Author Archive

Something funny is happening with inflation… or isn’t happening: Despite more than two years of interest rates near zero percent and vast amounts of “liquidity” being pumped into the system, consumer prices are falling. On Wednesday the Labor Department reported an unexpected -0.1% drop in April, the first decline since March 2001. So-called “core inflation,” considered a better long-term indicator because it excludes volatile food and fuel costs, is also grinding lower. It increased... Read More→

This is the second of six policy proposals I have written for conservatives looking to accomplish our long-term objectives of more freedom and less government. Enhance the credit rights of Social Security: Instead of each person collecting Social Security from the government, every participant should have a private account holding real Treasury bonds in his or her name. Under the current system, FICA taxes go the IRS, which then makes them available to the government’s general fund. Under the new... Read More→

This is the first of six policy proposals I have written for conservatives looking to accomplish our long-term objectives of more freedom and less government. Public-sector bonuses: Conservatives should promote a policy that gives all public-sector workers the right to identify wasteful spending and collect personal bonuses equivalent to one-third of the public spending saved, up to $100 million per individual. Because the bonuses would result from individual initiative rather than collective bargaining,... Read More→

Conservatives need fresh policy ideas. Despite the movement’s new energy and passion, as embodied by the Tea Party, it’s still based on the simple concepts of lower taxes and less government. While these are fine goals, they are not strategies. The adversaries are well entrenched in their positions, surrounded by high walls of special-interest groups and defended by armies of public-sector unions and lobbyists. While our numbers are vastly superior, we need more than simply a frontal assault... Read More→

Declaration of Tea Party Independence (Posted by David Russell. Written by the Tea Party movement.)  I. As the course of human events winds its way through History, it has found some paths lead to Tyranny and some to Liberty. In seeking a path to Liberty, a great and powerful movement is now rising from every corner of our land. Created by the Will of the American People, it rejects unconstitutional domination by the Government that is supposed to be its servant. This movement has arisen, in large... Read More→

Democrats always say they care about the children (at least those who have been born), but some recent news stories show how empty those words truly are. First, lawmakers in Albany prevented the state from receiving $700 million of federal education money because they didn’t want teachers to be paid according to their achievements. Never mind the fact that most other people in our society are compensated according to their skill. And, never mind the fact New York is facing a budget deficit of more... Read More→

The Senate voted on Thursday 70-30 to reconfirm Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. It was the closest vote ever for a Fed chairman, and reflects a growing unease in the country about the state of our monetary affairs. The concern makes a lot of sense. Somewhere deep in their bones, the American people know something is wrong. But they still can’t put their finger on the problem. The basic crisis runs to the philosophy of the Fed and its monetary policy. Almost every economist or investor... Read More→

The past three months have seen major upsets to the Left, including improbable Democratic losses in the New Jersey governor’s race and the Massachusetts Senate seat. This week, conservatives should also wish a similar fate upon Ben Bernanke, a man who has done more to grow the U.S. federal government than perhaps FDR and LBJ put together. Yes, Bernanke was appointed chairman of the Federal Reserve by George W. Bush. And yes, he tended to fall more on “the right” when it came to issues such... Read More→