Tomorrow not only is a major showdown between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the Pennsylvania primary, it’s also Earth Day – when environmentalists celebrate the founding of their movement. Both Democratic presidential candidates have pandered significantly to the Earth-first crowd, promising millions in federal dollars for “green collar” jobs as well as supporting a cap-and-trade approach to cutting carbon emissions. Both policies appear sound on a cursory glance, but a close review exposes them as nothing more than clever marketing designed to deceive Americans into ignoring real and high costs. …
When Bill Clinton was elected president, he promised “the most ethical administration in history.” Instead we got eight straight years of scandal capped off with the pardon of Marc Rich. When George W. Bush was running for president, he promised “to restore honor and dignity to the White House.” Instead we got Jack Abramoff. When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took the gavel, she promised “the most ethical Congress in history.” Instead we got the Coconut Road cover-up. The story starts with a 2006 transportation bill that mysteriously included a …
If last night’s Democratic debate proved anything, it’s that the era of liberal tax-and-spend promises is back with a vengeance. The most illuminating exchange was between ABC’s Charlie Gibson and Sen. Barack Obama on capital gains taxes. After Gibson laid out the facts — that each time rates have been cut in the past 20 years, revenues from the tax have gone up, while the one time the rate was raised, revenues went down — he confronted Obama with his promise to raise the capital gains rate to levels as …
The Pew Charitable Trusts released a study yesterday surveying state action on the recent wave of increased foreclosures. Pew senior officer Tobi Walker told the Washington Post: “The states are experiencing this pain more directly than the federal government is.” This is partly true. A more accurate statement would be some states are feeling the pain more directly than the federal government is. As this map of Mortgage Bankers Associaiton data shows, subprime foreclosure rates exceed 10% in only 13 states, including California, Nevada, Florida, Ohio and Michigan. The Post …
Today is tax day for Americans, and like clockwork the establishment media are working overtime to cover up just how unfair and burdensome the U.S. tax code really is. The following Gallup headline is typical: “Just Half of Americans Complain Tax Bill Is Too High.” Clicking through, we see that 52% of Americans believe the amount of federal income tax they pay is too high compared with 42% who say it is about right. Looking at past trends we see that as recently as April 2002 only 47% of Americans …
Now that the Senate has passed its “Foreclosure Enhancement Act,” attention turns to the House, which will hold hearings on its own response to the housing “crisis.” As the Christian Science Monitor reports, “at the heart of the emerging consensus is a bigger role for the Federal Housing Administration in helping borrowers refinance loans they cannot afford to pay. … [A]ll competing plans require an FHA that is up to the task of dealing with a crisis that industry experts say is uncharted territory.” But is the FHA up to …
With President Bush’s letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday and John McCain’s speech in Brooklyn yesterday, now all three presidential candidates and the White House are supporting plans that would expose taxpayers to hundreds of billions of dollars in housing market risk. All three plans would set extremely bad precedents in housing policy, would only encourage future bad lending behavior, and are completely unnecessary considering the strong success of other voluntary federal efforts. The basics behind each plan are essentially the same. Under the plans supported by the Democrats and …
Reporting on yesterday’s events on Capitol Hill, the New York Times notes: “It is not easy to draw a straight line from the slumping economy to the war in Iraq and a trade deal with Colombia, but Democrats are trying to connect those dots.” For liberals, the connection between Iraq and the economy is actually very clear — but not in the way they hope to communicate to the American people: on both issues the two remaining liberal presidential candidates are not being honest with the American people. On trade, …
The report from Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker to the Senate today could be a clarifying moment in the debate over Iraq if the right questions are asked. Unfortunately, it appears presidential politics will motivate the Senate’s anti-war candidates to ask only backwards looking questions that will not illuminate what our current options are and that are designed merely to obfuscate the recklessness of their current campaign promises to the American people. Here is what we know going into the hearing: The latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq …
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The last time Gen. Davis Petraeus testified MoveOn.org tried to discredit the war effort by taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times labeling Petraeus “General Betray Us” that claimed he was lying about the levels of violence in Iraq. Seven months later it is now clear who had a better grasp on reality: From June 2007 through February 2008, deaths from ethno-sectarian violence in Baghdad have fallen approximately 90%. American casualties have also fallen sharply, down by …
