George Soros’ New Plan for Global Financial Regulation

What would you think if George Soros were organizing his fellow anti-American, globalist, neo-Marxist “thought leaders,” in pursuit of globally governed banking and finance, in a second Bretton Woods conference?

Would you consider that their goals include dragging American influence and incomes down, while confiscating much of our personal finances and giving them to other nations [...]

Hatch-Lee Balanced Budget Amendment Is a Win for America

On Mar. 31, Senators Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee introduced a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) to make it a constitutional requirement for Washington, D.C., to end our deficit spending and culture of debt. And our national grassroots organization, Pass the Balanced Budget Amendment, is working with them to compel lawmakers to approve this change to [...]

English Riots, Faux Austerity, and Krugman’s Fairy Tale

London was just hit by heavy riots as part of a protest against the “deep” and “savage” budget cuts of the Cameron government. This is not the first time the U.K. has endured riots. The welfare lobby, bureaucrats, and other recipients of taxpayer largesse are becoming increasingly agitated that their gravy train may be derailed.

The [...]

Budget Battle Update: It’s About Preparing for the Inevitable Fight, not Forcing a Shutdown

According to news reports, Democrats and Republicans are unlikely to reach any sort of budget agreement before April 8, when a short-term spending bill for the current fiscal year expires.

Barring some new development, this could mean a shutdown of the non-essential parts of the government.
This makes both sides very nervous. Democrats don’t want the spending [...]

Even Radical Communists Awed by Radicalization of Wisconsin’s Democratic Lawmakers

Just how radical have some Wisconsin Democrats become? Just how far into the morass of leftist rhetoric have they plunged?
They’ve managed to impress of one of the leaders of the Communist Party USA.
The heated rhetoric and aggressive attitude of some Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin has surprised many, even revolutionaries, says a leader of the Communist [...]

Yet Another Terrible Internet ‘Stimulus’ Project

The $7.2 billion broadband portion of the federal government’s nearly $1 trillion “stimulus” law has been counterproductive and destructive from the moment President Barack Obama signed it.  There are myriad examples of these mountains of money being spent terribly.

Well, behold perhaps the worst – Lake County in northern Minnesota.
Lake County wanted to get in on [...]

Are Republicans Winning the Budget Battle but Losing the Budget War?

Among advocates of limited government, there is growing unease about the fiscal fight in Washington.

This is not because anything bad has happened. Indeed, Democrats thus far have been acquiescing – at least on a temporary basis – to conservative demands for $61 billion of spending cuts over the rest of the current fiscal year. This [...]

Wisconsin Attorney General Slams Judge’s Ruling Blocking Union Reform, Promises to Appeal

The standoff in Wisconsin continues…
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen wasted no time Friday in announcing the Department of Justice will appeal a judge’s granting of a restraining order that prohibits the publication of the law enacting the Budget Repair Bill.

“The Legislature and the Governor, not a single Dane County Circuit Court Judge, are responsible [...]

Bush Was Not a Conservative

There’s an interesting debate in the blogosphere about whether President George W. Bush was a conservative (here’s a good summary of the discussion, along with lots of links, though I especially like this analysis since it cites my work.).
I’ve already explained that Bush was a statist rather than a conservative, and you can find additional [...]

Japan’s Coming Debt Tsunami

The earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday has caused tragic devastation to lives and property, but Japan may soon be over-whelmed by a debt crisis tsunami of epic proportions. With crony deficit spending by the Japanese government having destroyed its economy over the last two decades; Japan now has a [...]

Wisconsin Investigations Into Fake Doctor Excuses Heat Up

Doctors accused of writing fake sick notes to protesters who staged sick outs to attend rallies, have until March 21st to respond to complaints filed with the Department of Regulation and Licensing, MacIver News Service has learned.

Social Security, Snoopy Snoopy Poop Dogg, & Sen. Alan Simpson

It’s easy to laugh at former Sen. Alan Simpson’s bizarre malapropisms on Your World With Neil Cavuto. The Wyoming Republican appeard on the Fox News show earlier this week in his capacity as co-chairman of Barack Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Early on in the segment (watch the whole interview [...]

