The Fundacion para el Análisis y los Estudios Sociales of Spain recently sponsored presentations on the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom (www.heritage.org/index) in Madrid and Barcelona. Discussion centered on Spain’s 18 percent unemployment rate, the highest in Europe, and its labor market regulations that are among the most severe in Europe. According to the Index of Economic Freedom, the average labor freedom score for the members of the European Union is 60.0, on the Index’s 0-100 scale. Spain’s score, by contrast, is only 47.3. The average unemployment rate for EU …
The White House’s National Economic Council’s September 2009 report, A Strategy for American Innovation: Driving Towards Sustainable Growth and Quality Jobs, informs us: “A strong economy, but too reliant on precarious, bubble-driven growth, is unsustainable.” And it is true: our government should not try and inflate bubbles in order to spur short-term economic growth. Which is why the White House should read today’s The New York Times article on the Spanish solar program that President Barack Obama so often holds out as a model for our country to follow:
On March 1, Spanish prosecuting judge Eloy Velasco issued indictments against 12 terrorist members of the ETA, the chief Basque separatist/terrorist organization, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Both ETA and FARC are considered international terrorist organization in Europe and by the U.S. The Spanish judge charged the 12 with conspiring to murder Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe, former president Andrés Pastrana, and other senior Colombian officials on Spanish soil. International arrest warrants were issued for all 12. Judge Velasco wrote in the indictment: “There is evidence in this …
President Obama’s decision to skip the annual U.S.-EU summit in Europe, May 24-25, has not endeared him to some Europeans; many of whom once again feel spurned by the man they have so greatly admired, and whose election they so ardently wished for. As reported by The New York Times, “In addition to the palpable sense of insult among European officials, there is a growing concern that Europe is being taken for granted and losing importance in American eyes compared with the rise of a newly truculent China.” The problem …
Members of Congress like to play games and they like to spend money. What better analogy to use to describe Congress’s proposed green energy policies than the Price is Right? As Congress seeks to implement policy that would create green jobs by mandating renewable energy projects, three cautionary European tales suggest the U.S. should take a second look at cap and trade and renewable energy mandates. We’ll take you through a Price Is Right showcase style tour of three failed renewable energy initiative. Our first stop takes us to Germany …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Tgl-elpxg[/youtube] President Obama speaks glowingly of ‘inextricable links’ between the world’s countries, forgetting sometimes, however, which links are truly inextricable: America’s alliance with Europe. Commenting last week on this alliance during a visit to Heritage, former Spanish President José Maria Aznar said: It’s necessary in my view to bring forth this Atlantic Alliance, this Atlantic link, and to avoid confusion between the allies in the future. The confusion Mr. Aznar refers to is in particular the result of the Obama administration’s weak stances on Iran and Venezuela.
Spain has spent nearly $30 billion on its green energy economy; each one of these green jobs cost the Spanish government on average $855,000, but the return on investment hasn’t been great. The country’s unemployment rate is not decreasing but rapidly increasing and is now at 19.3%, which is one of the highest in the developed world. In fact, the government’s heavy investments in the solar industry created a bubble than did more to harm to the solar industry than helping it: Though wind power remains the dominant alternative energy …
