It’s called “bait-and-switch”–the sales tactic of conning customers into believing they’re getting a good product, but then delivering shoddy goods instead. America, we’ve been conned. Government actuaries—the official bean counters for national health care—just released the bad news from analyzing how President Obama’s new law affects medical costs and insurance. Their verdict? “More Americans will be covered, but costs are also going up,” is how the Associated Press summarized it. The higher expense is on top of the prior expectations of already-rising costs, The minimum increase from Obamacare is one …
Nuclear energy is a hot topic in Washington these days. An important question that has stirred debate is whether the federal government should back up loans to build new nuclear power plants. On Wednesday, the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on the topic. Heritage Research Fellow for Nuclear Energy Policy, Jack Spencer along with three other panelists testified. One member of the panel, Leslie Kass of the Nuclear Energy Institute, argued that loan guarantees were good for ratepayers, taxpayers, and the nuclear …
The Obama Administration appears to be confused about its own policies regarding Iran’s nuclear challenge. Yesterday Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell denied that the administration had taken the military option off the table, contradicting a previous statement made by a high ranking Pentagon official. Undersecretary of Defense Michelle Flournoy had told a press conference in Singapore on Wednesday that “Military force is an option of last resort” and “It’s off the table in the near term.” Morrell maintained that the administration had not changed its policy on Iran. “I don’t think …
Speaking to an audience of big business and big labor executives (including Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein, Bank of America’s Bruce Thompson and SEIU’s Andy Stern) at New York’s Cooper Union, President Barack Obama noted “the furious efforts of industry lobbyists to shape” the financial regulation bill “to their special interests.” Obama then admitted, “I am sure that many of those lobbyists work for some of you. But I am here today because I want to urge you to join us, instead of fighting us in this effort.” Obama should have …
After rebuffing the Obama Administration’s effort at diplomatic engagement for more than a year, Iran suddenly has seen the advantages of launching its own diplomatic counteroffensive to stave off impending U.N. sanctions. The Washington Post reported that Iran’s regime soon will dispatch diplomatic emissaries to every member of the U.N. Security Council (except the United States) to revive stalled talks on a nuclear fuel swap proposal that was brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency last fall. By inflating hopes for a diplomatic resolution of the nuclear standoff, Tehran also …
Yesterday, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) sat down with us for a quick interview before sitting on a panel with Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) and our own Bill Beach for an event titled, “Is America Sinking into the Dependency Abyss?“. He talked with us about the growth of entitlements and the problems with the Dodd Bailout Bill, saying, “It’s important that we fix the things that caused the financial meltdown in our country. The real frustration with this [bill] is that this is another political package with a label that says …
President Obama told a romanticized version of Earth Day’s founding in his video for Earth Day 2010, but there is more to the story than a grossly polluted river and a noble hero rising up to champion the defenseless Earth. It was April 22, 1970, that Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin, declared a national day of support for the Earth. He claimed to have thought up the idea in 1969, after seeing a devastating oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the Vietnam “teach-ins,” he thought to …
If the University of East Anglia report set up to investigate the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU) was meant to put the Climategate controversy to rest in time for Earth Day, it failed spectacularly. The panel was led by Ernest Oxburg, who happens to be the honorary president of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association. Carbon capture and storage is an industry that definitely wouldn’t suffer should CO2 limits be imposed. Also, Oxburg’s involvement with the wind-energy industry raises further conflict of interest questions. With this in mind, …
The Obama Administration, the Democratic Congress, and their friends in organized labor are quick to blame unemployment on the trade deficit. Facts don’t support that assessment. The historical record shows a *positive* correlation between aggregate trade deficits and job creation – a trade deficit signifies *more* jobs. That’s because trade deficits go up when prosperity is increasing and job growth is rapid. The dollars Americans spend for foreign goods and services are then recycled into the American economy in the form of foreign investment. When that investment goes into the …
Sponsors of derivatives “reform” legislation claim it will reduce costs to derivatives users. Just how more government regulation is supposed to reduce costs in the private sector has never been exactly clear, but discussion at Wednesday’s Senate Agriculture Committee mark-up of derivatives reform legislation revealed that the “reform” will cost taxpayers big time: a 50% increase in staffing (and other costs) at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the agency that would enforce the new regulations. CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler, announced at the mark-up that the bill would require 250 …
