Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad, D-N. Dak., holds a news conference on Tuesday, April 17, 2012, to preview the Budget Committee’s budget resolution markup. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) The Senate Budget Committee stretched a few definitions in announcing yesterday’s “Mark-Up of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2013.” Turns […]
Standing before a mural of Eva Peron Duarte (wife of Argentina’s legendary strongman Juan Domingo Peron and the “first lady of populism”) Argentina’s recently re-elected President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner unveiled a plan to seize majority ownership in Argentina’s chief energy company YPF and return it to state control. “We are the only country in […]
The Coast Guard needs to call more attention to its undersized fleet, according to Congressional Research Service expert Ron O’Rourke. While the sea service has publicized its requirement list, “the other part [of the discussion] is the extent to which that program of record will permit the Coast Guard to perform its projected missions. That’s […]
On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria warned that the northern Nigerian insurgent group Boko Haram may be planning attacks against the capital city of Abuja. However, the Nigerian government continues to downplay the Boko Haram threat. When the United States issued a similar security alert last November, Nigerian national security advisor General Owoeye Andrew […]
New research suggests that legislators should cut spending and enact growth-inducing policies. The reasoning? According to the study, spending cuts can positively affect economic growth and are the only historically reliable way to lower deficits and debt. The authors of the study, Alberto Alesina and Francesco Giavazzi, write that “spending-based consolidations [spending cuts] accompanied by […]
Sweden is known for, among other things, Swedish meatballs, the pop group ABBA, and IKEA. Well, here is another thing that Sweden should be recognized for: tax cuts. Yes, you heard right: tax cuts. Sweden used to tax corporations at a 60 percent rate. Now that has come down to 26.3 percent. As noted in […]
In a bit of scheduling serendipity, Tax Freedom Day—the day when Americans finally earn enough income to pay off the bill for all federal, state, and local taxes for the year—falls on April 17 this year. That also happens to be Tax Filing Day 2012. Absent tax changes made by Congress, Tax Freedom Day moves […]
Americans who are scrambling to pay their taxes by Tuesday’s deadline are in store for more depressing news: The tax burden on American families has risen dramatically and will continue to climb into the future without action from Congress. This week’s chart outlines the growth of taxes over the past 45 years. Large tax increases […]
North Korea unsuccessfully launched its Unha-3 missile in violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions that preclude “any launch using ballistic missile technology.” Iran also has an aggressive ballistic missile program and is closer than ever to developing a nuclear weapon. This is clearly not the time to scale back the U.S. missile defense and […]
Invisible Children brought worldwide attention to Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army with a wildly popular documentary called “Kony 2012.” The 30-minute film depicted Kony’s a violent militia in Central Africa. It currently has more than 87 million views on YouTube. The film’s success raised awareness about Kony and also inspired both positive and […]
