tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52915594489372756542011-08-02T22:04:23.548-07:00Robert M. LoftusI am a recovering Democrat. A life-long Democratic party member who abandoned the party largely because of its socialist-leaning, "intellectual" leadership. Read on for collected articles, thoughts and musings about freedom, individual & economic liberty, and the proper role of government in a self-governed free society, & specifically in our constitutional republic.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comBlogger3761100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-9528495006448390082009-08-15T17:59:00.000-07:002009-08-15T18:00:51.728-07:0054% Say Passing No Healthcare Reform Better Than Passing Congressional Plan Rasmussen Reports This does not mean that most voters are opposed to health care reform. But it does highlight the level of concern about the specific proposals that Congressional Democrats have approved in a series of Committees. Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-75321347135183063062009-08-15T17:31:00.000-07:002009-08-15T17:43:15.984-07:00Emanuel Wields Power Freely, and Faces the Risks Peter Baker and Jeff Zeleny Seven months after moving into his office in the West Wing, Mr. Emanuel is emerging as perhaps the most influential White House chief of staff in a generation. But with his prominence in almost everything important going on in Washington comes a high degree of risk.As the principal author of Mr. Obama’s Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-35543151138059289662009-08-12T09:34:00.000-07:002009-08-12T09:37:03.242-07:00Are We In America Or Amerika? INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Public Debate: Democrats, bloodied over their attempt to force health care "reform" on Americans, are looking more unreasonable and hysterical by the day. This isn't healthy for the republic.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-7706261866139680842009-08-12T09:30:00.000-07:002009-08-12T09:32:42.140-07:00Obama's healthcare horror Heads should roll -- beginning with Nancy Pelosi's! Camille Paglia I must confess my dismay bordering on horror at the amateurism of the White House apparatus for domestic policy. When will heads start to roll? I was glad to see the White House counsel booted, as well as Michelle Obama's chief of staff, and hope it's a harbinger of things to come. Except for that wily Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-40372754153645852422009-08-12T09:07:00.000-07:002009-08-12T09:08:02.040-07:00"Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them." --Thomas JeffersonRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-2054181806909067972009-08-11T09:35:00.000-07:002009-08-11T09:37:03.796-07:00"Any serious discussion of government-run medical care would have to look at other countries where there is government-run medical care. As someone who has done some research on this for my book 'Applied Economics,' I can tell you that the actual consequences of government-controlled medical care is not a pretty picture, however inspiring the rhetoric that accompanies it. Thirty thousand Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-24179997827098873592009-08-11T09:28:00.000-07:002009-08-11T09:35:01.930-07:00"For years, Democratic politicians said the health-care problem was about '47 million uninsured Americans.' Whatever the merits, many people were willing to do something for those with no health insurance. Suddenly, these voters discovered that ObamaCare is about them. When did that happen? Every policy wonk in America may have known this was always an everybody-into-the-pool proposal, and Mr. Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-46675560708477314382009-08-11T09:26:00.000-07:002009-08-11T09:27:02.587-07:00"So what has the White House told supporters to do when you run across those who spread 'disinformation' about the new attempt by the Obama administration to install the anti-competitive practices of a 'public option' into a federalized universal health care initiative? Report them. ... Pardon me for asking such an obvious question, but what concern is it to the President or his administration ifRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-36075787712678841962009-08-11T09:04:00.000-07:002009-08-11T09:05:15.931-07:00"On every unauthoritative exercise of power by the legislature must the people rise in rebellion or their silence be construed into a surrender of that power to them? If so, how many rebellions should we have had already?" --Thomas JeffersonRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-26391516220774007942009-08-11T09:00:00.002-07:002009-08-11T09:02:11.430-07:00"Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness." --James Wilson, Of the Study of the Law in the United States, 1790Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-84677363210966747522009-08-11T09:00:00.001-07:002009-08-11T09:00:48.443-07:00"Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday, will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be doneRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-21161683732517789612009-08-11T08:58:00.000-07:002009-08-11T09:00:04.101-07:00"Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition." --Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, Query 19, 1781Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-22669158010769749262009-08-11T08:54:00.000-07:002009-08-11T08:56:10.832-07:00We broke the bank! Mike Whalen The United States is functionally bankrupt. Our collective capacity to deal with this astonishing fact is seemingly nonexistent. Our national politics have become show business, exhibiting a complete refusal to strategically respond to this reality.