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Obamacare’s subsidy cliff: How many enrollees are actually affected?
Democrats in Congress have put Obamacare front and center in their opposition to the Republicans’ temporary budget. One provision of the American Rescue Plan…
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Closing the window on public media funding
A door has closed, but windows remain open. Recently, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced that it would discontinue operations in light of…
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Sovereign wealth funds: Should governments invest in private businesses?
President Trump recently signed an executive order to study creating a sovereign wealth fund for the US government. If the proposal comes to pass,…
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Filling the Federal Money Hole
The Onion explains Washington, D.C. to those Americans who still have a naive civics class view of government. Why is it important to continue filling…
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Credit Spiral
So, say you've had a good relationship with a credit card company and been paying off substantially more than minimum payment over recent months. You've…
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Barack Obama Wants to Cut the Budget
Like, oh, maybe 40 of the presidents before him, Barack Obama says that he wants to cut out wasteful programs. At least George W. Bush,…
Newsletter
Citigroup Bailout, Sexual Harassment and Union Elections
The U.S. government promises an additional $20 billion to bail out banking giant Citigroup. The Supreme Court considers a case that could dramatically expand the…
Blog
America the Ungovernable
With respect to the ongoing series of bailouts, my colleague Iain Murray pointed out that some sensible British commentators note that one of the ways…
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Bailout Turning All Banks into Freddie/Fannie
Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae were the catalyst for our current financial crisis. By buying up risky sub-prime mortgages, Freddie & Fannie encouraged banks…
Newsletter
Obama’s Treasury Pick, Waxman’s Chairmanship and the Big Tobacco Deal
President-Elect Obama prepares to nominate New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) wins control of the powerful…
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the libertarian movement
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Geithner choice is ‘more of the same’ — was Paulson’s bailout cohort
If news accounts are true, and Presidet-Elect Barack Obama has indeed decided on Timothy F. Geithner to be his Treasury Secretary nominee, it represents a…
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auto bailout
Op-Eds
Obama’s Clinton Problem
Republicans had many things going against them this election, but the financial market implosion in September proved to be the final blow that…
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America’s Other Auto Industry, the Successful One
CNN has a great story about the successful auto companies in America, namely those that aren’t named “GM,” “Chrysler,” or “Ford.” Turns out, folks…
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Too Bad Daschle Isn’t at SEC — Backed Sarbanes-Oxley Relief
President-Elect Barack Obama just nominated former Senate Democratic Leader Tom to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services. Much is being written about Daschle…
Blog
The Least Objectionable Legislator Award
My occasional "Least Objectionable Legislator Award" today goes to Michele Bachmann (R-MN) for a solid statement at today's hearings on the Bailout on Wheels,…
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auto industry bailout
Blog
To Blame Laissez-Faire, Anti-Market Media Must Do Better
Like many of us at CEI, it looks like my former boss Phil Gramm isn't interested in helping anybody pretend that today's financial crisis was…
Newsletter
White House Summit, Auto Bailout and Oil Drilling
Leaders of twenty nations gather at the White House to discuss the global financial downturn. Lawmakers prepare to debate a financial…
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the economy
Blog
Were Lada factories this bad?
As the Senate prepares to debate the proposed $25 billion bailout bill for the Big Three Detroit automakers, it’s worth pointing out — as…
Blog
How Not to Solve a Crisis
…is the title of a useful contribution to the discussion from the International Policy Network in London and the Lion Rock Institute in Hong…
Blog
Battling Bail-Outs: A Little Backbone at Last?
After having voted for or passively accepted some $2 trillion in federal bail-outs, a few congressmen seem be growing uneasy with the lengthening soup-line. The…
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More on Deflation
Good stuff from Joseph Lawler at the American Spectator, defending Robert Samuelson from, err, Robert Samuelson. He concludes: No reasonable observer of government…
Blog
License to Print Money. Literally.
