Think Tank West http://thinktankwest.com ...The best ideas from the institutes Tue, 22 May 2012 19:47:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en House Appropriations Chairman Behind Military Pork By Tad DeHaven

After the Republicans took back control of the House following the November 2010 elections, the GOP leadership went with Kentucky Rep. Hal Rogers—a.k.a. “The Prince of Pork”—to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee. I wrote at the time that “The support for Rogers from House Republican leaders is a slap in the face of voters [...]

House Appropriations Chairman Behind Military Pork is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

]]> http://thinktankwest.com/american-domestic-policy/house-appropriations-chairman-behind-military-pork Is Congress Doomed? By John Samples

Maybe not. I have just published an essay at the Liberty Fund’s Liberty Forum on the fall and rise of Congress since 1960. The essay takes off from James Burnham’s book of that year, Congress and the American Tradition. Burnham was what today would be called a paleo-conservative (despite having been a Trotskyite in the [...]

Is Congress Doomed? is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

]]> http://thinktankwest.com/american-domestic-policy/is-congress-doomed Getting Serious about Fixing Washington By Roger Pilon

Demonstrating once again that it’s nothing if not the voice of the capital’s establishment, the Washington Post this morning opened its Sunday “Outlook” section with yet another major piece by establishment apologists Norman Ornstein (AEI) and Thomas Mann (Brookings), lamenting our “dysfunctional” politics and blaming it mostly on “extremist” Republicans who oppose “almost everything put [...]

Getting Serious about Fixing Washington is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

]]> http://thinktankwest.com/american-domestic-policy/getting-serious-about-fixing-washington Daniel in the Looter’s Den: My Adventures at the UN By Daniel J. Mitchell

I was at the United Nations yesterday for something called “The High Level Thematic Debate on the State of the World Economy.” Most speakers, including the secretary general of the United Nations, the president of the European Commission, Paul Volcker, and Joseph Stiglitz, to varying degrees blamed private markets for the fiscal and financial problems [...]

Daniel in the Looter’s Den: My Adventures at the UN is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

]]> http://thinktankwest.com/american-domestic-policy/daniel-in-the-looter%e2%80%99s-den-my-adventures-at-the-un ‘Lawsuit Contentions, Like Beer Itself, Can Be Dangerous When Over-Quaffed by the Naive’ By Walter Olson

To be fair about it, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has written some pretty good stuff about the Drug War and other topics. But when he’s having a weak day, he’s weaker than watered beer, or so I conclude in a new Reason piece about his latest crusade. Last week Kristof urged readers to [...]

‘Lawsuit Contentions, Like Beer Itself, Can Be Dangerous When Over-Quaffed by the Naive’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

]]> http://thinktankwest.com/american-domestic-policy/%e2%80%98lawsuit-contentions-like-beer-itself-can-be-dangerous-when-over-quaffed-by-the-naive%e2%80%99 NATO Has Become a Form of U.S. Foreign Aid By Doug Bandow

The NATO summit starts Sunday in Chicago and will be the largest gathering ever held by the alliance. This is fitting given NATO’s desire to act around the globe. While U.S. officials say no decisions on further expanding membership will be made at the meeting, they explain that the door remains open. Adding additional security commitments in this way would be a [...]

NATO Has Become a Form of U.S. Foreign Aid is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

]]> http://thinktankwest.com/american-domestic-policy/nato-has-become-a-form-of-u-s-foreign-aid Selling Work Visas: Auctions or a Tariff? By Alex Nowrasteh

Yesterday Professor Giovanni Peri presented an immigration reform plan that would auction work visas to employers.  As I wrote yesterday, Peri’s plan would diminish the misallocation of current visas but not do much to increase the quantity of work visas.  Since the real problem with America’s immigration system is a lack of work visas and [...]

Selling Work Visas: Auctions or a Tariff? is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

]]> http://thinktankwest.com/american-domestic-policy/selling-work-visas-auctions-or-a-tariff Selling Work Visas By Alex Nowrasteh

Professor Giovanni Peri today made an interesting proposal to auction work visas to the highest bidding employer. His reform is similar to an auction proposal made by Gary Becker, but more specific. His idea is innovative and deals with transitioning from the current maze of quotas, visa categories, and other barriers to a more open [...]

Selling Work Visas is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

]]> http://thinktankwest.com/american-domestic-policy/selling-work-visas Remarks on Fiction and Surveillance from PEN World Voices By Julian Sanchez

Earlier this month, it was my distinct privilege to moderate a panel of renowned authors and activists from around the globe at the PEN World Voices festival, to discuss “Life in the Panopticon.” The folks at PEN have since posted the prepared version of my opening remarks, which try to get at the special relevance [...]

Remarks on Fiction and Surveillance from PEN World Voices is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

]]> http://thinktankwest.com/american-domestic-policy/remarks-on-fiction-and-surveillance-from-pen-world-voices Romney Needs Spending Cutters By Chris Edwards

The Washington Times today discusses whether Mitt Romney’s political and policy team is looking too much like George W. Bush’s team. The reporter quotes me in his article: Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank, offered glowing reviews of Mr. Romney’s troika of advisers—Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Mankiw and Kevin [...]

Romney Needs Spending Cutters is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

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