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-66226639351473860782009-08-11T08:50:00.000-07:002009-08-11T08:57:51.780-07:00Our Unconstitutional Census John S. Baker & Elliott Stonecipher California could get nine House seats it doesn’t deserve because illegal aliens will be counted in 2010.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-16483384868452978142009-08-01T22:41:00.000-07:002009-08-01T22:44:29.213-07:00Getting it so wrong Paul Krugman continues his quixotic campaign to be the first so-called economist to be stripped of a Nobel PrizeRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-35934709252580101052009-08-01T11:06:00.000-07:002009-08-01T11:08:21.954-07:00Profits We Should Cheer Stephen L. Carter A specter is haunting America: the specter of profit. We have become fearful that somewhere, somehow, an evil corporation has found a way to make lots of money.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-12605883090223967742009-08-01T10:50:00.000-07:002009-08-01T10:55:47.797-07:00More on Obesity: Is the Government to Blame? Megan McArdle I don't see how I'm "right for the wrong reason". If lecturing people doesn't work, would it be nice or fair to do it even if the government hadn't contributed to the problem? But I confess, I am more skeptical than Marc that this can all be laid at the government's door. If US government policy is making people overweight, why is Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-34916940538993041052009-08-01T08:50:00.000-07:002009-08-01T08:53:09.714-07:00A Liberty Issue Mark SteynFreedom is messy. In free societies, people will fall through the cracks — drink too much, eat too much, buy unaffordable homes, fail to make prudent provision for health care, and much else. But the price of being relieved of all those tiresome choices by a benign paternal government is far too high.Government health care would be wrong even if it “controlled costs.” ItRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-90433137821664313402009-07-28T11:38:00.000-07:002009-07-28T11:44:00.348-07:00Memo to My Fellow Physicians: We Have Reached the Moment of Truth Daniel “Stormy” Johnson, Jr., MD, FACR It is easy to understand why many physicians prefer a single-payer system or a public insurance plan. Most of us, especially practicing physicians, are absolutely disgusted with the abuse of physicians and their patients by insurance companies. Consider the amount of time wasted by staff in Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-41764856356739192112009-07-28T11:19:00.000-07:002009-07-28T11:21:52.722-07:005 freedoms you'd lose in health care reform Shawn Tully If you read the fine print in the Congressional plans, you'll find that a lot of cherished aspects of the current system would disappear. In promoting his health-care agenda, President Obama has repeatedly reassured Americans that they can keep their existing health plans -- and that the benefits and access they prize will be enhanced Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-68340321277949961652009-07-23T22:00:00.000-07:002009-07-23T22:04:52.257-07:00The President as Hack Ideologue Paul Mirengoff It is sad, though not suprising, to see our president fall into the familiar trap of ideologues, namely basing their view of what happened in a highly individualized event not on the facts of that event but rather on their prejudices.THE PRESIDENT CONTINUES TO ACT STUPIDLY: Today, Obama said that with all that's going on in the country with health Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-52200920257379804112009-07-23T21:47:00.000-07:002009-07-23T21:50:06.601-07:00I Told You So John H. Hinderaker President Obama is widely regarded as a gifted orator. Actually being President, however, is a very different task from running for President--something that the inexperienced Obama seemingly hasn't figured out. As a small-time local politician, as a Senator and even as a Presidential candidate, it is possible to speak carelessly and get away with it. Glibness is Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-22567273419333274172009-07-23T21:12:00.000-07:002009-07-23T21:16:15.434-07:00Biden's Numbers Could Use Some Stimulus. Literally Mike Memoli Even as his job approval rating slips in poll after poll, President Obama remains a popular figure among voters. A Gallup survey out this afternoon puts the president's favorability rating at 66 percent, down just a point from May and 12 points from his pre-inauguration high. That's similar to the 65 percent favorable rating for Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-88015094282878320982009-07-23T21:00:00.000-07:002009-07-23T21:04:02.313-07:00Tonsillectomies of Greed: This was just another statement where Obama revealed a truly staggering degree of medical ignorance. The fact is that it’s ridiculously hard to get doctors to take out tonsils now, as it’s gone completely out of style.Not quite as dumb as the painkillers-for-heart-trouble remark, but close.