The Obama Administration is visibly perplexed by the failure of the U.S. economy to be duly stimulated. It shouldn’t be. After frittering away political capital and taxpayer dollars on an ineffectual fiscal stimulus, Obama’s policies share the singular characteristic of draining the economy of the most important ingredient needed for a strong recovery – confidence. Nowhere is this made clearer than in an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “endangerment” ruling on Monday. This ruling gives the EPA broad authority to impose a massive new regulatory regime on such businesses as electric …
Last week’s Wall Street Journal called attention to an issue that most policymakers in Washington don’t want to talk about: President Obama and Congress’ ever-growing welfare state will quickly undermine national security and military strength similar to many European countries. Indeed, declining military strength will limit the choices available to any U.S. President. Yet, providing for the defense of the American people should not be a choice. Rather it is the fundamental responsibility in government, but few would know it these days. The U.S. government is set to run overwhelming …
There’s new evidence that General Motors and Chrysler, both owned partly by taxpayers, are still facing interference in the way they are run. The latest example comes not from the Obama Administration, but from Congress. At issue are the closures of over 2,000 dealerships announced by the two firms last summer. Despite much grumbling, the decisions appeared to be a non-political one, potentially saving as much as $2.5 billion annually according to the Washington Post. But politics did come in, in the form of congressional pressure to keep the dealerships …
Dean and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine Edward Miller writes in the Wall Street Journal: Both the House and Senate health-care reform bills call for a large increase in Medicaid—about 18 million more people will begin enrolling in Medicaid under the House bill starting in 2013, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Actuary Richard Foster estimates. … A flood of new patients will be seeking health services, many of whom have never seen a doctor on more than a sporadic basis. Some will also have multiple and costly chronic …
In response to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference December 7th through 18th, The Heritage Foundation is launching a video series to cover all the details and aspects of the climate summit. We’ll address all the angles (climate, energy, national security, sovereignty, trade, and more) and provide you with everything you need to know about Copenhagen. Up first is Senior Policy Analyst on Energy & Environment Ben Lieberman discussing a 1997 Senate Resolution that should guide U.S. policy for Copenhagen. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uaf4KvEFM4M[/youtube] The importance of the Byrd-Hagel Resolution, passed unanimously with a …
Step aside, elected Members of Congress. If you can’t pass cap and trade legislation, The Environmental Protection Agency will move in with massively complex and costly regulations that would micromanage just about every aspect of the economy. They announced today that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases (GHGs) threaten public health and the environment. Since 85 percent of the U.S. economy runs on fossil fuels that emit carbon dioxide, imposing a cost on CO2 is equivalent to placing an economy-wide tax on energy use. The kind of industrial-strength EPA …
The United Nations climate change conference begins in Copenhagen today, but it may spell the beginning of the end to the global warming scare. For nearly two years, this meeting was touted as the biggest global warming conference since the 1997 meeting in Kyoto, Japan. That conference resulted in the Kyoto Protocol, with emissions reduction targets for developed nations. These targets expire in 2012, thus Copenhagen was seen as the pivotal time and place to expand the Kyoto approach into the future. American wisely stayed out of Kyoto – which …
Next week, diplomats and politicians from across the world will invade Copenhagen, Denmark for U.N. climate change talks that were supposed to be the culmination of years of international negotiations over a treaty designed to replace the unsuccessful Kyoto treaty, which failed to produce any reduction in greenhouse gases. Fortunately for taxpayers, the United States never ratified Kyoto, and President Obama and other world leaders have already said that the U.S. will not agree to a repeat of the failed treaty. Unfortunately, these talks won’t address the concern that many …
Back when the unemployment rate was only 9.8% White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein told the Associated Press that the early data on the effect of President Barack Obama’s “quite positive.” Now that the unemployment rate is 10%, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) also sees “great progress.” Watch:
The issue of federal funding of abortion may throw a monkey wrench into the Obamacare debate this week. As early as today, Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) are expected to offer something very similar to Congressman Bart Stupak’s (D-MI) amendment to extend the current ban on federally funded abortion to Obamacare. If, and only if, members of the Senate properly protect their procedural rights during this debate, this amendment may make it impossible for the bill to reach President Obama’s desk by January. Once Majority Leader Harry …
