Did the Stimulus Create Jobs? White House Economic Report Is Unclear
The White House's proof of the economic impact of the fiscal stimulus policy fails basic standards of economic analysis.
Heritage Employment Report: With January Comes a New Year, New Result
To turn the economy around Congress should promote private sector job creation by removing barriers to entrepreneurship.
Obama Jobs Deficit Up Again; Course Correction Required
The President's jobs promise means that his jobs deficit is at just over 9 million jobs.
General Motors Bankruptcy and Nationalization: Exit Strategy Needed
Congratulations: If you are a U.S. taxpayer, you will soon be a part owner of a car company. Under the latest reorganization plan for General Motors, Uncle Sam would take ownership of 72.5 percent of the troubled automaker while providing an additional $30 billion in funds to the company.
Killing the Entrepreneurial Spirit: Government Is Not a Good Investor
President Barack Obama calls his stimulus bill and proposed budget an "investment" plan, implicitly recognizing that investment--rather than simply spending--creates economic growth. But this plan is based on the faulty assumption that only government is able and responsible enough to invest at this time.
What Unions Do: How Labor Unions Affect Jobs and the Economy
Unions function as labor cartels, restricting the number of workers in a company or industry to drive up the remaining workers' wages. They also retard economic growth and delay recovery from recession. Over time, unions destroy jobs in the companies they organize and have the same effect on business investment as does a 33 percentage point corporate income tax increase.
Financial Systemic Risk Regulators: Congress Is Asking the Wrong Questions
Congress may be about to create a new financial regulator without fully understanding exactly what problem it is supposed to solve or how the new regulator is supposed to accomplish its mission.
Five Reasons the EPA Should Not Attempt to Deal with Global Warming
On April 17, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an endangerment finding, saying that global warming poses a serious threat to public health and safety. Thus, almost anything that emits carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could be regulated under the Clean Air Act. This is the first official action taken by the federal government to regulate carbon dioxide.
Left-wing proxy plays
An awful lot of people who have never even run a lemonade stand are presuming to micromanage corporate conglomerates. General Motors Corp., now headquartered at the White House, is the most prominent example.
Should Unions Prevent Your Next Raise?
Suggest imposing wage caps on a few hundred highly paid executives, and you get plenty of attention. Highlight the federal law that imposes wage caps on over 8 million mostly middle-class workers, and you'll probably be ignored.
Nationalized Cheerios?
Regular superheroes save us from villains. Liberal superheroes save us from ourselves.
Reward Workers With Better Laws
Over the past generation, the labor market has changed profoundly. Computers have automated many manual and repetitive tasks. The share of American workers employed as operators, fabricators and laborers or in precision production craft and repair occupations has fallen by 10 percent.
'Economic policy insanity': Obama's approach threatens to prolong recession, weaken recovery
Last week the government reported 539,000 jobs were lost in April. As a sign of the times this was considered good news. Some are crediting government, including President Obama's just implemented policies, for the good news. Spring is in the air.
Morning Bell: Snow Slows Obama’s Second Stimulus
The snowstorms that have already dumped over two feet of snow on the nation’s Capitol and that are threatening to dump another 12 to 16 inches, have ground the legislative process to a halt. But that might not be such a bad thing. Senate Democrats had hoped they could pass President Barack Obama’s second stimulus today, Read More...
No More Talking Points – It’s Time for Economic Freedom
Last week, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke delivered a speech at the National Press Club titled “Back to Basics: A Blueprint for Exports-Driven Job Growth,” and remarked that “[President Obama’s National Export Initiative] will correct an economic blind spot that has allowed other countries to chip away at America’s international competitiveness.” The secretary also stated Read More...
Keynesian Doublespeak
A year ago, President Obama warned the American people that the financial crisis was dire and required a whole new approach to government spending. Obama argued that the government must help America spend its way out of the recession, and his economists, using Keynesian multipliers, argued the “stimulus” would keep unemployment below 8.2 percent (PDF). Conservatives Read More...
