On the Fox News Channel, correspondent Major Garrett predicted that foreign policy would come at the “tail end” of Obama’s speech. No kidding. If this had been a real State of the Union address, you might be pardoned for thinking that this Union was not just the first but also the only nation in the [...]
Archive for February, 2009
25 Feb
Obama’s Goals v. Congressional Priorities
On financial issues, the president’s speech was a mixture of worthy goals and worrying generalities. For instance, he announced that “First, we are creating a new lending fund that represents the largest effort ever to help provide auto loans, college loans, and small business loans to the consumers and entrepreneurs who keep this economy running.” [...]
25 Feb
Price Controls Are Not the Answer
President Barack Obama has outlined an ambitious goal of making sure that every American has quality affordable health care. He says that health reform cannot wait, and that it must be done this year. Few Americans would disagree with the President’s goals. Quality of care cannot be achieved by restrictions on personal choice or competition [...]
25 Feb
What About Nuclear?
f President Obama is serious about his energy objectives then how can he forget nuclear energy? He says that he wants to reduce CO2 emissions, create jobs and get America off foreign oil. But his solution is to double renewable energy. The problem is that despite years of state and federal preferences, non-hydro renewable energy [...]
25 Feb
Entitlement Reform We Can Believe In
President Obama said – “And we must also begin a conversation on how to do the same for Social Security, while creating tax-free universal savings accounts for all Americans” The president recognizes the need for all Americans to be able to save for retirement and other purposes. This would include making retirement savings available to [...]
25 Feb
Tax Raises Everywhere
Obama makes a big deal about not raising taxes on any family making less than $250,000 a year. While much can be said about the economic effects of this policy, the fairness of raising taxes on those who already pay most of the freight, and related issues, they are not the central issue. The central [...]
25 Feb
Obama’s Costly Energy Taxes
Paraphrasing Obama on energy tonight: We need to make clean, renewable energy a profitable type of energy. Investing in renewable energy is one of three items we must spend on – it will create jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and ultimately help to curve global warming. Give me a cap-and-trade bill and I [...]
25 Feb
Education Rhetoric Not Left Behind
In his address, President Obama joined his predecessors from LBJ through George W. Bush who offered a lofty goal for improving American education. Instead of promising to leave “no child left behind,” he stated that dropping out of high school is no longer an option in the Obama era. If only wishing it made it [...]
25 Feb
Who’s Been Approving All That Spending?
Congress’s reactions don’t reflect an understanding of how government actually works. The Democrats applauded at the statement that we inherited a massive deficit, taking this to mean that President Bush was solely responsible. Sure, President Bush had plenty to do with this, but who has the power of the purse? Congress, including those same applauders, [...]
25 Feb
A Walk for Detroit
More auto bailouts seem on the way, President Obama is saying. He sets forth a strong statement that we won’t protect Detroit from its own mistakes, but then goes on to indicate that we will do just that. What’s more, the industry will be “reimagined,” presumably by government bureaucrats. He concluded with a hint of [...]
