Press Briefing

Oct 26, 2010

Wall Street Reform: "One of the most important victories we achieved"
http://goo.gl/fb/CmnfS

Former George W. Bush adviser Mark McKinnon on union funding for political campaigns
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574543205953932.html

DOT, EPA Propose Nation's First-Ever Emissions, Fuel-Efficiency Standards
http://goo.gl/fb/pTyW1

Eliminating Lifetime Limits Helps Paul Focus on Care
http://goo.gl/fb/eklfp

The Pakistan Paradox - Unless we're prepared to deal with it as an enemy, we must make do with it as a friend
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574681179907108.html

Organizing for America's Director Mitch Stewart: "The calls I'm getting, from all over the country"
http://goo.gl/fb/gH4DO

Mandelson: Prosperity Is More Than Just Money - Democracy, freedom, and entrepreneurial opportunity are at least as important
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304388304575574000872990256.html

Michelle Obama: "Don't wait—vote early"
http://goo.gl/fb/NH8ah

A $1.50 Lens-Free Microscope - The device could diagnose disease in the developing world and enable rapid drug screening
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/26610/

The Free Checking Restoration Act - Middle-class consumers are paying the price for the Dodd-Frank financial reform. The next Congress can undo the damage.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574123982225624.html

Soros: Why I Support Legal Marijuana - We should invest in effective education rather than ineffective arrest
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574450703567656.html

Nancy Pelosi Who? - Democrats deny being Democrats
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574493889847442.html

Committed to Vote in South Carolina
http://goo.gl/fb/oDULv

Geithner's Global Central Planning - The Chinese government's accumulation of U.S. debt represents a tragic investment decision, not a currency-manipulation effort
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574101493496596.html

Remarks to Participants in the Edward R Murrow Program for Journalists
http://www.state.gov/r/remarks/2010/149927.htm

Big Insurance, Big Medicine - ObamaCare is already driving a wave of health-care consolidation—and higher costs
WSJ, Oct 26, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554293656982422.html

ObamaCare's once and future harms have been well chronicled, but the major effects so far are less obvious and arguably more important: A wave of consolidation is washing over the health markets, and the result is going to be higher costs.

The turn toward consolidation among insurance companies is not new, and neither is it among doctors, hospitals and other providers. Yet the health bill has accelerated these trends, as all sides race to anticipate and manage political risk and regulatory uncertainty. This dynamic is leading to much larger hospital systems and physician groups, and fewer insurers dominated by a handful of national conglomerates. ObamaCare was sold using the language of choice and competition, but it is actually reducing both.

***
The first surge will come among the 1,200 insurers doing business in the U.S., given that a major goal of ObamaCare is to convert these companies into de facto public utilities. Those regulations are now being written—and once they're up and running some medium-sized carriers will collapse under the new mandates and higher overhead. State insurance commissioners warned the Administration this month that "improper or overly strident application . . . could threaten the solvency of insurers or significantly reduce competition in some insurance markets." They also implied that bankruptcies are likely.

With these headwinds, investors and Wall Street analysts are now predicting a lost decade for health insurance stocks. But it may be more accurate to say that there will be a lot of losers and some very big winners. Mergers and acquisitions will increase dramatically once companies get a better look at the regulation and figure out the valuation of M&A targets. Larger carriers will swallow smaller ones quietly before they fail.

Both publicly traded and nonprofit insurers have been heading in this direction for years, as in any industry where there are returns to scale. Size is also important in a low-margin business in which capital is costly and political clout vital. But scale is far more central now, because ObamaCare standardizes benefits. Once insurers lose the freedom to design their own products, they'll essentially be selling commodities, and survival will depend on enrollment volume and market share.

The same thing will happen to stand-alone and community hospitals—always a precarious business. Nearly a third of U.S. hospitals are currently operating in the red and will get steamrolled by ObamaCare, and many of them will be annexed by national chains and larger local systems.

This trend got a preview two weeks ago when Mercy Health Partners announced that it was seeking buyers for three Catholic hospitals in northeast Pennsylvania. CEO Kevin Cook told local media that ObamaCare was "absolutely" a factor in the decision to sell, only to backtrack once his comments were used in campaign ads against House Democrats Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney, who voted for the bill.

Though it received little attention over a year of debate, ObamaCare actively promotes provider consolidation. Writing this summer in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Nancy-Ann DeParle and other White House health advisers argued that "The economic forces put in motion by the Act are likely to lead to vertical organization of providers and accelerate physician employment by hospitals and aggregation into larger physician groups."

Ask and ye shall receive. Across the country, providers are building giant hospital systems and much tighter doctor alliances like multispecialty groups to get out ahead of a concept known as "accountable care organizations," or ACOs. To modernize the delivery of medical services, ACOs would encourage doctors to work in teams to use resources more efficiently, streamline treatment and improve quality. The model is the Mayo Clinic and other large integrated systems.

At the moment ACOs are only a gleam in some bureaucrat's eye, and no one has a clue how they'll operate in practice until the government releases a working regulatory definition next year. Yet the percussive effects are already being felt across medicine.

Hospitals are now on a buying spree of private physician practices in the rush to build something that will qualify as an ACO. Some 65% of doctors who changed jobs in 2009 moved into a hospital-owned practice, while 49% of doctors out of residency were hired by hospitals, according to the Medical Group Management Association. In its 2010 census, the American College of Cardiology reports that nearly 40% of private cardiology groups are currently integrating with hospitals or merging with other practices.

