An Interview with Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)
The Heritage Foundation’s Robert Bluey recently sat down with Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) to discuss his healthcare reform plan that puts patients first.
Ouch! Economists Grade Pres. Obama Poorly
A recent Associated Press survey of economists found that the vast majority give President Obama “fair” or “poor” marks:
“Half of the 36 economists who responded to the Dec. 14-20 Associated Press survey rated Mr. Obama’s economic policies ‘fair.’ And 13 called them ‘poor.’ Just five of the economists gave the president “good” marks. None rated him as ‘excellent.’”
That’s not good for the President’s re-election bid. He might try to tout that “independent” economists claim his jobs plan is the best thing since sliced bread, but Americans know; taking money from one sector of the economy and simply handing it over to another sector doesn’t create new jobs or prosperity.
An Interview with Senator Toomey (R-PA)
The Daily Caller’s Ginni Thomas recently sat down with Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) to discuss the Tea Party’s influence in Washington.
2011: Worst Regulations of the Year
The Heritage Foundation’s James Gattuso and Diane Katz have compiled a list of the top ten worst federal rules of 2011:
“Hindsight is supposed to be 20/20, but looking back on the past 12 months, it’s tough to see any sense in many of the Administration’s regulatory missteps. Of course, there are bound to be a few howlers when government churns out more than 3,500 rules in a year, including dozens unleashed by Obamacare, Dodd–Frank, and the perpetually errant Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But by any standard, 2011 brought forth a remarkable number and variety of regulatory blunders.”
SOPA: Another Government Power Grab
Ah, the Internet. The closest thing left to an actual free market. Sure, it’s not perfect, but nothing is, and trying to make something perfect never works. In fact, it usually makes things worse. But that’s never stopped Congress before (think subsidies), so why should it stop them now?
H.R.3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), seeks to correct the legitimate problem of online piracy by imposing government regulations and mandates that could end up harming Internet security and free speech. James Gattuso, the Heritage Foundation’s Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy, recently wrote a paper on the unintended consequences of SOPA, citing:
“There is no doubt that online piracy is a real problem. Websites selling counterfeit goods, including tangible items, such as branded clothing and pharmaceuticals, and digital goods, such as Hollywood movies, have proliferated on the Internet. Such activity is a form of theft, and the federal government has a legitimate role in preventing it. Currently, U.S. authorities can, and do, shut down domestically based “pirate” websites by seizing control of their domain names under asset-forfeiture laws. But a large number of rogue sites are located outside the United States, putting them largely out of the reach of U.S. authorities.
“SOPA is intended to undercut such rogue sites by prohibiting third parties from enabling their activity.”