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One Down, Six to Go!
Oh the Worries of Our Modern Malthusians! In Washington this week, the Anarctica and Arctic Councils met for…
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Interview with Sam Kazman on the Auto Bailout
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Credit card debt drops in February
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Rise of the Luddites
When it comes to things such as environmental policy, the Progressives have been rather successful at promoting their world view. They realized that it would…
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India calls carbon tariffs protectionist
At the Bonn, Germany, UN meetings on global warming issues, India urged rich countries not to use “green” protectionism by imposing carbon tariffs on…
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GASPing at the Geithner-Summers Plan
Like the acronym for the Geithner and Summers Plan — GASP — in the article by Laurence J Kotlikoff and Jeffrey Sachs. And “gasp”…
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DeSmogBlog: What About Me?
Yesterday DeSmogBlog added 7 more entries to its Global Warming Denier Database, which is touted as “an extensive database of individuals involved in the…
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Salt of the earth
Many people believe that salt is bad for your health, but John Tierney’s column today in the New York Times points out the body…
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The Growing Chorus against Foreign Aid
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O’Grady takes on the Obama administration’s approach to foreign aid, which, she argues, amounts merely to maintaining…
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Lincoln To Vote No on Card Check
Arkansas Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln announced today that she will oppose the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, also known as teh “card check” bill.
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LibertyWeek 37: Slicin’ and Dyson
Your host Richard Morrison sits down this week with special guest co-hosts Michelle Minton and William Yeatman for LibertyWeek 37 (regular co-host Cord Blomquist…
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Myron Ebell on Cap and Trade
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A Bounty on Your 401(K)
The Obama Administration’s mortgage bailout for irresponsible borrowers (including wealthy borrowers with modest mortgage payments) provides a bounty for reckless sub-prime mortgage lenders…
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The newest altruist: Fidel Castro
“The financial crisis is not the only problem. There’s another worse one, because it has to do not with the means of production and distribution…
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“Newspapers are dying; Are universities next?”
Wikinomics warns that non-elite colleges risk the same plight now facing newspapers. Rarely do the dominant industries lead innovation, and in the case of…
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Crucial Military Votes Excluded in New York Special Election
The outcome of a special Congressional election in New York’s 20th Congressional District will likely turn on the illegal exclusion of up to 1,000…
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That G20 Communique
Yesterday’s communiqué from the leaders of the G20 – a motley collection of democracies and dictatorships – has some good points, but in general…
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Climate alarmists call for more groupthink
Nothing is more Orwellian than quoting Orwell to attack freedom of thought and discussion. Today’s ClimateWire (subscription required) provides a case in point. “Scientists need…
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Regulation of Local, Non-Interstate, Non-Commercial Conduct OK’d
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The mark-to-market relief rally
The events leading to the Dow’s climbing over 8000 today can be properly called the Mark-to-Market Relief Rally. More than any expected action of the…
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Could carbon capture and storage keep the lights on in a carbon-constrained future?
Only if the costs decline dramatically, a recent Congressional Research Service report suggests, as I discuss here. Currently, the costs of carbon capture…
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Markets Rally on Hopes of Regulatory Relief
The stock market has gone up by 280 points so far today, fueled by FASB’s vote to relax rigid mark-to-market accounting rules,…
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What would it take to reduce CO2 levels to 350 ppm?
“Climate 350”–for 350 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere–is fast becoming the new mantra of Gorethodox believers in climate doom and…
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Senate votes to kill cap-and-trade?
Well, not overtly, but the Senate voted 89-8 for an amendment to the Fiscal year 2010 budget resolution (S. Con Res. 13), introduced by…
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Obama Follows in Hoover’s Footsteps
During the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover damaged the economy, and impoverished the American people, with costly, artificial attempts to stimulate the economy through…
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LibertyWeek 36: We Go Green
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Energy bill — “first shot” in carbon trade war?
In the wake of the release of the Waxman-Markey energy bill, many commenters have pointed to the drastic restrictions on domestic energy use to…
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Bill Giving D.C. a Congressman Is Unconstitutional
A bill that would give residents of Washington, D.C. a Congressman is unconstitutional, lawyers in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded. But…
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Virginia Postrel on Her Own Brush with Cost-Effective Drug Research
One letter writer argues that Herceptin was a poor example because "Multiple cost-effectiveness analyses have shown that, despite its high cost, Herceptin is both effective…
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“Robbery of the American People”
“Nobel Prize-winning liberal economist Joseph Stiglitz points out that the Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s plan to have the government subsidize investments in ‘toxic assets’ creates…
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Verizon, AT&T See the Regulation Writing On The Wall
AT&T and Verizon are indicating that there is a chance that they will not seek funds from the broadband stimulus portion…
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AIG Chief Loves Vicious Left-Wing Terrorist?
AIG Financial Products CEO Gerry Pasciucco wears a T-shirt emblazoned with the face of Che Guevara — the Cuban “revolutionary” and henchman of Fidel…
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The EEOC: “The Fox Guarding the Henhouse”
“The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, responsible for ensuring that the nation’s workers are treated fairly, has itself willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act…
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Capitalist-David rally versus Goliath-protests for Socialism
During the G20 summit something like 40,000 plus protesters slated to descend upon London. Of that number, there is a small but growing and…
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Organic Pesticides Fail EU Safety Review
Ask people who buy organic food what they like about it, and chances are, most will say "they're grown without pesticides." That's not actually true.