Doctors are selling because complying with the ever-growing list of mandates has become more cumbersome; and while staff physicians on salary do gain predictability, they also lose the autonomy of independent practice. The other problem is price controls in Medicare, which are about 20% below private payments for doctors and 30% lower for hospitals. Hospitals are also scooping up practices to lock in referral sources and make up for ObamaCare's Medicare cuts. As it is, two-thirds of hospitals lose money today on Medicare inpatient services, according to Medicare.

ACOs are also driving consolidation among hospitals. Anecdotally, Marquette General Hospital and Bell Hospital formed a strategic ACO partnership in July that will dominate Michigan's upper peninsula. In Omaha, Methodist Health System and the Nebraska Medical Center recently followed suit. Similar alliances are underway in Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, greater Boston, Roanoke and southwest Virginia—even Youngstown, Ohio.

The accountable care movement could do some good if it spreads best practices. But no one should entertain the illusion that it will reduce costs perforce and "bend the curve." In fact, the most concrete effect of this wave of consolidation may be to increase private health spending significantly.

Unlike Medicare and Medicaid, private reimbursement rates are determined by negotiations, often highly antagonistic. Insurers always attribute premium increases to the underlying cost of care, while doctors and hospitals always argue that there isn't enough competition among health plans. Both claims are "true," some of the time—but it depends on which side has more market power.

Insurers extract lower rates by steering patients and revenue to certain providers through their networks. Providers gain bargaining leverage when health plans can't credibly threaten to exclude them, whether because their share of the market is too large or due to public demand for "must have" hospitals. Consolidation will increasingly feed off itself as providers and insurers vie to get the whip hand in rate negotiations.

Most neutral experts believe the balance of power has tipped toward providers over the last decade, though this isn't always anticompetitive. Higher rates generally reflect investments in staffing, technology, specialization and sometimes consumer preferences. There is also the cost-shift to private insurance to offset Medicare's price controls. However, most economic studies on hospital M&A over the last two decades show that consolidation increases unit prices, though there is significant disagreement over the magnitude.

Accountable care organizations may become little more than a pretext for building up market power and fixing prices. The American Medical Association wants the government to stop insurers from individual contracting in favor of "exclusive dealing arrangements" with ACOs. In effect, the AMA wants a mandatory collective bargaining tool that would convert ACOs into unions.

***
"In a lot of states, the problem is just you don't have competition at all," President Obama said in February at his health summit. "We want competition."

Yet the consolidation wave is churning the insurance markets and reshaping clinical medicine with almost no public scrutiny. A rational system would give consumers an incentive to reward those businesses that innovate and deliver higher quality at lower cost, whether they are providers or insurers. ObamaCare is already moving the U.S. even further from the rational world, and this forced retreat will continue the longer it is left in place.

Press Briefing

Oct 25, 2010

President Obama’s message at the Moving America Forward rally in Las Vegas
http://goo.gl/fb/81DCS

The Feds vs. Fruit Juice - The FTC goes to war against those who promote the health benefits of the pomegranate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303738504575568461196114520.html

Back to Work at California HQ
http://goo.gl/fb/ofxL6

Panama's Presidential Temptation - Its market-friendly leader is beguiled by grandiose state projects
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522341151402162.html

President Obama & Moving America Forward Rally Fires Up Base
http://goo.gl/fb/9Z18d

Licensing to Kill - A new study shows how city regulations harm small business
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564171912051184.html

OFA: What Can You Do to Help Further Change?
http://goo.gl/fb/hrbqa

Another Drilling Smackdown - The White House loses again in court
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564520883929464.html

Los Angeles Goes All in with President Obama
http://goo.gl/fb/5idj6

The G-20's 'Rebalancing' Act - Dollar devaluation is not a global growth strategy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303321904575571363698234720.html

Federal President's Weekly Address: Letting Wall Street Run Wild Again
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/23/weekly-address-letting-wall-street-run-wild-again

How to Privatize the Mortgage Market - Europeans manage just fine without Fannie and Freddie-type agencies
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558303668606406.html

The White House Blog: What Do They Expect in Return?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/22/what-do-they-expect-return

The NAACP's Unhealthy Tea Party Obsession - Black-on-black crime remains at epidemic levels and black children continue to suffer in bad schools. Doesn't the organization have better things to worry about?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303738504575568434291817928.html

Our Fiscal Policy Paradox - Government's kitbag is overflowing with ways to spur demand. Yet fiscal policy sits idle, paralyzed by extreme partisanship.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303738504575568122743023374.html

Stiglitz: Why Easier Money Won't Work - The Fed risks fueling a destructive bond market bubble, while any gains from a weaker dollar will come at the expense of those to whom we hope to export
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304023804575566573119083334.html

The Real Case for Defunding NPR - My quarrel with government subsidies is that they cast a chill over the markets in which entrepreneurs seek to raise capital for highbrow journalism
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303738504575568222953428174.html

Press Briefing

Oct 23, 2010

Iraq Prime Minister Calls WikiLeaks Report Political
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303299304575570253164829026.html

Al-shabab ordered Kismayo district residents to pay a monthly fee
http://mustaqiim.com/Al-shabab%20to%20collect%20Monthly%20Fee%20from%20Kismayo%20Residents.htm

Obama Rebuilt the Regulatory State. Now, Republicans Are About To Destroy It.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/78586/epa-osha-fcc-republicans-congress-midterm-elections

What's the Worst That Could Happen With The New Health Law?
http://fixhealthcarepolicy.com/in-the-news/whats-the-worst-that-could-happen-with-the-new-health-law

Moral Arguments for Soaking the Rich
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/78459/moral-argument-soaking-the-rich

City Centered: Investing in Metropolitan Areas to Build the Next Economy
http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2010/1021_metro_economy_katz.aspx

High costs of making batteries stall affordability of electric cars

High costs of making batteries stall affordability of electric cars. By Mike Ramsey
The Wall Street Journal Europe, page 22, Oct 19, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB40001424052748703735804575536242934528502.html

The push to get electric cars on the road is backed by governments and auto makers around the world, but they face a hurdle that may be tough to overcome: the stubbornly high cost of the giant battery packs that power the vehicles.

