On Wednesday, President Obama praised America’s servicemembers for their remarkable response to the crisis in Haiti. He included the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard in an appropriate acknowledgment. These exceptional men and women deserve all our gratitude and appreciation for their tireless work at home and around the globe. A useful way to truly thank them is for Congress and the Administration to provide all the necessary resources for those in uniform to get the job done quickly while minimizing losses and maximizing mission success. Unfortunately, …
On March 9 the Tax Policy Center (TPC) released a preliminary analysis of the tax reform proposal contained in Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) Roadmap for America’s Future fiscal plan. The TPC analysis helps Ryan advance the tax reform ball considerably, but it also raises issues some of which need to be addressed by Congressman Ryan (R-WI), the author of the plan, and some by the TPC. Perhaps most important of all is that the TPC analysis, along with a slew of commentary both favorable and unfavorable from other sources, confirms …
A top priority of the Obama presidency has been to restore the image of the United States in the world; in image allegedly left in tatters by the Bush administration. Unfortunately for the president, however, Americans by a wide margin now believe that that the United States standing in the world has not improved, but actually declined since President Obama took office. According to a poll conducted in late February and released this week by Democracy Corps-Third Way, Americans by a 10-point margin think that the standing of the United …
Since our “modest proposal” essay was published in the Washington Post on Feb. 19, we have heard mostly support, but some criticism. The critics tend to question Utah’s ability to assume complete responsibility for education, transportation and Medicaid, and manage these important functions of government properly. We assert that not only can we run these programs adequately without federal oversight and interference, but we can operate them more effectively, more efficiently, and serve citizens better. It seems that many in Congress maintain an elitist attitude about government: The bigger the …
The final details of the financial regulatory reform bill being negotiated by Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Bob Corker (R-TN) are still being hammered out, but the underlying contours are clear: more government bureaucracy layered on top of our existing impenetrable and unaccountable financial regulatory system. Specifically, the Dodd/Corker plan reportedly still contains these elements: The Consumer Financial Protection Agency – There is still debate over whether this new entity will be a stand alone agency, housed in the Department of Treasury, or housed in the Federal Reserve. Wherever the …
The recidivism rate among ex-offenders in the U.S. is massive—upwards of 67 percent. Helping former inmates find and keep a steady job is crucial to bringing this number down. That’s what makes an article that ran in the Washington Post this past weekend so interesting. Michelle Singletary is a Personal Finance Columnist who runs the “Color of Money Challenge.” In past years, Singletary has used her writing and personal finance skills to both work with and share the story of unemployed individuals and struggling military families, but this year she …
Dale Klein, Commissioner and former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) challenged the premise on which President Obama based his move to withdraw the application to permit the geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. At a conference in Bethesda, Maryland yesterday Commissioner Klein emphasized that it was politics, not science, which led to this decision. Klein said, Frankly, I would have preferred the White House to plainly say that it was implementing a policy change. The president has the right and responsibility to set policy, and clearly, an issue of …
There is no entity with closer ties to the Obama administration than the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). According to the White House visitor logs SEIU President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger visited the White House 58 times in 2009 alone, including 11 meetings with Obama and another with Vice President Biden. The SEIU is popular in the White House because no other union is as politically active as the SEIU. Stern told the Las Vegas Sun, “We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama — $60.7 million to …
These are times straight out of Alice in Wonderland, as everything becomes an “un-birthday” and definitions are turned on their head. Climate change scientists, according to The Washington Times this last weekend, are turning to PR, rather than data, to defend their work. Then there’s Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who yesterday continued to make patently false job-creation claims to sell the administration’s radical environmental agenda. His timing was unerringly bad, as his statements came on heels of further evidence that two front-runners—California and Europe—are discovering that their “green” policies …
You might have seen this week a stunning demonstration of political condescension on the health care front. In remarks at the 2010 Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.” This revealing comment reinforces a patriarchal (or in Pelosi’s case matriarchal) attitude Congress has taken with the American public: What lurks within the House and Senate health care bills will be revealed …
