Do the risks from the Federal Reserve’s trillion-dollar annual stimulus program justify the rewards? That was the central question at Tuesday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing featuring Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. Bernanke worked hard to defend the Fed’s quantitative easing policy, but he appears to oversell the rewards by a mile …
While President Obama is traveling across the nation campaigning against sequestration at the very last minute, the economy is working through a tax increase nearly twice the size of the sequestration cuts for fiscal year (FY) 2013. The President knew for more than a year that sequestration was looming and …
President Obama’s so-called Buffett Rule just won’t go away. It is back in its latest iteration because Senate Democrats proposed it to partially offset the soon-to-begin sequestration spending cuts. In the Senate Democrats’ version, the Buffett Rule, named after famed investor and vocal advocate for (and benefactor of) liberal policy …
Economic scholars have recently shown how high government debt has a negative effect on long-term economic growth. Government debt crowds out private investment, slowing the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) and wages. The consensus is that “debt drag” gets worse as debt rises. Like piling bricks on a sled, …
In a globally competitive world, competition is key. Fundamental for competition is the rule of law, according to Myron Brilliant, Senior Vice President for International Affairs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who spoke at a recent Heritage Foundation event. In his remarks, which elaborated on a chapter he contributed …
The Obama Administration recently announced its intention to begin negotiations on an agreement to expand international trade in the services industry, such as the telecommunications, banking, and insurance sectors. According to a letter from U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to Speaker of the House John Boehner (R–OH), the White House …
The National Small Business Association’s economic report finds, “The growing national debt is the number one thing small businesses thin[k] Congress and the administration should address.” Small businesses employ the majority of American workers and are vital to the innovation that grows the American economy. After a severe recession, the …
A not-so-small cottage industry has grown up refuting liberal economist Paul Krugman’s public pronouncements. It’s not a hard industry to join, and there’s plenty of work, but it can be repetitive. Even so, Krugman’s recent writings opposing federal spending cuts for the sake of the economy are sufficiently troubling to …
As wages in China rise with economic growth, some companies are beginning to look elsewhere for what was once China’s selling point: cheap labor. It just highlights the power that free trade provides—growing economies and raising living standards. Consider that wages in China are five times greater than they were …