Both the industry and government are betting that a quick takeoff in electric-car sales will drive down the price of the battery packs, which can account for more than half the cost of an electric vehicle.

But a number of scientists and automotive engineers believe cost reductions will be hard to come by. Unlike with tires or toasters, battery packs aren't likely to enjoy traditional economies of scale as their makers ramp up production.

Some experts say that increased production of batteries means the price of the key metals used in their manufacture will remain steady—or maybe even rise—at least in the short term.

These experts also say the price of the electronic parts used in battery packs as well as the enclosures that house the batteries aren't likely to decline appreciably.

The U.S. Department of Energy has set a goal of bringing down car-battery costs by 70% from last year's price, which it estimated at $1,000 per kilowatt hour of battery capacity, by 2014.

Jay Whitacre, a battery researcher and technology policy analyst at Carnegie Mellon University, is skeptical. The government's goals "are aggressive and worth striving for, but they are not attainable in the next three to five years," he said in an interview. "It will be a decade at least" before that price reduction is reached.

The high cost of batteries is evident in the prices set for early electric cars. Nissan Motor Co.'s Leaf, due in the U.S. in December, is priced at $33,000. Current industry estimates say its battery pack alone costs Nissan about $15,600.

That cost will make it difficult for the Leaf to turn a profit. And it also may make the Leaf a tough sell, since even with government tax breaks the car will cost more than twice the $13,520 starting price of the similar-size Nissan Versa hatchback.

Nissan won't comment on the price of the battery packs, other than to say that the first versions of the Leaf won't make money. Only later, when the company begins mass-producing the battery units in 2013, will the car be profitable, according to Nissan.

The Japanese company believes it can cut battery costs through manufacturing scale. It is building a plant in Smyrna, Tenn., that will have the capacity to assemble up to 200,000 packs a year.

Other proponents of electric vehicles agree that battery costs will fall as production ramps up. "They will come down by a factor of two, if not more, in the next five years," said David Vieau, chief executive officer of A123 Systems, a start-up that recently opened a battery plant in Plymouth, Mich.

Alex Molinaroli, president of Johnson Controls Inc.'s battery division, is confident it can reduce the cost of making batteries by 50% in the next five years, though the company won't say what today's cost is. The cost reduction by one of the world's biggest car-battery makers will mostly come from efficient factory management, cutting waste and other management-related costs, not from fundamental improvement of battery technology, he said.

But researchers such as Mr. Whitacre, the National Academies of Science and even some car makers aren't convinced, mainly because more than 30% of the cost of the batteries comes from metals such as nickel, manganese and cobalt. (Lithium makes up only a small portion of the metals in the batteries.)

Prices for these metals, which are set on commodities markets, aren't expected to fall with increasing battery production—and may even rise as demand grows, according to a study by the Academies of Science released earlier this year and engineers familiar with battery production.

Lithium-ion battery cells already are mass produced for computers and cellphones and the costs of the batteries fell 35% from 2000 through 2008—but they haven't gone down much more in recent years, according to the Academies of Science study.

The Academies and Toyota Motor Corp. have publicly said they don't think the Department of Energy goals are achievable and that cost reductions are likely to be far lower. It likely will be 20 years before costs fall by 50%—not the three or so years the DOE projects—according to an Academy council studying battery costs. The council was made up of nearly a dozen researchers in the battery field.

"Economies of scale are often cited as a factor that can drive down costs, but hundreds of millions to billions of ... [battery] cells already are being produced in optimized factories. Building more factories is unlikely to have a great impact on costs," the Academies report said.

The report added that the cost of the battery-pack enclosure that holds the cells is a major portion of the total battery-pack cost, and isn't likely to come down much. In addition, battery packs include electronic sensors and controls that regulate the voltage moving through and the heat being generated by the cells. Since those electronics already are mass-produced commodities, their prices may not fall much with higher production, the study said.

Lastly, the labor involved in assembling battery packs is expensive because employees need to be more highly trained than traditional factory staff because they work in a high-voltage environment. That means labor costs are unlikely to drop, said a senior executive at one battery manufacturer.

When car makers began using nickel-metal hydride batteries, an older technology, in their early hybrid vehicles, the cost of the packs fell only 11% from 2000 to 2006 and has seen little change since, according to the Academies study.

Toyota executives, including Takeshi Uchiyamada, global chief of engineering, say their experience with nickel-metal hydride batteries makes them skeptical that the prices of lithium ion battery pack prices will fall substantially.

"The cost reductions aren't attainable even in the next 10 years," said Menahem Anderman, principal of Total Battery Consulting Inc., a California-based battery research firm. "We still don't know how much it will cost to make sure the batteries meet reliability, safety and durability standards. And now we are trying to reduce costs, which automatically affect those first three things."

