In the weeks leading up to last week’s release of “stress test” results, there was quite a bit of talk about more bailout money for troubled banks — how much they would need, and how much Washington would force them to take. (Yes, force.) How things have changed. Not only did almost half of the examined banks get a clean bill of health coming out of the tests, but most others came within striking distance of officially-determined stability. Since then, there has been a virtual prison break by TARP-indebted banks …
The New York Times reports: Hartmarx, known for its Hart Schaffner & Marx and Hickey Freeman suits, and for making President Obama’s inauguration tuxedo and topcoat, has long been America’s leading clothier for men. Now its workers want to make the company, which is in bankruptcy, a leader in a different way. Hoping to save their jobs and start a national movement, Hartmarx workers are pressuring Wells Fargo, the company’s main creditor, to approve the sale of Hartmarx to a buyer that would keep it alive instead of liquidating it, …
President Obama is proposing raising more than $100 billion in new taxes from American businesses by limiting their ability to defer tax on profits earned abroad. The President believes that by penalizing them, U.S. companies will have more incentive to keep jobs in the U.S. rather than shipping them overseas. Of course, that isn’t how it works. In fact, this proposal could put U.S. companies out of business, by putting them at a competitive disadvantage to their international counterparts. But this is all pretty complicated, so watch this video, courtesy of The …
The Washington Post first published this graphic back on March 21st. Since that time the Obama administration’s projected deficit numbers have only become more far-fetched. IHS Global Insight chief U.S. financial economist Brian Bethune told McClatchy: “If they keep playing this game, they’re going to have real credibility problems.” And Obama’s insistence that these deficits are all President Bush’s fault is equally uncredible. Heritage fellow Brian Riedl blogs at The Corner:
Draft legislation is circulating on the Hill to repeal the REAL ID Act. Passed in 2005, with bipartisan support, the REAL ID Act requires states to assure that any identity cards used for a federal purpose (like passing through a Transportation Security Administration security checkpoint before boarding a plane) be issued only to individuals who are lawfully present in the United States. The law also prompts states to adopt best practices to provide better information protection and combat identity theft, fraud, and trafficking in counterfeit IDs. State compliance with the …
Yesterday, in what President Barack Obama described as a “watershed event”, the health care industry promised to cut $2 trillion in costs over 10 years by implementing such measures as the use of health information technology, care coordination, disease management, and “evidence based” medicine. If you feel as though you’ve seen this movie before, that is because you have: these are the exact same cost-cutting proposals that were in the Obama administration budget released earlier this year. So much for a watershed. But Obama’s big announcement yesterday is actually a …
The economic costs associated with a cap and trade policy are real. Republicans and Democrats alike realize this and have urged caution that a bill must protect American consumers and businesses. One idea floating around to protect American business and manufacturers is a protectionist carbon tariff. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu appears to be open to the idea: Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Tuesday advocated adjusting trade duties as a ‘weapon’ to protect U.S. manufacturing, just a day after one of China’s top climate envoys warned of a trade war …
Although not necessarily what you think of when it comes to big oil, suppliers to extract and produce oil come in all sizes – including family run businesses. Take William Whitefield, for instance, who runs “a family-owned company that now serves a host of national and international oil field, pipeline and industrial clients.” He was one of about 60,000 attending last week’s Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas. The mood was one of uncertainty but that had nothing to do with the swine flu or anything else in Texas. It …
Harold Koh, the nominee for Legal Adviser to the State Department, supports “the global regulation of small arms” and a “global gun control regime.” And he believes it is “needlessly provocative” for any U.S. representative to refer to the right to bear arms when speaking to a foreign audience: the very mention of the Second Amendment, apparently, is offensive. That has very serious implications for domestic policy, but what does Koh want to do with the legal, international arms trade? The answer is simple: he wants to ban it.
The front page of the New York Times today has an article on China building cleaner coal-fired plants. The title and the article are fairly accurate but any conclusions should be carefully drawn. In particular, China is not taking effective steps to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. In raw terms, China does genuinely invest a great deal of money in “green energy.” That’s because, in raw terms, the PRC invests a great deal of money in everything, including industries which heavily pollute.
