Milton Friedman once said that “there is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system.” For most people in the world, this is a convincing argument. Not, however, for the Peronists who have dominated Argentina’s politics for the past 70 years. Ranked 138th out of 179 countries in The Heritage Foundation’s 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, Argentina’s economy continues to head in the wrong direction. The government’s …
Liberals from Capitol Hill to the cable networks keep insisting that the nation will go into default unless Congress raises the nation’s debt ceiling by August 2. All along we have felt that such a claim is at least technically wrong, seeing that unquestionably we will be able to make interest payments on our bonds. More confounding, however, is that the ones yelling the loudest that the debt limit must be raised also keep insisting that a vote tomorrow in the House of Representatives to raise the debt limit is …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. From the Tea Party and beyond – Ed Feulner Heritage Foundation comes out against McConnell plan – Amanda Carey New O’Keefe investigation undercovers Medicaid fraud – Matthew Boyle The ‘BBC Left’ is using hacking to get revenge – Janet Daley News and Its Critics – WSJ The truth behind the government’s lies about poverty in America – Mark Tapscott Lights Out! Big Government’s Insidious Creep Inside Your Home – Audrey Hudson …
From a March 16, 2006, DCCC press release: Today, it became clear that Republicans will never support meaningful lobbying reform because playing by the rules simply does not compute. Jessica Simpson’s rejection of an invitation to an NRCC fundraiser because she thought it was wrong to lobby for her Operation Smile at a political fundraiser crystallizes their central resistance to reform. Republicans were befuddled at the fact that someone would not want to pay for access in order to lobby the president for their organization or interests… “It would be …
Tensions are rising between Israel and Lebanon, this time over underwater gas reserves. After months of debate, Israel’s cabinet approved last week a proposed maritime border that overlaps with a competing Lebanese claim, creating a sliver of some 430 square miles in dispute. Typically, after decades of arguments over fishing rights and offshore oil, countries draw up exclusive economic zones with borders extending 200 nautical miles off the low water mark on their coasts. Yet Lebanon refuses to recognize Israel’s zone despite the fact that it does not cover any …
New polling data from Rasmussen Reports shows that 48 percent of Americans think that the United States can make major cuts in defense spending without putting America at risk. Unfortunately, they’re wrong. Case in point: base closures. Some in Congress are looking to the U.S. military’s overseas bases as places to cut back on spending in order to fund domestic priorities. In May, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., wrote then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates: Given the U.S. military’s advanced technology and the capability of our forces to deploy throughout the world from stateside …
A Service Employees International Union “contract campaign manual,” recently released as part of an ongoing lawsuit against the union, reveals a host of unseemly tactics the SEIU recommends using against employers who resist unionization efforts. Those include efforts to undermine a business financially, intimidate individual managers, and use political pressure to increase the cost of doing business. Even more striking: the manual encourages workers to violate the law. “Union members sometimes must act in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King and Mohatma Gandhi,” the manual states, “and disobey laws …
AARP’s latest video opposing spending reductions in Social Security or Medicare once again pushes the flawed argument that cutting federal budget waste and loopholes would effectively address America’s unsustainable fiscal problems. A senior featured in the video asks, “With billions in waste and loopholes, how could they look at us?” Yes, there is substantial government waste that Congress can eliminate, but that shouldn’t be a substitute for real entitlement reform. Spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security—the three main entitlement programs—represents more than half of the entire federal budget today and …
Over the years our federal government has implemented a number of bad policies to reduce dependence on foreign oil. The latest flavor-of-the-month policy is the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions (NAT GAS) Act, which would give targeted tax credits to produce natural gas vehicles and heavy-duty trucks. The problem with these plans is that the government picks winners and losers in the marketplace, wastes taxpayer dollars, diverts resources away from more productive use, and does little to reduce dependence on foreign oil. As Heritage’s David Kreutzer points …
The disheartening impact of Obamacare has solidified doubt and resistance surrounding federal health reform. It will burden small businesses and dump millions more into the failing Medicaid program. As a result, states are increasingly using their authority to implement health-care reforms tailored to their citizens. Gov. Paul LePage of Maine is leading the way in the fight against government-run health care. Today he visits Heritage to share his insights on the issue. The event will be broadcast live online at 2 p.m., followed by an expert panel, including Florida state Rep. …
