Abstract: Agenda 21, a voluntary plan adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, unabashedly calls on governments to intervene and regulate nearly every potential impact that human activity could have on the environment. However,… Read more
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to implement stronger air pollution restrictions on ozone (smog) for the stated purpose of improving public health.[1] These regulations are misguided because they would impose significant costs for little or no benefit.[2] At the same time, policies being implemented at… Read more
President Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2012 is an unabashed attempt to grow government and add $1 trillion to the national debt. While a detailed review of the flaws in the President’s budget is beyond the scope of this paper,[1] one of the budget’s more fiscally… Read more
Beginning in mid-summer 2010, the Obama Administration and its supporters initiated an outreach to the press to discuss some of the broad policy themes that could be included in the President’s ongoing transformational narrative on housing policy, whose details are expected to be revealed in early 2011. Although there have… Read more
Abstract: There is no question that there is much wrong with America’s housing finance and homeownership market. There is much evidence to indicate that many of the costly efforts by the federal government to promote housing and homeownership were at best ineffective and at… Read more
In addition to the devastating economic effects of cap and trade, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S. 1733)—introduced by Senators John Kerry (D–MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I–CT)—would likely lead to the same conditions that caused the housing bubble of a few years ago. It… Read more
It has been widely known in investment circles for several years that the hedge fund Paulson and Company earned huge profits by turning bearish on the U.S. housing finance market in 2006, when much of the investment and finance community believed that housing sales and home prices would… Read more
Abstract: President Obama has announced a third stimulus plan, which he presented as a "jobs plan." It promises to be at least as ineffective as previous attempts to stimulate the economy because it relies heavily on government infrastructure spending even though this has been one of the least effective… Read more
Shortly after taking office President Obama announced his intention to develop federal policies to induce states and local communities to embrace "smart growth" land use strategies that would deter growth, crowd development, and discourage automobile use.[1] Dubbed the "Livable Communities Program," several of the President's cabinet departments have proposed… Read more
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood remarked in May that his livability initiative[1] "is a way to coerce people out of their cars."[2] When asked if this was government intrusion into people's lives, LaHood responded that "about everything we do around here is government… Read more
President Barack Obama's early comments on his opposition to suburban sprawl and his intention to alter the way Americans live and travel took a step closer to reality when he created an interdepartmental initiative on housing and transportation costs.[1] A March press release issued by the U.S. Department… Read more
The debate over urban sprawl is a healthy sign of Americans' enduring desire for self-renewal. As such, it is ultimately a national discussion about how to live "the good life" in an affluent democracy. At its core, the debate over "sprawl"--which often masquerades as a dispute over technical concerns about traffic congestion, mass transit… Read more
Over the past several years there has emerged in the United States an influential political movement whose purpose is to severely limit, or even prohibit, further suburbanization. This "anti-sprawl" movement has received much attention and has been successful in implementing its restrictive land-use policies in some areas. Much of the justification for the… Read more
In a recent Wall Street Journal column, P.J. O'Rourke described the great expense and ineffectiveness of mass transit.[1] In the process, he referred to Heritage Foundation research on the exorbitant costs of urban rail (light rail, subways, and commuter rail).[2] Specifically, O'Rourke compared the… Read more
Despite the many accolades for President Barack Obama's swift action on a major economic stimulus package, an outline of a comprehensive financial rescue package, and his most recent proposal for another bailout for homeowners who might not meet their mortgage payments, a growing number of critics and global investors have questioned the effectiveness of… Read more
As the nation's urban highways have become more crowded, urban rail systems have been proposed to alleviate the traffic congestion, but results in city after city reveal that this approach is both costly and ineffective. Indeed, in many cases, it would be cheaper to provide new rail-transit riders with a Lexus or… Read more
The Executive Summary of this study was reprinted from an Issues Analysis from the Laissez Faire Institute, originally published in January of 2003. For the full study, including detailed analysis and graphical data on the topic, please click here (Microsoft Word file). The Decline of Public Transit Urban public… Read more
In March 2009, the Secretaries of the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development issued a joint press release announcing a new interagency partnership and task force to create "affordable, sustainable communities." Among the several projects this partnership and its task forces will take on is the development of a new cost index that… Read more
Does building freeways only lead to more congestion? Can investments in transit, particularly rail transit, help relieve congestion? Since the early 1980s, the Annual Urban Mobility Report published by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI)--a part of the engineering department at Texas A&M University--has helped to answer these questions by estimating traffic… Read more
Ready to trade in your car for a bike, or maybe a subway instead? Interested in fewer choices for your home, paying more...… Read more
April 30 was the last day for the planning department of Petaluma, Calif. The city decided to axe the department after...… Read more
This Wednesday, government-sponsored entity Freddie Mac announced that it lost $2.8 billion in just the last quarter...… Read more
Visiting Heritage scholar Wendell Cox has a new paper out titled "How Smart Growth Exacerbated the International...… Read more
Senior Research Fellow in Retirement Security and Financial Institutions