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-41948824459942700712009-07-23T17:01:00.000-07:002009-07-23T17:03:18.175-07:00Centralizing Medicare Even Further David Henderson Somehow I missed this when it came out Monday. Here's what James C. Capretta reported about Obama's amazing power grab:Today, the Obama administration delivered one of the more remarkable presidential power grabs seen in recent memory (the transmittal letter is here, and a section-by-section description of the proposal is available here).The Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-73984519716454538512009-07-23T14:16:00.000-07:002009-07-23T14:21:23.778-07:00Stocks Surge as Obamacare Implodes Larry Kudlow Hate to say it but Obama’s disastrous press conference last night is a big contributor to today’s roaring stock market. The Dow opened strong and is now up over 200 points, continuing a very bullish rally that is breaking new high ground for shares this year.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-74136111635204056092009-07-23T13:38:00.000-07:002009-07-23T13:43:07.143-07:00The Arrogance of Health Care Reform: Why do politicians with no business experience think they can run 15 percent of the economy? John Stossel “Most people are oblivious to F.A. Hayek’s insight that the critical information needed to run an economy—or even 15 percent of one—doesn’t exist in any one place where it is accessible to central planners. Instead, it is scattered piecemeal among millionsRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-6296362395401693032009-06-25T17:49:00.000-07:002009-06-25T17:51:59.776-07:00ABC ObamaCare Special Turns Into Presidential Filibuster Jeff Poor President Obama uses network primetime special and overtime 'Nightline' coverage to talk for more than 45 minutes of combined 75-minute programs, revealing nothing new. Call this a teachable moment, but even with ABC’s best-laid plans to kickstart the debate about health care reform and not allow the “Prescription for America” Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-6954106134332514542009-06-25T17:18:00.000-07:002009-06-25T17:19:31.905-07:00Will Congress Read Bills Before Voting? Stephanie Condon Last month, when Republicans tried to stall energy legislation with hundreds of amendments, Democrats hired a speed reader to get through them all. Now, with Democratic leadership barreling through its hefty agenda this summer, it looks as if the speed reader's services may be needed once more.Various grassroots organizations are blasting Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-88686831528726621442009-06-25T14:57:00.000-07:002009-06-25T15:02:02.253-07:00America’s Freest States Greg Bobrinskoy From indelibly American quotations like "Give me liberty or give me death" to the iconic pairing of "liberty and justice" in the Pledge of Allegiance, there's no shortage of examples demonstrating that Americans have historically placed a high value on the concept of freedom.But in a country as large and diverse as the United States, the concept of liberty Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-65193190883058164682009-06-25T14:52:00.000-07:002009-06-25T14:53:34.996-07:00House split over new consumer agency Democrats favor the proposed watchdog, but Republicans are against another layer of regulation. Jim Puzzanghera "Un-elected bureaucrats will decide what mortgages we can have, what bank accounts we can open, they may even decide if we can have a credit card," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas). "We must preserve economic liberty and consumer choice."Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-4895745413672313382009-06-25T13:03:00.000-07:002009-06-25T13:06:20.345-07:00Climate bill would be 'biggest tax in American history'... The biggest doozy in the CBO analysis was its extraordinary decision to look only at the day-to-day costs of operating a trading program, rather than the wider consequences energy restriction would have on the economy. The CBO acknowledges this in a footnote: "The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-29570368674429681172009-06-25T13:00:00.000-07:002009-06-25T13:02:24.682-07:00Warren Buffett to CNBC: U.S. Economy In "Shambles" .. No Signs of Recovery Yet Buffett repeated his criticism of "cap and trade" as a method to control pollution, saying it would be a huge, regressive tax.