An ugly financial bubble bursts. A misguided U.S. Congress responds by blaming foreigners and passes a trade bill that prompts widespread retaliation and exacerbates the initial popping of the bubble. That was 1930 and the Great Depression. Fast forward 80 years. An ugly financial bubble has burst and the U.S. Congress—having already failed with trillions in deficit spending—is now blaming foreigners. A bill in front of the House Ways and Means Committee (and scheduled to be sent to the House floor next week) blames Chinese exchange rate policies for the …
A year ago, the President addressed Congress and the American people to explain his vision for the health care plan that would later be signed into law. During that speech, President Obama said that “if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, or Medicare, or Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: Nothing in our plan requires you to change …
President Obama said a number of good things in his address yesterday at the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit in New York. Unfortunately, he has not been following his own good advice. Saying his administration will no longer rely exclusively on metrics of money, food or medicine distributed to the world’s poor but judge the effectiveness of development programs by how successful they are in helping countries move “from poverty to prosperity,” the president advised other world leaders to direct taxpayer-funded foreign aid to countries pursuing economic growth …
The economic theory of “creative destruction” is important when understanding the value innovation has on long-term economic growth. Popularized by Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, the theory says the short and long-term benefits of entrepreneurial activity and competition will far outweigh the short-term losses caused by a new product replacing an old one. Audiotape makers may lose their jobs to the makers of compact discs, who may lose their jobs to the digital age. When it occurs organically, it’s a beautiful process that begets economic progress and benefits the consumer. When …
This week at the U.N. General Assembly President Obama is set to address U.S. efforts to reduce global poverty by reaffirming support for the Millennium Development Goals. After 10 years and trillions of dollars spent, little progress has been achieved. With a ambitious 2015 deadline for the MDG’s completion, the U.N. has a lot of work to do. In his chapter in ConUNdrum, Heritage Director for the Center of International Trade and Economics, Ambassador Terry Miller, states that while U.N. Millennium Development Goals are noble aspirations, they are unachievable. U.N. …
The Department of Education (DOE) has proposed new rules for accrediting colleges and universities, including expanding the power of states to authorize higher education institutions, definitions of what constitutes a “credit hour,” and de facto price controls through measures to ensure graduates’ “gainful employment.” According to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, the new rules will mark a substantial shift in the accrediting process: Current regulations do not define or describe the statutory requirement that an institution must be legally authorized in a state. Under the new rules, the institution’s …
Before Obamacare was passed six months ago today, former President Bill Clinton promised a leftist horde at the Netroots Nation convention: “The minute the president signs the health care reform bill, approval will go up, because Americans are inherently optimistic.” Fast forward to last Sunday, when, after Meet the Press host David Gregory played a clip of Clinton’s promise, the former President responded: “I was wrong.” It is rare in Washington that a politician admits they were so very, very wrong about such a huge issue, but the evidence that …
On the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans, a new documentary accuses the Obama administration of not facing reality when it comes to terrorism. “America at Risk: The War With No Name,” presented by Citizens United and hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich, asserts that current U.S. policy and government officials refuse to acknowledge that radical Islam drives terrorist attacks such as the Fort Hood Massacre, Christmas Day bomber and Times Square bomber. Examples include two top Obama administration figures: White House counter-terrorism …
Iran’s bombastic President Ahmadinejad once again has strutted to the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York to denounce, whine about and threaten the United States, the West, Israel and various international institutions. Soon after arriving, Ahmadinejad told the Associated Press that “the future belongs to Iran” and that the United States “must recognize that Iran is a big power.” He proclaimed that capitalism was at the root of much of the world’s economic problems and called for reform of “undemocratic and unjust” international institutions dominated by the United …
Congress must soon reach a consensus on whether, and on whom, they will raise taxes in 2011. With the economy at the forefront of Americans’ concerns, the effects of raising taxes for any income bracket are a serious matter. Proponents of tax hikes argue that reducing the deficit through increasing tax revenues is more important. That argument raises a number of serious questions. But what about the economy? The Washington Post’s Lori Montgomery writes that “the economy is sluggish and the national debt is soaring to worrisome levels.” She’s right, …
