President Barack Obama provided a broad outline of his deficit reduction plan Sunday that includes $1.5 trillion in new taxes through a new tax rate for millionaires and repeal of the Bush tax cuts for Americans couples making more than $250,000 per year. The millionaire’s tax proposal, dubbed the “Buffett Rule” by the White House, […]
In an article entitled “China and US on Edge over Vote in Taiwan,” today’s Financial Times (FT) quotes a “senior US official” as saying Taiwan DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen “left us with distinct doubts about whether she is both willing and able to continue the stability in cross-Strait relations the region has enjoyed in […]
Last week’s presidential debate at the Reagan Library elevated Social Security as a national issue that could reshape the 2012 campaign. Candidates spent the week trading blows about the role of the 76-year-old social insurance program. Leaving aside the political rhetoric, one thing is certain: Social Security needs to be reformed or America will face […]
by David Dieteman “I was walking through Gamla Stan, the Old Town in Stockholm, when it struck me that Sweden was the only country I’d ever been in with no visible crazy people. Where were the mutterers, the twitchers, the loony importunate?” Sweden is the poster state for those who believe in the power of the […]
Though nothing new, it is amazing how issues with Obama’s so-called original birth certificate just keep crawling out of the woodwork. Earlier this spring, in an attempt to silence well-founded rumors that Obama is in fact not an American citizen – and perhaps not even a legal immigrant! – the White House posted an image […]
by Daniel Pipes July 21, 2011 A.J.P. Taylor wrote this memorable passage in English History, 1914-1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970): Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as […]
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero finally threw in the towel and announced elections for November 20, the anniversary of the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. The date was meant as a dig at the opposition Popular Party that has denounced Francoism and is a fully democratic party. Its political antecedents go back […]
By Aaron Klein It may be early in the campaign season, but the Communist Party USA already has seen fit to endorse Barack Obama for the 2012 election. While noting he is disappointed with “some aspects” of the Obama administration’s domestic and foreign policy, Sam Webb, chairman of the Communist Party USA, threw his support […]
[First published August 22, 2005] What is socialism? It is a politico-economic philosophy that believes government must direct all major economic decisions by command, and thus all the means of production for the greater good, however defined. There are three major divisions of socialism, all antagonistic to each other. One is democratic socialism, that places […]
Upon passage of the financial reform bill, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “This is the next critical step forward in an effort to rebuild our economy.” This type of political hubris is reminiscent of what economist Friedrich Hayek referred to as the fatal conceit. Unemployment still stands above 9 percent, business confidence is in the […]