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-70706825027157572042009-06-25T12:53:00.000-07:002009-06-25T12:55:46.287-07:00Sauce for the People is Sauce for the Politicians Shannon Love We should create a legal requirement that political elites have to use the same system they foist on everyone else. They should have to wait for hours in doctors offices. They should have to wait weeks or months for test. They should be fobbed off on emergency rooms if they get sick over the weekend. They should be denied any Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-61577217346739136552009-06-25T12:22:00.000-07:002009-06-25T13:54:09.913-07:00Please read this. For the sake of yourself, your children, and their children Fabius Maximus It is not too soon — or too late — to become angry. Evidence continues to pour in that our government needs to be shaken like a dirty rug. Are we weaker than the people of Iran? How much evidence do we need to spark outrage?To jump-start this process, please read this article: “The Great American Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-66472245337438281382009-06-25T11:57:00.000-07:002009-06-25T13:55:17.420-07:00Where's The U.N. On Iran? Claudia Rosett A thundering silence from the would-be defender of human rightsPeople are being killed in Iran. Where is the U.N.? What institution could be better positioned to relieve President Obama of his worries about America standing up unilaterally for freedom in Iran? The U.N. is the self-styled overlord of the international community, committed in its charter to Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-66239531683368459902009-06-25T11:45:00.000-07:002009-06-25T13:54:46.896-07:00Obama Plays Hardball With Watchdogs Robert Stacy McCain Gerald Walpin has quickly become the most famous of the three inspector generals who've left their jobs in recent weeks, exposing what appears to be a pattern of pressure from the Obama administration.In radio and television interviews, the silver-haired 77-year-old former AmeriCorps IG has certainly contradicted insinuations of senility Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-71268240119354428352009-04-11T19:10:00.000-07:002009-04-11T19:17:15.664-07:00Are "Tea Parties" good, bad, or neutral?Isaac MorehouseGrassroots conservatives might need an intervention. It is not, nor will it ever be, by politicians that any salvation will come. McHugh goes on, and posts one of my favorite quotes from Milton Friedman:"Parties aren’t about principles, they’re about power – getting and keeping it."Restoring limited, representative government will only Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-78391908808665908092009-04-11T19:03:00.000-07:002009-04-11T19:06:05.717-07:00Will David Friedman Revise his Book?David HendersonDavid Friedman's The Machinery of Freedom is one of my favorite all-time books making the case for freedom. I like it on at least four grounds: (1) it's tightly written, which reflects David's tight thinking, (2) it shows a great sense of humor, (3) it's got good numeracy, and (4) in it, David is just as critical of his own positions as he is of Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-17482347820137790332009-04-11T18:54:00.000-07:002009-04-11T18:58:59.827-07:00Immigration can speed economic recoveryDiana Furchtgott-Roth, former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.Mr. Obama might want to consider transferring the authority of setting quotas from Congress to the Labor Department. The Labor Department already has the presumptive authority to judge whether demand for foreign labor is justified, Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-50954748699220174022009-04-11T18:48:00.000-07:002009-04-11T18:49:21.283-07:00Today’s Tea Party Movement Has A Lot In Common With the Sons of LibertyPeter RoffIn just about a week, following the footsteps of other social movements that have changed America, thousands of ordinary citizens will be coming out on Tax Day — April 15 — to voice their complaints that the government is, once again, too big and taxes, spends and borrows too much.These modern day “Tea Partiers,” Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-9199572145635242892009-04-11T18:21:00.000-07:002009-04-11T18:26:41.370-07:00Ginsburg Shares Views on Influence of Foreign Law on Her Court, and Vice VersaCOLUMBUS, Ohio — In wide-ranging remarks here, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg defended the use of foreign law by American judges, suggested that torture should not be used even when it might yield important information and reflected on her role as the Supreme Court’s only female justice. The occasion was a symposium at theRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-58658391380803790582009-04-11T13:14:00.000-07:002009-04-11T13:19:32.247-07:00Poll: Fewer Americans support stricter gun control lawsAs Jeff Soyer notes, CNN has generally skewed pro-gun-control, so this is big news. He thinks it may not be fear of Obama that’s driving the change, though: “I’m starting to wonder if the fact that the MSM is spending more time profiling the sick mutants who commit mass shootings is having an unintended — for the anti-gun media — effect of Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-52764135266507697882009-04-11T13:04:00.000-07:002009-04-11T13:10:28.034-07:00The three cases that could determine Second Amendment incorporation:In this week's Second Amendment podcast on iVoices.org, Jon Caldara and I discuss three different cases which could give the Supreme Court an opportunity to decide whether the Second Amendment is incorporated in the Fourteenth: the Chicago handgun ban; the Alameda County, California, gun show ban on county property; and the New Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-28752903790032357182009-03-17T17:53:00.000-07:002009-03-17T17:56:18.297-07:00Andrew Breitbart on ‘Real Time With Bill Maher’Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-85472247510459081032009-03-17T17:46:00.000-07:002009-03-17T17:51:59.843-07:00Amid AIG Furor, Dodd Tries To Undo Bonus Protections He Put In.