Does anybody really believe that adding 50 million people to the public health-care rolls will not cost the government more money? About $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion more? At least.
When I first visited with Jack Kemp in his congressional office in Washington, D.C., in the late 1970s, I couldn't help but notice the row of books on his desk. There was Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Benjamin Anderson and Milton Friedman. And of course there was Jude Wanniski's "The Way the World Works."
In the early 1980s, Ronald Reagan's popularity and policies moved American politics firmly to the right. In only 100 days, Barack Obama's politics and policies have shifted America way to the left.
How far will the Obama administration move to assert regulatory control over key sectors of the economy? Are we moving away from democratic capitalism and toward some sort of corporatist state-directed economy? That could be the biggest stock market and economic-growth issue facing us today.
Is bailout nation about to strike again? Sure looks like it. According to a bunch of front-page news stories, life-insurance companies are about to get TARPed. This is nuts.
Team Obama fired GM CEO Rick Wagoner Sunday afternoon, just a short time after Treasury man Tim Geithner told the television talk shows that some banks will need large amounts of new TARP-money government assistance -- even though the bankers don't want it.
Taking advantage of the populist revolt against Wall Street and AIG bailouts, the House Democrats have passed a vengeance tax on TARPed financial firms that amounts to a 90 percent marginal tax rate on bonuses.
This whole AIG fiasco -- where the entire political class is suddenly screaming over bonuses paid to derivative traders in AIG’s financial-products division -- is just a complete farce. What it really shows is how the government has completely bungled the AIG takeover.
Is it really necessary for taxpayers to spend another dime on the TARP? We’ve already committed $700 billion, half of which was spent under Pres. Bush and half of which is coming under Pres. Obama. And now, as we wait with baited breath for Treasury-man Tim Geithner’s detailed plan to purchase bank toxic assets, the TARP could rise by another $1 trillion or more.
Crumbling energy prices have created a profoundly positive tax cut effect for U.S. consumers across-the-board.
Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget. He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds.
The day after President Obama's big news conference, and on the day Treasury man Tim Geithner unveiled his Bank Bailout Nation TARP III Plan, stock markets plunged in a vote of no-confidence, with the Dow dropping nearly 400 points.
How do you explain it when jobs plunge and stocks surge? That's what happened Friday, as the January employment report revealed a disastrous 598,000 drop in payrolls. Actually, the job loss was 664,000, if you count downward revisions to the prior two months. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate moved up from 7.2 percent to 7.6 percent. So there's no sugar coating it: It was a terrible report.
So why would the estimable Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) quit his job to become commerce secretary in the Obama administration?
Wednesday night's House tally on the Democratic stimulus package, where not a single Republican voted in favor, was another shot across the bow for this incredibly unmanageable $900 billion behemoth of a program that truly will not stimulate the economy.
Last night’s House vote on the Democratic stimulus package, where not a single Republican voted in favor, was another shot across the bow for this incredibly unmanageable $900 billion behemoth of a program that truly will not stimulate the economy.
Over a third of the Senate voted against Tim Geithner's confirmation as treasury secretary, though he did pass the test by 60 to 34 early Monday evening.
On the eve of Barack Obama’s inaugural speech, with a tough economic downturn and the ongoing threat from global terrorism, perhaps it is useful to recall Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address, delivered on January 20, 1981.
Obama spoke Thursday at George Mason University about his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan -- a.k.a. the stimulus package. There's an interesting section that would warm the heart of John Maynard Keynes.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is absolutely right to warn against Obama's gigantic stimulus-spending package. McConnell says it "will be the largest spending bill in the history of our country at a time when our national debt is already the largest in history." As a result, he says the bill "will require tough scrutiny and oversight."
