No Hope For Bad Debtors?
Have the banks bailed out any mortgage deadbeats? When a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage consultant told me last month that the bank had done absolutely no modifications of troubled mortgage loans since...
View ArticleThe Benefits of Tax Cuts and Alternatives to Stimulus Spending
What if someone told you the key to physical health was gorging on fatty foods and lounging on the couch all day? You'd probably write them off faster than if Bernie Madoff asked for a second chance at...
View ArticleGovernment Intervention Might Delay the Economic Recovery
Reason.com There is one thing that's giving political momentum to the Bush-Obama multi-trillion bailout/stimulus spending spree, and it is not a superior understanding of how to fix the ailing economy....
View ArticleSolving Congestion through Road Pricing
Tyler Duvall, the recently departed USDOT acting undersecretary of policy, boils down traffic congestion in a National Review column today— here's the money quote:The root cause of congestion is quite...
View ArticleWhat's So Smart About Investing in the Smart Grid?
Reason.com Smart grid technology is all the rage. General Electric just paid $2.4 million for a Superbowl ad featuring an animated scarecrow singing "If I Only Had a Brain" to promote its smart grid...
View ArticleStimulus and Japan's 'Lost Decade'
Today's New York Times has a lengthy and very useful overview of Japan's attempt to stimulate its economy during it's so-called "lost decade." Actually, it lasted longer than a decade. Japan...
View ArticlePaying for a Modernized Air Traffic System
Sen. Jay Rockefeller talked about putting funding for the NextGen air traffic control system into the stimulus bill. Instead, he should resurrect his 2007 proposal for a user-pays approach to...
View ArticleWho Is Going to Pay for Air Cargo Screening?
“Legislate first, analyze later (if at all)” has been the rule Congress has followed ever since 9/11, passing costly mandates without any solid analysis of what they will cost or how effective they’re...
View ArticleEconomic Change We Can Believe In
President Barack Obama's stimulus proposal entails an awkward tradeoff between spending and efficiency. Fiscal stimulation suggests large, rapid increases in spending, while efficiency means cautious,...
View ArticleThe Great Union Debate
Los Angeles Times Dust-Up How much is the United Auto Workers at fault for Detroit's problems? With U.S. manufacturing jobs on the decline, what will labor unions look like in the future? Reason...
View ArticleThatcher Said It Best
Looking at some old files I found the following quote from Margaret Thatcher:The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.
View ArticleIt's the Debt, Stupid!
As a "stimulus" deal appears to be drawing closer, it is way past time Congress realized a crisis of excess debt cannot be solved by creating more debt. Niall Ferguson, the author of the new book The...
View ArticlePresident Obama and Congress Should Clearly Define Stimulus Success
There has been a lot of doom and gloom talk recently on both sides of the stimulus debate. But we need to set that pointless (though a little fun) rhetoric aside and start creating a clear definition...
View ArticleThere Goes the Neighborhood
For the last five years, Nick Sprayregen has battled the combined forces of Columbia University and the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), a quasi-public entity empowered by the state of New...
View ArticleDissatisfaction Guaranteed
Each time an auto company, small business, or homeowner receives a politically motivated loan guarantee, the giveaway creates yet another unfunded liability for future taxpayers. Now, in response to...
View ArticleSenate Passes Stimulus Plan 61-37
The Senate passed the stimulus bill this afternoon by a vote of 61-37. The final bill was for $838 billion, known as the Collin-Nelson compromise amendment.The three Republicans to vote for the bill...
View ArticlePeople at Michael Phelps Party Arrested
Reason magazine's Jacob Sullum says"the Richland County Sheriff's Department has arrested eight people on marijuana charges in connection with the November party where Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps...
View ArticleTreasury Secretary Geithner's New Rescue Plan
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner announced his plan for rescuing the American financial sector, even as the Senate passed its $838 billion stimulus package. Building on what former Secretary Paulson had...
View ArticleOakland Charter Schools Outperform Other Public Schools in District
Charter public schools in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) are outperforming their district public school peers at all grade levels, with high-poverty students, with English Language Learner...
View ArticleMarijuana Arrests Fall in Denver After Ballot Initiative
Reason magazine's Jacob Sullum notes that "prosecutions of adults for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana dropped by a fifth in Denver last year, following the passage of a November 2007 ballot...
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