Obama's Busted Budget. by Michael D. Tanner
In a town where bipartisan budget chicanery has been
raised to an art form, President Obama's latest budget proposal should
be hailed as the da Vinci of fiscal obfuscation.
The president claims that his budget proposal reduces debt by $4
trillion over the next 10 years, combining $2.4 trillion in spending
cuts with $1.6 trillion in tax hikes. Almost none of that is true.Let's start with the idea that the president's budget would reduce the debt. That is true only using Washington math, under which a smaller increase is actually a decrease. In reality, the president's budget adds $6.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years, bringing it to nearly $25.5 trillion by 2022. That would be more than 100 percent of our GDP.
Wars Should Be Hard to Start. by Benjamin H. Friedman
The New York Times' report on Special
Operation Command's proposal for more authority to deploy troops never
quite says what new powers are sought. That vagueness, combined with the
murky existing law on deploying special operations forces outside war
zones, makes evaluating the proposal tough.
What is clear is that it is already too easy to deploy special operations forces on lethal missions. According to the Times,
12,000 special operators are deployed abroad and have operated in 70
nations in the last decade. Other reports claim that special operations
forces have lately conducted operations in Syria, Nigeria, Iran,
Algeria, and even Peru. In some cases, the special operators are
reportedly collecting intelligence, a job various intelligence agencies
already have. In others, the special operations forces are seemingly
committing acts of war, which should require explicit congressional
approval.Supreme Court should take on New York City’s rent control laws
The Harmons want the Supreme Court to rule that their home has been effectively, and unconstitutionally, taken from them by notably foolish laws that advance no legitimate state interest. The court should.
We Are on the Road to Bankruptcy. By John Stossel
President Obama said in his State of the Union speech, "We've already agreed to more than $2 trillion in cuts and savings."
That was reassuring.
The new budget he released this week promises $4 trillion in "deficit
reduction" -- about half in tax increases and half in spending cuts.
But like most politicians, Obama misleads.
Cato Institute economist Dan Mitchell cut through the fog to get at the truth of the $2 trillion "cut."
"We have a budget of, what, almost $4 trillion? So if we're doing $2 trillion of cuts," Mitchell said, "we're cutting government in half. That sounds wonderful."
That was reassuring.
Cato Institute economist Dan Mitchell cut through the fog to get at the truth of the $2 trillion "cut."
"We have a budget of, what, almost $4 trillion? So if we're doing $2 trillion of cuts," Mitchell said, "we're cutting government in half. That sounds wonderful."
Obama’s Deceptive Hidden Premises The “contraception mandate” is really a presidential power grab. By Michael Novak
The
most evil thing about the Obama administration’s recent violation of
the separation of church and state is its deceptiveness. With his order
requiring inclusion of contraception and abortifacient drugs in
insurance coverage, the president is smuggling the hidden premises of
NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and other supporters of abortion into U.S.
law, and doing so untruthfully.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
instruction attacking religious institutions such as hospitals,
universities, and programs for the poor rests on four hidden premises.
Obama’s Cynicism for Me, Not for Thee For the president, it’s a vice other people have. By Jonah Goldberg
Barack Obama on Meet the Press in 2008
‘My rival in this race,” President Obama announced early in 2007, “is not other candidates. It’s cynicism.”
It’s now clear that what he meant by this was other people’s cynicism — not his own.As you may recall, Obama came into office a very inexperienced politician, spouting a lot of hopeful and idealistic rhetoric. He had made a name for himself by refusing to demonize conservatives and Republicans.
For instance, during a Nevada Democratic debate, then-senator Obama told the late Tim Russert that, “My greatest strength, I think, is the ability to bring people together from different perspectives to get them to recognize what they have in common and to move people in a different direction.”
Who Won the Payroll-Tax Fight?
Who has the power in Washington? Who won the payroll-tax battle? Not Republicans, not Democrats — government employees.
The new deal on the payroll-tax extension (which will do little or nothing
to benefit the economy) was held up by a largely unrelated matter:
requiring federal workers to contribute more toward the costs of their
own pensions. (More, Congress? How does 100 percent strike
you?) The original proposal would have required all federal workers to
bear more of the costs of their own retirements, but Democrats
representing Maryland, that tony little suburb of Leviathan, shrieked.
The compromise instead will cover only new hires.
Overreach: Obamacare vs. the Constitution
The trick is that these birth control/abortion services will supposedly be provided independently and free of charge by the religious institution’s insurance company. But this changes none of the moral calculus. Holy Cross Hospital, for example, is still required by law to engage an insurance company that is required by law to provide these doctrinally proscribed services to all Holy Cross employees.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Get the Fed out of the housing market
Break up Fannie and Freddie into pieces no longer too large to fail
Illustration by William Brown A stable dollar and prices are consistent with maximum sustainable job and wealth creation. However, the Fed’s dual mandate to pursue full employment and price stability has given it license to meddle in the economy to boost short-term employment, with disastrous consequences. The Fed’s recent politicking for more government intervention in the housing market is a clarion reminder that Congress should remove the central bank’s authority to manage job growth.
Sanctions may be changing Iran’s nuke plans
Sanctions may be changing Iran’s nuke plans
Tehran offers to resume U.N. talks
Iran’s leaders “may be changing their mind” about pressing ahead with their nuclear program in the teeth of international sanctions, the U.S. intelligence chief told senators Thursday.
Tehran has offered to resume stalled talks with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, according to a letter from its chief nuclear negotiator reported by Agence France-Presse.
News of the letter came a day after Iranian leaders proclaimed new progress in creating nuclear fuel rods and threatened to cut oil exports to six European nations in retaliation for new European Union sanctions.
Calling news of the Iranian offer “interesting,” Director of National IntelligenceJames Clapper said it might be evidence that international sanctions are having an effect on Tehran’s decision-making about its nuclear program.
Greece and the euro From tragedy to farce
From tragedy to farce
by J.R.
HAPPY
endings were never much of a feature of classical Greek tragedies.
Talks around a further bail-out of Greece have run the gamut of modern
literary genres, taking in drama and thriller. Now they seem headed for
farce.On February 14th a meeting of finance ministers in the euro area was postponed when it became apparent that not all Greece’s main political parties were willing to pledge to honour tough new conditions demanded in return for a bail-out. A day later Antonis Samaras of the New Democracy party reversed course and wrote to the European Commission and International Monetary Fund promising to implement the austerity measures if his party wins a general election in April. On the streets of Greece, meanwhile, protestors have continued to demonstrate against the planned spending cuts. Events have taken an ugly turn, with some protestors burning the German flag while some right-wing newspapers have cast Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, as a Nazi.
A dark day in America
LightSquared
by M.G. | SAN FRANCISCO
AMERICAN
telecoms firms are clamouring for more wireless spectrum. Hence the
interest in LightSquared, a firm which had hoovered up a chunk of
airwaves formerly used by satellite operators. It planned to build a
high-speed terrestrial network and rent it out to others. But on
February 14th America’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said no.Blood, Gore and capitalism
Sustainable capitalism
by M.B. | NEW YORK
THESE are busy days for Al Gore. In late January, the former vice-president turned climate-change warrior took to the high seas, leading a luxury cruise-cum-fact-finding mission to Antarctica for a bunch of billionaires and policy wonks. They were to see for themselves the melting ice shelf and enjoy what remains of the spectacular views. Then, on February 15th, he was in New York to launch a manifesto (pdf) for what he calls “sustainable capitalism”.
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