Federal spending is out of control. Even President Obama knows it. To really stop the madness, Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Mike Pence (R-IN), and John Campbell (R-CA) have proposed a simple solution – a constitutional amendment capping federal spending at 20 percent of the economy. Their proposal puts the debate squarely where it should be: exploding federal spending and the size of government. The authors of the amendment write that “Fiscal reform must begin and end with significant spending restraint. If not – if spending continues unchecked – this generation …
Even as NASA and the rest of the US government continue to debate about how it will sustain a manned presence in space, the Chinese government has now announced that the first module of the Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace) space lab will be launched next year. Expected to weigh about 8.5 tonnes, the module will provide a target for Chinese spacecraft to practice docking maneuvers — an essential part of both a long-term presence in space and for any mission to the Moon or beyond. Yet, the announcement also constitutes a …
The doctors in lab coats surrounding President Barack Obama as he gave his latest health care speech yesterday were not there to give the President a physical; that happened Sunday. No, these doctors were props, dressed to impress for what the White House claims is their “final push” for the President’s government take-over of the health care industry. The President again repeated the same old tired claims he has been making for months: “The proposal I’ve put forward gives Americans more control over their health care,” “our proposal is paid …
We caught up with Alan Gura, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs (also the attorney in the Heller decision) and Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation to get their take on the oral arguments, the legal theories involved, and the importance of McDonald v. Chicago for the Second Amendment.
Flanked, again, by doctors in lab coats, President Barack Obama gave yet another speech this afternoon urging Congress to pass his health care reform plan. The President again claimed his plan lowers health care costs. It doesn’t. The President again claimed his plan would not give government bureaucrats or insurance company bureaucrats more control over health care. It does. The President again claimed that “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” That simply is not true. The …
There are a lot of ways to measure job growth in America, some more accurate than others. Organizing for America (the political arm of the Democratic National Committee) created a chart to “celebrate” the first anniversary of President Barack Obama’s Failed Stimulus. Their chart attempted to cover up the fact that President Obama’s stimulus was a giant failure and came up 9 million jobs short of the number of jobs he promised to create by 2010. Well, Matthias Shapiro of 10000Pennies video fame created his own jobs graph showing just …
The Obama Administration’s 2010 Trade Agenda, unveiled March 1, is a radical departure from traditional American economic policy and values. It abandons not just the 65 years of trade liberalization on which American and world economic prosperity has been built since the end of World War II, but attempts to turn the economic clock back to the 17th Century and the mercantilist theories that predate Adam Smith. Mercantilists viewed the world’s economic production in static terms. Mercantile theory exalted exports and a positive trade balance. Prosperity was defined by the …
Congress and its allies on the left are hell bent to overhaul the health care of every American. They have focused strongly on increasing regulation of insurance companies. They get the most of the blame for increasing premiums and skyrocketing health spending. Though certain targeted and technical reforms of the health insurance market are sorely needed, making insurers the scapegoat for out-of-control costs in our current health system misses the point. Recent premium increases in health plans offered by Anthem Blue Cross in California have attracted federal scrutiny of insurers, …
For two decades, the word “trade” has been a dividing force in Congress. Its supporters, like me, see trade as a boon to our economy. As the free leader of the world, the U.S. is also one of the largest trading nations, supporting millions of American workers and millions of American jobs. Increased trade is good for America. In the past decade, U.S. exports have nearly doubled to $2 trillion a year. More exports from the U.S. can increase production of American-made products, spurring and stabilizing local jobs while supporting …
As the national average of gasoline creeps to three dollars a gallon, economists are warning that high gas prices in the United States could slow the economic recovery. Other countries’ economies are recovering more quickly and increased production and activity is putting upward pressure on oil prices. That coupled with a relatively weak US dollar spells trouble for American drivers. Throw in carbon dioxide cuts and gasoline prices could reach unprecedented levels: To meet the Obama administration’s targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, some researchers say, Americans may have to …
