FreedomTalks

Shorter Ruth Marcus:

What America really needs is higher taxes. In fact, it would be totally awesome campaign strategy for a Republican to just say, “Yeah, higher taxes! We need ‘em!” Because clearly, GOP voters eat that sort of thing up.

Whether or not the U.S. should seek the long-term goal of becoming “energy independent” is an open question. But what’s germane to our current political situation is whether or not we can.  And right now, the answer is: We can’t. At World Politics Review, Peter Kiernan explains. You should read the whole thing, but here […]

This is silly. But I like it anyway.

Tomorrow is Tax Freedom Day; the Tax Foundation has more.

Dean Baker is technically correct to say that John McCain “doesn’t support free-market health care,” but mostly in the sense that absolutely everyone who supports, even grudgingly, leaving some of the current government health-care funding and regulatory infrastructure in place doesn’t support free-market health care. Moreover, the article he links to doesn’t even claim […]

The Senate held a hearing on net neutrality this morning, and I’ll have more to say on the subject soon, but for now, here’s Dick Armey’s piece on the issue in this morning’s Washington Times:
The Internet is the result of significant competition, innovation and investment. As companies offer new services through the Internet, such as […]

It’s no surprise that many free-market advocates were worried by President Bush’s speech on climate change last week (see here, for starters) — I know I wasn’t thrilled with it. But maybe he was hoping to bring some liberals (or, more likely, moderates) over to his side? Well, looks like his speech, which announced a […]

From the FT today:
No one should forget that all countries rely on open trade to feed their populations. But we are already seeing actions at the national level, such as curbs on food exports, that have a damaging global impact. Completing the Doha round would play a critically helpful role in this regard, as it […]

Cato’s Michael Tanner sees some hope in the fact that neither Obama nor McCain are proposing to mandate the purchase of health insurance.
Overall, McCain has the better proposal. Obama’s plan, with its heavy reliance on government, leads to the same problems that bedevil universal healthcare systems all over the world: limited patient choices and rationed […]

I’m in the American Spectator this morning with a piece speculating on the motivations behind Bush’s global warming speech yesterday. One thing I didn’t note was that McCain’s people are probably frustrated by this. While Bush didn’t go all the way in endorsing cap and trade, as McCain has, he did substantially […]

Monday’s Washington Times had a story indicating that President Bush would give a major speech on global warming today — and that it would likely include a significant shift in climate change policy.
Details are still scarce, but over at NRO, my former colleague Iain Murray says this about what’s rumored:
We are hearing some very bad […]