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Free the Economy podcast: Understanding the national debt with Thomas Savidge
In this week’s episode we cover whether Americans feel better off than they were four years ago, why we have more billion-dollar…
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Can moderators ask debate questions that don’t presume a progressive policy agenda?
Numerous policy issues are shaping this year’s first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, as well as the entire campaign atmosphere. These include…
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Freddie Mac second mortgage funding could foment financial crisis
The 2008 mortgage meltdown and financial crisis never fails to be invoked whenever there is any pushback to excessive financial regulation. Progressives regularly bring up…
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Political Bailouts for Underfunded Union Pensions
While the nation's attention has focused on government employee unions' fight to retain their collective bargaining privileges, unions in the private sector are in an…
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Peter Diamond’s Nomination to Fed Benefits from Double Standard
Liberal economist Peter Diamond is likely to be confirmed to a powerful position, despite issues far more severe than those that blocked the confirmations of…
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Big Company With Ties to White House Paid No Taxes; GE Also Got Corporate Welfare and Bailout on Special Terms
“The top corporate tax rate in the United States is 35 percent, one of the highest in the world,” but General Electric, whose CEO was…
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The Obama Administration’s “Open Government” Empty Rhetoric
Liberal "open government" advocates are giving the president a medal for supposedly promoting "government transparency." He shares their liberal ideology, but not their alleged…
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Federal Government and State Attorneys General Push Arbitrary Mortgage Bailout
Back before the election, intellectuals with ties to the Obama administration proposed a trillion-dollar bailout for some (but not all) underwater mortgage borrowers, as…
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An End to Fannie and Freddie?
As has become tradition after a chamber or two changes hands, Congress is currently grappling over the extent of proposed budget cuts with the threat…
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Obama Administration Tries to Rip-Off Retirees in New Mortgage Bailout
The Obama administration is now working with state attorney generals to rip off pension funds to bail out mortgage borrowers who don’t even need help.
Op-Eds
Federal Government Pushes Massive Mortgage Bailout; Would Rip off Pension Funds, Bank Shareholders
Back before the election, intellectuals with ties to the Obama Administration proposed a trillion-dollar bailout for some (but not all) underwater mortgage borrowers, as a way…
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More Corporate Welfare on the Way?
Politico headline from today: "Qualcomm exec calls for small-business research funding." Alternative headline: "Businessman asks government to give money to businesses."…
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Michigan May Fire Salvo Against Regressive Debit Card Price Controls
In the battle against Obamacare, the shots heard ’round the world were resolutions against the law by state legislatures. These resolutions led to court cases that…
Citation
Freddie, Fannie May Be Finished, But What Comes Next?
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Politicans Using Crisis for Political Gain
Here is a letter to the editor responding to the New York Times editorial “Their Real Agenda”: The author claims politicians are using the…
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FDIC’s Pay Caps Will Keep Businesses on “Sidelines”
At 11:30, in a much-anticipated speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President Obama used Super Bowl analogies to urge American businesses to “get off the…
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Fannie Mae Backers Unrepentant Despite Its Fraud and Colossal Bailout
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were bailed out at a cost to taxpayers of between $148 billion and $363 billion. Their recklessness…
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California Businesses Vote With Their Feet
According to this report, 204 businesses left California for greener less green pastures in 2010. That is up from the 51 businesses which left in 2009. This…
Citation
Life’s Tough for $144,000 Garbage Collectors
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Will UAW Seek Foreign Help to Unionize American Workers?
America has a vibrant and successful auto industry — just largely outside of Detroit. For years, many foreign automakers’ American divisions have been successful at…
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Repeal Senseless and Job-Destroying Volcker Rule from Dodd-Frank
On Tuesday, the Financial Stability Oversight Council may issue its recommendations for implementing the Volcker Rule, the provision of the Dodd-Frank financial legislation that bans so-called proprietary trading…
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US Loses Ground in 2011 Index of Economic Freedom
The U.S. dropped from 8 to 9 on the just-released “Index of Economic Freedom” put out by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street…
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Dodd-Frank Financial “Reform” Violates Property Rights and Equal-Protection Guarantees
Last week, I described how the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” law passed last summer violates constitutional separation-of-powers safeguards by giving unaccountable bureaucrats the…
Op-Eds
Financial Stability Council Violates the Constitution (Letter to the Editor)
C. Boyden Gray’s Dec. 31 Washington Forum commentary, “Wall Street reform that flouts the law,” rightly criticized the secrecy, unchecked bureaucratic power and constitutional…
Citation
Public Employee Unions Bankrupting States
CEI Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio discusses who will confront public employee unions over their unsustainable pensions.