“While the Senate was constructing the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an ‘exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009′ — which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are now seeking to tax. . . . Separately, Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-51614269652020997462009-03-17T17:05:00.000-07:002009-03-17T17:09:53.139-07:00Morning Bell: Accelerating Us Off a CliffSpeaking to House Democrats at their Kingsmill Resort & Spa retreat last month, President Barack Obama defended his economic stimulus plan, claiming: “[We] are not going to get relief by turning back to the same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin. … If you’re headed for a cliff, you’ve gotRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-77729099143675894512009-03-13T11:22:00.001-07:002009-03-13T11:22:52.391-07:00Jeff Flake pounds Congress on earmark evasionCongress on Tuesday shamed itself by going on record, yet again, for what amounts to operating as its own protection racket. The House voted down a resolution by Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., asking the Ethics Committee to investigate whether there were any quid pro quos between federal spending earmarks and campaign donations linked to the now-disbanded Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-35559834122830622032009-03-08T18:14:00.000-07:002009-03-08T18:24:17.238-07:00Job Losses Hint at Vast Remaking of EconomyPeter S. Goodman and Jack Healy“The current pace of decline is breathtaking,” said Robert Barbera, chief economist at the research and trading firm ITG. “We are now falling at a near record rate in the postwar period and there’s been no change in the violent downward trajectory.”Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-72871691675902341472009-03-08T18:10:00.000-07:002009-03-08T18:14:36.056-07:00Let The Inquisition Start With FrankOversight: Congressman Barney Frank says he wants some of those responsible for our current financial meltdown to be prosecuted. And we couldn't agree more. First up in the court dock: Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.Even by the extraordinarily loose standards of Congress, it takes some chutzpah for someone such as Frank to suggest that he'll seek prosecutions for Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-43892637362094050842009-03-08T18:06:00.000-07:002009-03-08T18:09:34.272-07:00The Great DestabilizationCan America, the engine of the global economy, pull the rest of the world out of the quicksand?Mark SteynWhat Mr. Brown and the rest of the world want is for America, the engine of the global economy, to pull the rest of them out of the quicksand — which isn’t unreasonable. Even though a big chunk of the subprime/securitization/credit-bubble axis originated in the United Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-90926035130578589722009-03-08T11:42:00.000-07:002009-03-08T12:00:59.307-07:00Thomas Sowell | Favorite Quotations...I wish that I may never think the smiles of the great and powerful a sufficient inducement to turn aside from the straight path of honesty and the convictions of my own mind.--David Ricardo[1]The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible,Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-27667972665402948092009-03-08T11:27:00.000-07:002009-03-08T11:30:25.070-07:00The two most frightening things Obama said yesterdayRoger KimballThey mean well. They seek to boost all mankind up to their own plane of enlightenment. Inequality outrages their sense of justice. They regard conventional habits of behavior as so many obstacles to be overcome on the path to perfection. They see tradition as the enemy of innovation, which they embrace as a lifeline to moral Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-2737866292203696002009-03-08T11:03:00.000-07:002009-03-08T11:31:19.736-07:00Traveling down the road to serfdomRoger KimballWriting a couple of days ago in this space, I asked whether President Obama’s spectacular mishandling of the economy was a function of his incompetence or his malevolence.For what it’s worth, I believe that the answer is (mostly) “incompetence.” I take little solace from that conclusion. For one thing, I also believe he is doing everything he can to Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-75217171993629534342009-03-08T10:57:00.000-07:002009-03-08T11:08:45.745-07:00I love the smell of catastrophe in the morningVox PopoliIt's amazing in its near-complete detachment from observable reality, but this is the way a typical Obama supporter views the economic situation:We are witnessing the worst debacle of unfettered capitalism in our lifetime brought on by — you got it, capitalism at its worst. It cannibalized itself. Government, sad to say, had nothing to do Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-36479312106104786652009-03-08T10:16:00.000-07:002009-03-08T10:18:57.977-07:00From Stephen Moore in the Claremont Review