The $1 billion Trade Adjustment Assistance program (TAA) will expire at the end of September. The job training program was first adopted in 1962 to help Americans who were losing manufacturing jobs in an increasingly globalized economy. Despite its faulty design and poor track record, some Members of Congress want to expand the program to cover all sectors--even…

On Wall Street, there is a widening gulf between bulls and bears, and today's GDP report has surprises for both sides. On its face, the overall real growth rate of 3.4 percent in the second quarter of 2007 was higher than expected and higher than the average of 3.2 percent over recent decades. Yet the report cannot dispel the genuine threats to the economy, notably…

The Congressional Budget Office has released a major study[1] of the U.S. military's demographics under an all-volunteer framework versus the draft. The idea of reinstating the draft was a hot-button issue last November when Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY), a leader and committee chairman in the newly elected Democratic majority, vocalized his intent to once again…

According to the logic of protectionism, Michigan has been stealing jobs from other Midwestern states for years. By stealing automobile production that could be evenly spread around the country, the state has acquired an unfair advantage. One state over which Michigan has acquired such an advantage is Ohio. With the concentration of manufacturing to its north,…

On May 10, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson led a small panel discussion about the importance of foreign direct investment in the American economy. Just a few hours earlier, a government report was released showing a trade deficit of $63.9 billion in March, nearly 10 percent higher than in February. The trade deficit is a favorite bogeyman of those who predict a…