Economic Policy News

Last year, America was ranked 20th in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom. This year, America’s rating in the index fell five places and now stands at No. 25, behind nations such as Ireland, Canada, and Chile. “We’ve been on about a decadelong decline in our economic freedom,” Terry Miller, a visiting fellow for…

Facing yet another artificial, self-imposed government funding deadline, congressional leaders released a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill with the intent of jamming it through Congress and into law in just a few days with as little transparent and public debate as possible. The 2,700-page omnibus spending bill is presented as a false choice: Either support…

The Economist summed up the importance of women’s empowerment last September by pointing out, in an article headlined “Societies that treat women badly are poorer and less stable,” that “[o]ppressing women not only hurts women; it also hurts men.” It’s notable that women’s empowerment has progressed significantly in a number of countries. Yet many other…

Sen. Mike Lee joined Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts for an important speech and timely discussion about the importance of economic freedom. In the March 1 event at Heritage titled “America Needs Policies for Prosperity More than Ever,” the two policy experts stressed why preserving and advancing economic freedom should always be a top policy…

America faces a stark choice. Will we accept more of the Washington-knows-best, top-down rule by politicians and bureaucrats? Or will we the people be in charge? The current administration and the radical left demands more control over our lives. Thankfully, there’s a plan to change course and promote the common good by preserving the God-given…

Taiwan stands for freedom, transparency, accountability, and other democratic characteristics that clearly differentiate the island nation from China. Taiwan’s commitment to cultivating a free economy and a vibrant civil society through independent democratic institutions has unambiguously made the country a notable example for Asia and the world in terms of how an emerging country can…

The 2022 Index of Economic Freedom—a cross-country study by The Heritage Foundation measuring the economic governance and entrepreneurial environments of 177 countries—went public Monday. The key message? Economic freedom matters more than ever. Heritage’s annual index has tracked economic freedom around the world since 1995. Nations committed to limited government and free enterprise score the…

Singapore keeps punching above its weight, demonstrating to the world the concrete benefit of preserving transparency, openness, and efficiency, which are the hallmarks of economic freedom. For the third year in a row since 2020, when Singapore eclipsed Hong Kong, the small but vibrant Asian country has been top-rated in The Heritage Foundation’s annual Index…

On Dec. 25, 1991, the once seemingly invincible Union of Soviet Socialist Republics fell when Mikhail Gorbachev, then-secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, transferred his presidential powers to Boris Yeltsin, the leader of the new Russian Federation. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Russia were on…

A single Democrat came out against President Joe Biden’s massive, multitrillion-dollar Build Back Better plan and the left is having a collective conniption. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., said Sunday that he would have to cast a “no” vote for Democrats’ current Build Back Better bill, a version of which already has passed the House. “I…

President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan aims to build, sure enough. That is, build atop the massive amount of welfare that the federal government doles out. Right now, there are a huge number of Americans simply not working, as most Americans know, given the huge number of “help wanted” signs in front of businesses…

News flash: Prices are going up. They are going up broadly across many products and services. And they are going up quickly. Inflation is here. It’s already bad, and there are many signs that it could get worse.   In the wake of this news, President Joe Biden has announced that he’s committed to continuing…

Editor’s note: Deadline reports, “Under the text of the [Build Back Better] bill released Wednesday, per Punchbowl News, employers would get a credit against employment taxes for local news journalists. It would provide a credit up to $25,000 to defray employment taxes in the first year, and $15,000 in the next four years, for each employee….

House Democrats unveiled an updated version of their social spending package on Oct. 28. Weighing in at 1,684 pages, and with trillions of dollars in taxing and spending, it is one of the largest legislative proposals in history. Progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., claim that the bill is a compromise. In reality, it is…

Nov. 4 Update: What’s in the Third Version of Biden’s Big Government Spending Bill? Congressional Democrats have released a third version of their big government socialist Build Back Better Act. Compared to the previous draft, the newest version adds another 450 pages, resulting in a 2,135-page plan for a reckless tax and spending spree. We…

Politico is reporting that congressional Democrats are pondering major cuts to Medicare Advantage, a system of competing private health plans, to help pay for their massive multitrillion-dollar spending bill.  This would be a bad policy. Compared to traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage provides better benefits, lower costs, and higher quality care.  Medicare Advantage is a popular alternative to traditional Medicare. From 2011 to 2020 alone, private plan enrollment grew by 103% compared to overall Medicare growth of 28%. This year, private plans are projected to enroll over 27 million senior and…

President Joe Biden is twisting arms to get “agreement” this week on hundreds of tax and spending provisions in his multitrillion-dollar social welfare bill while key Democrats seem to be settling on a plan to keep the price tag down. They want to reduce the overall size of the spending bill to “only” $1 trillion…