Press Briefing

Oct 22, 2010

President Obama: It Gets Better
http://goo.gl/fb/yoePW

When Will Our Progressive Corporatism Nightmare End?
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/22/morning-bell-when-will-our-progressive-corporatism-nightmare-end

Employers, Insurance and Health Care
http://goo.gl/fb/yGQBG

Fed’s Plosser: Bad Incentives Drove Much of Financial Crisis
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/10/20/feds-plosser-bad-incentives-drove-much-of-financial-crisis/

Partnership for Sustainable Communities Awards Grants to Build Infrastructure…
http://goo.gl/fb/UNUFo

OFA: Progress In Iowa
http://goo.gl/fb/Mi4Iu

Offshore Oil Drilling in Shallow Water: Good Safety Record, Less Risky
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/21/offshore-oil-drilling-in-shallow-water-good-safety-record-less-risky/

Jobs and Economic Security for America's Women Report
http://goo.gl/fb/3cGgP

Remarks by the President at a Rally in Portland, Oregon
http://goo.gl/fb/oSPzX

Can Yoga Be Christian? - An exercise craze provokes questions of body and soul
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562651537656366.html

Tax Cut Facts: How Obama’s Tax Cuts Are Helping American Families
http://goo.gl/fb/1yO7X

San Francisco's Public Pension Revolt - The city has cut back on almost every service: Summer schools have been shut, potholes deepen, parks close early, and services for the poor have been pared to the quick.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562350166984886.html

Building Stronger, Sustainable Communities Through Strategic Coordination
http://goo.gl/fb/Y6EyG

The Tea Party Is Wrong About Earmarks - Why just accept the president's spending priorities? Congress has the right and duty to make appropriations in the public interest.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562442197836742.html

The Role and Perspectives of Arms Control and Confidence- and Security-Building Regimes in Building Trust in the Evolving Security Environment
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/149779.htm

Soros Bets on Nevada - The campaign to hijack state judicial selection
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703859204575526164036476490.html

President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Releases Money Market Funds Report
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg918.htm

Britain's 'Austerity' Lessons - What Margaret Thatcher can teach David Cameron—and the Republican Party
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304023804575566431921159198.html

New Haitian Mango Centers will Increase Production and Incomes for Thousands of Haitian Mango Farmers
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr101021.html

NPR's Taxpayer-Funded Intolerance - All Americans, particularly those of Arab or Muslim descent, should protest the firing of Juan Williams
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304023804575566363119493650.html

Focus on Nutrition:  Creating Inclusive Partnerships and Deepening our Knowledge
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/nutrition_partnerships_and_knowledge

Providing Jobs and Economic Security for America's Women
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/21/providing-jobs-and-economic-security-americas-women

Struggles and Triumphs: Afghan Governor Naeemi Discusses Progress in Afghanistan
http://blogs.state.gov/ap/index.php/site/entry/naeemi_nato_afghanistan

A Free Trade Agreement with South Korea Would Promote Both Prosperity and Security
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12490

Press Briefing

Oct 21, 2010

Video: Open for Questions: Cybersecurity
http://goo.gl/fb/iMnkU

Renewable Electricity Standards Kill Jobs Too
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/21/morning-bell-renewable-electricity-standards-kill-jobs-too

Video: National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards
http://goo.gl/fb/SZK8B

WaPo Editorial: Nicaragua, Honduras and hypocrisy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/19/AR2010101906475.html

Watch a Campaign Update and Make Calls Tonight
http://goo.gl/fb/WmBFZ

Britain Bows Out of the Security Game - New defense cuts will leave the U.K. unable to support even its current deployment in Afghanistan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564313178698450.html

Getting Out the Early Vote
http://goo.gl/fb/EWGeh

France's Perpetual Revolution - The left seems to have forgotten Marx's line about history repeating itself as tragedy and farce
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564354040144426.html

Cutting Through the Rhetoric on Spending
http://goo.gl/fb/gXQ0h

Card Checkmate - Voters in four states head to the polls to preserve honest union elections
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704361504575552582690690048.html

A Small Business in Arkansas Benefits from the Affordable Care Act
http://goo.gl/fb/Ze31a

WikiPropaganda - Wikipedia bars a global warming censor from editing its pages
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560630778483558.html

Video: Campaign Update with Mitch Stewart: October 20, 2010
http://goo.gl/fb/I3UfC

The SEC's Mozilo settlement gives the political class a pass
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562311735698220.html

Fired Up in Ohio
http://goo.gl/fb/cxKLw

The Biggest Race You Haven't Heard Of - A rare chance to defuse the pension bomb
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564133687036768.html

Joe Biden: "Remember when the GOP was in control?"
http://goo.gl/fb/1Movx

Brookings: The needy have a direct interest in substantial reductions in the federal deficit - beginning with the end of nearly all A.R.R.A. expansion in safety net spending
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/0917_stimulus_safety_net_haskins.aspx

Federal Prez's Incoherent Closing Argument - While the economy is the No. 1 issue, the president constantly changes the subject
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564383870852928.html

State Dept: Briefing on Pending Major Arms Sale
http://www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/rm/149749.htm

ObamaCare's Incentive to Drop Insurance - My state of Tennessee could reduce costs by over $146 million using the legislated mechanics of health reform to transfer coverage to the federal government
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562643804015252.html

Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues: Video Remarks to the African Union Launch of the Decade for Women
http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/rls/rem/2010/149756.htm

President Obama Prefers Imported Oil over American Made
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/20/president-obama-prefers-imported-oil-over-american-made/

Democracy -- not on the march
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=108&subid=900003&contentid=255199

Walter and Miriam Schneir - A longtime champion of the Rosenbergs tries to confront the evidence
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562223216619854.html

U.S. - Maghreb Entrepreneurship Conference: December 1-2, 2010
http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/rls/fs/2010/149742.htm

Obama and the Coming Palestinian State - What if the president abstains from a Security Council vote establishing one?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575559973666125394.html

Press Briefing

Oct 20, 2010

Adrienne Explains How College Students Are Benefiting from the Affordable Care Act
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/19/adrienne-explains-how-college-students-are-benefiting-affordable-care-act

Bernanke's Inflation Target Misses the Mark - The more latitude the Fed has to try to spur economic growth, the more economic uncertainty there will be
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560302444820376.html

President Obama Signs Executive Order On Education and Hispanics
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/19/president-obama-signs-executive-order-education-and-hispanics

ObamaCare, for Some - Step right up and get your waiver
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575546052343243306.html

Haitian Farmers Increase Agriculture Productivity through Support of U.S. Government
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr101019.html

Volte-Face - GM's new electric car depends on coal-belching power plants to charge its batteries. What's the point?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562133163140878.html

Remarks by the President at DSCC Fundraiser
http://goo.gl/fb/CQsNq

Where France Goes . . . other Western entitlement nations are likely to follow
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575561682510521208.html

The Basel Committee's response to the financial crisis: report to the G20
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs179.htm

Bravo, Canada - A U.N. snub is a badge of honor
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560421374193814.html

Vietnam-US Relations: Past, Present, and Future
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/search-for-publications/browse-alphabetic-list-of-titles/?class_call=view&mode=view&pub_ID=3562

The Overseas Profits Elephant in the Room - There's a trillion dollars waiting to be repatriated if tax policy is right
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704469004575533880328930598.html

The Cuba Embargo at 50
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-cuba-embargo-at-50/

Misconceptions about energy lead to waste
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/19/misconceptions-about-energy-lead-to-waste/

A Free Press Stirs in North Korea - Armed with pinhole cameras and flash drives, journalists are getting videos, photographs and reporting out of the Hermit Kingdom
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575559980603982928.html

There Is No 'War on Teachers' - There is a growing bipartisan agreement on the importance of rewarding good ones
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575546502615802206.html

Press Briefing

Oct 19, 2010

Background on the White House Science Fair
http://goo.gl/fb/xcAlW

China's Rare Earths Gambit - Beijing is courting a backlash by denying access to vital elements
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575559532707753878.html

The Challenges and Opportunities of Biotechnology. Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs
http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/rls/rm/2010/149589.htm

The Housing Bust Lobby - Obama is right to resist the foreclosure wails from the political left
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554342373628422.html

Dinner with Putin: Musings on the Politics of Modernization in Russia
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/10_russia_putin_hill.aspx

The Trouble With Talking to the Taliban - As in Vietnam, compromise is not in the insurgents' playbook
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560112389695490.html

Remarks by the President and First Lady at a Reception for Governor Ted Strickland
http://goo.gl/fb/7z1B8

Treasury Announces Plan to Continue to Sell Citigroup Common Stock
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg915.htm

Conservatives: The Left Still Doesn’t Get Poverty
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/19/morning-bell-the-left-still-doesnt-get-poverty

President Obama to Host White House Science Fair
http://goo.gl/fb/bRuHN

Washington State's Union Tax - Bill Gates Sr. supports a state income tax on wealthy Washingtonians, but public unions are the real muscle behind the initiative
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560301019870596.html

Next Steps on U.S.-Russian Nuclear Negotiations and Nuclear Non-Proliferation
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2010/10_nonproliferation_albright_talbott.aspx

Data Dump RE: Political Positioning in the Maghreb-Sahel
http://themoornextdoor.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/data-dump-re-political-positioning-in-the-maghreb-sahel/

Barack Obama: "Our destiny is written by us"
http://www.youtube.com/v/-nQXNsD0sFY

How the Fed Is Holding Back Recovery - By promising to print more money, it's giving Congress an excuse to avoid critical tax and spending cuts
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575559972460199304.html

The US Perspective on Eurasian Energy
http://www.state.gov/s/eee/rmk/149543.htm

California’s Climate Policy: The Present and Future of AB 32
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/15/californias-climate-policy-the-present-and-future-of-ab-32/

Press Briefing

Oct 18, 2010

In China, Even the Premier Is Censored. By L. Gordon Crovitz
The Wall Street Journal, page A18, Oct 18, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554333040567148.html

From the outside, China can seem monolithic, run by Communist Party officials united by the prime directive of maintaining power. But every once in a while splits become visible and remind us that while China may now be the world's second-largest economy, there's a steep price for being a laggard when it comes to the free flow of information.

Consider Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. He has called for political reform several times in recent months, but censors have blocked domestic reporting of his comments. This led to an open letter from 23 well-known Communist Party elders calling for free speech. The letter was posted last week in a blog area of sina.com, one of the country's largest websites, and widely shared before being removed.

This letter is worth attention, both for its authors and its substance. The signatories include a who's who of former Communist Party propagandists, including Li Rui, the former private secretary to Mao Zedong, and retired top editors of the People's Daily (the party's mouthpiece), Xinhua (the official news agency) and the China Daily (the state-run English-language newspaper).

