Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
Tuesday’s D.C. Circuit and Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rulings raise new doubts over the future of Obamacare. At the heart of these conflicting decisions is whether or not the Internal Revenue Service overstepped its authority in its interpretation of the Affordable Care Act. The statute clearly states that subsidies are available only through exchanges…
You don’t even have to be a real person to get Obamacare subsidies. That’s the takeaway from a report issued Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO created 12 imaginary identities, which were used by people who signed up for Obamacare Eleven of them succeeded in obtaining coverage—and received subsidies. “The total amount of…
Chile’s new president, Michele Bachelet, is out with her promised education reforms, which are paid for by increased taxes on the corporate sector. But they’re not very smart. In the 1980s, the Chilean government introduced a voucher system to encourage competition in the school system. This system gives students the option to pay a small…
Thanks to the federal government, it soon may become far more difficult to use and enjoy private property. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers want to make a water—and land—grab that should scare everyone. Under the Clean Water Act, the federal government has jurisdiction over “navigable waters,” which the statute further…
President Obama appears more committed to keeping his golf and fundraising schedule than tackling the very serious issues that remain unresolved at home and abroad.
On Monday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released the full version of the global standard for automatic exchange of information. The Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters calls on governments to obtain detailed account information from their financial institutions and exchange that information automatically with other jurisdictions on…
After a full decade of Obamacare’s implementation, the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office (April 2014), estimate that after spending over $1.8 trillion on Obamacare provisions, in 2024, 31 million people will remain uninsured. The changes in insurance coverage due to the Affordable Care Act, compared to projections of what would have existed…
“[Israel] also realize that they’re in the middle of a war of ideas, a propaganda war, and that Hamas uses everything possible to try to turn public opinion against the Israelis.”
In the last several weeks, you might have heard for the first time of a little-known agency of the federal government called the Export-Import Bank. The Heritage Foundation and the Daily Signal have been reporting on it for a while, and I’ve written about it recently as well. Long story short, the “Ex-Im” Bank is…
Every one of us has an opportunity storyline. Maybe a fourth-grade teacher nurtured a knack for math. Maybe a friend of the family offered a first summer job. Maybe a booming economy opened up a great career at start-up. Or maybe our lives went differently. Perhaps an assigned public school didn’t foster a culture of…
At his event in Seattle tonight, it won’t be surprising if President Obama praises the Export-Import Bank as a “jobs creator” that “doesn’t cost taxpayers anything.” It’s a far cry from how he used to describe the Export-Import Bank—as “little more than a fund for corporate welfare.” The president may hope that his audience is…
Today the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a blow to the Obama administration, ruling that the language of the Obamacare law only established federal subsidies for individuals enrolling in state-run health care exchanges, not for individuals enrolling in federal-run state-level health care exchanges. Since 36 states (the administration might deem it 27 states based…
Evidence is mounting that Russian-backed insurgents in eastern Ukraine were responsible for the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines plane, with the loss of 298 lives. This was an act of barbarism by separatists who are armed, funded, and trained by Moscow. It follows from Russia’s illegal invasion, occupation, and annexation of Crimea and its…
A mistake could separate a single mother from her children and send her to prison for three years. Her crime? Unlawfully possessing a gun in New Jersey that she could legally possess and carry in her home state of Pennsylvania. Shaneen Allen, a single mother with two children, planned to spend the weekend celebrating her…
Last Thursday, a Boeing 777 hurtled to the ground near the village of Hrabove in Eastern Ukraine resulting in the death of 298 civilians. The U.S. has confirmed that the airliner was shot down by a missile. On Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN it was “pretty clear” that Russia had played a…
The Congressional Budget Office has released its score on how President Barack Obama’s $4.3 billion emergency request on immigration will be spent. The big news? The CBO score confirms that the president’s $4.3 billion emergency request is not warranted. CBO reports that only $25 million of the president’s request would be spent in fiscal year…
Just one year after Sept. 11, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States commonly known as the 9/11 Commission, was formed to prepare an account of the circumstances surrounding the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil. In 2004, the complete report laid out 41 recommendations. Many have since been implemented. However,…
The House of Representatives is likely to vote on Congressman Eric Swalwell’s (D–CA) rare earths bill (H.R.1022) that would create a number of taxpayer-supported government programs to extract and recycle domestic rare earth minerals. But prices going up and down for rare earths don’t necessitate a government programs, even though that’s a popular solution in…
After years of discontent with the World Bank, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have agreed to form their own development bank, with additional plans for a “mini-IMF,” or Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA). The BRICS bank would fund mostly infrastructure projects and be equally financed by the five founding countries for the…
A coalition backing government export subsidies will host several executives of purportedly “small” businesses at a briefing Tuesday to build support for the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im). Although the bank primarily benefits very large corporations, advocates are telling Congress and the public that the bank is crucial to the survival of small firms. If that was…