Despite the electoral failures of the past two presidential elections, we can still take solace in the fact that there are more red states than blue states; more red districts than blue districts. Hence, there are more parts of the country where people are intuitively suspicious of a large federal government than where there are people who are overtly appreciative of the federal leviathan. So | Read More »
When it comes to free-market fiscal policy, Republicans are always manufacturing excuses to exempt themselves from their own doctrine on numerous issues. There are always excuses why specific industries must be recipients of government interventions. They say that exporters cannot function without the Ex-Im Bank; farmers cannot subsist without government welfare despite record high prices; the financial markets cannot survive without bailouts. The latest exception | Read More »
This week’s legislative schedule in both houses of Congress will provide Republicans (and faux moderate Democrats) a unique opportunity to efface farm welfare by eliminating ethanol credits/tariffs and direct farm subsidies. On the House side, the annual Agriculture Appropriations bill is expected to hit the floor as early as Tuesday. Earlier this month, the Appropriations Committee passed the FY 2012 Ag bill, cutting $2.6 billion | Read More »
In his official speech kicking off his campaign: I’m here today to tell Iowans the truth, too. America is facing a crushing debt crisis the likes of which we’ve never seen before. We need to cut spending, and we need to cut it…big time. The hard truth is that there are no longer any sacred programs. The truth about federal energy subsidies, including federal subsidies | Read More »
Farm subsidies are the most popular form of corporate cronyism among many Republicans. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, this regressive form of ‘progressive’ market intervention garners enthusiastic support from Republican presidential contenders, especially preceding the Iowa Caucuses. Haley Barbour is the latest potential presidential candidate to prostrate on the altar of the farm lobby and support the $20 billion fleecing of the taxpayer. Even with the | Read More »
Senator Tom Coburn (R-O K) put out a report this morning titled “Federal Programs to Die for: American Tax Dollars Send Six Feet Under” showing rampant waste, fraud and abuse in government programs. This report has put together programs totalling $1 billion in federal monies given to the dead. For those to say that cutting waste, fraud and abuse is an empty slogan, this report shows that stopping checks to the dead is a | Read More »
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