"Retired older officials can speak more loudly," says Xiao Qiang, editor of China Digital Times, a news site based at the University of California, Berkeley. "They can protect the middle-aged people who currently hold the same roles as editors and party propagandists by speaking for them." Mr. Xiao points out that the letter's "rhetoric on political reform is not very different from the language of the Charter 08 document," the freedom manifesto that sent Liu Xiaobo to jail and helped him win this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

The letter notes that the Chinese Constitution claims freedom of speech and the press, but this "formal avowal and concrete denial has become a scandalous mark." It cites a CNN interview earlier this month in which Premier Wen said, "Freedom of speech is indispensable for any nation," and points out the irony that these comments were blocked by domestic media.

"Even the premier of our country does not have freedom of speech or of the press," the party elders write. "If we endeavor to find those responsible, we are utterly incapable of putting our finger on a specific person. This is the work of invisible hands. For their own reasons, they violate our constitution, often ordering by telephone that the works of such and such a person cannot be published, or that such and such an event cannot be reported in the media.

"These invisible hands are our Central Propaganda Department. Right now the department is placed above the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and above the State Council. We would ask, what right does the Central Propaganda Department have to muzzle the speech of the premier? What right does it have to rob the people of our nation of their right to know what the premier has said?"

The party elders note that Britain gave its colony of Hong Kong more freedom than the Communist Party gives China: "The freedom of speech and freedom of the press given to residents of Hong Kong by the British authorities there was not empty, appearing only on paper. It was enacted and realized."

The letter writers appeal to Chinese nationalism: "In countries around the world, the development of the rule of law in news and publishing" long ago replaced censorship, and "this is greatly in the favor of the development of the humanities and natural sciences, and in promoting social harmony and historical progress." They note that "England did away with censorship in 1695. France abolished its censorship system in 1881." This means "our present system of censorship leaves news and book publishing in our country 315 years behind England and 129 years behind France."

By censoring news in recent years about toxic baby formula, the SARS virus and blood centers infected with AIDS, Beijing has encouraged cynicism by its citizens about its own government. Even the elite—even the premier—wonder about their own liberties.

The letter from the party elders reminds us that it's not just dissidents who dissent. "Although most of this letter's signers carried out the party's will during their careers," longtime China watcher and legal scholar Jerome Cohen says, "the letter provides immediate tangible evidence that at least a minority within the elite is bitter and disillusioned." Bao Pu, a Hong Kong-based book publisher whose father was an economic reform leader in Beijing, reports that more than 1,000 people so far have added their names to the letter.

The Communist Party will reform itself when its splits become too wide to cover over. For the outside world, the opportunity is to encourage the growing number of disillusioned cadres who understand that modern countries rely on a free flow of information, for ordinary citizens and their leaders alike.


The Ethanol Bailout - EPA does the industry another big favor
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558322880140784.html

Savagery in the East - How Stalin and then Hitler turned the borderlands of Eastern Europe into killing fields
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575546611651621270.html

Buying the Senior Vote - Federal President wants $15 billion in checks for grandma
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558262251869720.html

Statement by Treasury Sec Geithner and Acting Director, Office of Management and Budget, on Budget Results for Fiscal Year 2010
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg911.htm

California's Cap-and-Trade War - The battle to repeal a self-destructive climate change law
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735804575535841904660332.html

White House Council on Women and Girls: A Battle that Takes Place Every Day
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/15/a-battle-takes-place-every-day

Why a Foreclosure Moratorium Is a Bad Idea - A special bankruptcy law could help borrowers while letting housing markets clear
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554050975475486.html

Press Briefing

Oct 16, 2010

Boehner's K Street Cabinet
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/OFA/gGMzzK

Lies, Damn Lies and the ObamaCare Sales Pitch - The White House's ObamaCare defense is becoming even more frantic and desperate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554273700857644.html

Urbanization Policy in an Uncertain Economy. By Allen L. Clark, Meril Dobrin Fujiki, and Mariko Davidson (eds.)
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/search-for-publications/browse-alphabetic-list-of-titles/?class_call=view&mode=view&pub_ID=3559

Christie Is Right About the Hudson River Big Dig - The money might be better spent on New Jersey's roads, which are rated among the worst in the nation
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548280684121298.html

The New START Treaty. By Marcie B. Ries, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance. Remarks by Delegation of the United States of America to the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly. New York City, October 15, 2010
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/149534.htm

Arnold's Last Hurrah - A modest pension victory amid the overall triumph of Sacramento
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657304575539830526815218.html

Advanced Nuclear Non-Proliferation: Peaceful Uses Initiative
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/scp/fs/2010/149511.htm

Why Liberals Don't Get the Tea Party Movement. By Peter Berkowitz
Our universities haven't taught much political history for decades. No wonder so many progressives have disdain for the principles that animated the Federalist debates.
WSJ, Oct 16, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531913602803980.html

Highly educated people say the darndest things, these days particularly about the tea party movement. Vast numbers of other highly educated people read and hear these dubious pronouncements, smile knowingly, and nod their heads in agreement. University educations and advanced degrees notwithstanding, they lack a basic understanding of the contours of American constitutional government.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman got the ball rolling in April 2009, just ahead of the first major tea party rallies on April 15, by falsely asserting that "the tea parties don't represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They're AstroTurf (fake grass-roots) events."

