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LibertyWeek 13: Scandal Watch
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Sullivan: Blogs Are “More Alive”
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That $800 Billion
So what has Paulson done so far with your $800 billion? He’s rewarded his friends, of course. $70 BILLION has gone to executives and…
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More Trade Means More Peace
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They’re In The Money
We’re hearing from a variety of sources that Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, has agreed in principle to be Obama’s Treasury Secretary.
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Claptrap About the Supreme Court
Every employment lawyer knows that employees can sue over pay discrimination years after it happens. There’s a three-year deadline under the Equal Pay Act, a…
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What Taxes Are In Our Future?
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National Debt Clock Out of Space
In 1989 Manhattan real estate developer erected the national debt clock near Times Square. The total was “only” $2.7 trillion.
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Bernanke testifies on possible fiscal stimulus package
Signals that the government’s not finished with its bailout plans — this time downstream stimulus. In testimony today before the House Budget Committee…
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Understanding the GSEs’ Role in the Mixed Economy
I'm not sure why Matthew Yglesias chose to adopt the unpleasant leftist tactic of beginning an argument with insult ("conservatives don't know anything about…
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There’s No Messiah
I live in Arlington, Virginia, a liberal stronghold. Children are told that “Republicans are ‘bad and evil’” at school. On a daily…
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Chicken soup for the soul — and high blood pressure
A food and health tip for these trying times: we all know that chicken soup is good for the soul . . . and for…
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Liberal Politician’s Lawsuit Against God Dismissed
Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers’ lawsuit against God has been thrown out of court because God couldn’t be served papers informing him of Chambers’…
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We don’t need no stinking safety valve!
If elected President, Barack Obama will give EPA the green light to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act, Bloomberg.com…
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Should the Government “Share” Your Wealth With Others?
Senator Barack Obama says that we need to "spread the wealth around." But whose wealth, and to whom? A cynic once observed that a…
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Bailouts Aggravate Economic Crisis
In the Washington Post, Peter Schiff describes how politicians spawned the current financial crisis. "Our leaders irrationally promoted home-buying, discouraged savings, and recklessly encouraged…
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“One of The Great Success Stories of All Time”
While conservatives are angry about a number of things at the moment, they should be at least as angry that the Congressional Democrats who helped…
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New Regulation in MD a Halloween “trick”?
Unfortunately, this is not a Halloween joke— the Maryland Parole and Probation Division is completely serious. Sex offenders in Maryland are being told that…
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LibertyWeek 12: Hard Times in the Heartland
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Liberals Against Libertarians
That liberals wish libertarians to go away is, perhaps, not surprising. But the issue is much more serious…
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Unstoppable SuperState Stimulus, Part 2
Today’s Wall Street Journal highlighted a new $300 political stimulus campaign. Keynesian demand-management has re-conquered economics as surely as Fall 2008 has cemented…
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Green Spin and Bottled Water
Americans are well aware of the power of political “spin” during election years. But political spin is nothing compared to “green spin,” perpetrated by environmental…
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Putting my money where Chevron’s mouth is
Chevron has plastered a series of posters all over the Washington, D.C. metro system as part of an…
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Cheney Diagnosed with an Abnormal Heart Rhythm
The 67-year old Vice President will be undergoing an outpatient procedure — an electrical shock — to restore his normal rhythm today at George…
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I’m Sorry, Your Candidate Is in Another Castle
The presidential campaign of a certain U.S. senator has just expanded the bounds of the political advertising universe with in-game ads inside popular EA…
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FCC Might Actually Roll Back an Outdated Regulation!
If you wanted to communicate over long distances in real-time 25 years ago, you had little choice but to rely on your local phone company…
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Stopping “Badvertising” at Yahoogle.
As an indicator of how perverse wealth-draining antitrust policy has become, have a look at the “concessions” being squeezed out of Google and Yahoo…
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The New U.S. Economy
How do you find work as a financial wizard today? My friend and former colleague Radley Balko posts a video that captures the…
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Private Jet Travel for Me, But Not for Thee
Steve Milloy and Neil Hrab, both friends of the Institute, have picked up on the amazing travel opportunity (mentioned in today’s…
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It wasn’t bailout that caused Monday’s market surge — 3 other factors
Since the $700 billion bailout was first proposed, whatever the stock markets did, much of the press took that as a sign that the market…
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Let Uncle Sam’s People Go!
One of most outrageous features of the federal social welfare state is that Uncle Sam doesn’t want you to be independent. For instance, if you would…
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British Health (Mis)Care: No Complaints Allowed
The British government has found the right strategy to cut down on complaints about the National Health Service–convince patients that nothing can be done. Then…
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Being Male Is a Disability Under ADA, Says Prominent Lawyer
Earlier, I wrote about how I legally qualified as disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act because of my difficulty sleeping and (in the past)…
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The Swiss are Nuts … About Plants’ Rights, Anyway
I've visited Switzerland several times. I've always believe the Swiss to be rational, level-headed people. Far more sober than so many Europeans. They've managed to…
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The international mark-to-market contagion — sending global markets in a downward
Bailouts. Global interest rate cuts. More bailouts. Global government liquidity injections into banks. Direct government buying of commercial paper. And even more types of bailouts.