Citation
Obama’s GM Numbers Are Not Adding Up
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Live Blogging: “Fixing The World Economy: Stresses And Solutions”
This is a Live Blog of a Thomson Reuters Event on “Fixing the World Economy.” The speakers are Dominique Strauss-Kahn, International Monetary Fund and Chrystia…
Study
Curb and Phase Out Taxpayer-Funded Corporate Bailouts
Full Document Available in PDF Many Republicans and Democrats…
Op-Eds
GM Bad Deal
In his 1953 confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense in the incoming Eisenhower administration, former General Motors CEO Charles “Engine Charlie” Wilson was asked how…
Op-Eds
Obama’s GM Numbers Are Not Adding Up
Before Thanksgiving, President barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden did a victory lap at friendly venues across the country in the wake of the…
Citation
You Won’t Believe What You Paid for GM Bailout
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Anti-Earmarker Jeff Flake Gets the Nod for Appropriations; “Prince of Pork” Abdicates for Chairmanship
It looks like the anti-spending brigade will get some support on the powerful House Appropriations Committee — incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner…
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Deal to Explode Deficits by $900 Billion Will Burden States and Employers With More Unemployment Costs
President Obama and Republican leaders reached a deal to extend the Bush tax cuts for two years — and temporarily reduce social security payroll taxes…
Citation
Obama’s Claims About Auto Jobs
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Obama’s Federal Pay Freeze That Wasn’t
No one seems happy with President Obama’s announcement that he plans to freeze pay rates of the federal work force. The right claims that…
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America’s Wealthiest County Used Bailout Money to Give Teachers a Paid Vacation
The richest county in America, Loudoun County, Virginia, used money from the Obama administration’s $10 billion teacher-bailout program to give teachers a…
Blog
More Burdensome to Pay Rent Than to Be a Mortgage Deadbeat
Under government mortgage bailout/modification programs, the mortgage payments of many delinquent borrowers were cut to 31 percent of income, even for borrowers with high incomes and big…
Citation
Vincent Vernuccio on GM Thanksgiving ad
CEI Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio discusses the GM commercial thanking the American people for their public bailout…
Op-Eds
GM Shares Are Artificially Inflated (Letter to the Editor)
The Examiner was right to note that General Motors’ supposed “success story” is actually a money-loser for taxpayers. Not only did GM’s recent sale of…
Citation
What’s Good for New GM Is Bad for the Rest of America
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Obama Includes Toyota, Hyundai and Kia in 75,000 Jobs “Created” by GM Bailout
This post was coauthored by CEI Research Associate Andrew Kwiatkowski As we write, President Obama and Vice President Biden are doing a victory lap…
Blog
Unions’ Shifting Lame Duck and NLRB Agenda
With Democrats losing control of the House of Representatives and a substantial number of seats in the Senate, organized labor’s hopes of seeing its legislative…
Blog
GM IPO Raises Billions, But Company Faces Hidden Challenges; Bailout Still Not Repaid
General Motors raised more than $20 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) this week, selling millions of shares owned by the federal government,…
Citation
GM’s Stock Offering Goes Well, But Some See Nothing to Cheer
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Obama includes Toyota, Hyundai and Kia in 75,000 jobs “created” by GM bailout
President Barack Obama and his administration have cited numerous job statistics after last week’s successful initial public offering of General Motors. John Berlau, director of…
Citation
Halfway Between Sanity and Bedlam
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What’s Good for GM Is Now Terrible for America
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What’s Good for GM Is Now Terrible for America
In his 1953 confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense in the incoming Eisenhower administration, former General Motors CEO Charles “Engine Charlie” Wilson was asked how…
Citation
Wall Street to GM: Let’s Put Those Bad Days Behind Us
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GM selling at a loss should tell you something
When a government sells stock in a company, it is usually trying to maximize short-term revenue. Therefore, the share price is normally pegged at what…
Citation
Vincent Vernuccio on Medal of Freedom and GM IPO
Competitive Enterprise Institute Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio discusses President Obama awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom…
Blog
GM IPO Date Set for Tomorrow: What’s Good for New GM is Bad for the Rest of America
In his 1953 confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense in the incoming Eisenhower administration, former General Motors CEO Charles “Engine Charlie” Wilson was asked how…
Blog
Quantitative Easing Explained (Video Comedy)
Sometimes humor is better at explaining economic concepts than wonkish theory. Below is an interesting video regarding quantitative easing. Although it may place too much…
Blog
Ron Paul to Head Federal Reserve Oversight Subcommittee?