of Books:The[] bailouts did not create the financial meltdown, but it is a good bet that they have contributed to the depths of our current problems and the stock market sell-off. We have robbed healthy companies of funds to pour money down the rat hole of failing industries like General Motors. For the cost of all federal bailouts, we could have Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-82783641370549569532009-03-08T10:15:00.000-07:002009-03-08T11:10:15.271-07:00Clinton's Apology TourJohn HinderakerWhen Rahm Emanuel made his notorious "never let a crisis go to waste" comment, I assumed it was one of those occasions when a politician inadvertently told the truth, and that Emanuel would be taken to the woodshed by his boss. But no! The Obama administration proudly proclaims that it is exploiting the fear caused by the current economic crisis to advance itsRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-76162179436364446202009-03-08T10:08:00.000-07:002009-03-08T11:09:23.443-07:00Don't Blame Us, We're Incompetent!John HinderakerWe devoted almost all of our radio show today to the Obama administration's recent foreign policy stumbles--in particular, Hillary Clinton's European apology tour and President Obama's mysteriously insulting treatment of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. We speculated about whether Obama's treatment of Brown was calculated disrespect, or whether the Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-64069521446760221482009-03-06T17:28:00.001-08:002009-03-06T17:31:56.156-08:00Deception at Core of Obama PlansCharles KrauthammerForget the pork. Forget the waste. Forget the 8,570 earmarks in a bill supported by a president who poses as the scourge of earmarks. Forget the "$2 trillion dollars in savings" that "we have already identified," $1.6 trillion of which President Obama's budget director later admits is the "savings" of not continuing the surge in Iraq until 2019 -Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-21924223410364950442009-03-06T17:08:00.000-08:002009-03-06T17:12:13.839-08:00Uh Oh, White House Seeks Economic Advice From TwitterNicholas CarlsonTwitter cofounder and CEO Ev Williams is headed to the White House today.The administration invited him to join a “young business leaders" summit to discuss the economic crises.As Ev himself puts it -- in a Twitter message, of course -- "[this] must mean they're *really* out of ideas."A reminder: With 6 million members and 700% Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-25159273487441064172009-03-06T11:43:00.000-08:002009-03-06T11:44:00.139-08:00February Sales: How Retailers FaredMany large retailers reported their February sales numbers this week, with most of them coming out the morning of Thursday, March 5. Wal-Mart led, with strong numbers. Most other retailers posted negative same-store sales changes, but were generally better than feared. (Last updated March 5, 2009)Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-2682473381061436902009-03-06T11:35:00.000-08:002009-03-06T11:37:57.133-08:00Economists React: ‘Staring Into the Abyss’Economists and others weigh in on the sharp drop in nonfarm payrolls and increase in the unemployment rate to 8.1%.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-38368656782372922692009-03-06T10:40:00.000-08:002009-03-06T11:35:30.728-08:00Broader Unemployment Rate Hits 14.8%If a half-percentage-point increase in unemployment rate isn’t ugly enough for you, there’s more from your government statisticians: almost a full percentage point jump in a broader measure of unemployment.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-11647615066253493512009-03-06T10:30:00.000-08:002009-03-06T10:31:50.268-08:00Required ViewingStephen GreenPresident Obama finally found a budget to cut.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-10965493558719491282009-03-06T09:52:00.000-08:002009-03-06T09:54:24.417-08:00Michael Boskin: Obama’s Radicalism Is Killing the Dow.Paul Krugman says Obama’s killing the Dow by dithering. So the question keeps coming up: Incompetence or malevolence? Either way, that people are asking is a bad sign . . . .Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-60138808075029868752009-03-06T09:47:00.000-08:002009-03-06T09:51:49.613-08:00Wait, I thought Palin was a “Christian” Theocrat! Shock! Palin Appoints Former Planned Parenthood Member to Supreme Court. You mean I was lied to during the election? Actually, it seems this is consistent with her centrist governance.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-59492448654692566142009-03-06T09:34:00.000-08:002009-03-06T11:46:20.142-08:00Never Waste A Good Crisis...Says Hillary Clinton!What if George Bush or Dick Cheney had said something like that openly? It's the kind of line that people used to imagine Bush people saying in secret.It's the mantra of the Obama administration.Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-14316996350123385622009-03-05T19:41:00.000-08:002009-03-05T19:47:47.540-08:00Shock & Awe EconomicsCharles ScaligerThe conceit of benign government economic stimulus is not new; it was popularized, like so much of what now passes for orthodoxy in modern economics, by British economist John Maynard Keynes. What Keynes achieved was to relieve socialism of its radical habiliments and dress it in more respectable clothing. But "Keynesian economics" is socialism notwithstandingRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-26107689706796229632009-03-05T15:24:00.000-08:002009-03-05T15:25:18.841-08:00These quotes and others make it clear that those who promote "redistribution of wealth" as a task for the government run against the very basic principles underlying the United States of America. This is no detail.What is really surprising is that many of the champions of socialism live in prosperity because of capitalism and because of the fruits of other people's work and the strength of the Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-5063944322421349122009-03-05T15:23:00.002-08:002009-03-05T15:24:08.978-08:00“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” — Benjamin FranklinRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-22513651965038018412009-03-05T15:23:00.001-08:002009-03-05T15:23:41.393-08:00“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.” — Benjamin FranklinRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-27348289725688253772009-03-05T15:22:00.002-08:002009-03-05T15:23:17.077-08:00“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.” — Benjamin FranklinRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-7474165815536084282009-03-05T15:22:00.001-08:002009-03-05T15:22:50.927-08:00“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” — Benjamin FranklinRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-24912088133513836652009-03-05T15:21:00.002-08:002009-03-05T15:22:14.724-08:00“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” — James Madison, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-36765888984232784422009-03-05T15:21:00.001-08:002009-03-05T15:21:47.415-08:00“An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.” — James Madison, Federalist No. 58, February 20, 1788Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-44995105709153106542009-03-05T15:19:00.001-08:002009-03-05T15:19:35.847-08:00“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one subject to particular exceptions.” James Madison, “Letter to Edmund Pendleton,” — James Madison, January 21, 1792, in The Papers of James Madison, vol. 14, Robert A Rutland et. al., ed (Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-33953342708617227342009-03-05T15:18:00.000-08:002009-03-05T15:19:02.028-08:00“Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.” — James MadisonRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-10776899160636150752009-03-05T15:17:00.002-08:002009-03-05T15:18:24.907-08:00“[T]he government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” — James MadisonRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-29621852149441588582009-03-05T15:17:00.001-08:002009-03-05T15:17:47.326-08:00In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees who fled from insurrection in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia, James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object saying:“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” — JamesRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-55572564225475207722009-03-05T15:16:00.000-08:002009-03-05T15:17:06.929-08:00“With respect to the two words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.” — James Madison in a letter to James RobertsonRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-67584125205168720422009-03-05T15:15:00.002-08:002009-03-05T15:16:35.430-08:00“The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.” — John Adams, A Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-81386315357551527022009-03-05T15:15:00.001-08:002009-03-05T15:15:48.898-08:00“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.” — Thomas JeffersonRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-14658752761666355292009-03-05T15:14:00.002-08:002009-03-05T15:15:23.032-08:00“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” — Thomas JeffersonRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-66301275316805450432009-03-05T15:14:00.001-08:002009-03-05T15:14:46.972-08:00“A wise and frugal government… shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” — Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-6710911265098985962009-03-05T15:13:00.001-08:002009-03-05T15:13:55.182-08:00“To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-36535331314538235332009-02-18T10:54:00.000-08:002009-02-18T11:02:28.359-08:00The Irrational EconomistA Keynesian who rejects the Austrian theory of the business cycle is no more credible than an alcoholic who doesn't believe in hangovers or a rocket scientist who doesn't believe in gravity:Vox Popoli takes Paul Krugman to task for being ignorant as well as a pompous boor.It would be interesting to feed Krugman his decade-old words now, given that the Austrian-predicted "Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-3471851455794306672009-02-17T10:49:00.000-08:002009-02-17T10:51:30.001-08:00Repealing Welfare ReformMichael BaroneRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-39431669515739181972009-02-17T10:24:00.000-08:002009-02-17T10:27:56.765-08:00Justice Dept. Defends Bush Rule on GunsBut Interior Is Reviewing Measure, Which Allows Concealed Firearms in ParksJuliet EilperinRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-66584997759800005342009-02-17T10:07:00.000-08:002009-02-17T10:09:05.449-08:00The People's Stimulus: Get Your Money BackBrilliant!Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-48216404731964154782009-02-17T09:59:00.000-08:002009-02-17T10:00:38.422-08:00Evidence against the multiplierRussell RobertsPresident Obama will shortly sign legislation creating nearly a billion dollars of deficit spending in the name of stimulating the economy.Is there any evidence that such spending will stimulate anything other than the pockets of the people who get the money at the expense of the rest of us?Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-72528166542331905342009-02-17T09:53:00.001-08:002009-02-17T09:57:17.391-08:00McConnell on the stimulus: $1 million a day since the birth of ChristYou gotta love this:Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-87713008020328754792009-02-16T20:51:00.000-08:002009-02-16T20:55:20.416-08:00Obama Rolls the Dice with the Economic-Stimulus PackageGerald F. SeibAnd thus it is today. Because the economy is so bad, gauging the success or failure of the stimulus will be hard to do for a long time. It’s likely that much of the argument on behalf of the stimulus in coming months won’t be that it has made things better, but that it has stopped things from getting even worse — a tough Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-55090279709307855762009-02-16T20:44:00.000-08:002009-02-16T20:57:15.628-08:00Social Collapse Best PracticesDmitry OrlovHere is the key insight: you might think that when collapse happens, nothing works. That’s just not the case. The old ways of doing things don’t work any more, the old assumptions are all invalidated, conventional goals and measures of success become irrelevant. But a different set of goals, techniques, and measures of success can be brought to bear Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-43321653136380043572009-02-16T17:16:00.000-08:002009-02-16T17:20:10.118-08:00Stimulis: Because All Economies Have Performance IssuesRobert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-40880276000172661272009-02-16T16:24:00.000-08:002009-02-16T16:28:23.617-08:00I haven't had time to blog much since Jan 27th... Sorry about that, but bills to be paid and business to be done. Tomorrow should be back to normal. ;-)Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-92215491087498613122009-02-10T18:40:00.000-08:002009-02-10T18:46:55.570-08:00NostalgianomicsWill WilkinsonCato has released a great new paper by my friend and colleague Brink Lindsey on “Paul Krugman’s Nostalgianomics: Economic Policies, Social Norms, and Income Inequality.”However, Krugman and his colleagues offer a highly selective and misleading account of the relevant changes. Looking back at the early postwar decades, they cherry-pick the historical record in a way Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-9278147518705854182009-02-10T09:05:00.000-08:002009-02-10T09:21:20.852-08:00SPECIAL PREVIEW Stimulus: A History of FollyJames K. GlassmanThe views of these economists are undoubtedly heartfelt, but it must be recognized that one of the great attractions of Keynes’s theories is that he gives you permission to do what you wanted to do anyway. Feldstein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under Ronald Reagan, proposes a stimulus policy that extends the Bush tax Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-48240346286165001642009-02-09T22:35:00.000-08:002009-02-09T22:37:44.164-08:0062% Want Stimulus Plan to Have More Tax Cuts, Less SpendingRasmussen ReportsWith the Senate poised to vote Tuesday on an $827-billion version of the economic recovery plan, 62% of U.S. voters want the plan to include more tax cuts and less government spending.Just 14% would like to move in the opposite direction with more government spending and fewer tax cuts, according to a new Rasmussen Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-11465803495560279042009-02-09T22:25:00.000-08:002009-02-09T22:27:31.393-08:00Barack Obama is a novice - and it showsAfter a rocky start, the new President knows he has to seize back the political agendaToby HarndenDuring last year's epic election campaign, Hillary Clinton said that in the White House "there is no time for on-the-job training". Joe Biden, too, remarked that the presidency was "not something that lends itself to on-the-job training". Both were aiming barbs Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291559448937275654.post-85963579942555121332009-02-09T22:22:00.000-08:002009-02-09T22:24:28.263-08:00Have They No Shame? A Power Grab at the CensusThe White House is taking control of the census — and the GOP is sounding the alarm.Jennifer RubinAmidst the high-profile fight over the stimulus plan and the embarrassing tumult over the batch of Obama administration appointees with tax cheating problems there hasn’t been much attention paid to the most naked power grab yet attempted by the Obama Robert M. Loftushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01155754849576265244noreply@blogger.com