Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
As thousands of fast-food workers participate in strikes today pushing for their wages to be raised to $15 an hour, it’s important to remember the consequences that such a steep raise could have. According to a new report released today by James Sherk, a labor policy expert at The Heritage Foundation, such an increase could result in…
It’s unfortunate that while we’re faced with so many critical issues like ISIS terrorists and unsecure borders, Washington is instead focused on delivering special favors to Wall Street lobbyists. The Export-Import Bank is an unfair corporate welfare bank that helps a privileged few at the expense of other American businesses. Americans are tired of politicians taking…
More than 14 percent of American households are “food insecure,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual “Household Food Security” report. But does this mean, as media reports have suggested in the past, these households are experiencing “pangs of chronic hunger?” Actually, no. Food insecurity and hunger are not synonymous. USDA defines food insecurity…
“When you and I were in school, we used to just memorize 9 plus 6 equals 15. Not anymore. With the Common Core, students need to understand why that’s the case.” It took a teacher 56 seconds to explain how to add 9 plus 6. This is the introduction to the first of six “Homework…
Jared Bernstein, former chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden, argues that it is time to “dethrone” the U.S. dollar. Bernstein bases his argument on new research by Treasury Department economist Kenneth Austin. According to Bernstein: [T]he new research reveals that what was once a privilege is now a burden, undermining job growth, pumping up…
Does the U.S. Constitution require the states to redefine marriage? Earlier today a federal judge said no. Judge Martin L.C. Feldman upheld Louisiana’s constitutional authority to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman—as 78 percent of Louisiana voters did in 2004. Feldman noted that Louisiana’s marriage law furthers two important interests:…
North Korea is a land of “signals” where every action, good or bad, seems some sort of clever harbinger of change. The regime fires a short-range rocket? It’s a signal of Pyongyang’s displeasure with U.S. policy…and a cry for renewed diplomatic engagement. It allows a foreign journalist, sports team or cultural group to enter North…
This week’s NATO Summit in the United Kingdom couldn’t come at a more important time. Russian aggression is on the rise. NATO’s combat mission in Afghanistan is ending. The Alliance needs focus. The U.S. should use this opportunity to refocus NATO on the basics, with renewed emphasis on collective security and territorial defense as envisioned…
Obamacare created a new entitlement through its exchange subsidies and vastly expanded another one, Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office expects these two pieces of the law to cost over $1.8 trillion over the next decade. To offset some of this new spending, the law includes 18 new or increased taxes and fees that are estimated…
This is Bradley Kohler. He’s a 24-year-old adult with Fragile X Syndrome. Fragile X Syndrome is a genetic chromosome disorder that causes mild to severe mental impairment. He's had it since he was seven. These are his parents, Mike and Tempa Kohler. When Bradley was 22, he "aged out" of the Gwinnett School in Georgia. He needed a place…
You may have heard pundits time and time again dismiss America’s debt problem, touting that the deficit has fallen by 50 percent since 2009. Yet that sidesteps the real issue: the massive amount of debt the country has taken on in the past six years has put the nation in a vulnerable position as entitlement…
The Daily Caller has obtained an email that provides more stark evidence of the liberal bias of Lois Lerner, the former IRS official at the heart of the agency’s targeting of Tea Party and other conservative organizations that applied for tax-exempt status. Although Lerner was hypersensitive about political activity by conservatives, she appears to have…
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan received a boost today when a joint sitting of parliament endorsed his leadership following two weeks of street demonstrations led by maverick politician Imran Khan. Khan, who leads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has joined with Pakistani religious leader Tahir ul-Qadri to demand Sharif’s resignation for alleged vote rigging in…
Less than two-thirds of high schools across the country offer physics. Just half offer calculus, according to Michael Horn, an education innovation guru. That only half of high schools offer calculus might come as a shock to a large portion of parents, who have worked to ensure their children have adequate educational opportunities. And it’s…
On the corner of Patricia Avenue and San Salvador Drive in a Dunedin, Fla., neighborhood, 12-year-old T.J. Guerrero operates a lemonade stand to raise money for summer activities with his friends and family. His stand is usually open in the afternoon, and customers line up to sample his lemonade and baked goods. “I tried the…
"Smile, it's your first day of school!" The (usually) dreaded sentence for kids, and the prized moment for parents — the once-a-year, back-to-school photo. Whether you're home-schooled, public-schooled, private-schooled, charter-schooled, or college-bound, the back-to-school photo is more than just a photo. It's the quick moment of nervous excitement that will soon be forgotten amid overdue homework and…
Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez talks about his new book, “A Race for the Future,” released today. >>> First Look: Mike Gonzalez’s ‘A Race for the Future: How Conservatives Can Break the Liberal Monopoly on Hispanic Americans’
Over the most recent decade for which data are available (2001–2011), the overall U.S. abortion rate, calculated as the annual number of abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age (15 to 44), has dropped, continuing a trend that first appeared in 1980. The decline has been steeper since 1990, with a brief plateau in the…
Under the National Labor Relations Act, states may pass right-to-work (RTW) laws. In jurisdictions without these laws, unions can force workers to pay dues (although they cannot force them to actually join the union). Almost half of all states have passed worker-friendly RTW laws to protect workers from union coercion. What about the employees in…
The foreign crises that have challenged the Obama Administration this summer are not the result of a happenstance outbreak of global chaos, but of bad policy choices. From the Middle East to our own border to the Eurasian steppe, President Obama’s “lead from behind” chickens—his wanton abandonment of America’s leadership role—have come home to roost….