Category: Column

“Weighing benefits against costs is the way most people make decisions – and the way most businesses make decisions, if they want to stay in business. Only in government is any benefit, however small, considered to be worth any cost, however large.” –Thomas Sowell When it comes to unemployment insurance, we’ve always tried to balance […]

I have to admit that at first, I disagreed with this harsh letter that Nick Crews wrote to his disappointing children. It just seemed far too: rough a message for a father to send to his kids. However, when I thought about the loving parents (as opposed to the bad parents) I know with terrible kids […]

If you thought President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder had given up on closing Guantanamo Bay and bringing jihadists to American soil, think again. Two troubling developments on the Gitmo front should have every American on edge. The first White House maneuver took place in October, while much of the public and the media […]

It’s at times like this I’m ashamed to admit I live inside the Beltway. Well, that’s probably not specific enough since I’m usually ashamed to admit I live inside the Beltway. Still, the second you try to explain the stupidity of this “fiscal cliff” fiasco to a normal person, it makes William F. Buckley’s famous […]

We can get back to discussing GOP minority constituent recruitment soon, but in the meantime, we have a fiscal cliff issue that beckons — the real fiscal cliff (America’s imminent financial collapse), not the government shutdown molehill everyone is agonizing over. Congressional Republicans should look at their party’s loss in the presidential election as liberating. […]

One little noticed and quite remarkable aspect of Election 2012 is that Barack Obama won a majority of the popular vote for the second consecutive time. With the exception of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four-term run in the 1930s and ’40s, it’s the first time the Democrats have won a majority of the presidential vote in […]

As the “fiscal cliff” looms, editorial writers and Beltway commentators have turned their sights on their favorite enemy — tax-foe Grover Norquist’s no-new-taxes pledge signed by a weighty majority of GOP members of Congress. If Republicans had not been scared into signing the pledge, the pack laments, D.C. pols would compromise, and all would be […]

The biggest threat to America’s future is the size and power of our own government. If you agree with that statement, then you’re probably a conservative. If you disagree and believe that big government is a boon to the country and not a threat at all, you’re probably a liberal. So says Gallup. The sad […]

Remember the spending cuts Democrats delivered after they cut a deal with Ronald Reagan to raise taxes? Oh yeah, those never happened. And remember the future military cuts that both parties agreed to as part of the debt ceiling stand-off? Yeah, those are never going to happen either. So now that Republicans are negotiating with […]

Remember those classic, but profane lines from: Good Fellas? Now the guy’s got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with the bill? He can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy’s gotta come up with Paulie’s money every week, no matter […]

One bright spot of Barack Obama’s re-election was knowing that unemployment rates were about to soar for the precise groups that voted for him — young people, unskilled workers and single women with degrees in gender studies. But now the Democrats are sullying my silver lining by forcing Republicans to block an utterly pointless tax-raising […]

Classical explanations of conventional wars run something like this: An aggressor state seeks political advantage through military force. It has a hunch that the threatened target will likely either make concessions to avoid losing a war, or, if war breaks out, the resulting political gains will be worth the military costs to achieve victory. Wars […]

Congress returned to “work” this week (now there’s a laugh) to complete its lame-duck session before taking another holiday. Spending other people’s money is a taxing experience. Their task is to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” a geological construct of their own making. It doesn’t take a genius to predict both parties will try to do […]

According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 73 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of independents — and even 39 percent of Republicans — now favor raising taxes on those making $250,000 or more a year. So give the people want they want. As it is, the GOP is engaged in an unwinnable scrum […]

In 1902, journalist Lincoln Steffens wrote a book called “The Shame of the Cities.” At the time, Americans took pride in big cities, with their towering skyscrapers, productive factories and prominent cultural institutions. Steffens showed there were some rotten things underneath the gleaming veneers — corrupt local governments and political machines, aided and abetted by […]

The front end of the financial deal now under negotiation in Washington is akin to the tip of the tax iceberg. It won’t appear threatening. But it’s what under the water that will really matter. On the front end, the negotiators will likely craft a package of revenue increases carefully constructed to avoid the appearance […]

One of the biggest mistakes liberals tend to make is assuming a static response from the people being taxed. This is a big mistake, particularly when you’re talking about the rich. The rich – being rich – have lots of options. They can hire the best accountants to find loopholes, hire lobbyists to create loopholes, […]

Who says conservatives don’t love the arts? Take Glenn Beck’s latest masterwork for example, “Obama in Pee-Pee.” Of course, Beck didn’t go all the way and use actual pee-pee to shock the masses, which is what art is apparently all about these days, but what do you expect from these rightwingers?

The two “D’s,” debt and dependency, are taking America down the path towards doom. You already know about the debt, but you: may not have realized quite how bad the dependency has gotten. As quantitied, and explained by Alexander, “the single mom is better off earning gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income & […]

Welcome to the pretzel logic of liberal environmental protection: In order to “save” owls, the Obama administration is going to shoot them dead. This is not — I repeat: not: — an Onion parody. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, the White House released a big fat policy turkey: its final critical habitat rule for the endangered northern spotted […]

Insider trading leads the news again, casting a cloud over Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors $14 billion hedge fund. The SEC charged Mathew Martoma, who used to manage a SAC Capital division, with using inside information about tests on an Alzheimer’s drug to trade stock of the company working on it. The media love this […]

For decades, it has been obvious that there are irreconcilable differences between Americans who want to control the lives of others and those who wish to be left alone. Which is the more peaceful solution: Americans using the brute force of government to beat liberty-minded people into submission or simply parting company? In a marriage, […]

What do you call a leader of a theocratic and cultish movement with a deep and clear disdain for democracy who suddenly assumes dictatorial powers? A “moderate,” of course. Ever since the Muslim Brotherhood broke its promise to stay out of Egypt’s presidential election in the aftermath of the revolution, many Western observers have been […]

Next week, the United Nations’ attempt to take over the Internet will kick into high gear when the International Telecommunications Union meets in Dubai with representatives from 193 countries to craft a new governing structure for the Internet. The meetings are expected to last two weeks. If you haven’t heard about this issue, there’s a […]

Anyone who has seen the latest James Bond film, “Skyfall,” would be hard-pressed to find any traditional espionage tradecraft. More actual spying would have meant less of Daniel Craig running around in a too-tight suit chasing bad guys. When the villain — in this case a cyberterrorist played masterfully by Javier Bardem — is able […]

If everyone in America had read Stephen Moore’s new book, “Who’s The Fairest of Them All?”, Barack Obama would have lost the election in a landslide. The point here is not to say, “Where was Stephen Moore when we needed him?” A more apt question might be, “Where was the whole economics profession when we […]

America is about to plunge over the so-called fiscal cliff — and Americans are fighting mad about it. According to the latest polls, 77 percent of Americans believe that the fiscal cliff — a combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts set to kick in at the beginning of 2013 — will hurt them […]