The United States is losing ground to its major competitors in the global marketplace, according to the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom released today by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. This year, of the world’s 20 largest economies, the U.S. suffered the largest drop in overall economic freedom. Its score declined to 78 from 80.7 on the 0 to 100 Index scale. The U.S. lost ground on many fronts. Scores declined in seven of the 10 categories of economic freedom. Losses were particularly significant in the areas …
Scott Brown’s shocking victory in Massachusetts on Tuesday was a shot across the bow of the liberal ruling class in Washington and declared one clear message: Americans do not like the direction the country is heading, and they’re not going to stand for it, even in the solidly-blue Bay State. The United States’ direction today is a dangerous one, even when compared to the country’s state of affairs just one year ago, as revealed in the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom, which we are releasing this morning in a joint …
The danger of higher taxes in the future is thwarting economic recovery today. Businesses make investment and hiring decisions based on their expectations of future profitability. If they expect to be more profitable in the future they will hire. If they do not they hold back on expansion. They base their expectations of future returns on estimates of their sales and costs years down the line. Uncertainty in either makes predictions difficult and causes them to put off decisions until they have a better idea what their bottom line will …
President Obama headed overseas to collect his Nobel Peace Prize and make his pitch for collective action on climate change. Of course, if our president commits us to any binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gases, our jobs will be heading overseas too. The Senate’s 1997 Byrd-Hagel Resolution warned not to enter into any global warming treaty, at the time the Kyoto Protocol, which leaves out developing nations or hurts the American economy. Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) is taking Byrd-Hagel one step further by introducing House Resolution 945, which says the …
The Obama Administration is visibly perplexed by the failure of the U.S. economy to be duly stimulated. It shouldn’t be. After frittering away political capital and taxpayer dollars on an ineffectual fiscal stimulus, Obama’s policies share the singular characteristic of draining the economy of the most important ingredient needed for a strong recovery – confidence. Nowhere is this made clearer than in an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “endangerment” ruling on Monday. This ruling gives the EPA broad authority to impose a massive new regulatory regime on such businesses as electric …
Federal stimulus spending is stimulating business for contractors helping the government figure out how to spend the stimulus money, reports the Washington Post. Government agencies say they can’t properly oversee the $789 billion stimulus package without hiring outside help. As a result, the region around the nation’s capital is doing just fine. Reports the Post: Of the stimulus grants and contracts awarded so far, the District has received nearly 10 times as much per capita as the national average, and Maryland has received more per capita than much harder-hit states, …
Heritage expert Alison Fraser on jobs
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) delivers a major address at 2 p.m. ET today at Heritage explaining why creating jobs doesn’t have to cost money. Cantor’s speech — which has already generated coverage from ABC News, National Journal, The Atlantic and The Hill — comes a day before President Barack Obama’s Jobs Summit. Cantor’s speech will be followed by a panel discussion with Heritage experts. Both Cantor and the panel will field questions from Facebook users, who can watch the speech live on Heritage’s fan page or via the embedded video player …
The Heritage Foundation kicks off its live webcast series on Facebook today at 2 p.m. with a major address from House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) on a pro-growth jobs plan that doesn’t break the bank. We’re using our popular Facebook page (93,000+ fans) and a live video feed from Ustream.tv to give Facebook users an opportunity to ask questions and watch the event without ever leaving the social networking site. In addition to taking questions from the Heritage audience, Cantor will also field those submitted in the Facebook chatroom. …
Last year, with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm standing by his side, President-elect Barack Obama proclaimed the importance of rapidly passing a stimulus package, described his intense focus on job creation, and noted that a new president can have an “enormous impact” on the economy. This week, The Detroit Free Press reported that Obama’s stimulus package has “created or retained virtually no jobs” in Michigan, despite $1.2 billion in federal spending and the administration’s report that it created or retained 22,500 jobs in the Great Lakes State. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi_HvJNhaOQ[/youtube] One wonders whether …
