Last year, the US Senate tried to advance a national energy tax, which masquerades as a cap-and-trade program, sponsored by Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA). After the policy was defeated, ten Democrats sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, stating their opposition to the proposed plan. The Senators, all from “regions of the country that will be most immediately affected by climate legislation,” believed the plan would harm their local …
Heritage fellow Ariel Cohen explains how in the Christian Science Monitor: The administration seems to be making three grave errors. The first is disregarding reality. The entrenched hostility of the Arab world and radical Muslims toward Israel is there for all to see. The core issue is that the Arab elites have not accepted Israel’s existence in the region. This fundamental point cannot be overlooked. A second major mistake is arm-twisting a staunch democratic ally to curry favor among a deeply anti-American Arab and Islamic world. Doing so would send …
“Overseas investments,” writes Steven Malanga, “rarely cost jobs in a corporation’s home country,” but instead bring substantial benefits for the home country. President Obama has proposed eliminating what he sees as an unfair incentive in the tax code for U.S. companies to move jobs overseas. In fact, as explained in an earlier post, the provision he is targeting—which allows U.S. firms to defer tax liability on the profits they earn abroad—was designed to mitigate the disadvantages of the U.S. tax code for U.S. companies competing globally. But what about this …
Last week the Department of Labor reported that employers shed a net 539,000 jobs in the month of April, bringing the nation’s unemployment rate to 8.9%. The manufacturing sector lost 149,000 jobs, business services lost 122,000 jobs, and construction lost 110,000 jobs. All told, the private sector lost 611,000 jobs. So how was the total job loss only 539,000? Because one sector of the economy has proven impervious to economic realities: the public sector. Government actually added 72,000 jobs. The continued growth of the public sector while all other sectors of the …
Welcome to a new feature of the Foundry, Outside the Beltway, where we will semi-regularly post state and local stories of either conservatism at its best, or liberalism at its worst. Today, we start off with liberalism at its worst. Providence, Rhode Island Mayor David Cicilline wants to tax college students $150 every semester to have the privilege of studying in his city. Because the mismanaged city is running a $17 million deficit, they need to find new money, rather than new savings. And the best new money is to …
It would all make for a great half-hour sitcom. First, they released classified memos on interrogation practices used to grill terrorists. Then, the White House promised the ACLU that they were going to release photos showing detainees being interrogated. Then, White House officials said they were not going to release photos of the Air Force One photo-op that sent New Yorkers screaming into the streets—because they were “classified.” Then they announced they were going to release to release the “classified” Big Apple Air Force One shots. Then they threatened to …
For months now, the Treasury Department has been grappling with the consequences of “Too Big to Fail” — the idea that some enterprises are too large to allow to fail. Now here’s comes the Justice Department with “Too Big To Succeed,” the idea that some firms are too large to allow to suceed. That at least is the implication of a policy change announced this week by new DOJ Antitrust Division chief Christine Varney. Specifically, in two speeches, she renounced a report developed by the Bush DOJ last year on …
Heritage’s Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing was honored to have North Carolina Representative Patrick McHenry (R) speak to some thirty or so young conservative bloggers, journalists and activists. Rep. McHenry represents North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District and is Ranking Member on the Census Subcommittee. During his discussion with those in attendance, the Congressman focused on some recent behind-the-scenes political maneuvering regarding the upcoming U.S. Census count. Rep. McHenry mentioned past attempts by liberals in Congress to abandon the Census Bureau’s time honored standard of a “hard count” for a statistical sampling. The overwhelming …
No. Heritage fellow David John explains: Is the Important Year to Consider 2037, 2016, or 2009? The year when Social Security begins to spend more than it takes in, 2016, is by far the most important year. From that point on, Social Security will require large and growing amounts of general revenue money in order to pay all of its promised benefits. Even though this money will technically come from cashing in the special issue bonds in the trust fund, the money to repay those bonds will come from other …
Nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch. There are no benefits for the American people in the Waxman-Markey energy tax bill. Whenever defenders of the free market point out how much an energy tax will cost the economy, the enviro-left always tries to change the subject to “the cost of inaction.” But here is the dirty little secret about Waxman-Markey: it does nothing to prevent global warming/climate change whatever you want to call it. And that is before House Democrats gutted the bill. Climatologist Chip Knappenberger crunched the numbers and found: A full …