Single European Currency: Single European Disaster
Although the feckless spending of successive Labour Governments has resulted in massive decline for Britain, there is one thing that Gordon Brown got right on the economics front: he denied Tony Blair’s plans to take Britain into the single European currency. Launched in 1999, the Euro has been the bedrock of European elites’ dream for a Read More...
Who Profits from the Death Tax? Estate Planning Lawyers.
If you ask attorney Harold Apolinsky who really profits from the death tax, he’ll tell you, “I think I do, as an estate planning lawyer,” but then he will tell you why the tax needs to be permanently repealed. According to Apolinsky, the death tax (or estate tax, as it is also known) taxes the transfer Read More...
Morning Bell: Snow Slows Obama’s Second Stimulus
The snowstorms that have already dumped over two feet of snow on the nation’s Capitol and that are threatening to dump another 12 to 16 inches, have ground the legislative process to a halt. But that might not be such a bad thing. Senate Democrats had hoped they could pass President Barack Obama’s second stimulus today, Read More...
No More Talking Points – It’s Time for Economic Freedom
Last week, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke delivered a speech at the National Press Club titled “Back to Basics: A Blueprint for Exports-Driven Job Growth,” and remarked that “[President Obama’s National Export Initiative] will correct an economic blind spot that has allowed other countries to chip away at America’s international competitiveness.” The secretary also stated Read More...
Keynesian Doublespeak
A year ago, President Obama warned the American people that the financial crisis was dire and required a whole new approach to government spending. Obama argued that the government must help America spend its way out of the recession, and his economists, using Keynesian multipliers, argued the “stimulus” would keep unemployment below 8.2 percent (PDF). Conservatives Read More...
Single European Currency: Single European Disaster
Although the feckless spending of successive Labour Governments has resulted in massive decline for Britain, there is one thing that Gordon Brown got right on the economics front: he denied Tony Blair’s plans to take Britain into the single European currency. Launched in 1999, the Euro has been the bedrock of European elites’ dream for a Read More...
Who Profits from the Death Tax? Estate Planning Lawyers.
If you ask attorney Harold Apolinsky who really profits from the death tax, he’ll tell you, “I think I do, as an estate planning lawyer,” but then he will tell you why the tax needs to be permanently repealed. According to Apolinsky, the death tax (or estate tax, as it is also known) taxes the transfer Read More...
Morning Bell: Second Stimulus, Same as the First
When President Barack Obama was sworn into office, the U.S. economy employed 134.6 million people and the unemployment rate stood at 7.6%. In response to growing job losses, President Obama passed an $862 billion stimulus plan that his economic experts promised would help the United States employ at least 138.6 million people by 2010. Reality has Read More...
Does the Government Pose a Bigger Threat to Toyota Than its Sticky Pedals?
Toyota’s bad press has been for its sticky pedal incident certainly isn’t surprising, but is all the negative attention warranted? When asked about the Toyota recalls, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood responded by saying, “My advice to anyone who owns one of these vehicles is stop driving it, and take it to the Toyota dealership because Read More...
Tax-Credit-for-Hire: Another Failed Stimulus Policy in the Pipeline
As President Obama continues campaigning for yet another round of stimulus it appears now that even democrats are beginning to question the soundness of this strategy. This new focus includes a $5,000 tax credit—among other items— for any business that hires a new worker—effective the year the legislation is passed. Of course, the intended effect Read More...
Why China is Not an Economic Threat to the United States
Recent reports of China’s economic growth contrasted with the U.S. economic downturn have left Americans increasingly concerned that China is becoming a new superpower, controls American finances and will surpass the United States as the world’s leading power. The reality is that the fundamentals of the American economy are stronger than Read More...
A Pledge Small Businesses Do Not Need
Facing the stark reality of double-digit unemployment and the failure of his first $862 billion economic stimulus, President Barack Obama unveiled his second stimulus plan last month including a mix of subsidies and government-subsidized loans targeted solely at small business. Obama’s Second stimulus will be funded in part by roughly $33 billion from the TARP, Read More...
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...
Heritage Experts on Enterprise and Free Markets
Media Information Line: (202) 675-1761
James L. Gattuso
Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy , Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies
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