November 6, 2009
Heritage Employment Report: October Has Few Treats, Lots of Tricks
By Rea S. Hederman, Jr., and James Sherk
(WebMemo #2685)
As job losses mount, the monthly jobs report continues to demonstrate both the failure of the stimulus bill and the hollowness of the Administration's claim ...

November 4, 2009
Rethink the Housing Tax Credit: Stimulus Plans Should Think Past the Needs of Special Interest
By Ronald D. Utt Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2680)
Replacing the expiring tax credit with a new one for which most members of America's financial elite would be eligible is a costly and unnecessary ...

October 2, 2009
Obama Jobs Deficit a New Record, Again
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2638)
The President's jobs promise means total employment should be at least 138.6 million by 2010, leaving him with a total deficit to close that now ...

September 22, 2009
President Obama's Agenda Would Bring $13 Trillion in Budget Deficits, Not $9 Trillion
By Brian M. Riedl
(Backgrounder #2319)
President Obama's budget will likely produce $13 trillion in deficit spending over the next 10 years--nearly $4 trillion more than forecast. The White House figures ...

September 16, 2009
Rein in Spending by Stopping the Stimulus and Ending the TARP
By Stephen A. Keen and J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2618)
The federal budget deficit is already unsustainable and threatens to balloon further as Congress considers a multitude of new spending initiatives from health care reform ...

August 25, 2009
New Budget Estimates Show Unsustainable Spending and Debt
By Brian M. Riedl
(WebMemo #2595)
The OMB's new budget spending estimates are alarming and absolutely unsustainable-and are the true cause of these appalling levels of deficit and debt.

August 5, 2009
Cash for Clunkers: Just Spinning Wheels
By James L. Gattuso and Nicolas D. Loris
(WebMemo #2579)
Despite its popularity, the cash-for-clunkers program is no success--unless success is defined as spending a lot of money quickly.

July 27, 2009
Keynesian Fiscal Stimulus Policies Stimulate Debt--Not the Economy
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2302)
The federal government has poured extraordinary amounts of fiscal stimulus into the economy two years running, yet unemployment continues to rise with the national debt. ...

July 9, 2009
A Third Stimulus? Don't Repeat the Same Failures
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D., and Rea S. Hederman, Jr.
(WebMemo #2533)
Congress and the Administration should jettison their ideology to pursue policies that will help the economy in the short and long term.

May 22, 2009
Killing the Entrepreneurial Spirit: Government Is Not a Good Investor
By Karen A. Campbell Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2455)
President Barack Obama calls his stimulus bill and proposed budget an "investment" plan. But this plan is based on the faulty assumption that only government ...

May 21, 2009
The Results Are In: Stimulus Bill Neither Timely Nor Targeted
By Patrick Tyrrell
(WebMemo #2454)
As The Heritage foundation predicted, the stimulus bill is neither timely nor targeted. Only time will tell if it is temporary.

May 18, 2009
Amnesty as an Economic Stimulus: Not the Answer to the Illegal Immigration Problem
By Jena Baker McNeill
(WebMemo #2451)
Repackaging amnesty as an economic stimulus is not an effective means of combating illegal immigration. Nor will it help the economy.

March 23, 2009
Obama's Stimulus Has "Spread the Wealth Around": Are Tax Hikes Next?
By Curtis S. Dubay
(WebMemo #2354)
President Obama famously said during the campaign that he thinks the economy works best when "we spread the wealth around." He is wasting no time ...

March 4, 2009
Stimulus Plan's Delayed Job Creation: Some Won't Get Jobs Until 2012 or Later
By Ronald D. Utt
(WebMemo #2325)
The transportation components of the stimulus bill will do nothing to alleviate the immediate downward slide in economic activity—and little or nothing to support jobs ...

February 24, 2009
The Elements of a Responsible Budget Proposal
By Brian M. Riedl, Mackenzie M. Eaglen, Curtis S. Dubay, J. D. Foster, Ph.D., William W. Beach, and Rea S. Hederman, Jr.
(WebMemo #2309)
The President must ensure that his budget proposal protects America’s security abroad and economic security at home.

