Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
“Gas prices are too cheap!”—said no one ever. Wait, scratch that: The president himself actually believes that gas prices should be higher. Though those were not his exact words, President Barack Obama is now calling for a $10-per-barrel tax on oil, to pay for mass transit, high-speed rail, self-driving cars, and other infrastructure projects he believes…
American employers created 151,000 net jobs in January, reflecting an economy that is growing, but below its previous trends. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported that participation in the labor force was 62.7 percent, higher than the previous months but lower than the January, 2015, level. The best news was that average hourly wages…
After two decades of ignoring blatant inefficiencies, widespread abuses, and outright fraud, Congress has used Social Security’s retirement program to bail out the Social Security Disability Insurance program. And now it’s on track to ignore the program’s problems again. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Joe Manchin, R-W.V., have sent a message to their Finance Committee…
Record numbers of unaccompanied alien minors and adults traveling with minors are again surging across our southern border, overwhelming federal and state resources, creating a border security nightmare, and ensuring record profits for the criminal organizations that control the drug and human smuggling and trafficking business along the border. More than 152,000 unaccompanied minors and…
Seven years after its collapse, the U.S. housing market still has not experienced a real recovery. The heavy-handed and misguided federal policy that was supposed to cure the problem is instead the main culprit in preventing a recovery. Thanks, Dodd-Frank! The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act confuses endless red tape for effective reform of housing finance. One…
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has given a series of speeches outlining highlights of the 2017 defense budget request. The full budget request won’t be released by the administration until next week, so we don’t have the full picture. But as we see exciting headlines driven by the secretary’s speeches, we should keep a few…
In January, friends and family in the Washington, D.C., area said a final goodbye to community champion Rita Jackson, but her indomitable spirit and the vision she had for the lives of the District’s disadvantaged youths are alive and strong in hundreds of lives she touched. Jackson’s girlhood dreams of becoming a professional dancer came…
It may be late in the game, but Europeans are finally waking up to how decades of indoctrination into multiculturalism is now imperiling their safety. British Prime Minister David Cameron has led this campaign, but even the leaders of France and Germany are now following. The fear that national identity is being eroded stands behind much…
Some 90 days after the last attempt at conducting a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea, the American destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels. The central point of this mission was to sail near the islands without prior notification. Unlike the October case,…
The 2016 budget season kicked off last week with a particularly bleak forecast. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warned that the deficit in 2016 will be $130 billion higher than projected last August. Over the next nine years, deficits will be $1.5 trillion higher. And by the end of the next ten years, an additional…
Showering federal money on the latest fashionable project is second nature for some members of Congress. The newest example comes with a program that looks to classify bikeshare programs as public transit. The Bikeshare Transit Act, introduced by Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., would make bike sharing programs eligible for continuous funding…
The Senate may move forward this week on an energy bill that would result in more government meddling and wasting taxpayer dollars on activities better left for the private sector. Members have offered more than 150 amendments, many of which would make an already bad bill even worse. One such example comes from Sens. Michael Bennet,…
Law enforcement agencies in Oklahoma are upset with attempts in their state legislature to reform the practice known as civil asset forfeiture, the legal tool that allows law enforcement officers to seize property suspected of being involved in, or derived from, illegal activity. These groups have laid out a parade of horribles so extreme that Oklahomans…
The results of the Iowa caucus proved that even Iowans—long seen as fervent proponents of ethanol—don’t view Washington’s favoritism to it as necessarily still required. Much like many campaigns out there, the Renewable Fuel Standard that mandates the use of biofuels in our gasoline has been full of empty promises. When Congress passed the Renewable…
One of the biggest losers in Iowa this week wasn’t officially on the presidential ballot. I’m talking about ethanol subsidies. Political wisdom has always said candidates must support government handouts to Iowa’s corn farmers in order to win elections in the state. The results of the Iowa caucus proved such “wisdom” wrong. Here’s the deal…
The Heritage Foundation tracks Islamist-inspired terror plots, which have occurred within the United States since Sept. 2001. Five plots have recently been added to the interactive timeline. Since the New Year there have already been three domestic terror plots in the U.S., one having been successful. 1. Philadelphia, Pa.—Police officer Jesse Hartnett was shot and…
The Financial Times reports that officials “from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are heading to Azerbaijan to discuss a possible $4 billion emergency loan package in what risks becoming the first of a series of bailouts stemming from” tumbling world oil prices. >>> Read the full 2016 Index of Economic Freedom Not…
While nations around the world are working hard to enhance economic freedom, America’s score in the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom continues to slip. With economic freedom diminishing in eight of the past nine years, the U.S. tied its worst score ever in 2016 and remains mired in the ranks of the “mostly free.” It…
On Monday the U.S. national debt hit a new record: $19,012,827,698,418. This is the first time the national debt has ever exceeded $19 trillion. That’s more than $58,000 for each person who lives in the U.S. today (including children). That’s more than $58,000 for each person that lives in the U.S. today (including children). The main…
For anyone who ever harbored doubts about the brutal nature of the Russian regime, an afternoon reading the newly published British report of the death of defected Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko should be a frightful reminder of the ruthlessness behind the Putin regime. Litvinenko defected to Britain in 2000, after becoming a whistleblower and bold…