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Latin America Should be on Washington’s Agenda
Yesterday, Nelson Cunningham, one of the panelists at a Hudson Institute conference on Latin America's “Radical Populism Challenge” commented that it is better that the…
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Voter Fraud in Virginia Abetted by ACLU
People openly boast about fraudulently registering to vote in Virginia, a swing state, even though they actually live, and are registered to vote,…
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Is Iceland the New “Cuba of the North”?
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What ever happened to cut-throat politics?
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The World is About to End … Again!
Climate alarmists are in good company. After all, for centuries at least, and probably since the beginning of humanity, some people have worried about the imminent…
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The Wonders of Socialized Health Care, Number 8,977
Ameirca’s health care system is messed up. Agreed. It is a bizarre amalgam of public and private, with government spending and tax policy creating counterproductive…
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Close Seven-Eleven! Save the Planet!
Japanese cities are dotted with Seven-Eleven stores, which typically are open 24 hours. They are wonderfully convenient. In September I attended a Mont Pelerin Society…
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Obama denigrates Delaware in debate
Poor little Delaware. In every presidential election since 1992, she has been in the “blue” column voting for the Democratic candidate. She has long had…
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In Goldman Sachs We Trust?
In the current issue of the Capital Research Center’s newsletter Foundation Watch, Fred Lucas looks into the historically cozy relationship that finance giant Goldman…
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More Bailouts on the Way
At last night’s debate, Senator McCain floated a horrible idea: to have the government buy up bad mortgages and then write off part of…
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Global Warming Alarmists Want Entire World to Become Cuba
If you looked around the world today, you probably wouldn’t say the top problem was people eating too much meat and drinking too much milk. …
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Hank Paulson’s Phishing Scheme
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Shock, Shock … the Climate Catastrophe Lobby is Telling Fibs
This undoubtedly will shock readers, but the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has a tendency to shade the truth. And only in one direction. It…
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NEW VIDEO: Global Warming and Eco-Imperialism
Coming from the UK, CEI Senior Fellow Iain Murray knows a little something about the history of political empires. Today, however, we find ourselves…
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Sketch Pulled from SNL focused on the Wall Street Bailout
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Quotes of the Day
Arnold Kling: Instead of thinking of the pending bailouts and financial regulation as a new era of government supervisions of markets, think of it…
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Deregulation Wasn’t to Blame for Financial Crisis
Even the reliably-liberal BBC says that deregulation wasn’t the cause of the financial crisis. Other liberal journalists like Washington Post columnist Sebastian Mallaby have…
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EverBank Can Multiply Your Financial Woes
Is any of our readers an expert on banking laws and customs? The reason I ask is that recently, EverBank World Markets, after agreeing to…
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Neither carrots nor sticks II
Further to my earlier post on Latin America, The Wall Street Journal‘s Mary O’Grady points to a good way for the U.S. to…
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Neither carrots nor sticks
Few things are as exasperating as watching two sides argue — and neither rise above being half-right, at best. Still, the resulting exchange in this…
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The Bailout will cost 20% of the entire current budget
My Calculations: The 2007 federal outlays from fiscal year 2007 were 2.73 trillion. The 700 billion is to be allocated before Dec 31, 2009…
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Lehman Bros hearing — Rep. Maloney blames deregulation, ignores her own role as Fannie’s enabler
At the hearing being held today by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in which former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld is now…
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Bailout Dangerously Concentrates Power, Harms Economy
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“All the sanctimony without all the effort”
Thus sums up Buck Strickland his love of carbon offsets in last night’s new episode of “King of the Hill.” Buck, owner of Strickland…
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Election Season Gives Me Imaginary Relatives
The upcoming election has given me new relatives, all of them imaginary. The Obama campaign’s get-out-the-vote operation calls my house on an almost daily basis, trying…
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All of the bailouts are expected to $1.8 trillion and we get “green credits” and IRS fun!
Thanks to Declan McCullagh for his article that highlights the non-financial portions of the bailout. Particularly useful is his chart (with information from Reuters)…
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Market down on bailout — Don’t compound damage with overregulation of ‘Main Street’
Today -- five days after a courageous independent vote against Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's $700 billion bailout for Wall Street -- the U.S. House of…
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Better Lifestyle Bureau?
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Bash the Bailout: Government is Not the Answer
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Carbon audit: Can we turn this threat into an opportunity?
