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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…