Despite mounting state budget crises and growing public discontent with government unions, the House of Representatives added the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act to the Afghanistan war spending bill. What does this bill have to do with the war or public safety? Nothing. The bill would be more accurately named the Public Safety Employer Coercion Act. It would force state and local governments to collectively bargain with police officers, firefighters, and emergency personnel—whether or not collective bargaining would improve local public safety. This will directly affect the 21 states that …
Seven of the eight economies ranked most free in the Index of Economic Freedom were once British colonies or trade posts. It’s no coincidence. Political institutions developed by the British such as representative democracy and rule of law provide a vital base for economic freedom. Yet the U.K. no longer has the distinction of being ranked in the top ten freest economies. Its economic freedom score has fallen significantly in recent years due to expensive welfare programs that have eroded economic freedom and slowed growth. The U.K.’s predicament is an …
Venezuela’s populist authoritarian President continues to battle a slumping economy, high inflation and faltering popular approval ratings. With the national oil company (PDVSA) the chief lifeline of his regime, Chavez will literally beg, borrow or steal to keep pumping oil. Chavez’s nationalization mania took off in earnest in 2007. Last year, facing $40 billion in debt, many properties of foreign oil and service companies were nationalized. This week the Chavez’s continued his war of attrition against foreign operators, commandeering 11 U.S.-owned oil drilling rigs belonging to Helmerich and Payne of Oklahoma. …
This Sunday, our nation will celebrate Independence Day, which commemorates the Continental Congress’ adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration preamble reads: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The fact that we as a nation came together every year to celebrate this document might lead many Americans to believe that a Supreme Court Justice should …
