Nothing New Here Same Objectionable Features: A public plan disguised as a co-op, individual and employer mandates, massive federal regulation over insurance and benefits, and massive Medicaid expansion—the Baucus bill has them all. These are the same features plaguing the other bills in Congress and that Americans have routinely dismissed for months. Seven Fatal Flaws Middle Class Tax Hike: The Baucus bill would impose a new sales tax on drugs and medical devices and a new federal excise tax on insurance plans that exceed $8,000 for an individual and $21,000 …
CATO’s Dan Mitchell has a new video out produced by The Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation on the relationship between governemnt spending and economic growth. Watch: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pdmNynEwYA[/youtube] If all of those cites to ecnomic papers flashed by too quickly, don’t worry. You can find many of them in this paper written by Mitchell when he was with The Heritage Foundation:
The Chief of the Indonesian Police has confirmed that murderer Noordin Top, Indonesia’s and Southeast Asia’s most wanted terrorist, was killed yesterday during a police raid in Central Java, Indonesia. Noordin was the mastermind behind the July 17 attacks on the Jakarta JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton that killed 7 people and wounded 53. He has also been implicated in every major terrorist attack in Indonesia beginning with the first Bali bombing in 2002 that killed 202 innocents. The Islamist terrorist network in Indonesia will be severely damaged by this loss. …
With the nation’s unemployment rate creeping ever closer to 10%, it is not surprising that Americans continue to rank the economy as the most important issue facing the country right now. Recognizing the link between a troubled economy and energy prices, last year 1.4 million Americans signed the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” petition demanding that the federal government enact policies that will lower our nation’s energy costs. And Congress responded by ending our nation’s quarter-century ban on oil and natural gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. …
MOSCOW – President Barak Obama’s decision to abandon ballistic missile defense in Central Europe will encourage Iranian truculence and will not generate Russian good will or support for the US on Iran sanctions. This is the main take-home lesson from my meetings with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and President Dmitry Medvedev over the last week. It looks like President Obama will abandon ballistic missile deployment against Iran in Poland the Czech Republic, and adopt a different, sea-based system, which has limited application against the Iranian threat. …
President Obama’s decision to abandon plans for basing elements of the U.S. missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic is entirely a political one – in order to appease Russia. This decision is a strategic victory for the Kremlin, which is determined to have a sphere of privileged interest in its near-abroad. It represents the shameful abandonment of two of America’s closest allies in Central and Eastern Europe, and in future, America’s allies will have cause to question the integrity and credibility of American promises. It also leaves …
UK Shadow Defense Secretary Liam Fox was speaking at Heritage today, assessing the huge challenges faced by Britain, the United States and the NATO alliance in Afghanistan, and underscoring why victory against the Taliban is vital to the security of the West. Afterwards he made time for the Foundry and reacted to the morning news that the White House was abandoning missile defense structures in the Czech Republic and Poland, two close allies in a strategic region of the world. Be sure to visit 33minutes.com to learn more about the threat of long range …
When was the last time a journalist asked a question about federalism in a presidential debate? Answer: 1960. The American news media, much like American politicians, are less and less attuned to what the Constitution actually says and more and more focused on the often vague notion of “rights.” News reporters, editors and producers are quick to wade into what they see as a juicy conflict over rights denied — at least those they ascribe to “community organizers” or atheists or gay activists or abortion clinics. The media don’t tend …
If cap and trade passes, businesses could soon face “The Scarlet Letter” treatment. Businesses may have to include a carbon label on their products that tells consumers how much carbon dioxide used in the production process. Cap and trade would raise production costs for businesses—forcing them to include a carbon label on their products is salt in the wound. Section 274 of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill calls for an Environmental Protection Agency study “to determine the feasibility of establishing a national program for measuring, reporting, publicly disclosing, and labeling products …
