This week the Department of Health and Human Services allocated a $5.9 million grant to Chicago’s Urban Health Initiative. This is the not-for-profit program, run by the University of Chicago Medical Center, at which Michelle Obama was once an ex…
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Playing Politics with Protectionism
As part of his recent “to-do list” presented to Congress, President Obama suggested that one useful form of economic stimulus would be to “stop rewarding companies who ship jobs overseas, and use that money to cover moving expenses fo…
Our Extractive Elites
Why do nations fail? In their new book, economists Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue that countries collapse when the reigning political coalition extracts wealth rather than promotes innovation and growth. Sounds like a union, doesn’t it?
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Public-Employee Unions Gone Wild
Terry List, a teacher in Saginaw Township, Mich., has a depressing lesson for her students: “I would not recommend to my pupils to become a teacher in Michigan.”
What’s discouraging her? A proposed pension-reform bill in Michigan woul…
The Dog Days of War Drag On
The United States’ eleven-year involvement in Afghanistan has been a tumultuous experience, and recent months have been a microcosm of that: Afghan soldiers turned violently on Americans, and vice versa; the Taliban launched a spring offensive on…
The Wonders of Deregulation
Decades of deregulation and economic liberty, President Obama argues, have endangered and impoverished Americans.
He has told voters in recent weeks that “we tried [the] theory” of deregulation, and it “hasn’t worked.” Fur…
The Buffett Rule’s Chump Change
President Obama has admitted that his so-called Buffett Rule isn’t really about reducing the deficit, but about tax fairness. Yet he and his supporters have still clung to the idea that the proceeds, about $4.5 billion per year, while they wouldn…
Jindal’s Tough Education Reforms
Earlier this month, after a bipartisan majority passed two new education bills in the Louisiana state house, teachers took the day off from work to protest in concert with activists, including the rather obscure Occupy Baton Rouge. In Cajun tradition, …