When the government bailed out General Motors and Chrysler, part of the necessary, painful road to recovery was to cut unnecessary dealerships. Before the cuts GM and Chrysler had over 9,000 independent dealerships in the United States. To save costs, GM and Chrysler cut 1,300 and 800 dealerships, respectively – still leaving them with many more dealerships than the likes of Toyota which only has 1,240. Both closed dealerships and some lawmakers have complained that the decision to close certain dealerships was politically motivated. But the reality is the choices …
This is the final video on Matt Spalding’s new book, We Still Hold These Truths. The battle against Progressivism is not lost, counsels Spalding. Properly educating our children to know and appreciate both the founding principles of America and the importance of the free enterprise system are two ways to combat the growing threat to personal liberty and freedom. “If we intend to govern ourselves from this point forward, we have to go back to these principles. Otherwise, someone is going to govern us.” Watch:
Congress is expected to soon approve legislation that threatens to end the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program—the federal school voucher program that has helped thousands of disadvantaged children attend a safe and effective school of their parents’ choice. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program has proven to be highly popular and effective. A federal evaluation published by the Department of Education reported that students receiving scholarships made statistically significant improvement in reading achievement compared to their peers who remained in public school. A broad, bipartisan coalition—including a majority if the D.C. city …
The Washington Post asks Heritage analyst Ben Lieberman: “Do you think EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health will prod Congress to agree on its own method for limiting emissions? If not, what do you think would be the environmental and economic impact of the EPA regulations? Will this convince other countries that the U.S. is likely to make deep cuts in carbon in the near future?” Lieberman responds: It says a lot that the only global warming policy with legs right now is the one least subject to …
This week the Commonwealth Fund released a report purporting to explain, as the title says, “Why Health Reform Will Bend the Cost Curve.” It is an exercise in pure, unsubstantiated speculation. They resurrect the long-discredited claim that the bill passed by the House and a somewhat similar but different bill currently before the Senate would not only slow the rate of growth in health care spending, but would reduce average family premiums. Ironically, most of the sources of alleged “cost savings” cited in the report are due to factors that …
Last weekend, I headed to Afghanistan with some of my colleagues to view firsthand the conditions on the ground as a follow up to the new strategy outlined by President Obama. We met with our troops and senior military officials and, from my perspective there is a lot of positive momentum coming from them. The morale of our troops is high and our commanders on the ground are confident we can win the tactical battle. The military is pleased with the President’s decision to send additional troops to assist with …
A recent alleged terrorist plot that was cracked here in the U.S. shows that the Pakistan-based terrorist group the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) is closely connected to al-Qaeda and is part of a global terrorist syndicate that threatens not only India, but also Western democracies in general. In October, U.S. authorities in Chicago arrested David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American businessman, for conspiring with LeT in Pakistan to conduct attacks in India and for plotting an attack on the Danish newspaper that first published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed that led to rioting …
The Senate’s 54-45 vote last evening to table the Hatch-Nelson abortion funding limitation sets the two chambers of Congress on a collision course with one another – with Democrats driving both vehicles involved in the collision. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) led the way in devising and debating his bipartisan amendment, which would have extended the long-time Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) abortion funding policy and applied it to the insurance plans that will be subsidized under the bill. Conscience protections become yet another banner of liberty trampled by the health …
At this gift-giving time of year, parents should keep in mind that the best present they could offer their children is their presence. Findings from decades of sociological research featured at FamilyFacts.org show that parental involvement has substantial positive impact in virtually every aspect of children’s lives. Parents’ investment can be considered in terms of four “Ts”: Time, Talk, Tracking, and Treasuring their relationship with their offspring. Time: Studies reveal that the time parents spend with their children has an impact on issues ranging from emotional health to school outcomes. …
This Monday the Senate voted on two amendments that determined whether savings from Medicare will be used to enhance the solvency of the financially troubled Medicare program or be used to finance new government health programs and additional spending. Once again, the lesson for taxpayers is clear: Pay no attention to Senate rhetoric on health policy. Pay close attention to Senate action. Gregg Amendment on Medicare Solvency: Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) offered an amendment that would have required any new spending or revenue reductions stemming from the Senate health care …
