The number of Americans on food stamps (or, as it is now called, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) is higher than ever before, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report. Since 2007, rolls have grown by 70 percent. And participation rates are expected to increase over the next two years. While some of the growth can be attributed to the recession, participation rates were steadily climbing prior to the recession. Since 2000, the number of Americans on food stamps has jumped by roughly 260 percent, from 17.2 … More
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The General Services Administration blew through $820,000 in taxpayers’ money in a lavish ”team building” trip to Las Vegas, and President Barack Obama is “apoplectic” at the news, according to the president’s campaign advisor, David Axelrod. Obama, he says, has devoted his efforts to saving “tens of billions of dollars” in cutting waste, fraud and inefficiency in government. Yet under President Obama’s leadership, government spending keeps growing irresponsibly, and neither he nor his allies in Congress are doing anything about it. The latest example came last week when Democratic leadership in the … More
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By Michael F. Cannon
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Alan Blinder writes one of the most error-ridden and discourse-debasing op-eds I have ever read. About any topic. Ever. A sampling: [O]ur country was founded on the idea that the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable. Access to affordable health care is surely essential to two [...]
Alan Blinder Owes Me $5 for Wasting My Time is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Michael F. Cannon
Politico has a great story about how free-market groups are defeating ObamaCare Exchanges at the state level: Conservatives like John Graham of the Pacific Research Institute have also been touring states with the platform provided by the American Legislative Exchange Council to help kill off state-based exchanges, a key piece of health reform that will [...]
Politico: Opponents Are Winning the Debate over ObamaCare ‘Exchanges’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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In a speech yesterday in Elyria, Ohio — a small town just outside Cleveland sitting at the forks of the Black River — President Barack Obama delivered a politically charged speech in which he hearkened back to the country’s roots, saying that his opponents “don’t seem to remember how America was built.” In his view, taxpayers want their money spent in ways that will help further “the larger project we call America.” In other words, more spending and bigger government paid for with higher taxes. In a city quite unlike … More
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By Michael F. Cannon
Charles Kolb is president of the Committee for Economic Development and was a domestic policy adviser to Bush the Elder. Over at Huffington Post, he articulates why (he thinks) the Constitution’s Commerce Clause empowers Congress to force people to purchase health insurance, but not broccoli. That is to say, he offers (what he thinks is) a limiting principle [...]
That’s Not a Limiting Principle, Charles Kolb Edition is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
Actually, Bill Clinton must be something even worse than a social Darwinist. That’s because the title of this post is wrong. Obama said that Paul Ryan’s plan (which allows spending to grow by an average of 3.1 percent per year over the next decade) is a form of “social Darwinism.” But the proposal from the [...]
President Obama Accuses Bill Clinton of ‘Thinly Veiled Social Darwinism’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
I wrote last year about a backlash from long-suffering Greek taxpayers. These people – the ones pulling the wagon rather than riding in the wagon – are being raped and pillaged by a political class that is trying to protect the greedy interest groups that benefit from Greece’s bloated public sector. We now have another [...]
Revolt of the Irish Tax Slaves is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Michael F. Cannon
Cato has now posted my remarks from last week’s “Obamacare in the Supreme Court” conference: The full conference will be available here soon. ObamaCare Supporters, Be Warned: This May Sting a Little is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
ObamaCare Supporters, Be Warned: This May Sting a Little is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Michael F. Cannon
My latest podcast, “IPAB: ObamaCare’s Next Constitutional Hurdle.” Podcast: ObamaCare’s Most Unconstitutional Provision Isn’t the Mandate. It’s IPAB. is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
Podcast: ObamaCare’s Most Unconstitutional Provision Isn’t the Mandate. It’s IPAB. is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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