Much is at stake for Ukraine and the U.S. in Ukraine’s presidential elections, which are scheduled for January 17, 2010. Ukraine was a part of the Russian empire and the Soviet Union for almost 350 years and the Red Army re-conquered it after an attempted independence in 1918-1919. Today, Ukraine is more democratic than its northern neighbor, but the population there is hit harder by the economic crisis. The showdown in the Ukrainian presidential election will define the country’s reorientation towards Moscow; affect the future of Ukraine’s gas pipeline system, …
After some prodding, yesterday the Obama administration released the long-overdue first grade evaluation of the federal Head Start program. As expected, the results show that the $7 billion per year program provides little benefit to children – and great expense to taxpayers. The evaluation, which was mandated by Congress during the 1998 reauthorization of the program, found little impact on student well-being. After collecting data on more than 5,000 three and four-year-old children randomly assigned to either a Head Start or a non Head Start control group, the Department of …
Yesterday, President Barack Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and nine other lawmakers met face-to-face for seven hours to resolve differences between the House and Senate health care bills. At the same time these talks were going on, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern and United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger met with other Obama administration officials in a separate room in the White House. This all comes after these same labor leaders met personally with Speaker Pelosi yesterday, and after they …
Candidate Obama campaigned as a fierce opponent of special interests that use their clout and connections to secure special favors from the government. As President, Obama has made it clear that he only objected to particular special interests getting handouts. Obama happily gives some liberal special interests loopholes and exemptions from the laws that affect everyone else. The closed-door negotiations over the health care bill have made this clear. Unions strongly objected to the excise tax on “Cadillac” health plans. By some estimates the tax would hit one in four …
The reason insurance exists is because risk does too. For instance, with car insurance, an insurance company calculates the risk of a driver getting into an accident by considering a number of variables including age, location, type of vehicle, etc. Consumers buy insurance to protect against unexpected events that could jeopardize their financial well-being such as a serious car accident where someone needs serious medical attention. Global warming also poses a risk. Climate change was sold in a way that the scientific consensus on global warming is so well established, …
The House and Senate are working to reconcile their differing health care reform bills into one final bill. Tax increases remain a stubborn sticking point. The House prefers a surtax on high-earners and the Senate an excise tax on so-called “Cadillac” health insurance plans that cost over $8,500 for individuals and $23,000 for families. Labor unions, and their backers in the House, have made clear they are staunchly against the excise tax. Congressional negotiators are now looking to reduce it so it has less of an impact on union members, …
Q: If we’re so worried about global warming why has it been so cold here in the U.S., in Europe and other parts of the globe? What do weather statistics say has happened during the past 50 years? And how does weather differ from climate (is there a difference)? Turnabout is fair play for activists who insist that a single event like the current cold snap doesn’t disprove global warming. They’re right that it doesn’t, but neither does a summer heat wave prove it — yet this has not stopped …
Today, the United States began surveying the damage inflicted by a devastating earthquake in Haiti this week. In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake should address long-held concerns over the fragile political environment that exists in the region. The U.S. government response should be bold and decisive. It must mobilize U.S. civilian and military capabilities for short-term rescue and relief and long-term recovery and reform. President Obama should tap high-level, bipartisan leadership. Clearly former President Clinton, who was already named as the U.N. …
Barack Obama made a big deal throughout the campaign and after that he wanted to raise income taxes on the rich by reversing the reductions in upper rates enacted under President Bush in 2001. Lower rate advocates have argued all along that lower rates are better for the economy, whereas raising the individual income tax rates again from 35 percent (which is already too high) to 39.6 percent or higher would hurt the economy. By proposing higher tax rates, Obama and his allies explicitly discounted the economic effects. Rumors in …
Washington and Moscow will restart talks with Washington on a new arms control treaty this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday. “We hope it will happen somewhere in the second half of January,” Lavrov said in televised remarks. However, as I’ve written a few days ago in the New York Times, the negotiations are stuck in the muck. Obama administration has failed to complete the negotiation of a treaty to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expired on Dec. 5. The two superpowers are now in …