In a bizarre turn of events following Tuesday’s elections, Rep. Ron Paul, the government’s #1 “end or audit the Fed” guy, will likely be in…
Citation
Democrats Support Yet Another Bailout
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Hayek vs. Keynes LIVE
For those of you who have not seen the Econ Stories production of Hayek vs. Keynes, it is a must see. However, many people…
Blog
Election 2010: Union Losses, Worker Gains
Yesterday’s election results will make it much more difficult for organized labor to advance its agenda in Congress. This is good news for the American…
Blog
Administration Allies Float Trillion Dollar Bailout to Offset Rising Savings Rate
Alarmed by the rising savings rate, which liberal Keynesian economic theory views as potentially bad in a weak economy, intellectuals with close ties to…
Blog
The Stealthy Public Pension Time Bomb
As state and local government budgets have come under increasing stress, greater public attention has come to focus on government employees’ compensation. This greater scrutiny…
Op-Eds
Fannie & Freddie Don’t Deserve Any More Tax Dollars (Letters to the Editor)
The Examiner was right to oppose more taxpayer bailouts for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are expected to receive between $73 billion and $215…
Blog
Increase in American Corruption May Have Been Understated
Earlier, I wrote about how America had slipped to a historic low on the Global Corruption Index, becoming more corrupt. In retrospect, I think…
Blog
Foreclosure Moratorium Would Impose Huge Losses on Taxpayers
“Taxpayers and the federal government would be among the biggest losers if officials heed calls from some legislators and homeowners rights groups to stop millions…
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U.S. Slips to Historic Low in Global Corruption Index
America has slipped to a historic low in the global corruption index, Reuters reports, and it is no longer one of the 20 least…
Blog
Another Reason Why Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Need to Go
The monthly payments a home mortgage has depend on two variables (among others): the initial down payment and interest rates. A larger down payment means…
Blog
The Chevy Volt: Just Another Hybrid
It turns out GM wasn’t being completely honest when they touted the Chevy Volt as an all electric vehicle. From Edmunds: GM Lied: Chevy…
Blog
“The Cluster of Errors” — The Austrian Theory of Boom and Bust (Part III of III)
“Econ Stories” is back at it again with a new video. This time they explain the Austrian theory of the business cycle. What I like…
Blog
Bailout of Fannie and Freddie Will Cost Double Earlier Estimates
The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will cost double earlier estimates, and could cost $363 billion over the next three years, report…
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General Motors’ Losses Hidden by Deferral of Union Pension Obligations
Any General Motors bonds issued this year will be classified as junk by a key ratings agency. Why? There’s some risk GM will go…
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Say Goodbye to Free Checking
“Say goodbye to traditional free checking, as banks feel squeeze from new regulations,” reads the AP headline. “Free checking, a mainstay of American banking…
Blog
Your Shriveling 401(K): Thank Financial Red Tape and the Foreclosure Furor
If your 401(K) has shrunken recently, it may be due to falling bank stocks, like Bank of America stock, which has fallen from over $19…
Blog
Killed by Pension Accounting
Think accounting rules are a boring topic? You wouldn’t if the fate of your business rested on it. Indeed, a rule change may be coming…
Blog
Stop Coddling Mortgage Deadbeats
Right now, there’s a big manufactured outrage over the fact that at a few banks, paperwork errors occurred in foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal…
Blog
Jobs: Created, Not Made
Welcome to October, the start of a new government fiscal year. 2010 was the year of “jobs created or saved.” Bank and business bailouts may…
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Economic Illiteracy and Stopping Foreclosures
Express, a publication of The Washington Post, notes that as a result of a stoppage in mortgage foreclosures: “Prices might stabilize because so many homes…
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Timothy Geithner, Political Strategist
The TARP bank bailout program polls poorly. Timothy Geithner, in recent remarks, subtly reminded voters that the hated bailouts were originally a Republican proposal. It's…
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GM Admits to No Repay of Bailout
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Vincent Vernuccio on Union Shutting Down GM Plant
Competitive Enterprise Institute Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio explains how the UAW chose to shut down a GM plant in Indiana instead of accepting a…
Blog
General Motors Now Admits It Didn’t Repay Bailout Money
Contrary to its claims in TV ads earlier this year, General Motors has now admitted that it did not repay…
Comment
Supplement to Complaint of Deceptive Advertising Against General Motors Company
Full Document Available in PDF After General Motors admitted in the news media that the…
Blog
Obama’s Broken Pledge to Cut Wasteful Spending
When Obama was elected, he claimed he would “go through our federal budget– page by page, line by line–eliminating those programs we don’t need.”…
