It's Time America Had a Fat President | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

It's Time America Had a Fat President | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "A few years back, Slate examined the relationship between flab and presidential performance. What it found suggests that if you want New Frontiers and crusades for democracy, then vote for the skinny striver. If you'd prefer someone who leaves well enough alone — who's content to preside over peace and prosperity — pick the porker."

Are Afghan Riches a Curse? | Nita Ghei | Cato Institute: Commentary

Are Afghan Riches a Curse? | Nita Ghei | Cato Institute: Commentary: "As economists from Milton Friedman to Mancur Olson have pointed out, the difference between rich and poor countries is not a matter of resources; it's a matter of institutions.

Countries ruled by laws that respect property rights, and with institutions that augment and facilitate free exchange, tend to prosper. Countries where property rights are precarious, and where the risk of appropriation of property by the state is high, tend to remain poor.

If the state is likely to seize your investment or profit, why would you invest in a business in hopes of a long-term payoff? On the other hand, the higher the probability that you will be able to keep your profit and income, the greater the incentive to invest and work hard."

"But markets are reasonably efficient only when people are confident that contracts will be enforced, property rights will be respected, and investments will not be expropriated by the state or a local warlord. These are safe assumptions in the United States and Europe, for example, but not in many poor countries."

Anderson's Economics and the Public Welfare - Henry Hazlitt - Mises Daily

Anderson's Economics and the Public Welfare - Henry Hazlitt - Mises Daily: "In connection with [Keynes] theory of stimulating consumption to cure a slump, Anderson asked him, 'Why wouldn't it be a good idea to raise white elephants in a period of depression'? And the British economist, quite unabashed, replied 'That would be just the thing.'"

Senator Russ Feingold: The Control Spending Now Act

Senator Russ Feingold: The Control Spending Now Act: "'While many Americans are struggling to find jobs, members of Congress still get a raise unless they act to stop it,' Feingold said. 'I'm pleased Congress acted to give up its raise next year but it's time to end this system once and for all. The House should follow the Senate's lead and end this back-door pay raise system.'

“The automatic pay raise sends a bad message to the American people who are already cynical about government. There’s no reason, in any circumstance, that members of Congress should automatically receive a bump in pay, but it’s a slap in the face to do it when people across the country are tightening their own belts,” Grassley said."

Bam's Climate Rx: All Pain, No Gain | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary

Bam's Climate Rx: All Pain, No Gain | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The cap-and-trade bill that the House passed last summer aims to force Americans to reduce those dreaded carbon emissions by 83 percent in less than four decades — to the same per-capita level as 1867. Yet, even under the Al Gore-approved climate-science models, the bill would do nothing to stop global warming."

"The median guess from the United Nations is that, if we do nothing to change our ways, the average world surface temperature will rise about 5 degrees Fahrenheit this century. (In fact, the trends in recent decades strongly suggest that this is an overestimate — but let's accept it for the sake of the argument.)

Now, if only the United States does change its ways, by adopting something like the House bill, we'd prevent about two-tenths of a degree of that warming, according to the UN's climate calculator. That is, the temperature in 2100 gets reduced to what it would otherwise be in 2096. All pain, no gain."

"That legislation would push even more of our industry into migrating to China, India and other nations that have no intention of reducing emissions by making energy more expensive."

FOXNews.com - NASA Chief: Next Frontier Better Relations With Muslim World

FOXNews.com - NASA Chief: Next Frontier Better Relations With Muslim World: "'When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- [President Obama] charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering,' Bolden said in the interview.�"

Immigration and tech: The White House speaks out | Signal Strength - CNET News

Immigration and tech: The White House speaks out | Signal Strength - CNET News: "ut the president also talked about reforming the current legal system of immigration to make the process of getting work visas and green cards easier to obtain, while also making sure that families stay together.
'Indeed, after years of patchwork fixes and ill-conceived revisions, the legal immigration system is as broken as the borders,' he said. 'Backlogs and bureaucracy mean the process can take years. While an applicant waits for approval, he or she is often forbidden from visiting the United States--which means even husbands and wives may be forced to spend many years apart.'"

I hope he makes this the priority.

FOXNews.com - House Panel Votes to Cut Off Billions in Aid to Afghanistan

FOXNews.com - House Panel Votes to Cut Off Billions in Aid to Afghanistan: "A major House of Representatives committee voted Wednesday to cut off almost $4 billion in aid to the government of Afghanistan pending an investigation into charges that Afghan officials are blocking corruption probes and huge amounts of foreign aid are being stolen.

The bipartisan move by the foreign aid appropriations subcommittee comes after The Washington Post reported that top officials in President Hamid Karzai's government were blocking corruption probes of political allies and amid widespread assumptions that Afghan power brokers are moving millions of dollars out of the country."