The Obama Administration is pushing hard for a reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) before the start of the 2011–2012 school year. Education Week reports that on Tuesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan told an audience that NCLB reauthorization “can’t be done on Washington time. It needs to happen on real people’s time.” But the push is as foolhardy as it is ambitious. In a statement Tuesday, Representative John Kline (R–MN), chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, expressed concern about Duncan’s rush to reauthorize the largest federal …
The Keynesian policy of trying to increase total i.e. “aggregate” demand – either by having government spend, or by cutting taxes just to leave more money in people’s pockets in hopes that they’ll spend – to revive the economy, never works. The latest installment of Keynesian failure is the payroll tax cut. Predictably, like its predecessors, this “stimulus,” which aimed at putting money in people’s pockets, failed. The economy was unmoved, and indeed appears now to be slowing again, as today’s bleak jobs report underscores. This wasn’t the first time Keynesian …
Today, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released a scathing report that deconstructed the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) claims regarding the Screening Partnership Program (SPP). The SPP, created under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001, grants airports the ability to opt out of using federal screeners and instead rely on private screeners to perform security functions. TSA back in January cancelled expansion of the SPP and declined to approve any more applications for airports seeking to privatize. TSA Administrator John Pistole stated that he did “not see any …
After two and half months of watching President Barack Obama’s uncertain effort in Libya, the House has had enough. According to US News, “the House voted 268-145 to pass a resolution introduced by House Speaker John Boehner, which demands President Obama to give more detail on U.S. policy goals in Libya.” The signal from the House certainly passed muster as a responsible response. Hopefully the White House will wake up and smell the coffee. All is not well in the Libyan adventure. Every passing day there is potential that “foreign …
A new Gallup poll released today reports that more than nine in 10 Americans believe in God. The number of believers has remained largely unchanged since the 1960s, with 91 percent of respondents affirming a belief in a higher power and almost three-quarters of adults firm in their belief in the existence of God. When this belief translates to action—and it does so with great frequency—the benefits can be significant for civil society. According to Heritage’s Web site FamilyFacts.org, almost 40 percent of Americans attend religious services at least once …
Consider it a pattern — President Obama speaking to a friendly crowd, papering over his failures of leadership while patting himself on the back for a job well done. He did that today in Toledo, Ohio, where he touted his auto industry bailout to United Auto Workers at a Chrysler plant, without directly addressing the morning’s news that unemployment went up to 9.1 percent in May as the economy hit a near standstill. Obama’s explanation about the slow-mo economy? “There are always going to be bumps on the road to …
May 21, 2011, was supposed to be Judgment Day according to Harold Camping. It was, in a sense. As the day came and went, the world judged that Camping’s 15 minutes of fame were up. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner may yet learn something from Camping. Geithner has been a whirlwind of worry about the nation defaulting in the event Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling. It is interesting, therefore, that the market for U.S. debt—where the default would occur—remains sanguine about the debt ceiling debate and dismissive of Geithner’s …
New START, a strategic arms control treaty with the Russian Federation that entered into force in February, is disadvantageous for the United States and advantageous for Russia. The treaty actually allows the Russians to build up their nuclear strategic forces. This raises the question: What did the U.S. negotiators actually achieve for the advancement of the U.S. national security? According to the factsheet released on June 1, by the State Department’s Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation, the U.S. will have to remove 182 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic …
It’s been two decades since Congress seized from states the authority to regulate the size of the biggest trucks traveling the highways. But what started as a temporary “freeze” on state rule-making predictably turned into a permanent federal usurpation of state regulation. The now-petrified standards have been rendered largely obsolete by advances in engineering, thus inhibiting productivity improvements for hauling freight. It’s time, therefore, for Washington to get out of the way. The freeze on truck “configurations” came with passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, which …
Moving into the 21st century, the practice of medicine is on the cusp of exciting new territory. Advances in medical and pharmaceutical research, particularly in personalized medicine, promise new cures to diseases that affect millions of Americans. Now more than ever, Washington should get out of the way of innovation and strive to encourage investment in medical technology. Sadly, the reverse is true. Stringent FDA regulations and nightmare approval processes are sending investors’ dollars to other areas of the economy and forcing medical breakthroughs overseas. Obamacare changes could cause even …
