About $60 billion more federal education dollars. That’s President Obama’s latest proposal to fix schools—this time in the form of his $447 billion jobs bill. Despite tens of billions in education bailouts in the last two years, not to mention ever increasing federal education budgets, Obama somehow believes that this next round of government dollars is just the answer to the nation’s education woes. Speaking yesterday at Fort Hayes High School in Columbus, Ohio—in another rendition of his “pass this bill speech”—Obama decried the poor condition of the nation’s schools …
While America debates rising deficits, rising debt, and reckless spending bills, the mood in Washington is understandably sour. For the Americans fortunate to have jobs in this recession, there is still a sense of anxiety about what is around the economic corner. For their jobless friends and family, there is only the hope that the White House and Congress are doing everything in their power to turn the economy around. And how are President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner responding to this mission? By using taxpayer dollars to hire “Humor …
Will the United States government fund Italy’s Fiat’s attempt to own a majority stake in Chrysler? While most people were following other news on Tuesday, Chrysler and Fiat quietly agreed to a deal that would give Fiat a 35% stake in the Chrysler. For this, Fiat would provide Chrysler with technology and vehicles to sell in the U.S. But there’s a condition: “[T]he deal becomes binding only if Chrysler gets $3 billion more in financial help from Washington, said the people familiar with the terms of the agreement. Chrysler nearly …
As discussed in Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy James L. Gattuso’s recent blog post, the House this week approved a new $25 billion loan program for Detroit automakers, and the Senate is expected to soon follow suit. The loans are to develop alternatives to conventional fossil fuel powered vehicles as well as more fuel-efficient cars. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the loans would cost the federal government $7.5 billion – double what the initial estimates were. CBO’s blog explains the reason: Several recent press reports have incorrectly …
