This Sunday is President Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday. It’s hard to comprehend the debt of gratitude our nation owes the 40th President of these United States. As Heritage Foundation Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought Lee Edwards details, Reagan embodied many of the classical virtues that the best political leaders possess: courage, prudence, justice, and wisdom. And he used each of these virtues to create an environment where the U.S. economy could strongly recover from our last great recession. The current occupant of the White House ought to take some better …
Obama Replaces Costly High-Speed Rail Plan With High-Speed Bus Plan Last month, after the governor-elects of Ohio and Wisconsin (John Kasich and Scott Walker respectively) each declined to waste any more taxpayer money on high-speed rail boondoggles, the Obama administration quickly announced they would take federal transportation dollars away from those states and give them to California’s high-speed rail project. As we noted at the time, even Californian Democratic lawmakers have dubbed the California project a Super Train to Nowhere. Finally, The Washington Post is also taking notice:
The Obama Administration’s original stimulus package includes $5 billion for a weatherization program (an early version of cash for caulkers). Perhaps because it involves spending huge sums of money, the Administration seems quite proud of the policy. Energy Secretary Steven Chu called it “one of our signature programs.” In this case, however, “signature program” appears to mean signing blank checks. State Auditor Stephen Eells recently reported to law makers in New Jersey on the Garden State’s $119 million portion of this federal program. Though he only audited a $613,600 portion, …
The Washington Post reports today that the Obama administration is entering “the politically sensitive debate” on sex education by spending $110 million on 115 programs in 38 states and the District of Columbia that “teach about the risks of specific sexual activities and the benefits of contraception and others that focus primarily on encouraging teens to delay sex.” But as the Post later reports, only five of these 110 programs are “authentic” abstinence programs and they will receive less than $5 million. So how did the Obama administration choose which …
It doesn’t matter who asks the question (CNN, Gallup, Pew, Fox, ABC, or CBS) the answer is always the same: the American people believe President Barack Obama’s $814 billion economic stimulus failed. The White House believes that this is a failure of communications not a failure of policy. Enter newly minted White House Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, and 1991 college National Debate Team of the Year champion, Austan Goolsbee. Goolsbee has begun doing a series of videos trying to convince Americans that, despite nearly a trillion dollars …
Last August, NBC News’ Chuck Todd posed a question to President Barack Obama from Elkhart, Indiana, resident Scott Ferguson: “Explain how raising taxes on anyone during a deep recession is going to help with the economy.” The President responded: “We have not proposed a tax hike for the wealthy that would take effect during a recession. … He’s absolutely right, the last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would just suck up, take more demand out of the economy and …
We noted yesterday that White House aides were already backtracking on President Barack Obama’s promise that his $50 billion infrastructure plan “will not only create jobs immediately, it’s also going to make our economy hum over the long haul.” Specifically a “senior administration official” told Politico: “This is not an … immediate jobs plan.” Well The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank apparently has been talking to the same “senior administration official.” Here is how he reports the exchange between reporters and the Obama White House: Q. What is your estimate of …
The latest jobs report showed the unemployment rate ticking up to 9.6 percent, putting the final nail in the coffin of recovery summer. The Obama Administration announced “Recovery Summer” last June to highlight the expected gains in jobs and economic strength resulting from Obama’s stimulus. Not. The economy is literally sliding into the fall. President Obama, who has already tried a massive and massively ineffectual stimulus bill followed by a series of policy gimmicks (cash for clunkers, tax credits for first-time homebuyers) has announced that, once again, he is focusing …
The White House hailed last year’s “cash for clunkers” program as a successful government initiative that stimulated the economy, particularly the ailing auto industry. It provided $3,500–$4,500 rebates to consumers who purchase more fuel efficient cars and trade in their old vehicles, which dealerships then destroyed. President Obama’s economic team said cash for clunkers lured consumers who would have bought a new car two to three years in the future into the immediate market. However, a new study from economists Amir Sufi of the University of Chicago and Atif Mian …
Since 1985, the hands-down winner for worst marketing campaign has been New Coke—the disastrous flop when Coca-Cola tried to change its flavor. After 25 years, we have a new contender—President Obama’s “Summer of Recovery” slogan of 2010. The big media splash began in June, touting that “Obama, Biden declare ‘Recovery Summer,’” including six weeks of nationwide barnstorming visits by POTUS and VPOTUS. All summer, a hyper-active Recovery Blog on the White House website trumpeted what they wanted Americans to believe. Even the titles seemed to be lifted from works of …
