The Obama Administration notified Congress today that the CLASS Act — Obamacare’s long-term care insurance plan — is flawed, unsustainable, and unable to go forward. In a letter to Congress, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote that “Despite our best analytical efforts, I do not see a viable path forward for CLASS implementation at this time.” CBS News reports: The law required the administration to certify that CLASS would remain financially solvent for 75 years before it could be put into place. But officials said they discovered they could …
America publishes roughly 288,000 books every year, more than any other country in the world. Although this is a wonderful reflection of our country’s thirst for knowledge, such a tidal wave of publications is a nightmare for people looking for top quality works. Where on earth do you begin to sort through the piles and piles of books? Here at Heritage, we have done the hard work for you and narrowed down the ocean of books into a condensed list of sources so you can spend less time searching and …
President Obama is sacrificing missile defense for a “reset” with the Russian Federation, writes Rebeccah Heinrichs in her most recent piece. The Obama Administration has scrapped the third site in Poland and the Czech Republic, the Bush’s Administration’s ballistic missile defense plan for the protection of the U.S. and European territory. The Russians, falsely claiming that the system in Europe would upset the strategic balance, welcomed the step and worked further to restrain the U.S. missile defense options in the context of the New Strategic Arms Control Treaty. Negotiations on …
The ongoing “Occupy Wall Street” protests have been characterized by shows of violence, lawlessness, and occasional anti-Semitism. But elected officials are reportedly backing the movement behind the scenes, most recently pressuring the owners of the New York City park that is the epicenter of the protests to postpone a much-needed cleaning effort, according to city officials and the property’s owners. Brookfield Properties, which owns Zucotti Park, where protestors have camped out for nearly a month, had expressed concern to the city regarding the state of the park. “After weeks of …
Some critics of free trade say that trade agreements just help the “rich” get richer while making the “poor” poorer, but in fact, free trade benefits everyone. Looking at data from The Heritage Foundation’s 2012 Index of Economic Freedom, Heritage’s Bryan Riley and Ambassador Terry Miller found that the benefits of free trade are far reaching. Their data demonstrate “a strong correlation between trade freedom and a variety of positive indicators, including economic prosperity, low poverty rates, and clean environments.” The chart below indicates that nations with more trade freedom …
In this week’s Heritage in Focus, former Attorney General Ed Meese and graduate fellow Marion Smith discuss the Constitution and providing for the common defense. Click here to listen. Were the Founders isolationists, who believed in non-interventionism? What relevance does their understanding of providing for defense have today? And what are the proper roles of each branch of government during times of war? Listen to answers to those questions and more! To get regular updates on Heritage in Focus podcasts, visit our RSS feed or subscribe on iTunes. To listen …
All things considered, “The Mighty Macs” contains most of the elements of a typical sports movie: motivational characters, a group of misfits, impossible odds, and, in the end, victory hanging on the last play of the game. “The Mighty Macs” chronicles the journey of Immaculata College’s women’s basketball team from a shabby group of girls with an inexperienced coach to the NCAA’s first-ever women’s basketball champions in 1972. However, unlike other feel-good sports movies, it sends a particularly inspiring message about women staying committed to themselves and to one another …
It started almost five years ago with free trade agreements (FTAs) reached between the Bush Administration and the governments of Peru, Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. Unfortunately, the then-Democrat controlled House allowed only the FTA with Peru to be approved. The other three were abandoned. Now, with the approval by Congress of the three remaining FTAs, some compelling benefits will fall on the U.S.: Colombia has improved. Much of the delay on approving an FTA with Colombia was a result of the country’s negative record on human rights. But the …
In January 2011, newly elected Illinois governor Pat Quinn imposed a 67% income tax increase on citizens and a sharp increase in the corporate tax rate to satisfy missed and unpaid bills. A month later, the state issued $3.7 billion in bonds just to make payments to unfunded state pensions. Unfortunately, these measures do not seem to have inspired Moody’s confidence. The agency rated Illinois as the worst credit risk of any state in the union in August. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill) produced a report on Tuesday that makes some startling …
It was supposed to be the second full day in federal court for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The so-called “Christmas Day bomber” aka “The Underwear Bomber” faced eight charges, including attempted murder on an aircraft. But, acting as his own attorney, Abdulmutallab surprised many Wednesday by pleading guilty. He faces a maximum possible sentence of life without parole. The case never was a “whodunit,” nor was there ever a question of why he did what he attempted to do. A guilty plea in this case simply means that the public will not …
