While we are moving into spring, North Korean leaders have decided to stay out in the cold of economic isolationism. In a move sure to solidify its position in the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, North Korea signaled April 1 that it would gradually terminate its experiment with free market system. It’s no joke! As reported in The New York Times, “North Korea will phase out private markets and restore its state-controlled system, a North Korean government economist said in an interview broadcast late Thursday amid signs that the …
Opponents of school choice worry that public schools will suffer when competition is introduced. They cite the diversion of money away from public schools and the “creaming” of the best students into private schools, leaving the neediest children even worse off than before. But how realistic is this scenario? A new report from the National Center for Policy Analysis marshals powerful evidence that school voucher programs do not hurt students who remain in public schools, and they may even help. From 1998 to 2008, the Edgewood Voucher Program (EVP) offered …
The Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), which outlines future threats to the United States, recommends cutting the number of military forces prepared to respond to a weapons-of-mass-destruction attack against America. The recommendation to downsize U.S. Northern Command personnel will expand one of three Consequence Management Response Forces (CCMRFs) while moving personnel in the other two brigade-sized forces to Homeland Response Forces in each of the 10 Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA) districts. In this past Monday’s Washington Examiner, Dr. James Carafano writes, “The Pentagon argues that less is actually more, because …
Today’s papers give the impression of a collective exhale on U.S.-China relations. Chinese President Hu Jintao is coming to Washington for a global nuclear security summit and that means a trade war over exchange rates has been averted. However, a better term than “averted” is “postponed.” It is probably true that Washington and Beijing have an agreement: the U.S. will not label the PRC a currency manipulator and China will make some sort of policy change at or before the end of the bilateral Strategic and Economic Dialogue in late …
Americans are endlessly paying taxes–on their income, on their property, on almost anything they purchase. But the heavy burden that the U.S. government places on its citizens does not stop there. It continues with a slew of hidden taxes imposed by an ever-larger number of government regulations. These regulatory taxes do not appear on any balance sheet, yet cost Americans about $1 trillion every year. The recently released Heritage Backgrounder, “Red Tape Rising: Regulation in the Obama Era,” measures the regulatory impact of the outgoing Bush Administration and the new …
Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL) voted for Obamacare. When questioned by his constituents to identify what part of the Constitution empowers the federal government to force Americans to buy health insurance, Rep. Hare replies: “I don’t worry about the Constitution on this to be honest.” We applaud Rep. Hare for his honesty, but his vote for Obamacare already proved he does not care if the legislation he votes for is unconstitutional. As The Wall Street Journal explains this morning: All human activity arguably has some economic footprint. So if Congress can …
The March jobs report contained some of the good news that analysts have been waiting for. First, private hiring increased by 123,000 jobs, with every sector except financial and information adding jobs. Second, revisions to the employment reports of the previous months were revised upwards. Third, the unemployment rate remained flat at 9.7 percent, despite a tick up in the labor force. (Often, the unemployment rate increases as workers return to the labor force after the worst of a recession has passed. In this case, the labor force increased by …
In his most recent congressional testimony the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela successfully managed to outline Obama Administration policy for Latin America without once mentioning Hugo Chavez or Iran. Such a glaring omission speaks volumes about the Obama readiness to “speak no evil” and bury its concerns about Iran’s cooperation with Venezuela in classified intelligence briefs safely removed from public scrutiny. Fortunately, independent researchers, undaunted by the silence of the intelligence community and unfazed by upbeat diplomatic rhetoric, continue to expose the growing ties between …
One year after President Obama announced his desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons, his nuclear agenda is taking center-stage in American foreign policy. This week, the president will sign a new arms control agreement with Russia in Prague before he hosts the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC. At any moment the Administration is expected to release its 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, which adds to the momentum building towards the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review in May. As the president moves forward with his nuclear agenda, Americans need to …
It’s difficult to know how to react to the ‘new’ TSA security rules announced by the Obama Administration. On one hand, the good news is that the Administration is abandoning the silly process put in place after the Christmas Day plot of targeting 14 suspicious countries for secondary inspection. Any terrorist with half a brain would recognize that this is easily avoidable by simply flying through another country, not on the list. However, the Administration has announced that its new policy would involve “surgically targeting” terrorists on “characteristics of suspected …
