Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior…
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More Legal Shenanigans from the Biden Administration’s Department of Education

Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior of federal administrative agencies, whose vast armies of overpaid bureaucrats remain unaccountable for their excesses.

Among the most familiar examples of that bureaucratic abuse is the Department of Education (DOE).  Recall, for instance, the United States Supreme Court’s humiliating rebuke last year of the Biden DOE’s effort to shift hundreds of billions of dollars of student debt from the people who actually owed them onto the backs of American taxpayers.

Even now, despite that rebuke, the Biden DOE launched an alternative scheme last month in an end-around effort to achieve that same result.

Well, the Biden DOE is now attempting to shift tens of millions of dollars of…[more]

March 19, 2024 • 08:35 AM

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211 Sessions, Coburn Show Leadership on Budget

“The man with no plan.” That’s what Jeff Sessions of Alabama, ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, calls the man Occupying the Oval Office. “The biggest deficit in our country right now is that leaders won’t get out and take a stand,” said U.S. Senator Tom Coburn. “That’s cowardice…

212 Hypocrisy: Obama Paid Lower Tax Rate Than His Secretary

In campaign speeches, Barack Obama sermonizes endlessly against “giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans like me.”  According to his own IRS return, however, Obama himself gladly exploits them.  Alongside Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D – New York) and so many other champagne liberals,…

213 Unlike Titanic’s Captain, Obama Sees Iceberg… But Ignores It

“From Mesaba to Titanic:  In latitude 42° N to 41° 25’, longitude 49° W to longitude 50° 30’ W, saw much heavy pack ice and great number large icebergs, also field ice, weather good, clear.”  One hundred years ago this week, that heavy ice admonition was one of several transmitted but unheeded by…

214 Why Liberals Can’t Win a Serious Tax Debate

In California, Governor Jerry Brown is pushing for a “Millionaire’s Tax” that hits people earning well below that threshold.  President Barack Obama is stumping across the nation for a “Buffett Rule” that raises taxes but makes no impact on the deficit.  Both are showcasing why liberals can’t win a serious…

215 Stop the Corporate Punishment

Americans businesses were turned into April Fools on Sunday when a cut in Japan's top corporate income tax rate left the United States with the highest such rate in the developed world -- including Communist China's. With Great Britain also slicing rates this month from 26 percent to 24 percent, the U.S. average top rate (federal and state combined…

216 New Survey: 73% Favor Lower Corporate Taxes

Barack Obama seems to assume that “The 99%” stand with him when he hypocritically campaigns for higher taxes on employers and individuals.  (“Hypocritically” because he doesn’t practice what he preaches by filing his own taxes at the same rate he claims is “fair” for millionaires such as himself.) …

217 February 23, 2009: Obama Promised to Cut the Deficit by Half

The most damning indictments against Barack Obama as he furiously seeks reelection are his own false promises.  “That’s why today, I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office.”  That categorical pledge occurred exactly three years ago this week, February 23, 2009. …

218 GOP Presidential Candidates Need A Refresher Course on Free Markets

A little learning is a dangerous thing. Unfortunately, it’s also all that’s required of a professional politician. While stammering, inarticulate candidates tend to have short shelf lives, a political aspirant who manages to recite a crisp bullet point without giving its content much thought can make a career out of the exercise (as testified…

219 Obama, Three Years Ago This Week: “If I Don’t Have This Turned Around in Three Years…”

On February 2, 2009, Barack Obama confidently announced the following performance standard for himself in an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer:  Lauer:  “At some point, will you say, ‘Wait a minute – we’ve spent this amount of money, but we’re not seeing results, we’ve got to change course dramatically…

220 Obama’s IRS Return Shows His Tax Hypocrisy, Current Debate Shows Urgent Need for Corporate Tax Reform

In his State of the Union speech, Barack Obama lectured those whom he hadn’t already bored to stupor with his usual onslaught of platitudes – you probably had no idea that “teachers matter” until he said so – that anyone earning over $1 million should pay at least 30% to government.  Oh, and another thing –…

221 White House Chief of Staff Latest Scapegoat for Failed Policies

To hear the political media tell it, Bill Daley’s failure as White House Chief of Staff was due to his inability to communicate President Barack Obama’s policies effectively to Congress and Wall Street.  But the messenger wasn’t the problem.  Just like other high-profile has-beens Obama has cast aside when reality undermined…

222 Congressman to Bureaucrats: “Stop Sitting on Our Assets”

When it comes to underutilized federal properties, Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) offers a simple solution: “It’s time to stop sitting on our assets.”  As Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, Denham has jurisdiction over nearly 14,000 federal properties that have already…

223 Federal Workforce Savings Made Easy

No good reason exists, none whatsoever, for Congress’ budgetary “supercommittee” to fail to identify at least $1.2 trillion in ten-year cuts without raising taxes. Wisconsin’s freshman Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson alone has recommended ways to save $1.4 trillion over ten years just by more sensible management of the federal…

224 Blow up the Boxes: GOP Presidential Candidates are Getting Bold on Tax Reform

By any fair estimate, the 2012 Republican presidential contest has been whittled down to four serious contenders: Mitt Romney, who retains de facto frontrunner status; Rick Perry, who’s still alive despite a halting entrance into the race; Herman Cain, who was won the affections of conservative voters with his no-nonsense style, and Newt Gingrich…

225 9-9-9 Trial Balloons: Popped

Herman Cain’s vaunted 9-9-9 tax proposal is brilliant in theory, and in a political vacuum. In principle, there is good reason to admire it. We don’t live in a political vacuum, however, and in practice it could cause major problems. The first problem is, common sense says 9-9-9 can’t raise enough revenue even for the slimmed down…