Having learned next to nothing in the intervening 16 months about one of the most spectacular grass-roots political movements in American history, fellow Times columnist Frank Rich denied in August of this year that the tea party movement is "spontaneous and leaderless," insisting instead that it is the instrument of billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch.

Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne criticized the tea party as unrepresentative in two ways. It "constitutes a sliver of opinion on the extreme end of politics receiving attention out of all proportion with its numbers," he asserted last month. This was a step back from his rash prediction five months before that since it "represents a relatively small minority of Americans on the right end of politics," the tea party movement "will not determine the outcome of the 2010 elections."

In February, Mr. Dionne argued that the tea party was also unrepresentative because it reflected a political principle that lost out at America's founding and deserves to be permanently retired: "Anti-statism, a profound mistrust of power in Washington goes all the way back to the Anti-Federalists who opposed the Constitution itself because they saw it concentrating too much authority in the central government."

Mr. Dionne follows in the footsteps of progressive historian Richard Hofstadter, whose influential 1964 book "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" argued that Barry Goldwater and his supporters displayed a "style of mind" characterized by "heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy." Similarly, the "suspicion of government" that the tea party movement shares with the Anti-Federalists, Mr. Dionne maintained, "is not amenable to 'facts'" because "opposing government is a matter of principle."

To be sure, the tea party sports its share of clowns, kooks and creeps. And some of its favored candidates and loudest voices have made embarrassing statements and embraced reckless policies. This, however, does not distinguish the tea party movement from the competition.

Born in response to President Obama's self-declared desire to fundamentally change America, the tea party movement has made its central goals abundantly clear. Activists and the sizeable swath of voters who sympathize with them want to reduce the massively ballooning national debt, cut runaway federal spending, keep taxes in check, reinvigorate the economy, and block the expansion of the state into citizens' lives.

In other words, the tea party movement is inspired above all by a commitment to limited government. And that does distinguish it from the competition.

But far from reflecting a recurring pathology in our politics or the losing side in the debate over the Constitution, the devotion to limited government lies at the heart of the American experiment in liberal democracy. The Federalists who won ratification of the Constitution—most notably Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay—shared with their Anti-Federalist opponents the view that centralized power presented a formidable and abiding threat to the individual liberty that it was government's primary task to secure. They differed over how to deal with the threat.

The Anti-Federalists—including Patrick Henry, Samuel Bryan and Robert Yates—adopted the traditional view that liberty depended on state power exercised in close proximity to the people. The Federalists replied in Federalist 9 that the "science of politics," which had "received great improvement," showed that in an extended and properly structured republic liberty could be achieved and with greater security and stability.

This improved science of politics was based not on abstract theory or complex calculations but on what is referred to in Federalist 51 as "inventions of prudence" grounded in the reading of classic and modern authors, broad experience of self-government in the colonies, and acute observations about the imperfections and finer points of human nature. It taught that constitutionally enumerated powers; a separation, balance, and blending of these powers among branches of the federal government; and a distribution of powers between the federal and state governments would operate to leave substantial authority to the states while both preventing abuses by the federal government and providing it with the energy needed to defend liberty.

Whether members have read much or little of The Federalist, the tea party movement's focus on keeping government within bounds and answerable to the people reflects the devotion to limited government embodied in the Constitution. One reason this is poorly understood among our best educated citizens is that American politics is poorly taught at the universities that credentialed them. Indeed, even as the tea party calls for the return to constitutional basics, our universities neglect The Federalist and its classic exposition of constitutional principles.

For the better part of two generations, the best political science departments have concentrated on equipping students with skills for performing empirical research and teaching mathematical models that purport to describe political affairs. Meanwhile, leading history departments have emphasized social history and issues of race, class and gender at the expense of constitutional history, diplomatic history and military history.

Neither professors of political science nor of history have made a priority of instructing students in the founding principles of American constitutional government. Nor have they taught about the contest between the progressive vision and the conservative vision that has characterized American politics since Woodrow Wilson (then a political scientist at Princeton) helped launch the progressive movement in the late 19th century by arguing that the Constitution had become obsolete and hindered democratic reform.

Then there are the proliferating classes in practical ethics and moral reasoning. These expose students to hypothetical conundrums involving individuals in surreal circumstances suddenly facing life and death decisions, or present contentious public policy questions and explore the range of respectable progressive opinions for resolving them. Such exercises may sharpen students' ability to argue. They do little to teach about self-government.

They certainly do not teach about the virtues, or qualities of mind and character, that enable citizens to shoulder their political responsibilities and prosper amidst the opportunities and uncertainties that freedom brings. Nor do they teach the beliefs, practices and associations that foster such virtues and those that endanger them.

Those who doubt that the failings of higher education in America have political consequences need only reflect on the quality of progressive commentary on the tea party movement. Our universities have produced two generations of highly educated people who seem unable to recognize the spirited defense of fundamental American principles, even when it takes place for more than a year and a half right in front of their noses.

Mr. Berkowitz is a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution.

