Budget cutters, cultural conservatives, and national defense hawks ought to be able to rally around a common standard. But what is that standard? In order to properly unite our forces, author Peter Berkowitz recommends that we must first temper our tempers. In his new book Constitutional Conservatism, Berkowitz writes that moderation allows people to find […]
China has fallen behind Japan as the largest foreign holder of U.S. securities. The Department of the Treasury’s new numbers are good only through June 30, 2012, but it puts Japan at $1.84 trillion and China at $1.59 trillion. There are lots of things to say about this, but one stands out: The loose talk […]
NEwscom The average price of a new car in 2012 was $30,500. Wondering why? One contributing factor is the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. All models from a single manufacturer must reach an average of 35.3 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2016 and 54.5 mpg by 2025. The current average is 29 mpg. […]
RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom President Obama argued in his State of the Union address that “no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty.” That is a noble goal, but it has little to do with the minimum wage rate. Only 2.9 percent of U.S. employees work for the federal minimum wage of $7.25 […]
House Cloakroom: March 4 – March 8 Analysis: This week, the House plans to take up a bill that would fund the government for the remainder of the 2013 fiscal year. As of March 1, we are now living under the sequester that was passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by President Obama […]
If Israel makes peace with the Palestinians, then the US will make war on Iran. Should Israel accept such hypothetical linkage known in shorthand as “settlements for Iran?” No way, says Zalman Shoval. One of the basic assumptions in the aforementioned proposal is that blocking Iran’s nuclear program is just an Israeli interest, and that […]
Shariful Islam/Xinhua/Photoshot/Newscom At least 44 people have been killed in the past two days in protests in Bangladesh following the third conviction by a war crimes tribunal set up to investigate the role of Islamist political leaders in Bangladesh’s independence movement in 1971. The recent spurt in violence follows a month of largely peaceful protests […]
Let the punishment fit the crime. That has been a basic principle of justice in nearly all legal systems dating back to ancient times. However, in recent years, the penalties for violating municipal traffic laws increasingly have more to do with the state’s revenue needs than the severity of the crime. Many drivers are shocked […]
Feeling poorer? Americans saw their income drop so dramatically in January that it marked the deepest one-month decline in 20 years. Personal income decreased by $505.5 billion in January, or 3.6%, compared to December (on a seasonally adjusted and annualized basis). That’s the most dramatic decline since January 1993, according to the Commerce Department. It’s […]
Andre Jenny Stock Connection Worldwide/Newscom In a surprising and historic move, the Alabama state legislature passed the state’s first private-school choice plan Thursday evening. Governor Robert Bentley (R), who is expected to sign the bill next week, called it “the most significant piece of legislation that’s been passed in this Legislature in years,” and Senate […]
