Ambassador Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, gave the first of a series of scheduled speeches last week in Portland, Oregon. The focus of the speeches is “Why America Needs the UN” and was inspired, apparently, by congressional efforts to include U.S. payments to the U.N. among efforts to cut the U.S. […]
If there existed a company that for nearly half a century had failed to improve upon its product, had watched as other companies passed it by in its ability to be innovative, and all the while had more than tripled its overhead costs, it’s unlikely that company would be in business much longer. And let’s […]
Why does anybody need a waiver to a law that’s been ruled unconstitutional? We don’t know; ask the Department of Health and Human Services. On Wednesday, HHS updated its Web site to show that it has now granted 915 waivers to Obamacare’s requirements on benefit limits in health insurance plans. The waivers allow employers to […]
House Cloakroom Report: February 14th-18th Analysis: An interesting week in the House of Representatives will ensue with the Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government for the remaining part of the fiscal year coming to the floor to be debated under an open process. Additional cuts were pushed to the forefront throughout last week by House […]
One of the most common arguments for an individual mandate is that “free-riders” – the uninsured who consume emergency room care with no way to pay for it – are jacking up health care costs for everyone else. The argument begins by pointing out that sickness and emergency can strike anyone at any time, and […]
The U.S. Commerce Department today reported that the country’s 2010 trade deficit was $497.8 billion, an increase of $122.9 billion from 2009. Exports increased from $1.57 trillion to $1.83 trillion, and imports increased from $1.95 trillion to $2.33 trillion. Increased imports are often a sign that the U.S. economy is growing. Imports typically fall during […]
Elected officials in Washington finally seem to get it that something must be done to reduce federal spending. Last week, House Republicans unveiled a plan to cut $74 billion from President Obama’s budget request for this year, and members of the Republican Study Committee have proposed an even more ambitious plan to cut $2.5 trillion […]
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) endangerment finding gives the agency justification to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, most notably carbon dioxide (CO2), under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The EPA already began targeting motor vehicles last year and will start regulating emissions from new power plants and major expansions of large greenhouse-gas-emitting plants (more than 25,000 […]
California: A court has tentatively ruled against California’s cap-and-trade law because alternatives were not considered. But then, neither were climate facts or the economic impact. There’s a delicious irony in the ruling by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith barring the California Air Resources Board (CARB) from implementing AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act […]
The Washington Post reports today on a new study highlighting the effects of the “Great Recession” on marriage. The report from the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project suggests that while the recent economic downturn has placed financial stress on a majority of married couples, lifelong relationships continue to thrive. According to the report, more […]