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Billions More for Failed Bailouts
Ironically, by getting rid of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, the Obama Administration has made it even harder for it to demand the painful…
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Cap-and-trade and carbon tariffs — the economic downside
Today the lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal takes a hard look at some of the negative economic consequences of touted cap-and-trade programs…
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With or Without You
The Obama administration's ouster of GM CEO Rick Wagoner won't solve the auto giant's problems. It does, however, show the power that government now wields…
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GM CEO to Resign
The President seems to think that GM is not fit to run itself. Given recent events, he may well be right. But how on earth…
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Torture Caused Bogus Orange Alerts
Many of those bogus orange alerts that inconvenienced and alarmed travelers since 9/11 had an unsavory source: torture. The Bush Administration, with the tacit…
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Have you subscribed to OpenMarket yet?
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Netflix Neutrality
A little over a week ago, Netflix was berated by a user who assumed that the company was throttling his…
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TGIF whimsy: some Metrobus observations
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Policymakers’ letter asks tough questions re carbon tariffs
Yesterday Ranking Members of both two House committees and two subcommittees wrote to the new U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and asked him to…
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Take away their credit card
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Bad News: Scientists Make Cheap Gas from Coal
This funny headline is the title of a column in the March 26 issue of Wired Science. “Scientists have devised a new way to…
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Celebrate Human Achievement Hour
While the lights go out around the world tomorrow for "Earth Hour," join the Competitive Enterprise Institute in a new counter-holiday: Human Achievement Hour.
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Feds Make Freddie Mac Even Worse, Ripping Off Taxpayers
After federal regulators took over failing mortgage giant Freddie Mac, they didn’t stop its risky lending practices. Instead, they ramped up its risk-taking, making it…
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UNITE-HERE Civil War Sets Up AFL-CIO vs. SEIU Confrontation
Like the Cold War-era Third World civil wars in which the superpowers would fight each other by proxy, the increasingly bitter row within UNITE-HERE…
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Utah Gov. Vetoes Bad Gaming Bill, Self-Regulation Triumphs
Last night, the first amendment, self-regulation, consumers, parents, entrepreneurs, gamers, and business won a huge victory in Utah. In early March, I posted about the…
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Can he terminate protectionism?
It seemed like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t have guts, despite his super-macho screen image. Yesterday, however, he wrote to members of the California…
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Losing talent in these perilous times
We’re beginning to see the talent exodus from TARP-funded financial institutions. Yesterday in an op-ed Jake DeSantis of AIG-Financial Products wrote his “resignation letter”…
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Reverse Tea Party to Reverse Freedom?
This says it all: Green groups held a “reverse tea party” by dumping bottled water (minus the bottles of course) into the Boston Harbor.
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Geithner Seeks More Power to Ruin Our Economy
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner wants a “vast expansion” of his power over the financial system. This is the same guy whose bungled…
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Obama’s Policies Are “A Road to Hell,” European Leader Says
“The president of the European Union on Wednesday slammed U.S. plans to spend its way out of recession as ‘a road to hell.’…
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Post-Modern Food Fetish
There’s very little that’s romantic about keeping a big backyard garden, and less still about the actual practice of producing meaningful amounts of food. But,…
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$2 Trillion Tax from Obama: Hidden Costs of “Cap-and-Trade” Scheme
Obama’s proposed “cap-and-trade” carbon tax on energy use and utility bills is expected to raise up to $2 trillion, more than the $646 billion…
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Osorio: Specter Says ‘No’ on Card Check
An update from our very own Ivan Osorio: Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) is expected to announce this afternoon that he plans to vote against…
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Toxic-Asset Buy-Up: “Pure Plunder”?
People who have actually read the fine print of the Administration’s trillion-dollar toxic asset buy-up program don’t like it. One calls it “pure plunder.”…
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LibertyWeek 35: Dodd Man Out?
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Obama for global financial governance?
With the G-20 meeting looming in the midst of a worldwide recession, President Barack Obama sent an essay published today in about 30 newspapers…
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Toxic Asset Rip-Off
Obama is proposing that the Treasury provide loans up front and insurance against potential losses on the back end. It’s what Paul Krugman called "heads…
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Human Achievement Hour
This week CEI announced the creation of Human Achievement Hour (HAH) to be celebrated at 8:30pm on March 28th 2009 (the same time and…
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U.S. Chamber unveils NIMBY Watch Web site
Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce unveiled a NIMBY-Watch Web site called Project No Project . With case studies from more than 30 states, Project…
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“Heads I win, Tails the Taxpayers Lose”: Toxic Asset Rip-Off
That’s how analysts describe the trillion-dollar toxic-asset buy-up program proposed this weekend by the Obama Administration: “the president is putting forth his idea to…
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Alarmists turn blind eye to global warming benefits–again
Tomorrow, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the national security threats from melting Arctic ice. Greenwire (subscription required), the Online environmental news…
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Blind to Obama’s Broken Promises
In 2008, Obama promised a “net spending cut” (although he never did come up with cuts to offset his proposed spending increases). Obama…
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Fishing for Rationality in the Beauty Salon
Thinking of getting one of those cool new “fish pedicures”? Well, you’d better act fast. 14 states have already banned the process. But a member…
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Regarding the Economics of Environmentalism, A Response to CAP’s Brad Johnson
it, either. So it seems there is some uncertainty on global warming. What is certain, however, is that reducing emissions also reduces economic growth, by…
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Obama Budget Explodes Debt, Taxes, CBO Admits
Obama’s budget would explode the national debt while increasing taxes. That’s the conclusion of the Congressional Budget Office, controlled by lawmakers who support…
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Herbert W. Obama
In the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover raised marginal tax rates to 63%, and went on a deficit spending binge. He also signed…
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Will talent flee to the City?
