Last weekend’s parliamentary election in Turkey produced unsurprising results, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) claiming victory with nearly 50 percent of the vote. As world leaders congratulate the AKP on its three-term success, they are also assessing the implications for their countries’ future relationship with Turkey. The European Union, in particular, will need to determine where the Turkish accession process is headed.
As small business goes, so goes the economy. They have been responsible for creating almost two-thirds of all net new jobs over the last 15 years. Indeed, one reason Obamacare is such a concern is that it will significantly reduce the incentive for small businesses to hire. Especially once the premium subsidies become available in 2014. The premium subsidies are Obamacare’s way of making health insurance more affordable for low-income earners who buy coverage in the new exchanges. Eligibility for a subsidy is limited to people who lack public or …
Billion used to be a big number in the United States, but today trillion is tossed around with increasing regularity. We could use your help communicating its significance. Whether it’s the $14.3 trillion public debt or the $62 trillion owed for the government’s unfunded liabilities, the number is so large that many folks have no real comprehension of what it means. How, then, do you convey its size? Over the past year, my colleague Bill Beach and I have traveled to several cities across the country to talk about the …
The White House yesterday launched yet another signature initiative to cut wasteful spending, once again setting the Administration’s key utility infielder, Vice President Joe Biden, to the task. This latest campaign follows a previous effort launched in 2009 directing the cabinet secretaries to track down a whole $100 million—yes, million—in wasteful spending. In the summer of that year the White House then trumpeted that they had over-performed by a whole $2 million. Meanwhile, the budget deficit topped $1.4 trillion. Two full years into the Administration, with agency budget officers and …
Spending on education has skyrocketed over the past five decades, more than tripling since the 1960s. But despite the ever-increasing taxpayer investment in education, American students’ academic achievement has flatlined. While continuing the status quo of excessive spending does not increase educational gains, social science points to a strong correlation between parental involvement—especially from fathers—and increased academic success.
After nearly half a century, President Obama will end the drought of no sitting U.S. President making an official visit to the island territory of Puerto Rico. The President’s trip will fulfill the campaign promise of then-candidate Obama to return to Puerto Rico as the Chief Executive, just as the 2012 presidential campaign kicks off. In this light, it’s not entirely surprising that the President will be in Puerto Rico for less than five hours to, among other things, fundraise for his re-election campaign. Raising money in an election season …
Yesterday, President Obama met with his Jobs and Competitiveness Council and delivered remarks at Cree, a lighting manufacturing facility in Durham, North Carolina. He discussed the importance of the “clean energy revolution” that will help jumpstart the economy. But the green energy policies President Obama has been advertising are anti-job creation and anti-competitiveness more than anything. Here’s why. President Obama liberally uses the word investments when he talks about government funding for green technologies, and when he does, he commits the “free lunch” fallacy that plagues our politicians who believe …
As President Barack Obama swung through North Carolina yesterday, he did all he could to show that he cares about the U.S. economy, its 9.1 percent unemployment rate, and the 13.9 million Americans who remain out of work. Well, that is, until he let a bit of honesty slip off his tongue. During a meeting with his Jobs and Competitiveness Council—a group of CEOs the President created to give him advice on the economy—conversation turned to Obama’s $787 billion stimulus that promised to “create or save” 3.5 million new jobs by 2011 …
A few weeks ago at Louisiana State University, a small group of agitated students attempted to burn a U.S. flag in protest for some policy or other that they believed warranted the symbolic destruction of their country. Before they could get going, however, the protest was interrupted by other students who challenged them. A growing crowd ringed around the would-be flag burners, who became the sad spectacle of their unsuccessful demonstration. The crowd roared, “USA, USA, USA, USA” and a few threw water balloons; the protesters were soon escorted away …
The Heritage Foundation would like to wish a Happy Birthday to the United States Army. Two hundred and thirty-six years after its founding, the United States Army is truly a global presence, boasting men and women who serve their country with distinction and valor spanning every corner of the globe. Today, we honor their service and give thanks for their sacrifices both at home and abroad in the defense of our freedom. Many of the defining moments of American history are shared by the army. They endured the long winter …