Tax Increases Will Lead to More Spending, Not Lower Deficits

There’s a significant debate now taking place in Washington – largely behind closed doors, but sometimes covered by the media – on whether fiscal conservatives should maintain a rigid no-tax-increase position. One side of the debate features Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, which is the organization that maintains the no-tax increase pledge. The [...]

Barack Obama and Harry Reid Are AWOL in the Fight for Fiscal Responsibility

In the past 10 years, the burden of federal spending has skyrocketed, more than doubling from$1.86 trillion in 2001 to an estimated $3.82 trillion this year.

President Bush deserves a lot of the blame thanks to the no-bureaucrat-left-behind bill that bloated the Department of Education, the corrupt farm bills, the pork-filled transportation bills, the new prescription [...]

Republicans Are Right to Cut the IRS Budget

One of my many frustrations of working in Washington is dealing with perpetual-motion-machine assertions. The classic example is Keynesian economics, which is based on the notion that you magically create additional economic activity by having the government spend money instead of allowing the private sector to decide how it gets spent (in an especially bizarre [...]

GOP Wins First Skirmish in Budget Fight, but Shutdown Battle Still Looms

A large number of Democrats voted with Republicans in the House yesterday to pass a two-week spending bill that includes $4 billion in cuts compared to what Obama requested.

This is a modest victory for the GOP since they can truthfully claim that they are on target to impose the equivalent of $100 billion of cuts [...]

Gov. Walker Delivers Budget Address

Those who thought Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s agenda would be tempered by two weeks of nonstop protests outside his Captiol office couldn’t have been more wrong.

State spending would be reduced, taxes would not increase and the University of Wisconsin’s flagship campus would be granted independence from the UW System under the biennial budget introduced by [...]

Why Koch Industries Is Speaking Out

Charles Koch in today’s Wall Street Journal:

Years of tremendous overspending by federal, state and local governments have brought us face-to-face with an economic crisis. Federal spending will total at least $3.8 trillion this year—double what it was 10 years ago. And unlike in 2001, when there was a small federal surplus, this year’s projected [...]

Billions Wasted Each Year by Redundant Federal Programs

From The Wall Street Journal:

A report from the nonpartisan GAO, to be released Tuesday, compiles a list of redundant and potentially ineffective federal programs, and it could serve as a template for lawmakers in both parties as they move to cut federal spending and consolidate programs to reduce the deficit. Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), [...]

The Value-Added Tax Must Be Stopped-Unless We Want America to Become Greece

Sooner or later, there will be a giant battle in Washington over the value-added tax. The people who want bigger government (and the people who are willing to surrender to big government) understand that a new source of tax revenue is needed to turn the United States into a European-style social welfare state. But that’s [...]

Budget-Battle Showdowns: Coming Soon to a Statehouse Near You!

Wisconsin. Ohio. Michigan. New Jersey. New York. Budget-battle showdowns are coming soon to a statehouse near you.
Thousands of angry school teachers, union members, and their sympathizers have descended on capitals to fight against reducing pay and benefits for public employees. The protesters are up against a new crop of governors who are hell-bent on spending [...]

One Chart that Tells You Everything You Need to Know about State and Local Government Pay

The showdown in Wisconsin has generated competing claims about whether state and local government bureaucrats are paid too much or paid too little compared to their private sector counterparts.
The data on total compensation clearly show a big advantage for state and local bureaucrats, largely because of lavish benefits (which is the problem that  Governor Walker [...]

Spending Restraint Works: Examples from Around the World

America faces a fiscal crisis. The burden of federal spending has doubled during the Bush-Obama years, a $2 trillion increase in just 10 years. But that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Because of demographic changes and poorly designed entitlement programs, the federal budget is going to consume larger and larger shares of America’s [...]

Financial Reality Part II: Shrinking the Size of Government

Henry David Thoreau in his essay Civil Disobedience wrote, “That Government is best which governs least.” Those particular words, written in 1849, summarize the simple truth that the power of the individual and self-reliance in our free society are what has driven the development of American Exceptionalism.  Unfortunately in the 162 years since, our great [...]

Obama in Open Defiance of Courts and Constitutionality.

Last May, after millions of barrels of oil had been pumped into the ocean, Barack Obama issued an order to halt all U.S. deep sea drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.   Immediately, constitutionalists began to rail against the moratorium, which appeared to be a severe abuse of Presidential authority – a quick grab for powers [...]

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