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Needle and the Damage Done
The Supreme Court botches a drug preemption case.
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Global Warming: The Backlash Begins
Iain Murray exlores why skepticism about the effects of global warming is growing.
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Silvia’s Ecuador Trip Diary: Entry Two
The conference began with remarks from Gustavo Pinto, president of the Geologists Association, who commented on the need to develop mining in mineral-rich Ecuador,…
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Obama and Dodd Hypocritical on 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…
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Obama and Dodd Hypocritical on 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…
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Take the pressure off
Even before counting President Obama’s ambitious “stimulus” agenda, spending by the U.S. government – the largest on planet Earth – is now…
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Bailouts for Liars, Illegal Aliens and Unjust Bonuses
The inept managers of the insurance giant AIG, which is being bailed out by taxpayers at a cost of over $170 billion, are using…
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Greening America – At What Cost?
Iain Murray explores the disasterously high costs of de-carbonizing America.
American Spectator
O’Malley’s Hot Air
This January, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley proposed legislation that he promised would fight climate change and "grow" the economy. This week, the state Senate passed…
American Spectator
States Broke the Insurance Regulatory System
About six months after the U.S. government first injected taxpayer money into AIG, the company continues to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy…
American Spectator
Speak out against ‘fishing expedition’
Sir, Kudos to former ambassador Faith Whittlesey for her valid points about the Obama administration exerting “raw Goliath power” and breaching a bilateral tax agreement…
American Spectator
A Tax to Weaken America
President Obama said last Thursday that he would not cut spending “on investments that will make America stronger.” He really meant that…
Standpoint
The Anti-Green Ecologist
James Lovelock is a creative scientist and inventor, a visionary thinker, and a fascinating individual. Not the least remarkable thing about him is…
Wall Street Journal
How to Kick Our Oil Addiction Despite Plunging Oil Prices
DIAGNOSIS: Conserving energy and improving energy efficiency are good things insofar as they contribute to economic efficiency. But I am concerned that much of the…
Wall Street Journal
Mr. President, End this Farm Subsidy Boondoggle
Before taking office, President Barack Obama pledged to cut government waste: “We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs…
Wall Street Journal
It’s Time to Consider the Cost of Regulation
As President Obama took the podium Tuesday night, all minds were fixed on the economy. As expected, the President addressed the economy first, front…
American Spectator
The Doomsday Bias
In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama took a dig at his backward predecessor by promising to "restore science to its rightful…
American Spectator
The Green Jobs Scam – And Confusion
With the massive $787-billion stimulus bill including provisions to encourage the creation of “green jobs,” Americans deserve an honest appraisal of how…
DC Examiner
Green Glitterati High on California Scheming
President Barack Obama recently announced his first concrete environmental policy, and it was a doozy. Obama ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider…
DC Examiner
The Auto Bailout We Need
GM and Chrysler have come back for more taxpayer money, which is exactly what everybody warned would happen when the first bailout was granted…
DC Examiner
Don’t Let Judges Tear Up Mortgage Contracts
The nation faces a foreclosure crisis of historic proportions, and there is an understandable desire on the part of the federal government to “do something”…
DC Examiner
When Mexicans Have More Rights than U.S.
The Obama Administration and its nominee for Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, are seeking to all but eliminate the secret ballot in union elections, a…
Op-Eds
Don’t overhype privacy fears on G1
Online users need to be careful with their information, but hyping privacy fears is unwarranted.
Op-Eds
Don’t Punish the Shareholders, Too
In justifying a change of policy on negotiating corporate penalties, the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, stressed the…
Op-Eds
Protectionism is the embrace of fear, the rejection of hope
In the context of America’s $17-trillion economy, $12-trillion national debt and $4-trillion federal budget, a few billion dollars worth of international trade doesn’t sound…
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Insurer’s Exit Leaves Florida on the Brink
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Eli Lehrer: “The U.S. government has no business taking over banks.”
