A Government Shutdown Could Deepen the Debt Crisis
Though the threat of a government shutdown has faded with the passage of a compromise measure to fund the federal government for the next 2 weeks (and cut $6 billion of spending), we should expect an...
View ArticleZero Hour for Public Broadcasting
I am an American and a male, so you can easily guess the first thing I do when I arrive in a hotel room: pick up the TV remote and turn on ESPN. The second thing may not be so universal: tune the clock...
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A Realistic Look at U.S. Debt Projections
How does the U.S. debt look if you assume a) a more realistic rate of growth in the economy, and b) that Congress won't cut spending as much as they promised during the election season. As Veronique...
View ArticleAn Academy Award-Winning Movie, Stuttering and Me
Because The King's Speech, a movie about King George's effort to overcome stuttering, won the Oscar for best picture, reporters have been interviewing me about my stuttering.Some ask why they don't...
View ArticleObamaCares Unreasonable Insurance Regulations
Last week, as part of the ongoing implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced $150 million in grants to...
View ArticleColorado Exploring Expanding Movie Production Incentives
Colorado HB 11-1207 garnered significant attention when it was introduced because it originally sought to raise the cost of movie tickets in Colorado to subsidize movie production incentives (MPIs)....
View ArticleFDIC and Fed Proposal to Exempt GSEs from Qualified Residential Mortgages is...
Earlier this week the FDIC and OCC agreed to terms for defining "qualified residential mortgages" and have agreed on new rules for risk-retention in mortgage banking. Dodd-Frank directed all federal...
View ArticleObama Admin. Proposes Federal Asset Divestiture
Reutersreports that the Obama administration is proposing the creation of a civilian property realignment board responsible for overseeing divestiture of federal assets. According to Reuters, the board...
View ArticleHousing Finance Reform: The Three Actions Politicians Could Take
Minyanville.com Two years. Comprehensive housing finance reform in two years. That is what Secretary Timothy Geithner asked Congress to deliver yesterday in testimony before the House Financial...
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The Truth About Fannie and Freddies Role in the Housing Crisis
Editor’s Note: Reason columnist Veronique de Rugy appears weekly on Bloomberg TV to separate economic fact from economic myth.Myth 1: The government-sponsored housing finance companies Fannie Mae and...
View ArticleFlorida Supreme Court Rules With Gov. Scott, Tampa-Orlando High-Speed Rail...
Florida Gov. Rick Scott made the right decision in once again (and for the final time, hopefully) turning down$2.4 billion in federal funding for the proposed Orlando-to-Tampa rail line. The line could...
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Has Anybody Seen Jimmy Carter Lately?
Veiled within the news that Ronald Reagan handily topped a recent Gallup poll of Americans’ favorite presidents is a pretty clear mandate: We want somebody to make the 1970s end.This is not the...
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Recovering Retail Trade Signals Strong Consumer Activity
Before Christmas, I referenced the strengthening of retail sales, which have been steadily climbing since late '09 and are now eclipsing their pre-recession levels. This has been accompanied by a fall...
View ArticleGlobal Warming By Another Name
President Barack Obama uttered not a peep about global warming in his State of Union this year. No dire warnings about climate apocalypse. No calls for cap-and-trade. Has this cold winter convinced him...
View ArticleInterstate 2.0
The Weekly Standard Congress is currently debating reauthorization of the federal surface transportation program, something it does every six years or so. In response to concerns that the federal...
View ArticleLeviathan's Lawyers
Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement last month that the Justice Department's Office of the Solicitor General would no longer defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court...
View ArticleGAO Report Echoes Reason's Recommendations on Government Reform
Last week, the Government Accountability Office released a list of 83 potential reforms to "reduce potential duplication in government programs, save tax dollars, and enhance revenue," the first of...
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Are Discouraged Workers Done Leaving the Labor Force?
One of the big stories in the labor market over the past two months has been to what extent dips in the unemployment rate over the last few months can be credited to people simply exiting the labor...
View ArticleAgainst Incitement
When a significant portion of the commentariat decided in early January that enough hyperbolic, martially themed political rhetoric was enough, that it was time for journalists to purge words like...
View ArticleBill Gates on State Budgets, Entitlement Spending and Education Cuts
Microsoft-founder Bill Gates recently delivered a presentation entitled “How State Budgets are Breaking US Schools” at a TED Event in Southern California (h/t Robert A. Guth, Wall Street Journal). In...
View ArticleThe Real Lesson from Wisconsin
There is an abiding delusion that frustrates efforts to limit the size and scope of government: The government, unlike the private sector, shields people from economic risk. Government jobs are...
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The State Pension Time Bomb
For decades state officials have encouraged adults to believe in the financial equivalent of the Tooth Fairy: that state pensions can yield high returns while being risk-free. Now taxpayers are in for...
View ArticleOil Price Shocks and the Recession of 2011?
Oil prices surged to near $107 per barrel yesterday and regular gasoline is going for $3.51 per gallon. Last March oil sold for around $80 per barrel and gas cost about $2.79 per gallon. The uprisings...
View ArticlePuerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño Embraces PPPs
Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño recently sat down with Matt Welch of reason.tv, where they discussed a wide range of topics. Gov. Fortuño explains in the interview that during his time in office he...
View ArticleTiny Cuts, Big Complaints
In the context of federal spending that will total something like $3.8 trillion this year, $61 billion is a rounding error. Yet the Democrats resisting that amount in House-approved cuts say it will...