February 11, 2009
Stimulus Bill Abolishes Welfare Reform and Adds New Welfare Spending
By Robert Rector and Katherine Bradley
(WebMemo #2287)
Both the Senate and House stimulus bills conceal their destruction of the foundation of welfare reform.

February 10, 2009
Consensus Collapsing for the Senate's $838 Billion "Stimulus"
By Brian Riedl
(WebMemo #2283)
Senators should reject a "stimulus" bill that is based on 1933 economics and ignores 75 years of research and evidence about how growth is created. ...

February 6, 2009
Welfare Spendathon: House Stimulus Bill Will Cost Taxpayers $787 Billion in New Welfare Spending
By Robert E. Rector and Katherine Bradley
(WebMemo #2276)
The welfare provisions in the Senate stimulus bill are very similar to those in the House bill. Both bills use the idea of economic stimulus ...

February 5, 2009
The Economic Stimulus Package and the Limits of Infrastructure Jobs Creation
By Ronald D. Utt
(WebMemo #2273)
Many in Congress have been arguing the need for more government spending to create new jobs to offset those lost and to jumpstart the economy, ...

February 5, 2009
New Stimulus Tax Deductions Just Another Bailout for Detroit Automakers
By Curtis S. Dubay
(WebMemo #2275)
The Senate recently tacked on two new income tax deductions as part of the stimulus bill in yet another attempt to help the ailing auto ...

February 4, 2009
Stimulus Bill Should Not Bail Out Irresponsible States
By Brian Riedl
(WebMemo #2266)
In response to pleading governors and mayors, the House stimulus bill contains a staggering $200 billion bailout for state and local governments that have spent ...

February 4, 2009
Senate Stimulus Bill Would Provide 300,000 Jobs for Illegal Immigrants
By Robert Rector
(WebMemo #2268)
If the Senate version of the stimulus bill becomes law, a great number of the workers employed in government construction programs will, in fact, be ...

February 4, 2009
The Stimulus Bill: Why the Senate Must Fix the Health Care Provisions
By Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #2267)
Liberals in Congress, under the guise of emergency economic stimulus legislation, are attempting to push forward their radical health care agenda.

February 4, 2009
The Senate's Flawed 4 Percent Mortgage Refinance Plan
By Ronald D. Utt, Ph.D., David C. John, and J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2269)
The Senate Republicans' 4 percent housing stimulus and mortgage relief plan (proposed earlier by Chris Mayer and Glenn Hubbard of Columbia Business School) would be ...

February 4, 2009
Get Out of Jail Free: Why Byrne JAG Grants Should Not Be Part of Economic Stimulus Package
By David B. Muhlhausen, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2271)
Not only should Congress be concerned about the pretrial services funded by Byrne JAG grants, but these grants will do virtually nothing to stimulate the ...

February 3, 2009
Sustainable Economic Stimulus: Repeal Capital Gains and Dividend Taxes
By Karen A. Campbell and Guinevere Nell
(WebMemo #2263)
Although policymakers are currently discussing an $825 billion economic stimulus package, completely eliminating capital gains and dividend taxes would be a cheaper and more effective ...

February 3, 2009
An Earmark by Any Other Name Is Still an Earmark
By Karen Campbell, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2264)
An analysis of  the "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" shows that it fails to deliver on the economic promises of its authors, ...

February 2, 2009
Big Gains for the Automakers from Senator Jim DeMint's "American Option"
By William W. Beach
(WebMemo #2259)
Senator Jim DeMint's economic stimulus plan—known as the "the American Option Act"—proposes to aggressively and immediately lower taxes on businesses and individuals.