Nationalize U.S. Banks: In light of the financial crisis, the U.S. should nationalize banks, taking over the most troubled ones. Pro: The…
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State Farm exit will leave Florida on the brink
State Farm’s decision to quit providing homeowners insurance in Florida shows that the state’s insurance market simply can’t survive in its current form.
Op-Eds
Wetlands–An Environmental Issue for Free Marketeers
Conservatives have good reason to question parts of the environmental movement’s wish-list. Proposals for new energy taxes, “green jobs” programs, and restrictions…
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Granting Emissions Waiver Will Lead to De-stimulus
President Obama has directed EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to reconsider the Bush Administration’s denial of a Clean Air Act waiver that would…
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Lessons from Europe
Lessons from Europe Iain Murray, Gabriel Calzada, Carlo Stagnaro The recent European Union climate agreement provides a useful warning to…
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State Farm’s exit leaves Florida on the brink of a crisis
State Farm’s decision to quit providing homeowners insurance in Florida shows that the state’s insurance market simply can’t survive in its current…
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Don’t Just Shrink Government — Run It Right
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A Distinctly American Poem; An inaugural poem that celebrates the romance and beauty of everyday life.
Elizabeth Alexander’s inaugural poem, "Praise Song for the Day," doesn’t qualify as a great poem, but it might emerge as an important one. As…
Op-Eds
Global government
I was in the room in The Hague in November 2000 when then-French President Jacques Chirac hailed the Kyoto Protocol, or "global warming"…
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Laffer Gas
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Green wacko Tobacco
2008 was a bad year for global warming alarmists. Their credibility has been entirely destroyed by none other than Mother Nature. As George W.
Op-Eds
Bailout Big Three By Cutting Red Tape
Why are we spending $17 billion of taxpayers’ money propping up two Detroit automakers (notably not Ford Motor Co.)? What the auto companies really…
Op-Eds
Saving Speaker Pelosi: The Inept Politics of the US Cap and Trade Plan
I won’t be surprised if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Environment Committee chair Barbara Boxer and President-elect Barack Obama all send flowers…
Time Magazine
Broken Windows, Broken Logic
Kinsley's latest missive in time falls prey to one of the oldest traps in economics–Frédéric Bastiat's broken-window fallacy. Just as a broken window creates work…
Op-Eds
Time for a Surgeon General-ectomy?
President-elect Obama has reportedly chosen Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent and one of People magazine’s “sexiest men alive,” for the post of…
Op-Eds
Power politics over a chess board
Time Magazine
The Mining Law
Translated from Spanish to English by Ecuador Mining News and can be read here. The United States president-elect, Barack Obama, dismissed his…
Time Magazine
Will A Weak Economy Be Saddled With Greenhouse Gas Regulations?
President Obama will find he faces two main problems in relation to greenhouse gas emissions, a domestic one and an international one.
Time Magazine
Country Profile: Ecuador
Document Availabe in PDF Despite Ecuador’s metallic mineral wealth dating to before the Inca Empire (600 B.C. to 400 A.D.),…
Time Magazine
Latin American Round Up
Document Availabe in PDF Fueled by escalating precious and base metal prices, exploration companies around the world earmarked 25% of…
Op-Eds
The SEC’s new chief-to-be
President-elect Barack Obama‘s choice of Mary Schapiro to head the embattled Securities…
Op-Eds
Time to Send the Bushies Home
There’s nothing much to look forward to with the incoming administration. But I certainly won’t miss the current administration. It’s hard to…
American Spectator
The Myth of Buying Local
Buying local has always been a popular sentiment, but the movement has picked up steam in recent years. Especially this holiday season, consumers are being…
Op-Eds
Clean Waste
In choosing Nobelist and alternative energy enthusiast Steve Chu as his nominee to head the Department of Energy (DOE), President-elect Barack Obama is saying…
Op-Eds
Geithner is spelled P-a-u-l-s-o-n
President-Elect Barack Obama has received surprising praise from some conservatives for his economic team. After running a successful populist campaign against Wall Street…
Op-Eds
Time to shore up the Beach Plan
Insurance Commissioner-elect Wayne Goodwin has called North Carolina’s Beach Plan a “ticking time bomb.” He’s right. The plan, intended to provide “last…
Op-Eds
Power to the People
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Op-Eds
It’s All a Matter of Perspective
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Op-Eds
Obama’s promises on climate change clash with reality
Sir, Christopher Booker is correct when he talks about global warming policy as an economic suicide note. Yale economist William Nordhaus recently…
Op-Eds
Green Jobs Program Won’t Work in New Jersey, or Anywhere Else
Last month, Gov. Jon S. Corzine became the latest politician to drink the "green jobs" Kool-Aid when he unveiled an "energy master plan," that…
Op-Eds
Which Way Is Wise?
