Originally published in The Oregonian — May 17, 2012 – Primary 2012 aftermath: Lawyers and judges steal the show this election You know it’s an unusual election when the most interesting statewide races are those in which only lawyers and judges are running. Despite indications from a recent SurveyUSA poll, the magnitude of Ellen Rosenblum’s [...]

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley writes in today’s Oregonian that the J.P. Morgan trading loss provides 2 billion reasons for more regulation of the banking and financial industries.  On the same page, Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson explains why — in “four propositions that defy conventional wisdom” –,Merkley is wrong.

The mini-flap over U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren’s one-time claim to American Indian heritage just won’t stop flapping.  As Alana Goodman writes in Commentary, both Warren and Harvard University have some explaining to do.

AEI scholar Kenneth P. Green says it is not surprising that, though governments have spent billions on green technologies, there are few jobs to show for it.  Green calls it a “green conceit” drawing on Fiederich Hayek’s description of the “fatal conceit” that government planners can know enough to pick tomorrow’s technologies today.  Read Green’s [...]

$2 billion is a lot of money.  Enough to get the regulator’s juices pumping.  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the J.P. Morgan $2 billion trading loss is evidence of the need for more regulation of banks and the financial sector.  Jonathan Macey, writing in the Wall Street Journal, and Peter J. Wallison, writing in USA [...]

Most commentators and pundits explain the defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy in France and the rise of far left Syriza in Greece as popular rejections of austerity policies as the solution to escalating government debt.  Writing in today’s Washington Examiner, Veronique de Rugy points out that government spending on social services and welfare in most European [...]

In this piece from the May 13, 2012, Weekly Standard (reproduced here at aei.org), Thomas Donnelly and Gary Schmitt explain why the choice facing Congress with looming automatic defense cuts  is not really between defense and services for the poor.

Originally published in The Daily Caller — May 11, 2012 – Obama did’nt flip-flop on gay marriage – Flip-flopping has long been perceived to be a negative in American politics. Mitt Romney was for abortion rights before he was against them. He was for Romneycare, but is against Obamacare. For these changes of heart (or [...]

The following editorial by editorial page editor Thomas G. Donlan appeared in Barrons here. The Power of Credit The much-lamented “student loan crisis” has deep bipartisan roots, tapping a lode of sentiment and misunderstanding. Though the problems of student debtors today are relatively trivial in fiscal terms, they are instructive in political terms. Inserting federal-government [...]

Clackamas County Electoral Challenges Mirror Dynamic of National Election — From the May Northwest Connection   There was a time, back before the Great Recession, when adherents of a green, “sustainable,” and quasi-Socialist environmental agenda made significant inroads into Clackamas County. Small groups of conservative watchdogs, like the members of Americans for Prosperity Clackamas and [...]

Yesterday I took a flight from Washington-Dulles Airport to PDX.  As I boarded, I noticed that Oregon’s 1st District Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici was seated in row 4.  After working my way back to my seat in row 30, I noticed that Washington’s 3rd District Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler was seated in row 29. I don’t [...]

In this week’s elections Greek voters gave significant support to the far left parties opposing any real reform of the Greek entitlement state.  As a consequence, Greeks future in the European Union is in serious doubt, as is the country’s economic future.  While some of the Greek parties are far left of the American Democratic [...]

Originally published at aei.org — May 7, 2012 – by Arthur C. Brooks – First, make the moral case for free enterprise –   Ready for the battle in November? You probably think I’m talking about the election. No, I’m talking about the battle around your Thanksgiving table. The dinner conversation will turn to politics [...]

VIDEO: Eyewitness News in Indianapolis shows a massive tax loophole that provides billions of dollars in tax credits to undocumented workers and, in many cases, people who have never set foot in the United States:

Bret Stephens offers some advice to the college class of 2012 in today’s Wall Street Journal.  Most of them won’t like it, but they should pay attention.

David Brooks argues in The New York Times that the economic policy choice is not between taxing and spending more (with more debt) and taxing and spending less (with less debt).  What is needed, says Brooks, is structural reform.  If Brooks is correct, structural reform will come and the only question is how much damage [...]

Alan Reynolds, writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, explains why estimates that tax rates on the rich can be raised to 70-83% without reducing tax revenue are surely wrong.  He argues that the rate at which tax revenues start to decline is closer to 33%.

Christina Hoff Sommers, writing in U.S. News and World Report, says the Paycheck Fairness Act will work to the disadvantage of women.  Read more here.

Iowa Republican Steve King and his colleague Dave Reichert of Washington announce support for more federal subsidies of wind energy.  The Wall Street Journal editorial board takes exception (here).

Originally published in The Telegraph — May 7, 2012 – Francois Hollande’s election victory is a symbol of the EU’s decline By Nile Gardiner Nicolas Sarkozy’s defeat at the hands of French Socialist leader Francois Hollande has sent shock waves throughout Europe, and will significantly challenge the fragile austerity consensus across the EU. Jean-Marc Ayrault, [...]