The 2010 edition of the Index of Economic Freedom poses a frightening paradox. Around the world, the economically freest countries are, by and large, those with a British legacy. Indeed, the top five – Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland – were either founded or influenced by the British. Of the top ten states, only Denmark, Switzerland, and Chile were not, at one point, governed from London. The lesson should be clear: economic freedom, born of the thought of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, spread round the world …
The President of the United States tomorrow will inform the Congress on the State of our Union, as he is constitutionally mandated to do. The past 12 months have seen our country head down a dangerous course, and The Heritage Foundation can only hope that the President will use this time of reflection, coming on the heels of a stunning electoral loss, to change direction. You must recognize, Mr. President, that the State of the Union is not good. You need a new approach and fresh domestic and foreign policies. …
How do you solve homelessness, obesity and global warming all at once? A green gym, of course: Cass Community Social Services (Cass) will further its commitment to the Detroit community and the environment on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 9:00 am when it opens the doors to its Green Gym. The Green Gym is the nation’s first workout facility created specifically for homeless men, women and children. The grand opening of the Green Gym will mark a revolutionary step by Cass to improve its carbon footprint, reduce its energy costs …
Dr. Charles Krauthammer, who described President Barack Obama’s first 12 months in office as “the year of living fecklessly,” spoke at The Heritage Foundation last week on “The Age of Obama” and gave his views of the President’s first year of foreign policy. Watch his speech below and share your thoughts in our comments section.
It is still far from clear what the White House’s new strategy to pass health care reform will be in the face of Scott Brown’s election to the Senate. But according to Federal News Radio negotiations between the House and Senate are still ongoing, including this victory for House Democrats: Federal employees covered under some of the more expensive plans in the Federal Employees Heath Benefit Program now have some breathing room as well. Federal workers had been left out of an earlier compromise on health care reform shielding union …
This year’s Index of Economic Freedom contains the unsettling news that the United States has dropped out of the exclusive club of free economies and is graded “mostly free” for the first time in the Index’s 16-year history. The United States’ Index score dropped from last year’s 80.7 to this year’s 78. For many Americans who still have their jobs and incomes, “mostly free” may feel no different than “free.” For the nearly 20 million who lack work or the millions more who find themselves working for a lot less …
China announced last Friday that its economy grew 8.7% last year. Among other things, this will prompt a chorus of claims that China is leading the world out of recession. Wrong. The typical way of thinking about this is to take China’s and every other country’s GDP growth, add it all up, and see which economy contributed most to the world’s pile. But that is not the way GDP works. Consider the case of a country that successfully dictates trade terms such that it extracts a great deal of wealth …
The results of a small town mayoral election on distant Okinawa island risks undermining plans to build a U.S. base and may further inflame tensions in the already strained U.S.-Japan military alliance. Challenger Susumu Inamine, who opposes constructing the U.S. base, beat pro-base Yoshikazu Shimabukuro in the January 24th contest, which had largely became a referendum on the U.S. military facility. Inamine’s victory will stiffen Okinawan and Japanese resistance to the construction plan. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will use the Okinawan election as further justification for refusing to abide …
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez took another step aimed at consolidating his authoritarian choke hold on Venezuela by forcing cable providers to dump Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) from their broadcasting lineups. The popular, anti- Chavez channel first ran afoul of the populist leader for its critical programming back in 2007. At the time the Chavez government refused to renew its license to broadcast over open airwaves. It disappeared from the cable channels on January 24. Government officials cited violations by RCTV such as failure to broadcast Chavez endless diatribes, airing soap operas …
Since President Barack Obama was sworn into office, the U.S. economy has shed 3.4 million jobs and the unemployment rate has risen to 10%. But not all sectors of the economy have been suffering equally. In fact, the sector of the economy most supportive of President Obama has not only avoided contraction, but has actually managed to grow instead. According to a report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) last Friday, in 2009 the number of federal, state and local government employees represented by unions actually rose by …
