http://www.freedomtalks.org The FreedomWorks blog dedicated to lower taxes and more freedom. Fri, 09 May 2008 22:06:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en For various reasons, people on both sides of the political aisle, though more Democrats than Republicans, have supported America's ethanol policy...a policy which is not just silly but also dangerous. There's been a lot of press lately about food shortages in the third world caused in part by America and Europe's ... http://www.freedomtalks.org/2008/05/09/starvation-only-the-latest-good-argument-against-ethanol/ IBD agrees: taxing oil profits makes gasoline more expensive, not less: Senators also want to impose steep penalties on "price gouging" — despite the fact that some 17 separate studies have found it doesn't exist. The plan amounts to little more than an attempt to impose price controls — a socialist ... http://www.freedomtalks.org/2008/05/09/pain-at-the-pump-2/ Congressional Democrats have been keying into the country's rising gas prices, attempting to use them as a political issue. Take a look, for example, at Hillary Clinton's recent speech in Indiana, in which she mentions the cost of gasoline at least three times. So you'd think they'd be offering policy proposals ... http://www.freedomtalks.org/2008/05/08/the-solution-to-expensive-gas-make-it-more-expensive/ Ben Lieberman over at the Heritage Foundation has a smart piece about the biofuels mandates and their harmful effects. Here is a summary of his argument: The very food-related problems that we see today are much like the hypothesized future ones that were supposed to be caused by global ... http://www.freedomtalks.org/2008/05/06/burning-food-instead-of-eating-it-makes-no-sense/ I can't believe the Treasury Department just sent out this advisory. Paulson to Visit Treasury Printing Facility in Kansas City Next Week to Observe Stimulus Checks Rolling off the Presses Washington, DC--Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. will tour a Treasury Department printing facility in Kansas City next Thursday to observe the ... http://www.freedomtalks.org/2008/05/05/yes-we-really-are-just-printing-money/ Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge has a long and thoughtful piece on net neutrality, written largely in response to a column I wrote on the issue for the Spectator, as well as to a recent Washington Times piece by FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey. Brodsky claims that what's at stake is ... http://www.freedomtalks.org/2008/05/05/but-they-will-never-take%e2%80%a6-our-internet-freedom/ Mortgage lending giant Countrywide Financial is in serious trouble-- its credit rating was cut to junk on Friday and there are new signs that Bank of America may walk away from its acquisition deal. (ht Calculated Risk) The problem for taxpayers is that Countrywide has direct access to the ... http://www.freedomtalks.org/2008/05/05/is-countrywide-the-next-fed-bailout/ Senate Republicans introduced a proposal to go forward with a number of energy reforms that should've been instituted long ago, but, with energy prices on the rise, are especially pressing now. Here are a couple of things the bill would do, as listed in the Reuters report: - Allow states to ... http://www.freedomtalks.org/2008/05/02/more-energy-not-more-restrictions/ What do former senior Fed officials think of the Bear Stearns bailout? At least one is convinced it was a bad move indeed. From the WSJ: The Federal Reserve's rescue of Bear Stearns Cos. will come to be seen as its "worst policy mistake in a generation," a former top Fed ... http://www.freedomtalks.org/2008/05/02/angry-fed-ers/ How bad are biofuels?  I've had my say. The Washington Post gets down and dirty: Across the country, ethanol plants are swallowing more and more of the nation's corn crop. This year, about a quarter of U.S. corn will go to feeding ethanol plants instead of poultry or livestock. That has ... http://www.freedomtalks.org/2008/05/01/the-ethanol-disaster/