FreedomTalks

Our friends at the Heritage Foundation have a great new study out about the economic harms that a cap and trade system on carbon would cause. Both presidential candidates with a shot at the office support “cap and trade.” In fact, Senator McCain will be pushing the bill mentioned below quite hard this summer. Conservatives […]

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.

We recently set up AngryRenter.com, complete with a petition for renters and responsible homeowners to sign opposing a federal mortgage bailout. As I mentioned in the last post, opposition to a bailout is pretty high, as many view it (rightly, I think) as a taxpayer funded lottery payout for folks who gambled on property values. […]

The editors at NRO point out that, although John McCain seems to have stated opposition to anything that resembles a mortgage bailout (in my view, correctly), it increasingly appears that he wants to effect a plan that is, well, a bailout.
[W]hat McCain said last week is disturbing. He proposed something he calls the HOME plan, […]

FW Chairman Dick Armey has an op-ed in RCP on how John McCain should address economic issues:
That John McCain places great importance on honor and fairness is plain to see in every speech and every campaign appearance. These values have made him a strong and steadfast leader on foreign policy, but on economics, his direction […]

The very astute liberal political historian Rick Perstein, whose book on Barry Goldwater is (as far as I’m concerned) the definitive history of the start of the modern conservative movement as a force in electoral politics, has a new book out on Richard Nixon. But to tell the story of Richard Nixon, he’s also got […]

John McCain has sometimes had mixed relations with economic conservatives, but one area in which he’s been quite strong is spending — especially when it comes to earmarks. He made strong remarks on earmarks in his speech at CPAC (”I will not sign a bill with earmarks in it, any earmarks in it”). Today, […]

Yesterday, I taped an episode of Bloggingheads with American Prospect staff writer Ezra Klein. The whole thing is here, but FT readers might be interested in the following bit in which I talk about how John McCain might smooth out his sometimes rocky relationship with the conservative movement:
There’s more about McCain and economics, William F. […]

Last fall, our chairman, Dick Armey, spoke at a conference hosted by Reason here in D.C. Today, Reason.tv, the new video project from the organization.
They’ve posted a clip of Armey talking about immigration and the role liberty — for all people — has played in this country’s history.
Here’s the gist of his […]

Here’s James Pethokoukis on Obama’s economics:
What is the economic philosophy of Democratic front-runner Barack Obama? I will elaborate on this later, but for now, think of it this way: He’s Robert Rubin on trade (pretty much keep it open but help workers), Warren Buffett on taxes (higher rates really don’t affect what rich folks do, […]