The threat of deflation is so big in the UK, where they have found their version of the financial crisis worsened by the weakness of…
Blog
No to Union Auto Bailouts and Voter Fraud
USA Today has an editorial opposing a massive proposed bailout for the automakers. The automakers would be leaner, more efficient, and more able to…
Newsletter
Freezing Regulations, Attorney General Prospects and Bailing Out Detroit
President Elect Obama meets with his team of economic advisors. Controversial law professor Charles Ogletree is mentioned as a possible nominee for Attorney General. Detroit’s…
Blog
Bail-Outs for Bonuses
You have to love the timing. The federal government gives Wall Street billions of dollars just in time for Wall Street to pay out billions…
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The More Government Loot Available, the More Looters Who Come to Washington
There are endless attempts to "clean up" politics--limiting campaign contributions, restricting lobbyists, and the like--as if the problem is a few self-interested individuals who want…
Blog
Detroit Broke City
In his CBSNews.com column today, CNet's Declan McCullagh makes a good case against bailing out the Detroit Big Three. As he rightly points out,…
Blog
To President-Elect Obamaâ€â€Freeze Gov’t Regulations this Winter
Yesterday I called for a major “Deregulatory Stimulus.” Alongside---with financial, health care, energy efficiency, “green job” and other mandates likely in an Obama Administration---the…
Newsletter
A Second Stimulus, Federal Lands and Al Gore’s Failure
Obama’s transition team denies rumors of a political fight over a second federal stimulus plan. Lawmakers prepare to vote on a bill to bring more…
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In mortgage modifications, property rights of investors must be respected
Today, in addition to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's expected announcement of a major mortgage modification plan through the $700 billion TARP, Barney Frank's House Financial…
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The Economic Change We Need
I have an article on that very subject over at NRO today. Check it out!…
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Reject political stimulus, embrace “Deregulatory Stimulus.” And do it FAST.
Facing an economic downturn and an election, politicians of both parties sought to stimulate consumer demand—and some business investment—through political action. They promised that if…
Newsletter
White House Transition, More Bailouts and Power Struggles in Congress
George W. Bush and Barack Obama hold transition talks at the White House. Auto manufacturers continue their push for their own federal bailout. Two senior…
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Comments from the real world
Here's some insightful comments from Thomas Haynes, a friend of CEI's: There's a very interesting debate that could be conducted on who's…
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The Dingell-Waxman fight and climate change
At the same time President-Elect Barack Obama is supporting a bailout of the auto industry, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John…
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Bailout on Wheels Rolls Down Slippery Slope
Ah, that slippery slope. All of a sudden, Nancy Pelosi has come to the conclusion that ensuring union retirees receive large amounts of taxpayers’ money…
Blog
Bailouts Mushroom, Impoverishing Taxpayers
The federal government is expanding its bailout of AIG to $150 billion, well above its originally-predicted cost, and planning to bail out…
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the auto industry bailout
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AIG Uses My Money to Tell Me How Taking More of My Money Is Good for Me
Blog
An Agenda for the Monday a.m. Obama and Bush Meeting
Since the President and President-elect start spending quality Oval Office time together today, and since the incoming admistration's advisors can't settle on either pushing…
Op-Eds
Dealing with the Threat of Global Recession
Fred L. Smith Jr. and John Berlau on the upcoming Global Economic Summit: Governments should agree to a timetable to end the bailouts.
Blog
Obama Appoints Foul-Mouthed Freddie Mac Crony Chief of Staff
Obama has appointed as his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a former director of the failed government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac, which had to…
Blog
Redistributing Wealth, Simplified
It’s not fully clear what president-elect Obama plans to do on tax policy other than “redistribute” and make those families making over $250,000 pay their…
News Release
CEI Attacks Auto Industry Bailout Bonanza
Washington, D.C., November 7, 2008— Auto executives yesterday huddled with House Democrats to discuss a possible $25 billion loan to the industry, this on top of…
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Support for Bailout Killed McCain’s Chances
Dick Morris, Bill Clinton’s shrewd former adviser, explains that support for the Wall Street bailout killed McCain’s chances of being elected president: “Had McCain voted…
Op-Eds
Danny Finkelstein is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong about the US elections
Iain Murray is Director of Projects and Analysis at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think-tank in Washington DC. The…
Newsletter
E-voting, the Fairness Doctrine and Economic Unrest in Ecuador
Problems with electronic voting machines are reported in several states. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) argues for the re-imposition of the “Fairness Doctrine” for TV and…
Blog
Bailout: Where it all went wrong for McCain
Assuming, as most nonpartisan observers do, that Sen. Obama is walking away with this election today, it might behoove Republicans and their supporters to ask…
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Bear Stearns’ chief risk manager now at NY Fed
In an irony of ironies, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has hired Bear Stearns’ chief risk manager as a senior advisor…