View ArticleThe Elmo "Vendetta"
Looks as if we're finally going to get those hipsters at National Public Radio. Elmo should probably start thinking twice before going outside, as well.Yes, I realize that defunding NPR and PBS...
View ArticleTo the Shores of Tripoli!
It is reasonable to conclude that if John McCain had won the presidency, the United States military would be at this moment engaging in war with Libya, by enforcing a no-fly zone over the embattled...
View ArticleThe Year 2010 in Corrections Public-Private Partnerships
This section of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2010 provides an overview of the latest news and trends in corrections public-private partnerships (PPPs). Topics include:Corrections...
View ArticleThe Year 2010 in Water & Wastewater Public-Private Partnerships
This section of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2010 provides an overview of the latest news on public-private partnerships in water and wastewater services. Topics include:U.S. water...
View ArticleThe Lobster Underground
Lobster is upscale. Hot dog buns are not. Crack the former, toast and butter the latter, maybe mix in a bit of celery and mayonnaise, and you have the ultimate in shabby-chic cuisine: the lobster roll....
View ArticleObama's Green-Jobs Fantasy
Anyone who understands basic economics already knows that President Obama's $2.3 billion green-jobs initiative was snake oil. Now, thanks to Kenneth P. Green, we have statistics as well as theory to...
View ArticleForeclosure Growth Slowing But Don't Jump for Joy Just yet
A report from Lender Processing Services last week shows the housing market to still be beset by a foreclosure crisis, though the siege has started to weaken some. Still, the recent good news may not...
View ArticleNew, Even More Exaggerated, Florida High-Speed Rail Numbers
A new ridership study suggests that the Tampa-to-Orlando high-speed rail line, which has already been rejected by Gov. Rick Scott, would have generated even more passengers than previously projected...
View ArticleState of the State: Oregon in 2011
This is the fourth of a ten-part series on the 2011 State of the State (SOTS) speeches in states with the ten worst projected relative budget deficits for FY 2012. Budget data is from the Center on...
View ArticleUS Missing Huge Opportunity by Not Opening Up Trade With Turkey
Minyanville.com Something was missing from Francisco Sanchez’s speech on boosting trade with the Middle East last month. Obama’s Trade Czar highlighted the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar as excellent...
View Article3 Essential Facts About the Current Moment: We're Out of Money, The Public...
"What Michael Moore Gets About Wisconsin...and America," shouts a recent headline for a story at The Nation's website.The filmmaker Moore, of course, became famous for stalking a feckless GM exec years...
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The Truth About the State Pension Crisis
Editor’s Note: Reason columnist Veronique de Rugy appears weekly on Bloomberg TV to separate economic fact from economic myth.Myth 1:Unfunded state pensions do not represent an immediate threat and are...
View ArticleGoogle Deconstructed
I am eagerly awaiting my copy of Siva Vaidhyanathan’s new book, The Googlization of Everything (And Why Should Worry), from Amazon.com this weekend.Vaidhyanathan, professor of media studies at the...
View ArticleWho Is the Real Enemy?
"Our real enemy is not Islam or Muslims. The enemy is extremism and radicalism and radical ideology."So says Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam for the planned Islamic center near the site of the World Trade...
View ArticleCramdowns Could Return
There has been a lot of talk over the past several weeks about a plot by federal and state regulators to force banks to modify as much as $20 billion in mortgages for their role in robo-gate. I had a...
View ArticleAtlas Shrugged: Is A (the Movie) Really A (the Novel)?
The official release of the movie Atlas Shrugged Part One, based on Ayn Rand’s controversial 1957 novel, is not until April 15. It then begins a limited theatrical rollout in 11 American cities (which...
View ArticleState of the State: Minnesota in 2011
This is the fifth of a ten-part series on the 2011 State of the State (SOTS) speeches in states with the ten worst projected relative budget deficits for FY 2012. Budget data is from the Center on...
View ArticleA Cause of Health Care Costs You Rarely Hear About
I was talking about government run vs private health care with a Canadian friend the other night when, after listening for a bit, another friend chimed in that we were ignoring the doctor monopoly. He...
View ArticleWhy Gingrich Can't Win
Newt Gingrich has a lot going for him if he decides to run for president—a famous name, a record of accomplishment, a knack for raising money, and a rhetorical flair that appeals to his party's...
View ArticleHybrid Cars are Great, But Conventional Vehicles are Catching Up
The headline in the Washington Post almost says it all: "Conventional gas-powered cars starting to match hybrids in fuel efficiency." [W]hen fuel economy on a best-selling car is improved even...
View ArticleThe Enemy of My Enemy
Watching recent events in Egypt I have had a sense of both surreal distance and of personal connection. Distance because it is hard to imagine that American “friend” Hosni Mubarak, recipient of more...
View ArticleGetting Forensics Right
After countless scandals in recent years, the problems with America's forensics system are finally getting some national attention. In December, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced a bill to reform...
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Has the Recession Taken Its Hardest Toll on the Educated?
Among those who have fled the weak job market to go back to school, many are counting on shiny new degrees to pave their way to stable, gainful employment. A college education is still (though...
View ArticleThe Loughner Panic
Two hours after a deranged college dropout named Jared Lee Loughner opened fire on a congresswoman’s meet-and-greet outside a Tucson supermarket, killing six and wounding 13 others, the influential...
View ArticlePrivatizing the Housing Finance System
Since the credit crunch began in 2007, private sector financing for residential mortgages has been virtually non-existent. At the end of 2010, government-backed organizations—including Fannie Mae,...
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