If General Motors CEO Dan Akerson had anything to say about it, you would be paying a dollar more a gallon for gas. Yes, with $4/gallon prices hitting consumers in a tough economy, Akerson told the Detroit News: “You know what I’d rather have them do — this will make my Republican friends puke — as gas is going to go down here now, we ought to just slap a 50-cent or a dollar tax on a gallon of gas.” Akerson, 61, was appointed CEO of GM last fall, having …
According to a new analysis from USA Today, American households are now on the hook for $534,000 to pay for the county’s debt and the unfunded obligations, or excess costs, for programs like Social Security and Medicare. USA Today reveals the eye-popping numbers for the federal government’s mounting fiscal problems. A staggering $5.3 trillion was added to the government’s tab last year, putting the overall figure at an astonishing $61.6 trillion. The report offers fresh evidence that the time to act is now. Entitlement programs, in particular, are driving the …
Paul Ryan (R-WI), the champion of necessary but unpopular fiscal reform, spoke this month about America’s exceptional political ideas and how they should be reflected in our foreign policy. In so doing he rejected isolationism and reinforced the Founders’ commitment to making America an indispensable nation for the cause of freedom, by maintaining American independence abroad. “America is an idea,” he said. “And it was the first nation founded as such. The idea is rather simple. Our rights come to us from God and nature. They occur naturally, before government.” …
It’s a simple fact: You can’t sustain Medicare unless you transform the current—and unaffordable—system. But the left continues to falsely decry conservatives’ plans to achieve this, accusing them of plotting to end the program altogether. It’s ironic, then, that the left has diligently pursued a strategy of its own to “end Medicare as we know it.” That strategy boils down to this: Downplay the problem. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Michael Hiltzik claims, “One of the basic flaws of Ryan’s plan is that he folds Medicare’s long-term fiscal problem …
The Senate is looking to do some more spending with a vote today on the Economic Development Revitalization Act, which will cost $1.5 billion through 2016 and an additional $760 million thereafter. The goal? Reauthorize funding for the Economic Development Administration — a vehicle for political pet projects, masked as a program that purports to give financial aid to economically distressed areas. While the bill is more unsavory spending from an already bloated government, two proposed amendments are worth mentioning: Sen. Olympia Snowe’s “Freedom Act,” which targets burdensome federal regulations; …
With gas prices hovering at $4 per gallon, politicians are trying to sell quick fixes that will inevitably end up hurting consumers. The latest attempt is an open fuel standard that would require a certain percentage of new vehicles to be flex-fuel (a combination of gasoline and ethanol or methanol), electric, natural gas, biofuels, or any other power source that is an alternative to your traditional internal combustion engine. Policymakers will attempt to convince the public that open fuel standards encourage competition and will benefit consumers. Consumers won’t be paying …
Wisconsin is home to the longest-running and largest school choice program in the nation. Now, state legislators are taking steps to open wider the doors of educational opportunities for families in the Badger State. For the last 20 years, Wisconsin students have benefited from the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), which provides vouchers to low-income Milwaukee students to attend private schools of their choice. Now, action taken just this week by the state’s Joint Finance Committee would expand the program by implementing a variety of reforms. As the American Federation …
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, stood in front of the Second Continental Congress and committed treason by proposing a resolution to declare that “these United States are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” John Adams, the most vocal proponent of independence, seconded the motion. In doing so, these men …
Wondering how all those businesses in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s district ended up with Obamacare waivers? The story drew national attention last month, but there’s still little known about the process used by the Obama administration to grant the controversial waivers. That’s prompted more than 30 members of Congress to write Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius seeking “transparency, fairness, and due process” for the department’s waiver decisions. Heritage’s Ed Haislmaier testified in March that “HHS has exceeded its statutory authority in creating this waiver process.” In fact, …
The economic news keeps getting worse for America. Last month, the unemployment rate went up to 9.1 percent, the economy added only 54,000 jobs, and the average length of unemployment rose to more than nine months, the longest since the Labor Department started keeping track in 1948. But despite all the writing on the wall, President Barack Obama wants you and the 13.9 million unemployed Americans to hang on for the ride. In his weekly address on Friday, President Obama played down May’s terrible unemployment numbers as mere “bumps on …
