From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Ernest Istook. The newest bailout is underway. This time it's a billion dollars—up… Read more
From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Ernest Istook. Folks in Washington often try… Read more
"We received confirmation this morning . . . that Chrysler Group repaid, with interest, by wire transfer to the United States Treasury and by bank transfer to the Canadian government, every penny that had been loaned less than two years ago." The claim by Chrysler… Read more
Testimony before Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises Committee on Financial Services … Read more
Revised and updated July 06, 2011. Washington’s reckless spending spree of the past several years and unwillingness to confront the mountains of debt coming soon from unreformed federal entitlement programs threaten the economic and social… Read more
Are you ready for the next massive taxpayer bailout? Many of the same lawmakers who infuriated taxpayers by bailing out Wall Street, the auto companies, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently created a new program virtually guaranteed to require bailouts. And unlike those… Read more
Abstract: Proponents of Obamacare claim that it will simultaneously provide millions of Americans with health insurance and reduce the budget deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars. Yet Obamacare’s proclaimed budgetary discipline rests on unlikely assumptions and budget gimmicks—none worse than the CLASS Act,… Read more
Over the next few weeks, the walking political dead in Congress will probably try to railroad through a stack of terrible legislation before they face voters in November. Polls show that Congress’s approval rating is already at record lows, so many liberal lawmakers are likely to decide they have nothing… Read more
Abstract: Long-run federal spending is wildly unsustainable, as almost everyone from right to left agrees. Under President Obama, this long-run problem has been married to an almost equally unsustainable short-run problem of deficit spending. Thus, to watch developments… Read more
Congress is considering $23 billion in new “emergency” spending on public education. This new spending comes on top of the nearly $100 billion appropriated to the Department of Education through the 2009 economic stimulus bill. At the same time, $34.7 billion in stimulus funds for education remain unspent.[1]… Read more
Abstract: Despite decades of repeated failure, President Obama and Congress continue to promote the myth that government can spend its way out of recession. Heritage Foundation economic policy expert Brian Riedl dispels the stimulus myth, lays out the evidence that government spending does not end recessions--and… Read more
For an update on automotive bailouts, read "Putting the Brakes on the Automotive Bailout" and the Housing and Financial… Read more
The Senate is expected to take up a proposal, originally authored by Senator Chris Dodd (D–CT), to reform the financial regulatory system in the U.S. The goal is clear: to minimize the chances that another financial crisis—and bailouts—will arise again. The objective is a good… Read more
Abstract: In response to the recent financial crisis, the Obama Administration and the Federal Reserve Board are capping executive salaries and bonuses, and imposing a host of new regulations and mandates--all in the name of reducing risk. If the rule of… Read more
Paving the Road for More TARPs The Barney Frank Agenda: In an attempt to reform the financial industry, Congressman Barney Frank… Read more
Abstract: Congress cannot kick its spending habit. This time it is using the extension of long-overdue tax-reducing provisions to increase spending $174 billion and add $134 billion to the deficit. Even worse, Congress has crammed a job-destroying tax hike and other detrimental policies into… Read more
Think $700 billion to bail out Wall Street is expensive? Just wait. The mortgage meltdown is cheap compared with the coming fiscal firestorm fanned by unfunded Social Security and Medicare costs. Together, these programs hold unfunded obligations totaling $41 trillion - 60 times larger than the proposed Wall Street bailout. And even this understates the difference,… Read more
This weekend, the Eurozone members and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) proposed a €110 billion ($140 billion) rescue package for the struggling Greek economy. In exchange for imposing tough austerity measures—including a three-year public sector pay freeze, an increase in taxes, and a liberalization of labor laws—Eurozone countries will provide… Read more
The new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) 10-year budget baseline provides a sobering picture of a federal government that has committed itself to trillions more in spending than taxpayers can afford. Once the baseline is scrubbed of several unrealistic assumptions that Congress demands CBO use, the more realistic baseline… Read more
Are you a fan of Twinkies, the cream-stuffed yellow cake confection packed with sugary goodness, wrapped in a thin...… Read more
Undeterred by the underperformance of several previous efforts at mortgage refinancing, the Obama Administration has...… Read more
Take a stroll through your neighborhood Occupy Wall Street protest--whether it's in New York or Chicago, Detroit or...… Read more
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meets Thursday to consider the most substantive postal reform plan...… Read more
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Senator...… Read more
U.S. taxpayers were reminded on Friday (and again this morning) that our long national Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...… Read more
A glut of unsold trucks sits on General Motors dealers' lots. Two auto plants in Indiana and Michigan stand idle, and...… Read more
Rep. Darrell Issa knows a thing or two about running a successful business. Before winning his seat in Congress, the...… Read more
“We received confirmation this morning…that Chrysler Group repaid, with interest, by wire transfer to the United States...… Read more
After more than a year of delay, the House Financial Services Committee is finally starting work on legislation that...… Read more
Director, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies
Norman B. Ture Senior Fellow in the Economics of Fiscal Policy
Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy
Senior Research Fellow in Retirement Security and Financial Institutions