The Energy Department’s Inspector General has recommended that the loan guarantee program that financed Solyndra be placed on a department “watch list.” The IG’s report raises concerns over the “exposure to risk” created by the program, but stops short of recommending its repeal. Solyndra secured a $535 million loan guarantee through the program. It is still unclear whether taxpayers will see any of that money repaid, now that the company is making its way through bankruptcy proceedings. An initial Solyndra asset auction served only to repay private investors, whom DOE …
What did America’s founders say about economic inequality? Rather than unload statistics about the reality of inequality in America today, which we have done on other occasions, this post considers inequality based on the economic principles on which our republic was founded. These principles remind us why economic inequality is not necessarily an injustice, but rather a necessary component of any prosperous society. Property Rights Far from the notion of merely owning physical property, the founders understood property rights to include “natural rights.” In an essay on property rights in …
What happens if the “super committee” fails to meet its target of $1.5 trillion in budget savings by Thanksgiving and sequestration is triggered? It would spell doomsday for the military, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warns. In letters sent to Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Panetta said that under the worst-case scenario, “the total cut will rise to about $1 trillion compared with the FY 2012 plan,” and he says “The impacts of these cuts would be devastating for the Department.” Panetta went on to detail what those cuts would …
On October 7, 2012, the Venezuelan people will have the opportunity to elect a new president. In the months leading up to the election, Venezuelans are sure to hear plenty of campaign rhetoric from the unabashed President Hugo Chavez, but the question is: How much will they hear from the opposition? Globovision, a television channel that is reportedly “the only channel in Venezuela that takes a staunchly anti-government stance,” has been fined more than $2 million by the country’s National Telecommunications Commission, Conatel, for allegedly “violating broadcast regulations” when it …
It’s official. The Supreme Court will consider challenges to Obamacare stemming from the Eleventh Circuit decision striking down the law’s individual mandate. In that case, 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) partially won their suit, claiming that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) should be voided as unconstitutional. The Eleventh Circuit ruled that the mandate — considered by many to be the linchpin of the overhaul of the U.S. health system — was unconstitutional. But the court declined to strike down the law in its …
Scribe has reported extensively on the tendency of large government spending projects to reward the politically connected. It’s a virtual constant of federal interventions in the market, and perhaps nowhere is it more evident than in the Obama administration’s “green jobs” push. Writing on National Review Online today, I detail the political connections backstopping California venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and take a look at the extensive taxpayer support given to nine different companies financed by the firm. Here’s an excerpt from the piece: Hoover Institution fellow …
Canada exports almost all of its energy to the United States, but because of resistance from the Obama Administration to approving the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, that could soon change. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told President Obama that as the U.S. delays, Canada will begin diversifying by shipping its oil to Asian markets. Harper said of the delay: This highlights why Canada must increase its efforts to ensure it can supply its energy outside the U.S. and into Asia in particular. Canada will step up its efforts …
Last Thursday, the earth experienced a powerful solar flare, one of the most powerful types of storms that the sun can create. According to NASA, this flare “triggered some disruption to radio communications on earth beginning about 45 minutes later.” A massive solar event could create disturbances that are far worse. The sun is likely going to produce more solar flares from this area, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The first unusually large solar flare was first observed by British astronomer Richard Carrington in 1859. Telegraph operators …
As expected, the Supreme Court has decided to take up the court cases challenging Obamacare’s individual mandate and the question of whether the whole law should be struck down if the Court finds the mandate unconstitutional. This is another important step toward undoing this unpopular and unworkable health care law. Recall the process by which the law came to be: Due to the special circumstances of Senator Scott Brown’s election, the House and Senate (under duress) jammed through the poorly drafted health care law, bypassing the normal conference process intended …
Twenty years ago, the world watched the Soviet Union fall. The regime that was “planted by bayonets,” as President Ronald Reagan once described it, did not take root, and ultimately the empire that once walled itself off from the West with an Iron Curtain could not shield its people from seeing the shining light of democracy. Next Tuesday, when the Republican presidential candidates come together to discuss foreign policy and national security in a debate presented by The Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute on CNN, they should remember the lessons that the …