February 2, 2009
Stimulus Plan Should Include Pro-Growth Tax Relief for Families in Every State
By Shanea J. Watkins, Ph.D., and Guinevere Nell
(WebMemo #2262)
The stimulus plan scheduled for debate in the Senate should include an extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax reductions and a reduction of tax ...

February 2, 2009
The "American Option" Is Good for Small Business
By Guinevere Nell
(WebMemo #2261)
The "American Option," introduced by Senator Jim DeMint (R–SC), avoids the discredited Keynesian consumption-based stimulus and instead follows the tried and true method of cutting ...

January 30, 2009
Buy American Hurts America
By Daniella Markheim
(WebMemo #2256)
Looming large in the stimulus package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday is the expansion of “Buy American” provisions that discriminate against foreign ...

January 30, 2009
The Global Government Debt Bubble Threatens the Economy
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2257)
The expanding federal deficit is likely to raise interest rates significantly for government debt, thereby increasing interest costs for generations to come.

January 29, 2009
The American Option: A Jobs Plan That Works
By the Honorable Jim DeMint
(Heritage Lecture #1108)
The House stimulus bill does virtually nothing to stimulate the economy while it wastes billions of taxpayer dollars. A better way that will actually stimulate ...

January 28, 2009
More Byrne JAG and COPS Funding Will Not Stimulate the Economy
By David B. Muhlhausen, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2251)
The inclusion of local law enforcement grants—such as Byrne JAG and COPS—in the economic stimulus package will be exceedingly unlikely to produce any stimulus for ...

January 28, 2009
Davis-Bacon Wage Provisions Depress the Economy
By James Sherk
(WebMemo #2253)
All $188 billion worth of construction projects funded in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1) must pay Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rates. This requirement ...

January 28, 2009
Economic Stimulus Pushed by Flawed Jobs Analysis
By Curtis Dubay, Karen Campbell, Ph.D., and Paul Winfree
(WebMemo #2252)
The Obama Administration and Members of Congress are relying on a flawed report as evidence of the effectiveness of the stimulus plan. The report should ...

January 26, 2009
Ten Reasons Why the "Economic Stimulus" Should Not Include Education Spending
By Dan Lips
(Backgrounder #2233)
The draft American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 calls for an unprecedented increase in federal education funding, which will not improve economic growth. Instead ...

January 26, 2009
"Making Work Pay" Credit Will Not Stimulate the Economy
By Curtis S. Dubay
(WebMemo #2240)
President Barack Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit is a major piece of the fiscal stimulus plan currently being debated in Congress. The new credit ...

January 26, 2009
The Stimulus Bill: $825 Billion in Forgone Family Spending
By Shanea J. Watkins, Ph.D., and Patrick Tyrrell
(WebMemo #2242)
House Democrats have proposed $825 billion in stimulus spending. To put it into perspective, $825 billion is worth approximately $10,520 for each family in the ...

January 26, 2009
4 Percent of GDP Defense Spending: Sustained Spending, Not Economic Stimulus
By Baker Spring, Mackenzie Eaglen, and James Jay Carafano, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2243)
Congress should insist on adequate defense spending in order to create a strong military.

January 26, 2009
SCHIP Bill: Top 10 Changes for Congress to Consider
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2244)
In Congress's mad dash to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), it fails to correct the serious flaws buried in last year's SCHIP ...

January 26, 2009
Green Stimulus: Tying Economic Package to Energy and Environment Plan Is Not Workable
By Ben Lieberman
(WebMemo #2245)
There is plenty of reason to believe that Congress's proposed stimulus package will not work. This misallocation of resources is only worsened with the attempt ...

January 26, 2009
The New SCHIP Bill: The Senate Must Protect Private Coverage
By Paul L. Winfree and Greg D’Angelo
(WebMemo #2246)
When the Senate considers the House legislation or a companion proposal to expand SCHIP to children in families with higher incomes, it should recognize that ...

January 22, 2009
Will Lobbyists Turn the Stimulus Package Into a Festival of Fiscal Greed?
By Ronald D. Utt, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2232)
As Congress and President Obama try to devise a fiscal stimulus package, and as the proposed spending for this package has risen from $300 billion ...