226 Bipartisan Foolishness in the Quest to Stop China’s Currency Manipulation

The world is an upside-down place when Mitt Romney is supporting a policy championed by Paul Krugman. Yet that’s precisely what’s happening as a bill that seeks to deter China from manipulating the value of its currency winds its way through Capitol Hill. The legislation, which passed the Senate on Tuesday, may still fail to secure passage…

227 Corporate Jet Tax Will Kill Manufacturing Jobs

With President Barack Obama threatening to raise taxes on corporate jet purchases, members of private aviation unions are wondering why their manufacturing industry is being singled out for punishment.  In a June 29 speech about cutting the deficit, President Obama said six times that buyers of private jets should pay more for the privilege.&…

228 A Conservative’s Guide to Obama’s Flawed Jobs Proposal

When President Obama appeared before a joint session of Congress last week, he pitched his newest supposed economic panacea – the American Jobs Act – as a plan to “provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled, and give companies confidence that if they invest and if they hire, there will be customers for their products and services…

229 Obama Now on Course to Preside Over the Worst Economic Growth Since Recordkeeping Began

As if American voters needed additional confirmation of the failure of Barack Obama’s economic agenda, consider the following.  In 1947, the federal government began tracking quarterly gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of overall economic vitality.  Since that date, not one President has failed to enjoy a quarter of…

230 New White House Advisor Politicizes Economics

The liberal politicization of economics continues unabated with President Barack Obama’s nomination of a labor economist to chair his Council of Economic Advisors (CEA).  A look at the nominee’s record shows that his expertise is promoting liberal policies using economic language, not job creation.  Alan Krueger, a Princeton…

231 Warren Buffett: Hypocritical and Factually Incorrect in Calling for Higher Taxes

Want to silence a liberal?  Simply ask anyone demanding higher taxes to produce copies of their own tax returns.  Many who insist on tax increases most loudly and sanctimoniously, including Barack Obama himself, didn’t themselves pay Uncle Sam at the rates they advocate.  So try it.  You’ll likely witness an amusing…

232 Obama Preaches Newest Version of Tax “Bracket Creep”

Ever heard of “bracket creep”?  It’s the scourge of middle-class families, and one of the favorite weapons of tax-and-spend liberals.  Just ask Barack Obama.  On his Midwestern bus tour this week, the president hammered Republican presidential candidates for pledging not to raise taxes if elected.  In his view…

233 Liberals Can’t Tell the Truth About Social Security Funding

During the recently concluded debt ceiling debate, prominent liberals like Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) were fond of saying that reforming Social Security was unnecessary because the program “has nothing to do with the deficit.”  Is that true? Here’s an excerpt from an opinion column Senator Sanders wrote on July 21, arguing…

234 Against Bernanke’s Market Manipulations

Try this thought experiment: You are sitting on a pile of cash or cash-equivalents. You are worried about the overall economy, and particularly about your nation’s debt. Inflation is almost nonexistent right now, but you know the most common way for nations to pay off debt is to inflate their currency. Your cash, therefore, may lose value &ndash…

235 Debt Crisis Reveals America’s Quarter-Life Crisis

There was no shortage of disappointment in last week’s dénouement to the months-long fight over raising the nation’s debt limit. President Obama was predictably petulant. The news media was issuing apocalyptic pronouncements, but for all the wrong reasons. And the final resolution staved off immediate dangers, but ignored the long…

236 Out of Balance: Why the Critics Are Wrong About the Balanced Budget Amendment

With the prolonged debate over the debt ceiling finally having concluded earlier this week, many Americans are anxious to leave the divisive and exhausting disputes over our nation’s economic future behind. Reality, however, offers us no such luxury.   While the compromise that ended the debt ceiling impasse may save a few trillion dollars…

237 Connie Mack: Trying to Balance the Budget a Few (Trillion) Pennies at a Time

What if a bill could provide a fail-safe way to reduce federal spending by one percent a year, cap spending at a historically sustainable level and balance the budget in eight years?   If it sounds too good to be true, it isn’t.  But it does need a grassroots movement to demand a vote on it in the House and Senate.  Rep.…

238 Next Step: Growth

However the current budget/debt limit battle plays out, Washington lawmakers in the next phase of financial policy-making should move beyond simple accounting and focus primarily on economic growth. Arithmetically, there is no way within reason to handle this nation’s debt and future unfunded liabilities without powerful and long-lasting growth…

239 The Nation Could Use Santorum-omics

Conservatives spend so much searching for the latest political version of American Idol, no matter how evanescent, that they somehow seem to miss real substance when it appears. That’s what might have happened a few weeks ago when former Sen. Rick Santorum, now running for president, released what could be the boldest and best economic-growth…

240 Obama’s Debt Ceiling Proposal Holds Taxpayers Hostage

To say that Barack Obama has a well-defined leadership style would be perhaps too complimentary. What Obama has instead is a style of crisis management masquerading as leadership. Time and time again, the president waits for issues of public import to reach a moment of absolute peril before publicly weighing in. It was his way in the debate over ObamaCare…

 
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Notable Quote   
 
"Americans do not trust several major U.S. institutions, including the national news media.The recently released Center Square Voters' Voice poll found that 43% of Americans say the media is trustworthy, compared with 54% who said it is not trustworthy.Younger people were more likely to trust the media, with 47% of those ages 18-34 saying they trust it and 46% saying the opposite.The numbers steadily…[more]
 
 
— Casey Harper, The Center Square
 
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