Tag Archive | "taxpayers"

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Sen. Richard Shelby, Thief

Sen. Richard Shelby, Thief

One reason Democrats were so upset about losing their 60th Senate seat was that it would make it easier for Republicans to obstruct legislation.

Fair enough. But the revived possibility of a filibuster may turn out to be the least of their worries.

Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, has placed a hold on more than 70 of President Obama’s nominees.

His motivations are not partisan. He wants money. A lot of it. If Democrats simply throw a few billion federal dollars…

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Posted in Politics as Usual, ZeitgeistComments (0)

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John Berlau Debates Credit Card Fees and the Bank Bailout

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Barack Obama v. Warren Buffett on the Economy

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Sen. Richard Shelby, LOL*

Sen. Richard Shelby, LOL*

We normally don’t spend much time praising elected officials here at OpenMarket, but I have to make an exception (this week, at least) for Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama. Over the weekend he appeared on TV and trashed the seemingly endless series of financial services bailouts, making the case that if these companies are incapable of functioning without billions of taxpayer dollars, the government should simply let them go into bankruptcy:

“Close them down, get them out of business,” Shelby, the senior Republican…

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Posted in Bailout Watch, Economy, Stimulus to NowhereComments (1)

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Iain Murray on the Anti-Stimulus

Iain Murray on the Anti-Stimulus

On behalf of my distinguished colleague Iain Murray, who is busy speaking at a very important press conference this morning, let me present his prepared remarks on the impending stimulus bill:

Remarks of Iain Murray, Director of Projects and Analysis, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Good morning. Others have already told you what an unutterable waste of money this so-called stimulus package is. I just want to make two points. First, that the American people have been misled about the nature of the bill, and…

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Posted in Deregulate to Stimulate, Economy, Stimulus to NowhereComments (0)

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LibertyWeek 29: The Mother-in-Law of All Debts

LibertyWeek 29: The Mother-in-Law of All Debts

Welcome to Episode 29 of the LibertyWeek podcast, where your hosts Richard Morrison and Cord Blomquist are happy to slave away in front of hot mikes to bring you the best in news and views. After a brief celebration of twenty-five years of Yuri Andropov being dead, we focus on the 900 billion lb. gorilla in the room, the economic stimulus bill making its way through Congress. Alternate references to it as porkulous, the Stimulus to Nowhere and the Mother of All…

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Posted in CEI Projects, PodcastComments (1)

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Expensive Energy Does Not Stimulate the Economy

Expensive Energy Does Not Stimulate the Economy

Last week the House of Representatives passed HR 1, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allocates $816 billion to stimulate the economy. Environmental policy figures prominently in the House’s stimulus package, including $72 in direct spending for green energy and $20 billion in clean energy tax incentives. According to the liberal Center for American Progress, this $92 billion will create 459,000 green jobs by 2010, at a cost of $196,000 per job. What a deal!

The Senate will soon begin…

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Posted in Economy, Energy, Stimulus to NowhereComments (0)

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LibertyWeek 27: Blago in Absentio

LibertyWeek 27: Blago in Absentio

Your hosts Richard Morrison and Cord Blomquist welcome you back to another episode of LibertyWeek, wherein we start by highlighting CEI’s new Agenda for Congress. After all, they need adult supervision from somewhere, right? We then take on the new rules for bailout spending at Treasury, Gov. Blagojevich’s no-show status at his own impeachment trial, and an interview with Bureaucrash Crasher-in-Chief Pete Eyre. Finally, we round out the program with some appropriately strenuous Olympic News.

Listen here.

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Posted in CEI Projects, PodcastComments (0)

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Thank You, 2008, and Good Riddance!

Thank You, 2008, and Good Riddance!

For supporters of freedom and markets, the Year of Our Lord 2008 has been close to a disaster. As D:Ream used to sing, things can only get better, surely? Ah, if only…

This was the year that saw two Presidential candidates vying with each other to see who could make the most ridiculous statements on global warming and the financial system (it may be the less ridiculous won). It was a year when one bunch of free-spending economic know-nothings gained complete…

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Posted in Bailout Watch, Culture, Economy, Energy, Environment, Features, Global Warming, Politics as Usual, ZeitgeistComments (22)

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A loophole wide enough to drive a GMC truck though

A loophole wide enough to drive a GMC truck though

The Bush administration’s outline of its automaker bailout package lists some seemingly sensible changes in labor practices that GM and Chrysler need to make. (Ford, to its credit, is seeking private financing instead.)

Targets: The terms and conditions established by Treasury will include additional targets that were the subject of Congressional negotiations but did not come to a vote, including:

Reduce debts by 2/3 via a debt for equity exchange.
Make one-half of VEBA payments in the form of stock.
Eliminate the jobs…

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Posted in Bailout Watch, Economy, Politics as UsualComments (4)

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CEI Partners with NTU to Launch BeyondBailouts.org

Did the free market cause the financial crisis?  Was it unbridled capitalism?

The Competitive Enterprise Institute and the National Taxpayers Union don’t believe for a minute that capitalism caused the financial crisis.  How can we be so confident?  Because capitalism doesn’t exist in the United States, especially in the financial sector.

Nearly every industry in the U.S. finds itself making regular pilgrimages to Washington to seek special favors—subsidies for this or that, regulations that harm competitors or smaller firms, or trade deals that benefit…

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Posted in Bailout WatchComments (3)

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