Violent crime fell in America last year, the first full year of the recession, according to new data from the FBI. Auto theft and other property crime also was down despite the recession, although burglary was up. In general, the social science literature has indicated a correlation between unemployment rates and property crime rates. Violent crimes, though, appear to be unaffected by joblessness rates. Although there appears to be an association between property crime and unemployment, the fact remains that the decision to commit a crime is a choice. For …
From the September 20th ABC News This Week interview between George Stephanopolous and President Barack Obama: STEPHANOPOULOS: Probably the most definitive promise you made in the campaign is that no one in the middle class would get a tax increase on your watch. OBAMA: Right. STEPHANOPOULOS: Yet this week, Senator Rockefeller and several other Democrats say that this bill by Senator Baucus is a big middle class tax increase. Do you agree and does that mean you can’t sign it? … OBAMA: What — what — if I — if …
As if we needed another example of why the U.N. and its affiliated organizations have earned a reputation for poor accountability, opacity, and mismanagement, along comes a scandal from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO is a U.N. specialized agency based in Geneva. The U.S. is a member of the WMO and gave the organization $1.9 million in 2008 and 2009. The FY 2010 budget request for the WMO is $2.2 million. A couple of years ago, WMO internal auditor Maria do Rosario Veiga was fired after refusing to …
Proving once again that despite the results of the 2008 presidential election, Americans still believe in limited government principles, Gallup released a survey today showing that 57% of Americans say the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to businesses and individuals. Gallup notes: The 57% level of public concern about big government in this survey is, among other things, coincident with an extensively increased government involvement in the economy, and the extensive focus on a large-scale government effort to reform health care that was …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esQTK-oSZXw[/youtube] In 2004 Governor Barbour passed comprehensive tort reform legislation in Mississippi. The state’s notorious reputation for “jackpot justice” has never recovered. In a recent op-ed Barbour wrote: The number of medical liability lawsuits against Mississippi doctors fell almost ninety percent one year after tort reform went into effect. Doctors have quit leaving the state and limiting their practices to avoid lawsuit abuse. Those dramatic results should be replicated on the national level, said Governor Barbour at the Heritage Foundation last week:
The President and his administration keep saying we cannot afford not to push through a major overhaul to the health care system, one-sixth of the U.S. economy. They’re partially right in that we do have a massive problem we can’t afford not to fix. But the focus is all wrong. Instead of creating a new federal health program, Congress needs to address the spending for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — programs that have existed for decades — that is set to explode. Long-term excess costs for Social Security and …
This past Friday, Irving Kristol, 89, passed away at Capital Hospice in Arlington County. Heritage Foundation President Edwin J. Feulner remembers Kristol’s impact on the conservative movement: With the death of editor and scholar Irving Kristol, the conservative movement has lost another of its intellectual champions. In recent years, Irving was a Senior Fellow Emeritus with our friends over at the American Enterprise Institute. That post, though, was merely the capstone to a long career in media, publishing and academia. Famously, of course, Irving Kristol wasn’t always a conservative, much …
It has not been a good week for the Czech Republic. On Thursday, President Obama formally ditched the agreement to deploy elements of America’s missile defense shield there. Twisting the knife further on Thursday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened Prague with “consequences” of delaying ratification of Lisbon Treaty, making the statement completely unprompted. The Lisbon Treaty, a rehashed version of the twice-rejected European Constitution, is awaiting ratification in Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic. Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer has indicated that it could take a further six months to …
The Senate Finance Committee will soon take up Chairman Baucus’ health care reform proposal for consideration and amendment. The initial proposal as outlined September 17 was incomplete in many respects and a detailed evaluation is impossible. There was enough detail to provide a meaningful initial reaction . The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scoring of Chairman Baucus’s proposal highlights a crucial shortcoming – it represents a massive expansion in the size of government. The first fiscal policy test of any bill ought not to be whether it increases the deficit, though …
If H1N1 flu is not in your neighborhood—just wait it won’t be long. Time is running out to prepare…and the most important first responders may be America’s business community. Our Heritage Backgrounder, “Swine Flu: What Every American Should Know,” covers all the basics of what we’ll face this flu season and what to do. The good news is that while many more people may catch the flu this year, because H1N1 has proven more contagious than other seasonal flu, it is not a “killer disease.” On average, each year about …
