In his latest Los Angeles Times article, Doyle McManus identifies President Obama’s attempts to sell New START, the nuclear arms reduction treaty between the U.S. and Russia, to the Republicans in the Senate as “increasingly desperate.” Indeed, the Administration’s arguments for ratifying the treaty have evolved from claiming that the accord is a modest treaty that will enhance U.S. security to asserting that the consequences of rejecting New START will be dire. Most recently, the President has shifted his argument to one of obliging his favorite Russian leader, Dmitry Medvedev. …
The bold letters of the Gadsden Flag have become the slogan of America’s 21st century Tea Party movement and a symbol of the unique American spirit. Most resurgent patriots intuitively grasp the essence of American exceptionalism, but not all understand what it means for U.S. foreign policy. The distinct yellow flag was designed by Christopher Gadsden who led the Sons of Liberty in South Carolina prior to the American Revolution. His design called for: an elegant standard, such as is to be used by the commander in chief of the …
The fate of small, family-owned businesses hangs in the balance as Congress decides whether or not to finally put the crippling 55% death tax in a coffin. The toll the death tax takes on family-owned businesses has been clearly documented as has its infeasibility as a federal budgetary tool. But just as important as these concerns is the erosion of individual liberty that this tax presents. Alexis de Tocqueville recognized the role of inheritance laws in a free society in his Democracy in America: Through [inheritance laws] man acquires a …
The economic case for the South Korea–U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) has been variously described as a “slam dunk,” a “pareto-optimal solution,” and “an easy ‘yes.’” However, aside from the economic arguments for KORUS, recent events in the Korean peninsula make approval of the agreement more important than ever. On November 23, a North Korean artillery attack on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong Island killed two civilians and two marines. Earlier this month, the country revealed a covert uranium enrichment facility that could be used to strengthen its nuclear …
In light of the impending Obama Tax Hikes, Mercatus Center senior research fellow Veronique de Rugy created the chart to the right illustrating Hauser’s Law which Standford University professor Kurt Hauser recapped in this weekend’s Wall Street Journal: Over the past six decades, tax revenues as a percentage of GDP have averaged just under 19% regardless of the top marginal personal income tax rate. The top marginal rate has been as high as 92% (1952-53) and as low as 28% (1988-90). This observation was first reported in an op-ed I …
Republican Sens. Bob Bennett (UT), Thad Cochran (MS), Susan Collins (ME), Jim Inhofe (OK), Dick Lugar (IN), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Richard Shelby (AL), and George Voinovich (OH) all just voted against an amendment in the Senate that would have banned Congressional earmarks. This is terrible public policy for their states, for their constituents, and for our country. Harvard research shows that states that experience an increase in earmark spending suffer from decreases in corporate capital expenditures and employment. Earmarking also robs money from local government transportation priorities to pay for …
The illegal revelation of more than 250,000 State Department documents last weekend by the WikiLeaks organization is a damaging setback for U.S. foreign policy that will strain relations with important U.S. allies, undermine U.S. national security interests, and complicate international cooperation on many issues, including the war on terrorism. This third installment of stolen documents follows previous WikiLeaks document dumps on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Like the two previous actions, this reckless release of the diplomatic cables erodes trust in the U.S. government and puts at risk American …
International climate change talks kick off yesterday in Cancun, Mexico, and the expectations aren’t nearly as high as they were last year at the summit in Copenhagen, where no country committed to any legal binding agreement. This year in Cancun, leaders from nearly 200 countries will come together at the 16th Conference of the Parties to be held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. But the climate summit has much less hype than last year, because the reasons Copenhagen failed still apply this year: the economic costs …
When President Obama entered office he adopted a doctrine toward national security that mirrored President Jimmy Carter’s reliance on diplomacy and the United Nations. America’s enemies saw Carter as a paper tiger and by the second year of his administration the president saw almost unprecedented challenges to his leadership worldwide. Reading the world headlines today it seems like a case of deja vu all over again—adversaries are coming after Obama with a vengeance. North Korea has thrown down the gauntlet. The White House has looked impotent in dealing with WikiLeaks—and …
The campaign to paper over President Barack Obama’s big government tax-and-spend record with symbolic political triangulation has begun. Yesterday, ahead of today’s meeting with House and Senate Republicans, President Obama attempted to preempt conservative calls for smaller government by announcing a Federal Employee Pay Freeze, which the White House says would save $2 billion over the rest of this fiscal year and $28 billion in cumulative savings over the next five years. While the President’s political motivations are transparent to all, he should be congratulated on policy grounds for making …