January 22, 2009
How the House Stimulus Bill Undercuts Parental Authority
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2237)
Buried in the economic stimulus legislation is a provision further undercutting parental authority and expanding control of taxpayer dollars by family planning clinics.

January 21, 2009
Key Questions for Timothy Geithner, Nominee for Treasury Secretary
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2232)
The United States Senate will soon consider the nomination of Timothy Geithner to be Treasury secretary of the United States. The following are a few ...

January 21, 2009
The House Stimulus Bill and Health Care Assistance for Unemployed Workers
By Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #2233)
If Congress is poised to extend health care assistance for unemployed workers as part of its economic stimulus proposal, it should do so in a ...

January 21, 2009
Bailing Out Medicaid: A Bad Solution
By Dennis G. Smith and Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #2235)
Congress should not throw good money after bad. But if Congress insists on writing bigger Medicaid checks for state officials—again—then it should take very specific ...

January 16, 2009
Fiscal Challenges for Government at All Levels: How Economic Stimulus Drives Up Deficit and Debt
By William W. Beach
(WebMemo #2227)
The 111th Congress begins its work with a war against an enemy that is as intractable as it is illusive and with an economic crisis ...

January 16, 2009
The Fallacy of Health Care Reform as Economic Stimulus
By Robert A. Book, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2231)
After spending decades trying reduce health care costs, some commentators and policymakers now argue that health care costs should be increased to stimulate the economy. ...

January 14, 2009
TARP: Frank's Bill Underscores Weaknesses of This Bailout Program
By David C. John
(WebMemo #2223)
Efforts by Chairman Barney Frank of the House Financial Services Committee to "improve" the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in the TARP Reform and ...

January 14, 2009
Adding COPS Funding to the Economic Stimulus Package Will Not Stimulate the Economy, Nor Will It Effectively Combat Crime
By David B. Muhlhausen, Ph.D.
(Testimony )
While Congress is developing legislation intended to stimulate the economy, interest groups, including governors, big city mayors, and other local officials, are lining up for ...

January 13, 2009
Cut Tax Rates and Create 2.5 Million—No, 3.5 Million New Jobs
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2218)
President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to create 3.5 million new jobs by the end 2010. But he only quick, and effective, remedy is to cut ...

January 12, 2009
U.S. Labor and Employment Report: Jobs Report for December Underscores Need for Pro-Growth Economic Policies
By Rea S. Hederman, Jr., and James Sherk
(WebMemo #2205)
The jobs reports of the previous two months have been the worse in decades. Congress should enact policies aimed at bolstering employment opportunities by reducing ...

January 9, 2009
Any Stimulus Legislation Must Include Budget Reforms to Address Long-Term Challenges
By Alison Acosta Fraser
(WebMemo #2199)
If President-elect Obama insists on a huge spending bill, he must ensure it does not result in huge permanent new government programs and thus potentially ...

January 7, 2009
Mandatory Paid Sick Leave Need Not Cut Workers' Pay
By James Sherk
(WebMemo #2189)
Early in its first session, the new 111th Congress will likely debate legislation that would require employers to provide their employees with at least seven ...

January 7, 2009
Economic Recovery: How Best to End the Recession
By J.D. Foster, Ph.D., and William W. Beach
(WebMemo #2191)
The new Administration and new Congress are developing a stimulus program to soften the recession and accelerate the recovery. Given the high level of economic ...

January 7, 2009
CBO Budget Baseline Shows Historic Surge in Spending and Debt
By Brian M. Riedl
(WebMemo #2193)
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released its annual 10-year budget baseline. A realistic baseline shows that historic spending increases are projected to drive the ...

January 6, 2009
Rising Unemployment: Caused by Less New Job Creation, Not by More Layoffs
By James Sherk
(Backgrounder #2223)
U.S. unemployment has risen sharply over the past 18 months to 6.7 percent. Unemployment is rising because employers are creating fewer jobs. Workers entering the ...

