the so-called Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 that the House and Senate passed (which could happen yet today), Congress will finalize amendments to the federal False Claims Act that will hurt our economy but make the trial lawyers very happy indeed.
The difference between the price of a gallon of milk at a local grocery store and a corner market or convenient store may be modest, but add it up over the course of a few years, as well as paying higher prices for the rest of your groceries, and the difference is quite sizeable. That’s the theme of DeNeen Brown’s article in today’s Washington Post, asserting that the poor do not have supermarkets to walk to and thus pay a premium for most goods they buy: Prices in urban corner …
The government handed out billions of dollars in taxpayer money for General Motors and Chrysler to save jobs and become economically viable as fast as possible. No such luck with Chrysler. If returning to viability is the target, GM may have to turn to imports: General Motors is engaged in negotiating a reorganization that could increase vehicle imports from its plants in Mexico and Asia while closing factories and cutting the work force in the United States. That approach drew a sharp rebuke from the United Automobile Workers union on …