A different take on possible effects of lawmakers’ rabble-rousing on TARP bonuses. Jeffrey Goldfarb at breakingviews.com says that driving out talented financial…
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“Going Galt”– 90 percent tax may provide impetus
Already there’s confusion over what the 90 percent bonus tax bill passed by the House really means. Targeted at the AIG bonuses,…
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No “hysteria” about trade — just some facts
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A Cynical Poison-Pill Bill
Yesterday, liberal lawmakers, after publicly blasting the multi-million dollar AIG bonuses as undeserved and excessive, privately voted down GOP proposals to limit them.
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The AIG Tax Trojan Horse
The massive tax hike being voted on in the House today is a Trojan horse that uses the legitimate outrage over the American International…
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CO2 regulation under the Clean Air Act: Economic Train Wreck, Constitutional Crisis, Legislative Thuggery
Last week, EPA leaked a Power Point presentation revealing that the agency plans on April 30 to propose a finding that “air pollution” from emissions…
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NYT soft-balls trade protectionism
A New York Times editorial today urges the Obama Administration to take a stronger role in supporting open trade, more specifically, to reinstate the…
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A Global Green New Deal – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Showing that he believes Al Gore’s typical misunderstanding that the Chinese word for crisis is made up of the characters for threat and opportunity (…
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AIG Lies; Bonuses for Fannie & Freddie; Fed Explodes Money Supply, Risks Stagflation
It’s not just AIG, being bailed out for $170 billion, that’s using taxpayer money to give fat bonuses to its employees. The same thing is…
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Show Your Work!
Fiona Harvey of the FT is one of the better journalists covering the environmental beat, but I’m afraid that is a bit like saying that…
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Barack Obama v. Warren Buffett on the Economy
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Ron Kirk confirmed as USTR — vowed trade “enforcement”
The U.S. has a new U.S. Trade Representative — former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk. Kirk was confirmed by the Senate today in a 92-5…
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Tit-for-tat: Tariffs and trucks
It’s no empty threat — Mexico will be slapping high tariffs on almost one hundred U.S. products beginning tomorrow, according to its economy minister. …
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Carbon mitigation schemes are inherently protectionist
Thanks, Fran, for blogging on the carbon tariff threat to the peace and prosperity of the world. We should all remember that carbon…
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Postmodern Union-on-Union Fight
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is being denounced by a group of its own employees for doing, well, nothing wrong or illegal, but something…
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More on carbon tariffs
For more on the insanity of carbon tariffs, there’s an excellent 2008 article by the National Post’s Terence Corcoran appropriately titled “Blowing up the…
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Carbon tariffs quid pro quo?
Just as the World Bank put out a report on increased trade protectionism in the world, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu…
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Hypocritical Posturing By Obama Over AIG Bonuses
In response to public outrage, Obama is belatedly criticizing the millions of dollars in bonuses that AIG, which is being bailed by taxpayers at a…
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LibertyWeek 34: Michelle Minton Conquers the World
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Left-Wing Attorney General Ashamed of End to Discrimination
A federal appeals court recently upheld an injunction barring a county official from continuing to prevent people from voting based on their race. The unanimous…
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Mexico wants to keep on trucking
Mexico said it would impose tariffs on about 90 U.S. exports in retaliation for a recent bill that violates the North America Free Trade…
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With news coverage like this…
…does organized labor need a PR operation? In today’s Politico, Jeanne Cummings repeats — without qualification — the half-truth that supporters of the so-called…
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Economic Illiteracy’s Here Again
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Bailouts for Liars, Illegal Aliens, and Undeserved Bonuses
Insurance giant AIG, bailed out by taxpayers for $170 billion, is using taxpayer money to pay executives in the division that brought…
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Online gambling increases despite “ban”
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The Socialism that Dare not Speak its Name
“Socialism” is dead, according to Matthew Dallek, writing in the Politico. I put the term in quotes, because what Dallek defines as socialism is…
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An Explosion of Litigation
Already burdened by $8 trillion in new federal spending commitments and the likelihood of higher taxes to pay for bailouts,…
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Obama on Earmarks and Pork-Barrel Spending
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States Revolt against Card Check
State legislators are unhappy about the prospect of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) being imposed on their constituents’ businesses. That was a central…