Scoring Romney & Obama's Disappointing Energy Debate | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary

Scoring Romney & Obama's Disappointing Energy Debate | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary: "While it's true that oil production on federal lands was down last year, that's largely due to the fallout from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf. Even so, oil production on federal lands is 11 percent greater this year than it was during the last year of the Bush administration. Permitting is down under Obama, but it's not because the administration has been rejecting permit applications. Over the entire course of the Obama administration, 93 percent of all permit applications have been approved. During the entire course of the Bush administration, 75 percent were approved. The drop in applications to drill on federal land is mainly driven by the fact that shale oil and gas is primarily found on private and state lands, not federal lands, and that's where all the action is at present."

"While his campaign documents claim that finishing the Keystone Pipeline would create 100,000 jobs, the only independent analysis of job creation persuasively finds that the actual totals are 4,650 temporary jobs and 50 permanent ones."

Strategic Insolvency on Defense | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary

Strategic Insolvency on Defense | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Is the program important enough, Romney asked, to borrow money from China to fund it?"

"No American should want the U.S. government to be in a position where it must defer to Beijing on an important issue merely because it is imprudent to annoy one's banker."

"Unfortunately, Romney does not apply his own standard to a crucial part of the federal budget: military spending. That is not a trivial matter, since military spending makes up some 20 percent of federal spending."

Romney's Economic Plan Has the Edge | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary

Romney's Economic Plan Has the Edge | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Obama errs in believing that federal expenditure is mainly "investment." In reality, huge chunks — such as drug prohibition, the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, NASA, earmarks, the Postal Service, Amtrak, foreign aid, agricultural subsidies, the Small Business Administration, along with bridges to nowhere, the Big Dig, and high-speed rail — are wasteful.

Romney makes a similar mistake for military spending. Many defense and national security activities, such as the ongoing war in Afghanistan, provision of national security for nations in Western Europe and other parts of the globe, not to mention unnecessary weapons systems, redundant military bases, and more, are difficult to justify."

"Both approaches, therefore, aim to "save Medicare," but in fundamentally different ways: The IPAB relies on government to decide what health care is valuable, while the voucher approach lets individuals make those choices."

Does Puerto Rico really want to become the 51st US state? - CSMonitor.com

Does Puerto Rico really want to become the 51st US state? - CSMonitor.com: "However, one third of the voters who answered the first question didn't bother answering the second question, meaning none of the options reached a majority."