January 6, 2009
Economic Stimulus: Dos and Don'ts
By Nicola Moore
(WebMemo #2187)
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 ...

December 16, 2008
Learning from Japan: Infrastructure Spending Won't Boost the Economy
By Ronald D. Utt, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2222)
The Japanese government implemented a massive program of infrastructure-focused stimulus spending during the 1990s, and the result was two decades of economic stagnation. Less ambitious ...

December 12, 2008
Federal Education Bailout Is Not the Answer
By Dan Lips
(WebMemo #2171)
Earlier this week, leaders of the Miami-Dade school system and Broward County school board in Florida called on the federal government to provide a “bailout” ...

December 5, 2008
Heritage Employment Report: November's Weak Thanksgiving Jobs Numbers
By Rea S. Hederman, Jr.
(WebMemo #2157)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that in November, 533,000 jobs were lost and the unemployment rate increased from 6.5 percent to 6.7 percent. Despite ...

December 3, 2008
Transportation Policy: Getting the Facts Straight
By Wendell Cox and Ronald D. Utt
(WebMemo #2148)
Many are recommending a substantial increase in federal transportation spending that would be funded by an equally substantial increase in the federal fuel tax. But ...

December 3, 2008
Growth, Deficits, and the Future
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2150)
Paul Krugman, in his article in The New York Times on December 1, “Deficits and the Future,” discusses deficit spending reflecting both the weakening state ...

December 3, 2008
Permanent Tax Relief - Not Tax "Holidays" - Stimulates Economic Growth
By Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2152)
Fiscal policy in the form of short-term tax holidays, or temporary spending jolts, will not rekindle economic growth; only long-term reductions in marginal tax rates ...

December 3, 2008
Cutting Taxes to Promote Growth and Restore Fairness: A Memo to President-elect Obama
By Alison Acosta Fraser and Curtis S. Dubay
(Special Report #29)
President-elect Obama, a centerpiece of your campaign was your pledge to cut taxes for 95 percent of American workers. Middle-class voters, especially, connected strongly with ...

November 12, 2008
Why Government Spending Does Not Stimulate Economic Growth
By Brian M. Riedl
(Backgrounder #2208)
Washington has already spent hundreds of billions of dollars on economic stimulus bills that have failed to revive the economy. Tax rebates do not help ...

October 24, 2008
How to Successfully Stimulate the Economy
By William W. Beach
(WebMemo #2113)
Serious work by the Congress in tax, energy, and spending policy will create greater predictability for investors and business owners and assure workers that they ...

October 23, 2008
Economic Recovery: Options and Challenges
By William W. Beach
(Testimony )
The stock market turmoil that has captured everyone's attention is rooted in the ongoing crisis in credit markets and aggravated by the slowdown in general ...

April 2, 2008
More Transportation Spending: False Promises of Prosperity and Job Creation
By Ronald D. Utt, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2121)
With the economy slowing and job growth declining, lobbyists are urging Congress to spend more on transportation to stimulate the economy, but creating jobs is ...

January 18, 2008
Why Tax Rate Reductions Are More Stimulative Than Rebates: Lessons from 2001 and 2003
By Brian M. Riedl
(WebMemo #1776)
Lawmakers currently examining economic stimulus proposals should reject rebates in favor of tax rate reductions.

November 27, 2001
Essential Conditions for a Pro-Growth Stimulus Package
By Daniel J. Mitchell, Ph.D.
(Executive Memorandum #793)
Congress is considering some form of tax relief to help the nation's sputtering economy, but not all tax cuts are created equal. Some proposals, such ...

October 22, 2001
Lessons on How NOT to Stimulate the Economy
By Dr. Ronald D. Utt
(Backgrounder #1495)
Although Congress is split over whether the stimulus package should be comprised of tax cuts or spending increases or some combination of both, lessons derived ...