If there is one phrase to describe the events in the subprime meltdown, it is “collective stupidity.” Looking back on the poor underwriting…
American Spectator
What is Insurance?
Full Document Available in PDF Insurance is a type of financial product that serves to pool, manage and mitigate against unexpected…
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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Natural Poet: Environmental lyrics are more appealing than political verse
Red Bird by Mary Oliver Beacon, 96 pp., $23 In a land where few poets can make more than a…
Op-Eds
Another Housing Crisis Brewing
Irresponsible federal and state homeowners' insurance schemes could easily cost the nation several hundred billion dollars when and if a major hurricane hits.
Op-Eds
Another housing crisis brewing
As it continues to pick up the pieces from the mortgage mess, Congress needs to take note of another housing-related crisis that threatens…
Op-Eds
Wall Street Extorts Kyoto Protocol: Lehman, Enron and other Cap-and-Trade Coincidences
Recently, in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse, I read a speech by Gunther Verheugen, the E.U.’s Industry Commissioner, revealing his…
Op-Eds
Chevron’s Orwellian Crude Discovery
Chevron has unveiled a revolutionary new way of finding oil. It doesn’t involve satellite telemetry or seismic imaging or someother high-tech means of exploration. It…
Op-Eds
Economic Change We Need
Now that the election is over, the most important issue facing the new president and Congress is the economy. To deal with it…
Op-Eds
Bush Should Keep Promise To Stop New Regs
Despite his party’s defeat at the polls last week, President Bush still wields enormous regulatory power. The way he manages this power—and, in…
Op-Eds
Green Jobs Costly for Michigan
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has been drinking the “green jobs” Kool-aid, recently announcing that she is creating an energy department and naming an…
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.
Op-Eds
Climate Law No Cash Cow for California
It is said by many that there is a scientific consensus in support of global warming, but there is also an economic consensus…
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…
American Spectator
Obama vs. Clinton
Ever since the economy emerged as the top campaign issue, Barack Obama has developed two basic messages. One is that the deregulation John McCain…
Op-Eds
Let Friedman Reign
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America By Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus &…
Op-Eds
IgNobels for Obama
Op-Eds
Greens Aim to Take Us Forward to the Past
If you need more evidence that the Greens intend to destroy our standard of living, you need not look further than the Oct.
