Writing at AEI.org, Christopher J. Conover of Forbes notes that “we’ve seen a growing disconnect between our willingness-to-pay for government and our willingness-to-spend for government.” Conover explains [here] how we got here and where we are headed due to federal funding of sky-rocketing health care costs.
Originally published in The Daily Caller, January 21, 2013 – Why ‘entitlement’ programs aren’t really entitlements — Almost everyone seems to agree that some combination of Social Security reform, Medicare reform and Medicaid reform is essential to any long-term fix of the federal government’s fiscal woes. But few in Washington are prepared to face the [...]
Reprinted from PERC.org, January 13, 2013 – Yes: Basically, the fuel is not good. — by Andrew Morriss – For more than two decades, special interests have persuaded Congress to mandate Americans buy ethanol whether they want to or not. As a result, 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop is now used for ethanol [...]
Reprinted from Reason.org –
From U.S. Department of Treasury Department’s “Financial Report of the U.S. Government for Fiscal 2012″ – Image Credit: US Treasury Department This is the balance sheet from hell. And not a great fiscal legacy for Timothy Geithner. From the U.S. Treasury Department’s just-released Financial Report of the U.S. Government for Fiscal Year 2012: Chart 4 [...]
Writing in World Affairs, PJ O’Rourke gives thanks to President Obama for instructing the world on his zero-sum view of wealth and wealth redistribution.
Roger Kimball’s commentary in today’s Wall Street Journal tells a harrowing tale of storm victim versus the Leviathan of government. You’ve got to read it to believe it.
Originally published in The Daily Caller, January 15, 2012 – Obama’s gun-violence executive orders and the Constitution – As soon as tomorrow, President Obama will announce his administration’s initial steps for dealing with gun violence. It is expected that he will propose measures for congressional action. But recognizing that most legislative proposals will attract powerful resistance, [...]
Rare footage of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s childhood has recently surfaced . . . < http://i.imgur.com/XaiUx.gif>
Originally published in The Oregonian, January 10, 2013 – Is Chip Kelley Oregon’s latest successful entrepreneur? A collective sigh of relief was heard throughout Duckdom on Sunday night when word spread that University of Oregon football coach Chip Kelly wouldn’t be leaving for the NFL after all. As someone who grew up in Eugene and [...]
Originally published in the Hillsboro Tribune, January 11, 2013 – by Representative Shawn Lindsay – Remember when presidential candidates actually campaigned in Oregon? Now they simply treat Oregon as an ATM. In 2004, both President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry drew huge crowds for public campaign rallies. But in 2012, both President Obama [...]
Originally published in The Daily Caller, January 8, 2013 – Despite the unprecedented explosion of the federal debt during his first four years in office, President Obama acknowledges that something must be done to halt deficit spending. Throughout the election campaign and since, Obama has insisted that a “balanced” approach is necessary. By “balanced” he [...]
Jonah Goldberg, writing at National Review Online, says President Obama has delivered (sort of) on his promise to make the wealthy pay their fair share, but has done nothing to achieve the balanced approach he claimed is needed. The fiscal cliff deal raises taxes $46 for every $1 cut in spending. That’s an odd notion [...]
Alex Brill, writing at CNN Global Public Square, offers five reasons why the fiscal cliff deal passed by Congress is bad for future generations — and for the present. Read Brill’s commentary reprinted here at AEI.org.
Several years ago the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) sued Ringling Brothers Circus claiming cruelty to elephants. After losing in court and being sued for racketeering by Ringling, ASPCA has agreed to pay Ringling $9.3 million to exit the lawsuit. Oops.
Originally published in The Daily Caller, December 31, 2012 – Lisa Jackson and the limits of executive power — Lisa Jackson’s departure as administrator of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is being lamented by environmentalists and cautiously celebrated by many in business and industry. Environmentalists have only high praise for Jackson’s aggressive efforts to adopt [...]
Ronald Bailey reviews Samuel Arbesman’s new book The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date the January, 2013 issue of Reason. The point is that scientific facts are constantly being disproven, yet we proceed as if everything we know is the truth. Humility about knowledge is what is required.
This great nation has experienced immense peril during more than one Christmas season. Both war and political upheaval have threatened our survival as a free nation. Each time, when it was their turn to be counted, men and women of equally great valor have risen to the occasion. History tells us that our fledgling nation [...]
