Think Tank West

To receive this segment by email, subscribe to the Cato Weekly Dispatch. Cato Leads Opposition to Fiscal Stimulus In reaction to statements from Obama administration officials who say “all economists agree” that the only way to fight the economic recession is to go on a massive government spending spree, the Cato Institute took out a [...]

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Politico noted that those opposing the stimulus plan:  …say that borrowing more money to finance a stimulus package will pass a crushing and possibly permanent debt load on to the next generation. “The question is,” says Chris Edwards, the director of tax policy studies at Cato, “is this morally proper?” Edwards says no. “Policymakers are saying: [...]

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“Small Government Returns as [Republican] Maxim,” headlines the Washington Post. The unanimous vote by House Republicans against President Obama’s stimulus plan provided an early indication that the GOP hopes to regain power by becoming the champion of small government, a reputation many felt slipped away during the high-spending Bush years. But small-government voters may not [...]

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In his recent book Critical, HHS secretary Tom Daschle proposes to create a federal health care rationing board empowered to deny medical care to patients in government health care programs and, ultimately, private health plans. The stimulus bill moving through Congress gives Daschle his wish. It provides $400 million for HHS to launch a 15-member “Federal Coordinating Council [...]

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As the Illinois Senate prepared to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office, Republican state senator Mike Murphy said that Blagojevich “is an unusually good liar.” Not that good, apparently. Not good enough to stay in office. As opposed to another controversial politician of whom those same words were said a few years ago. “Clinton is [...]

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The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration is delaying the Bush administration plan to require federal contractors to use the E-Verify worker background check system. Criticizing the move, Lamar Smith (R-TX), ranking minority member on the House Judiciary Committee, says, “It is ironic that at the same time President Obama was pushing for passage [...]

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Or so say I, over at National Review Online: The $819 billion “stimulus bill” passed by the House includes $1.1 billion that has nothing to do with economic growth and everything to do with letting government control your medical decisions. . . . Health and Human Services secretary Tom Daschle . . . propose[s] a [...]

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In addition to the terrible ‘Buy America’ provisions in the stimulus package (blogged about by Dan here and here) comes news that vendors in the Capitol Visitor Center are being forced to remove items made in China from their shelves. In the words of Rep. Bob Brady (D, PA), the chairman of the House Administrative Committee [...]

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The Justice Department received an extension from the Supreme Court in the pending appeal of Ali Saleh Mohamed Kahlah al-Marri, an exchange student who allegedly arrived in the United States on September 10th, 2001, as an Al Qaeda sleeper agent. He is the only person presently domestically detained as an enemy combatant, a practice I oppose. The [...]

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As I wrote in an earlier post today, the Buy American provisions in the just-passed House and currently-worded Senate spending bills will encourage similar measures abroad, threatening yet more tit-for-tat protectionism, as respect for international trade rules disintegrates. It’s not too difficult to discern who’s behind the Buy American provision, which reads: None of the [...]

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