Section 117 of the just-passed bailout bill requires a "carbon audit" of the tax code. The provision requires the Secretary of the Treasury,…
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CEI President Issues Statement on the Bailout
Statement of Fred L. Smith, Jr., President of CEI: The bailout bill that passed the Senate is no improvement over the bill the House rightly…
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Bailout Bill Grows More Bloated, Ignoring Alternatives
There are alternative approaches to the bailout that would cost taxpayers less. But instead, Congress is expanding the bailout bill to stuff it with more…
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Kling hits secondary market — misses benefits
Arnold Kling hits the creation of the secondary market for mortgage loans as the major factor -- 50 percent — causing…
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Bailout Bill Gets More Expensive and Dangerous
The politically dangerous $700 billion financial system bailout bill is getting even more expensive as supporters load it up with pork to get wavering…
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Duplicating Bailout efforts
ACORN is speaking against it—maybe it will actually help! This past summer Congress passed “Hope for Homeowners” which took effect Monday. Distressed borrowers can…
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Bureaucrash Launches New Social Networking Site
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Life’s two certainties (being sold out by the Swiss may be one of them)
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Why the Bailout Won’t Help Money Markets
It will actually divert money to the Treasury from commercial lending. Naked Capitalism has more, concluding: When Paulson dumps out his 700 billion in…
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Bailout Bill Is A Threat to Democracy
At least in its original form, the $700 billion bailout bill was unconstitutional because it gave the Treasury Secretary boundless discretion to buy, or…
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Deregulation Didn’t Cause the Financial Crisis, But It Might Help Solve It
Banking expert Peter Wallison explains why deregulation didn’t cause the financial crisis, while Steven Malanga explains how government regulators foolishly pressured banks to drop prudent lending…
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CDS’s House of Cards
It’s been called a ticking time bomb by Investor’s Business Daily. CNNMoney asks if this will be the next disaster. Yet the Feds…
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Another bad bailout idea — raising deposit insurance cap is regressive and counterproductive
As the Wall Street crisis has expanded, politicians are falling all over themselves arguing on behalf of the “little guy” against “fat cats.” But in…
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Let’s Eliminate PMI-As-We-Know-It
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SEC Loosens Rigid Accounting Rules
Rigid mark-to-market accounting rules may have triggered the current financial crisis by artificially undervaluing mortgages and securities (making financial institutions appear insolvent). Even the…
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The Market’s Winners and Losers
The People have spoken. They have picked the Market over the Government to be the chooser of winners and losers. Here are the Market’s choices…
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What Are Markets For?
There are all sorts of people today who normally talk about free markets but who have got themselves into a tizzy over the failed bailout.
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Republican Study Commitee plan now best viable alternative
The stunning defeat of the Hank Paulson’s socialism-for-Wall Street bailout on Monday has just made planks of a pro-free market alternative much more viable. As…
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Bailout fails — Move on to Mark-to-Market Reform
Oh, Happy Day! And it certainly is for all those who value freedom, responsibility and the true free market in which individuals are free to…
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Investing in Communal Failure: The Current Economic Crisis as a Result of Regulation
Unfettered greed is the suspect many point at to explain the current economic crisis. To some extent, they are right, but it isn't irrational…
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Stocks Climb as House Rejects Bailout
Though the bill may have been defeated for the wrong reasons—like the lack of freebies, giveaways, and handouts that many on the left had hoped…
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BREAKING NEWS: Bailout Vote Fails in House
The House of Representatives just voted down the $700 billion corporate finance bailout, despite earlier urging from President Bush to push the measure…
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LibertyWeek 9: Ballparks & Bailouts
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Bailout Bill Just Got Worse, But Congress May Approve It Without Reading It, Based on Misleading Claims
The bailout bill has been larded up with additional welfare that will increase its cost, but the House will likely approve it today without…
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Bailouts to local govts and also foreign authorities
Andy McCarthy on National Review’s Corner points out, The scheme “[a]llows the government to purchase troubled assets from pension plans, local governments, and small…
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$700 billion to worsen economy? — Berlau in American Spectator
Here are excerpts from my story in today’s American Spectator Online on how the $700 billion bailout could actually make things worse — in terms…
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Hurry up with that exchange
Credit default swaps remain a large part of this financial crisis, with some analysts crediting the failures in the $58 trillion market as more important…
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Bailout Gets More Costly Due to “Bipartisan” Deal; Foolish Limits on Foreclosure Should Be Removed
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Bailout Pushes Affirmative Action After “Diverse” Bank Collapses
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Remove ACORN Slush Fund from Bailout Bill
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Beachcombing on the Bailout
Here are a few treasures I found this morning: Kathryn Jean Lopez on National Review Online points out that some of the 20% of…
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Bailout Bill Drafted by Senator Dodd Is a Scam on Taxpayers to Bankroll Left-Wing Extremists
The $700 billion bailout of the financial system just got worse, thanks to a rewrite by Senate banking committee chairman Chris Dodd. If the government…
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Le Schadenfreude?
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Welfare Added to Bailout to Appease Liberals
The cost of the $700 billion bailout bill, criticized as unconstitutional by legal scholars, is rising, as Congressional leaders demand new handouts for deadbeats (and…
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More, thicker, and earlier Arctic Ice
Where was the press release from National Snow and Ice Data Center? In the past they had these breathless ones: “Arctic Sea Ice Reaches Lowest…
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Bailout Bill Is Unconstitutional Delegation
Constitutional experts have concluded that that the $700 billion bailout bill is an unconstitutional delegation of power, in violation of constitutional separation-of-powers safeguards. I earlier reached the…