Red Tape Rising: Regulatory Trends in the Bush Years
Contrary to much popular rhetoric about massive regulatory rollbacks, the regulatory burden has grown during President George W. Bush's tenure, and the President's final year may see a regulatory surge. Policymakers should work to prevent this surge and adopt reforms to ensure that new and old rules are thoroughly vetted to ease the burden of this regulatory tax on Americans.
Congress Should Fix the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Mess
Sunday's announcement by the Bush Administration and the Federal Reserve seems to have cooled the immediate crisis concerning Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. However, their plan does nothing to resolve the fundamental cause of the problem, and, without major structural reforms in the housing finance industry, it is probable that this whole situation will reoccur in a few years.
Economic Effects of Increasing the Tax Rates on Capital Gains and Dividends
On December 31, 2010, the low tax rates on capital gains and dividends enacted in 2003 will increase to the higher level that applied prior to that year. Many economists agree that the expiration of these tax cuts will discourage investment and slow economic growth. The United States already has one of the world's highest capital gains tax rates.
A Good Job Is Not So Hard to Find
Good jobs are at least as common today as in the past. Rather than addressing a nonexistent crisis by, for example, depriving workers of the right to vote before joining a union or nationalizing health care in the mistaken belief that employer-provided coverage has shrunk, Congress should continue policies like tax relief that promote economic growth and the creation of more good jobs.
The Tax Relief Program Worked: Make the Tax Cuts Permanent
The 2001 and 2003 tax reduced tax burdens and got the economy growing again: lowering tax rates, reducing the tax bias against saving and investment, phasing out the death tax, and reducing the marriage penalty. Congress should act quickly to make the tax relief permanent and to enact additional tax relief to enhance the international competitiveness of American workers.
Economic Stimulus: Dos and Don'ts
The first order of business for the President-elect and the new Congress is to get the American economy back on track. To that end, Democratic and Republican leaders are busily crafting an economic stimulus bill that will likely spend anywhere between $700 billion and $1 trillion. But this unprecedented action could do more harm than good if it is not well crafted.
Time to End the TARP Bailout Program
To the extent that new financial crises materialize, recent experience suggests that the Federal Reserve Board is best able to handle them and would do so while resisting political pressure. It is time to end the continued use and abuse of TARP funds.
TARP: Now a Slush Fund for Detroit?
With the Senate’s rejection of a bailout for Detroit’s ailing automakers, there comes word that President Bush is actively considering using funds allocated by Congress for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to prop up the automakers for the time being. Such action would be legally wrong, economically wrong, and counterproductive to turning around these troubled businesses. By opening the door to virtually unlimited uses of this money, a unilateral decision to employ TARP funds would be an outrage to taxpayers.
Santa forced to evacuate North Pole
Evacuation operations continue at the North Pole, as Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, their reindeer and an estimated 5,000 elves are being relocated due to global warming to a secure but undisclosed location.
Sovereign Wealth Funds And Protectionism
In October 2008, the International Working Group of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IWG) released a set of generally accepted principles and practices (GAPP) for the conduct, governance, and accountability of sovereign wealth funds (SWF).
To promote general growth, Obama needs to go further
A centerpiece of Barack Obama's campaign was his promise to cut taxes for "95 percent of American workers." Middle-class voters, especially, responded strongly to that pledge — and now they expect our new president to deliver lower tax bills.
Ideal free-trade candidate
Regrettably, trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea are stalled. But that doesn't mean President-elect Barack Obama should get out of the free-trade business.
Memo to Congress: Make jobs, not work
Time after time, Congress has used a recession to revive bad ideas, based on bad history. Meanwhile, good ideas of proven utility go overlooked.
Video: Bill Beach on Bloomberg Debating the Stimulus
Bill Beach recently appeared on Bloomberg TV to debate with Will Straw from the Center For American Progress on what should be done with the new Stimulus bill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwbcMUcaZ_w For more information on the Stimulus bill, visit our new “Rapid Response” page on the Economic Stimulus
Bailouts Not Good for Free Speech
This year already we’ve heard calls for reintroduction of the Fairness Doctrine, and Internet censorship. Now, the first call for public funding for newspapers is here. Lining up behind GM and AIG, media outlets could join the many “distressed businesses” begging for government aid. But, government funding for media – nationalization of the press Read More...
TARP is Deficient Auto Savior
My Heritage colleagues have already noted that the auto bail-out violates the terms of the TARP legislation by extending funding beyond “financial institutions.” It also appears the latest funding pledge to bail-out auto makers may have violated another Federal law, one normally taken quite seriously: the Anti-Deficiency Act. When Congress approved TARP it approved up to $350 Read More...
Paul Krugman Loves Wasteful Government Spending
Krugman writes today: The biggest problem facing the Obama plan, however, is likely to be the demand of many politicians for proof that the benefits of the proposed public spending justify its costs — a burden of proof never imposed on proposals for tax cuts. This is a problem with which Keynes was familiar: giving money away, Read More...
Did Harold Meyerson Really Just Compare Toyota to a Slave Owner?
Judge for yourself. Meyerson writes today: If Abraham Lincoln were still among the living as he prepared to turn 200 six weeks from now, he might detect in the congressional war over the automaker bailouts a strong echo of the war that defined his presidency. Now as then, the conflict centered on the rival labor systems Read More...
Were voters just dancing with a star? | government, obama, point, left, one - Opinion - OCRegister.com
http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/columns/MarkTapscott/Isnt_This_Where_We_Came_in_30_Years_Ago.html
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000002983778
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1107/p25s11-wmgn.html
FOXNews.com - Kirchners Make a Grab for Private Pensions to Bail Out Argentina - Opinion
What should be done about financial markets
Two things should be clear to anyone trying to figure out the financial crisis, says Heritage President Ed Feulner. One is that we need to get to the bottom of what caused it and why. The second is that we can't rely on Congress to conduct such an investigation. Learn More...
Red Tape Rising: Regulatory Trends in the Bush Years
Contrary to much popular rhetoric about massive regulatory rollbacks, the regulatory burden has grown during President George W. Bush's tenure, and the President's final year may see a regulatory surge. Policymakers should work to prevent this surge and adopt reforms to ensure that new and old rules are thoroughly vetted to ease the burden of this regulatory tax on Americans. Learn More...
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James L. Gattuso
Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy , Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies
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