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Obama Administration Mandates More of the Risky Loans That Spawned the Mortgage Crisis
The federal government is now expanding the affordable-housing mandates that helped spawn the mortgage crisis by goading mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to…
Op-Eds
Stimulus without Spendulus: A How-To Guide
This week brought more Subprime Stimulus from an administration attempting to ignite the economy with a burnt-out match. The Obama proposal to allow the expensing…
Blog
America Declines in Property Rights, Rule of Law
The World Economic Forum says that property rights are deteriorating in the United States, to the point where America ranks behind third-world countries…
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New Stimulus Plan Gets Skeptical Response, Even From Democrats
Obama’s plan for $50 billion more in stimulus spending is getting a skeptical response even from some Democratic lawmakers. (We explained earlier why…
Newsletter
Bailouts, Wind Energy, and Credit Card Regulation
Hans Bader argues that the new bailout makes responsible citizens "Suckers." Myron Ebell thinks it is doubtful that wind farms will survive Hurricane Earl. John…
Blog
You Were a Sucker If You Were Responsible, Thrifty, and Saved Money for a Down Payment
The Obama administration will launch today a new $14 billion program to bail out some people who are underwater on their mortgages. During the…
Blog
Unemployment Jumps to 9.6%, 54,000 More Jobs Lost
Unemployment went back up to 9.6%, as the nation shed 54,000 jobs in August. Yet Obama calls this “Recovery Summer.” This is…
Blog
Record Federal Spending Increase Due to Wasteful Spending Like the Failed Stimulus Package
Federal domestic spending increased by a record 16 percent this year, thanks to wasteful spending by the Obama administration, such as its “huge economic…
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John Berlau discusses the General Motors IPO
Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau discusses the General Motors IPO. Will investors have any recourse to sue?…
Blog
GM IPO Buyers Beware: Filing Asserts Exemption from Anti-fraud Laws
General Motors filed paperwork last week to launch its much-anticipated initial public offering. It could be the biggest IPO in U.S. history, raising up to $20 billion,…
Op-Eds
Fannie and Freddie Must Go
After ramming through a “financial reform” bill that increases government controls on such ”ants” (hat tip to House Minority Leader John Boehner’s comments — distorted…
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Government watchdog group calls White House Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Summit a “sham”
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Vincent Vernuccio on union pension bailouts
Competitive Enterprise Institute Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio argues against union pension bailouts.
Blog
Fannie-Freddie White House Sham Summit Produces Short-Sighted Solutions
After ramming through a “financial reform” bill that increases government controls on such “ants” (hat tip to House Minority Leader John Boehner’s comments–distorted by the press–in full context) as orthodontists…
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Ewanick safe under new GM CEO
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Vincent Vernuccio on union pension bailouts
Competitive Enterprise Institute Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio explains potential union pension bailouts.
Blog
Yandle: Everyman’s Deficit
Clemson University economist Bruce Yandle has published a new paper that compares the federal government’s spending habits with that of the average family. Yandle…
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Government Spends Billions Bailing Out Foreign Firms and Countries, and Replacing American Jobs With Foreign Green Jobs
Our government spent as much money bailing out foreign firms as some countries spent on stabilizing their entire financial system. Much of the money…
Blog
Government-Sanctioned Lying and Reparations Increase National Debt: The Pigford Class Action
There are only 36,697 black farmers in the entire country, but in a class-action lawsuit, more than 86,000 African-Americans claimed to have suffered…
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Around the Country with Public Sector Unions
It’s often a sign that a problem is turning into a crisis when the public outcry over it becomes ubiquitous. That seems to be the…
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House Approves Obama’s $26 Billion Public-Employee Bailout By a Vote of 247-161
The House has just approved President Obama’s $26 billion public-employee bailout by a vote of 247 to 161. Billions will now go disproportionately to…
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Oh, the Horror! Budget Cuts Mean Pampered Artists Get Less Government Money to Insult Taxpayers
Thanks to budget cuts under England’s new Conservative coalition government, “London may no longer be ‘a beacon for controversial pieces’ such as last year’s…
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Why Mortgage Giant Freddie Mac Is Getting a Bailout: Costly Obama Policies and Giveaways
Earlier, I wrote about mortgage giant Freddie Mac’s demand for $1.8 billion more in bailouts. Why does it still need more bailout money, when…
