Thursday’s 5-4 Supreme Court ruling basically guarantees that US president Barack Obama’s healthcare initiative – Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) – will become a major issue in this fall’s presidential election. This was the gist of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Robert’s opinion that upheld the law. For Roberts, the Federal government’s power to tax […]
How would you like to buy a nice compact car with a two-gallon gas tank? It costs only $36,000, and it takes seven hours to fill the tank. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu wants lots of those cars, though he insists they will be $10,000 cheaper. The car alluded to is the all-electric Nissan Leaf. […]
Why Roberts Did It He’s the custodian of the Court’s reputation. By Charles Krauthammer It’s the judiciary’s Nixon-to-China: Chief Justice John Roberts joins the liberal wing of the Supreme Court and upholds the constitutionality of Obamacare. How? By pulling off one of the great constitutional finesses of all time. He managed to uphold the central conservative […]
By Grace-Marie Turner “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.” — Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, March 2010 Now, all the rest of us are going to find out a lot more about what’s in the 2,700-page health overhaul law. The president now must spend the next four months […]
A criminal court in Egypt today jailed a former Mubarak-era cabinet minister and a businessman for 15 years each for selling Israel natural gas “below market value.” “The Cairo criminal court sentenced former oil minister Sameh Fahmi and fugitive businessman Hussein Salem to 15 years in prison each over the (Israel) gas deal,” a judicial […]
Last month, the Republican Study Committee recommended that Congress consider attaching more stringent counterterrorism conditions on U.S. aid to Pakistan. Citing new evidence about the potential involvement of Pakistani intelligence officials in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai and Pakistan’s refusal to take action against the Haqqani network, the memo suggests requiring the Pakistan […]
In a shocking and disappointing verdict, the Supreme Court upheld ObamaCare and it’s individual mandate as a tax, ushering in an unprecedented expansion of government power and handing a huge victory in Obama’s Progressive plan to “fundamentally transform America. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today. In a complex ruling, the Supreme Court has partially upheld […]
The discussion over whether to extend federal subsidies for student loans largely hinges on whether the House and Senate come to an agreement over how to pay for the resulting $6 billion tab for taxpayers. Federal student loan subsidies make for bad policy all by themselves. Yet in its scramble to find the money, Congress […]
A major political struggle in Japan is coming to a head this week, one that could empower the current government or ultimately bring it down. The battle is ostensibly about economic policy but is mostly about politics, as the policy in question is largely symbolic. When the government’s survival may hinge on what should be […]
The farm bill, which passed in the Senate yesterday, has little to do with farming and a lot to do with handouts. Energy subsidies? The farm bill’s full of ‘em, particularly in the Title IX energy section, and they all need to go. The legislation includes direct handouts and loan guarantees for advanced biofuels and […]
