Economy & Budget

We have all heard of the war on drugs. And the war on poverty. And of course, the war in Iraq, the Cold War, the Civil War and all the other assorted wars we have fought in our nation’s history. But a war on jobs?

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has leveled that accusation against the Democratic congressional majority in a new report that his office released Wednesday. In it, he says, “Congressional Democrats are waging an undeclared but aggressive policy war on American jobs and economic prosperity.”

The language is purposely provocative in order to capture the attention of the media and perhaps elicit a reaction from the Democrats and from voters. Read more...

At the end of every Congress, observers and members speculate on a "train-wreck scenario" in which Congress fails to pass spending and other important bills and gridlock ensues between the parties or between the White House and Congress. Happily, this situation seldom plays out, but there are ominous signs that we could be headed for a bad ending to this session of Congress.

Consider the "must-do" items still on the agenda with two weeks to go before the House leaves and three weeks before the Senate calls it quits. In this short period of time, Congress still must pass: Read more...

It's time to get real. Let's ignore the politicians with their nibble-around-the-edges happy-talk "solutions" to our biggest problems, and let's talk about what it will actually take to solve them.

Why start with illegal immigration and try to ignore the bigoted hang-'em-high shamefulness of the Republican candidates? Maybe one answer is that employers need to offer wages that will attract citizens and others who are here legally. What they do now is fatten their profits by paying substandard amounts to undocumented laborers who are so desperate to stay hidden they'll accept any pittance they can get. Maybe by doing away with this shadow economy, the jobs that cause so many to sneak across the border will not be waiting for them. Read more...

In our two Americas, this holiday season will be the best of times for some and the worst of times for others, and it is a moment to give thanks not for what we have, but to those who live their lives in the true spirit of America.

Last year at this time there was news of soaring bonuses on Wall Street, including some very lavish rewards for those most responsible for the mortgage financing crisis. We will soon read of lavish bonuses again, and of executives at some offending companies reaping hundreds of millions of dollars of personal wealth through legal insider stock sales as their reward for the American tragedy they helped cause. Read more...

By at least one independent account, Congress is about to try for the 41st time to legislate our exit from Iraq. The reasons given by liberals are numerous — e.g., we can’t win, we don’t deserve to win, it is too late to win and my current favorite: The more terrorists we kill, the more we create — sort of a “Night of the Living Dead” excuse. We now have another one: Our effort is “too expensive” and inconsistent with “other priorities.”

Other priorities? By other priorities, Congress usually means the grab bag of special interest favors it loves to bestow on favored constituents, earmarked projects, community action grants, free health insurance for individuals at 300 percent of the poverty line, even a federal subsidy for a museum dedicated to celebrating the Woodstock festival. The liberal media and special interests normally nod solemnly when liberals intone that insufficient monies are budgeted by the Bush administration for “needed social programs.” Read more...

Peter Fenn & Frank Donatelli debate the Democratic and Republican proposals for the Alternative Minimum Tax.

You may have heard these words before: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.”

You may have heard these, too: “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Those are the words of Jesus, of course, right out of the New Testament. But some so-called Christian ministers have turned Christ’s teaching upside-down — and replaced it with their “Prosperity Gospel.” Read more...

I don't normally offer advice to women, but I need to alert them to danger. So here goes:

If you are in a bar, and you see some guy playing with Aqua Dots, be very careful. In fact, if I were you, I would not let him buy you a drink.

Of course, I'm referring to the latest bizarre outrage where these beads, if swallowed, can turn into the infamous "date rape drug."

It's simply the latest in the endless parade of dangerous, even deadly products brought to us not only by amoral Chinese manufacturers, but by the U.S. executives who ignore the dangers to enhance their bottom line, and of course, their own obscene compensation. Read more...

PetroChina, a Chinese energy conglomerate, became the world’s first company to be valued at more than a trillion dollars on its first day of trading in Shanghai earlier today. It is worth more than ExxonMobil and General Electric combined.

Lou Dobbs will see nothing but sinister forces in this event. But as almost every investor knows, this is just a sign of a hot international marketplace that is actually propping up the American economy.

According to a poll, most Americans think we are heading for a recession. But the rest of world is continuing with a brisk economic expansion. China is booming. India is hot. Even Russia is rich with energy revenues. London threatens to surpass New York as the financial capital of the world. Read more...

When we last left the tax debate, you will recall that liberal Democrats had already weighed in with ways to spend the money that would supposedly be generated (a figure surely inflated) by canceling the Bush tax cuts. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) opted to spend the money on her Hillarycare II national health plan. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) opted to fund a middle-class tax cut. John Edwards has enunciated spending schemes too numerous to mention. Note that NO ONE proposed using the money to reduce the federal deficit, supposedly a high priority of the new Democratic majority in Congress. Read more...