On February 11th, President Barack Obama stood on a windy hilltop in front of a dusty construction site in Fairfax County, Virginia, and promised the American people: “Here in Virginia, my plan will create or save almost 100,000 jobs, doing work at sites just like this one.” Standing alongside current Democratic National Committee Chairman and former-Gov. Tim Kaine, the President continued: “Where we’re standing, that could mean hundreds of construction jobs. And the benefits of jobs we create directly will multiply across the economy.” Eleven months later, none of those …
The frigidly cold weather has resulted in power outages, crop damage, book burning to stay warm, and of course, global warming jokes. “Where’s all that global warming now?” or “I could really use some of that global warming.” Minnesotans have been saying that for years. According to some scientists, we may see a longer cooling trend: The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the …
Labor union leaders made a trip to the White House yesterday to hear President Obama’s latest pitch for health care legislation. But judging from remarks earlier in the day from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, the meeting wasn’t a typical administration powwow with Big Labor. Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, Trumka outlined his strong opposition to the Senate bill’s 40 percent tax on “Cadillac” health insurance packages — the kind union officials negotiate for themselves and their members. After his speech, Trumka was among 10 labor leaders invited …
The U.S. Supreme Court, with one justice writing in dissent, agreed today with attorneys who argued against the broadcasting and posting of the trial proceedings in Perry v. Schwarzenegger – the case challenging the constitutionality of California’s popularly approved Proposition 8 preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The Court granted a temporary stay prohibiting any streaming video broadcast outside the courthouse. Presiding Judge Vaughn Walker had ruled last week that the proceedings in the case could be filmed and posted on YouTube after each day’s …
Proponents of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program and families currently in the program have reason to be frustrated over Congress setting the course toward its elimination. But as Amanda Carpenter reports in today’s Washington Times, they’ve also found a “strong ally” in the fight for school choice – Juan Williams of Fox News: Mr. Williams, who is also senior national correspondent for National Public Radio, hosted an event at the National Press Club on Friday to promote a short film produced by the think tank about the recent decision to …
There are links between terrorist attacks, job losses, and the health care legislation that is being completed behind closed doors: 1) A massive failed bureaucracy didn’t protect Flight 253 from a would-be bomber, so why expect that an even-larger bureaucracy can protect our health? 2)With 10% unemployment and 85,000 more jobs lost during the Christmas buying season, why pass a health care bill that promises to be a huge job-killer? The common factor is that big government cannot efficiently guarantee homeland security or job security, much less health security. Big …
California, the land of sunshine, surfing, soaring unemployment and ballooning deficits, may be making moves to strip itself of one of its most costly and draconian environmental regulations: the cap-and-trade carbon tax. Meanwhile, the City of Los Angeles is turning to private industry for help in digging out of a financial hole. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, California Assemblyman Dan Logue started a campaign to suspend the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act, which The New York Times calls the “nation’s furthest-reaching global-warming law.” It was designed to reduce …
The AP reports: Ten months into President Barack Obama’s first economic stimulus plan, a surge in spending on roads and bridges has had no effect on local unemployment and only barely helped the beleaguered construction industry, an Associated Press analysis has found. … Construction spending would be a key part of the Jobs for Main Street Act, a $75 billion second stimulus to revive the nation’s lethargic unemployment rate and improve the dismal job market for construction workers. The House approved the bill 217-212 last month after House Speaker Nancy …
President Hugo Chavez, architect of Latin America’s so-called “Socialism of the 21st Century,” roiled Venezuela’s economic waters with his decision to devalue the Bolivar, the national currency, on January 8. Under a new exchange regime, the first devaluation in five years, Venezuela will operate a three-tiered exchanges rate system. For the average consumer of imported goods, prices will automatically double. Imported foods and medicines get an exemption. Reuters reports that Venezuelans are responding to Chavez’s edict with panic buying and hoarding. The Venezuelan economy, despite its massive reserves of petroleum, …
A funny thing happened to the FCC Friday on its way to regulating the Internet, as a federal appeals court panel questioned the agency’s authority to regulate the web. There’s no final decision yet, but an adverse ruling could stop the agency’s Internet regulation plans in their tracks. And for good reason. Last fall, the FCC proposed a set of “open access,” or “net neutrality” rules aimed at controlling how Internet service providers manage their networks. However it faced one rather inconvenient obstacle: there isn’t anything in the Communications Act, …
