The drive to force mortgage investors to refinance loans where the homeowner owes more than the house is currently worth (often know as underwater mortgages) is reaching absurd levels. In the latest example, California’s San Bernardino County is exploring using eminent domain to seize certain mortgages and require the investors that own them to accept refinancing that…
Abstract: Previous public–private pay comparisons at the state and local levels, including numerous reports published by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), significantly undercount public-sector pension benefits, omit retiree health coverage, and ignore job security. Using California as an example, an analysis by economists Andrew Biggs and Jason Richwine showed that…
Abstract: While it is clear that federal workers’ wages and benefits are above market levels, it is less clear whether state and local employees are similarly overpaid. In the past year, several organizations have published studies arguing that state and local workers are underpaid. But these studies undercount or omit important benefits that public workers enjoy,…
Abstract: Unions have been a familiar part of American working life for more than 70 years. Less familiar is the state of the union movement today: More union members now work for the government than for private employers. The above-market salaries and benefits that government employees receive are paid for by taxpayers. So, the union movement that began as a campaign to…
Ernest Istook discusses a California ballot measure to legalize marijuana.…
Brian Darling discusses the California ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana use in that state.…
OPINION/ANALYSIS: President Obama spent 2009 engaged in an unprecedented first-year spending spree. Now he is apparently planning to spend his second year creating the illusion of fiscal responsibility. On the campaign trail, then-candidate Mr. Obama promised a "net spending cut." Instead, he signed a historic $787 billion "stimulus" bill, expanded the State…
Abstract: Conventional wisdom holds that offshore oil and gas production harms the surrounding environment. This blanket "wisdom" ignores the fact that the largest source of marine hydrocarbon pollution is offshore natural oil seepage. It also ignores the fact that offshore oil production has lowered the amount of oil released into the ocean by reducing natural oil…
The increasing tendency since 9/11 to look to Washington for every answer regarding disaster response is troubling. The insistence that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) play an ever-expanding role in addressing day-to-day emergency responses is hindering, not strengthening, the agency's ability to prepare for the next national catastrophic disaster. Even…
Delivered July 30, 2007 immigration has become the most controversial, complex, and sensitive subject we face today. It directly affects our economy, our culture, and our future. To ensure that any action we take on immigration policy is in our national interest, we need to approach the subject with reason and facts. The astronomer Carl Sagan once said,…
On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to review an important case on race and sex discrimination (also known as...…
Religious liberty doesn’t stop at the church doors. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the nonpartisan...…
Today, Heritage was honored to host Representative Ed Royce (R–CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,...…
Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) is receiving criticism for including two solar-generation projects in his budget plan...…
Forty-one states continue to affirm that marriage exists to bring a man and a woman together as husband and wife to be...…
The Medicaid expansion is touted by proponents of Obamacare as a "no-brainer." While it is true that some states may see...…
Professional golfer Phil Mickelson, one of California’s many but dwindling wealthy, apparently carded a bogey when he...…
Even as the President and Congress have again failed to deal with the genuine fiscal threats facing the nation, the...…
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted a waiver to the state of California to move forward with...…
It’s official: The Supreme Court announced today that it will take up the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) this...…