Op-Eds
The Joe-the-Plumber vote is bigger than you think
Joe the Plumber did more than add some levity to the last presidential debate. Joe, aka Joe Wurzelbacher of Ohio, just may have…
Op-Eds
Property insurance gamble: Florida Risks its Fiscal Future on a Quiet Hurricane Season
One simple fact ought to dominate every discussion of Florida’s homeowners’ insurance system: Were a single storm to hit the wrong area, it would literally…
Op-Eds
Florida, Nation Need Federal Insurance Regulator
Much of the turmoil in America’s financial markets involves exotic investments that most Americans never have heard of and never will get near. However, with…
Op-Eds
The End of American Capitalism? 5 Short Takes on Where the Financial Crisis Might Be Headed
Five prominent economists share their thoughts on what’s happening and how bad the situation really is. The past week has seen the US economy…
Op-Eds
Candidates Don’t Come Clean on Coal
A squabble about “clean coal” has broken among the presidential candidates. Neither side has leveled with voters. Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden kicked…
Op-Eds
Five-Star Green Hypocrisy
Move over Al Gore. Swankier carbon charlatanism has come to town in the form of the World Wildlife Fund’s luxury getaway called "Around the World:…
Op-Eds
Putin’s Useful Idiots
In the latest issue of Foreign Policy William Yeatman explains how German environmentalists have helped Vladimir Putin fleece Europe.
Op-Eds
Government’s “10,000 Commandments” Cost Americans More than $1 Trillion
Federal regulations cost Americans almost as much as the income tax and more than 40 percent of all federal spending, according to “Ten Thousand…
Heartland
Government’s “10,000 Commandments” Cost Americans More than $1 Trillion
Federal regulations cost Americans almost as much as the income tax and more than 40 percent of all federal spending, according to “Ten Thousand Commandments,”…
Op-Eds
Accounting rules exacerbate crisis
In the year since the credit crunch began, reading the financial pages has become a bit like perusing a medical journal. Market…
Op-Eds
Card Check: Key to Union Control in US
Organized labor spent heavily to elect a Democratic Congress in America’s 2006 election. With the presidency at stake, unions are expected to spend up to…
Op-Eds
Greens Exploit Wall Street Bailout
Will the Wall Street bailout be the beginning of the New (Green) Deal?…
Op-Eds
The Conscientious Objector
Pete Eyre has a shaved head and six tattoos, including two tattooed quotes: one from Thomas Jefferson—“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”—on his stomach…
Op-Eds
Will More Drilling Increase U.S. Energy Security?
Iain Murray Mr. Abraham’s Parthian shot in this debate is a precise example of why I feared it would disappear in…
Op-Eds
Doing Something
"The government has to do something to keep markets from falling and the economy from getting worse." How many times have you heard…
Heartland
Doing Something?
“The government has to do something to keep markets from falling and the economy from getting worse.” How many times have you heard…
Op-Eds
Picking on the Pickens Plan?
Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens’ camp responded last week to this column’s multi-part analysis of the so-called “Pickens Plan.” Focusing on…
Op-Eds
Gale Force Foolishness: Congress pushes for a federal windstorm insurance program.
AS CONGRESS WINDS down its current session, there’s little doubt that plenty of bad ideas will pop out of the woodwork as members…
Op-Eds
Toxic Arguments
A Review of “Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children” by Philip and Alice Shabecoff By Iain Murray There’s…
Op-Eds
Fannie, Freddie Critic Ridiculed In 2000
It is now consensus that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are at the heart of the systemic meltdown we are seeing in the…
Op-Eds
It’s Paulson’s Own Mess
They said it was "too big to fail." This multi-billion dollar firm was now on the brink of bankruptcy. Although not a bank,…
Heartland
Ecuador Should End WFT Double-speak
In the midst of congratulating the Ecuadorian government on its landmark decision to eliminate the proposed 70 percent windfall tax on mining…
Op-Eds
Maybe the Banks Are Just Counting Wrong
In the year since the credit crunch began, reading the financial pages has become a bit like perusing a medical journal. Market…
Op-Eds
Be wary of insurance rate cut
Although it may seem like an early New Year’s present, North Carolina drivers have every reason to be wary of the 16.1 percent…
Op-Eds
Activists Hit the (Plastic) Bottle Again
Anti-chemical activists opened a new front in their jihad against the plastics chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) this week.
Op-Eds
CAFE Oh Nay, Standard Has Hurt
The Detroit auto industry is clearly a victim of CAFE. But it’s not the only victim, and it’s not even the most prominent one.