Although Japan is now best remembered for two decades of economic stagnancy, its post-war development plan can still serve as a model for emerging countries and economies recovering from crisis. This notion was on display in October, when, for the first time since 1964, Tokyo hosted the annual meetings of …
Sometimes in post-election America, there is excitement about what the future will bring. This time around, the prospect is rather horrifying. America is racing, pedal to the metal, toward the fiscal cliff—a mixture of tax hikes and defense cuts that loom just after New Year’s. The same Congress and the …
President Obama has a new booklet—a glossy, 20-page spread called “The New Economic Patriotism: A Plan for Jobs and Middle-Class Security.” The title is completely Orwellian, since the plan—which is nothing new—would actually kill jobs, harming the middle class. As expected, the “new patriotism” means paying more in taxes for …
Vice President Biden and Representative Paul Ryan squared off last night for a spirited and intense 90-minute debate at Centre College in Danville, KY. Topics ranged from foreign to domestic, touching on serious issues that Heritage policy experts grapple with every day. While many commentators were critiquing style, a team …
President Obama recently said, “The most important lesson I’ve learned is you can’t change Washington from the inside.” That’s demoralizing to hear when a recession is bearing down on the economy—and it’s an inside job. The Congressional Budget Office has forecasted a fresh recession to hit next year if Taxmageddon, …
Francois Hollande won election to the French presidency by promising that more government spending would lead to quick economic growth. He sharply criticized the “austerity”—i.e., sudden spending cuts—proposed by his opponent. A few months later, Hollande has come full circle. In addition to a tax increase that has wealthy French …
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) set out to make a convincing case that lower income tax rates do not strengthen the economy. It failed, but in so doing, it called into question the quality of CRS analysis and the institution’s credibility as non-partisan. The CRS is supposed to provide expert, …
On the afternoon of another discouraging assessment of the nation’s economic growth, the Obama Administration late Friday quietly released its mid-year update of the budget. The synchronicity made clear just how far from reality the President’s fiscal and economic policies have drifted—and the imperative of a prompt course correction. Friday …