Remarks to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Women's Entrepreneurship Summit
http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/rls/rem/2010/149525.htm

What Bernanke Didn't Say - The dollar? Someone else's problem
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554220786642124.html

Debt-For-Nature Agreement to Conserve Costa Rica’s Forests
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg908.htm

Currency Chaos: Where Do We Go From Here? - Mundell: 'The most important initiative you could take to improve the world economy would be to stabilize the dollar-euro rate'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704361504575552481963474898.html

Federal President's Weekly Address: Washington Republicans "Rewarding Corporations That Create Jobs and Profits Overseas"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/10/16/weekly-address-president-obama-washington-republicans-rewarding-corporat

A Real Vaccine Scare - Lawsuits, autism and the Supreme Court
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548470924781864.html

Adrian Fenty and Michelle Rhee: We fought for D.C. schools. Now it's up to you.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/15/AR2010101502701.html

Myron Scholes on Whether QE2 Will Work
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/10/15/guest-contribution-myron-scholes-on-whether-qe2-will-work/

Press Briefing

Oct 15, 2010

State Dept: Advancing Sustainable Agriculture Through the Committee on World Food Security
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/agriculture_committee_food_security

Poll conducted by the Democratic-leaning firm of Penn, Schoen & Berland: 44% of likely voters in districts "say the Democratic Party is more dominated by its extreme elements," 37% say the same about the GOP http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704361504575552190679905162.html

In The NYT Magazine: Education of a President
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magazine/17obama-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Voters on ObamaCare: Informed and Opposed - A new poll shows that opposition to the individual mandate is intense
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703673604575549700366382866.html

The U.S. National Space Policy, International Cooperation and the Pursuit of TCBMs
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/149491.htm

The Education of Barney Frank - The benefits of a competitive election
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704361504575552371822314694.html

THE PATH TO GLOBAL RECOVERY: A CONVERSATION WITH THE TREASURY SECRETARY TIMOTHY GEITHNER
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/events/2010/1006_global_recovery/20100610_geithner.pdf

ObamaCare in Court - A Florida judge allows the major state lawsuit to proceed to trial
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704361504575552490899677152.html

The U.S.-European Relationship: Global Challenges and International Economic Architecture
http://www.state.gov/e/rls/rmk/2010/149421.htm

Liberalism and Public Works - Entitlement politics leaves little money for roads and tunnels
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548382097688038.html

Re: The Geopolitics of Emotion
http://themoornextdoor.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/re-the-geopolitics-of-emotion/

Stop Bashing Business, Mr. President - If we tried to start The Home Depot today, it's a stone cold certainty that it would never have gotten off the ground
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704361504575552080488297188.html

US Pledges Additional $1 Million to Help Displaced Afghans in Pakistan and Their Host Communities
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/10/149481.htm

Republicans appear poised for major gains in the Midwest, a region dominated by the president in 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575547922554350844.html

Press Briefing

Oct 15, 2010

Organizing for America: See the Progress in Your Community
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/joshcohen/gGMzkf

China’s Auto Boom and Oil Strategy
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/14/chinas-auto-boom-and-oil-strategy/

Democrats: Moving America Forward
http://progress.democrats.org/

Side Effects: How Government Micromanagement Could Discourage Access to Some Preventive Services
http://fixhealthcarepolicy.com/research/side-effects-how-government-micromanagement-could-discourage-access-to-some-preventive-services

Press Briefing

Oct 14, 2010

Culture Evolves Slowly, Falls Apart Quickly
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/10/evolution-of-culture/

White House - What Health Reform Means for African Americans
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/13/what-health-reform-means-african-americans

The Peace Prize's Subversive Potential - The Soviet Union faced pressure after Andrei Sakharov won the Nobel in 1975. Now it's China's turn.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548443161394272.html

Sec Clinton: Townterview with Students, Women Leaders, and Members of Civil Society
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/10/149411.htm

Education Reform Setback - Washington, D.C. shows its maverick schools chancellor the door
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703673604575550113203121580.html

Under Secretary Maria Otero Highlights New Partnership on Safe Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Education for Schools in Developing Countries
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/10/149413.htm

The Election Gong Show - Federal President fails to speak up against antitrade, anti-China campaigning.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548082194712758.html

White House - What You Missed: Tuesday Talk with Elizabeth Warren
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/13/what-you-missed-tuesday-talk-with-elizabeth-warren

How to Reform ObamaCare Starting Now - States should steer the mandated health-insurance exchanges in a pro-market direction and dare Washington to stop them
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575521770685906984.html

Press Roundtable at U.S. Embassy in Cairo
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/rm/2010/149382.htm

The president says secret foreign money might steal the election. He's not even fooling the New York Times
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703673604575550180126192598.html

Transatlantic Missile Defense: Looking to the NATO Lisbon Summit
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/149360.htm

Susan Dunn has written an engaging story of bare - knuck led political treachery that pits a president at the peak of his popularity against entrenched congressional leaders who didn't like where he was taking the country and their party. FDR tried to use the power of the White House, and his personality, to run his opponents out of the Democratic Party. He failed miserably.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575532371905049074.html

Press Briefing

Oct 13, 2010

Abducted and Tortured for Reporting the News — 'This is the consequence of writing against the government,' my captors said
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575545914180906100.html

A new CNN poll shows that people are becoming more nostalgic for the Bush years
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548130895975438.html

Under Secretary Brainard Remarks at the Institute of International Bankers' Regulatory Dialogue with Government Officials
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg903.htm

How to avoid another Alan Hevesi: turn defined benefit retirement plans into 401(k)-style defined contribution plans
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657304575540292781704692.html

Four Governors on How to Cut Spending - How they are coping and how they plan to save money in the future
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882404575520221102889934.html

Liberating the Gulf - But a drilling ban persists by other means
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548454110320976.html

Organizing for America's John Pyrch: Step 2
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/johnpyrch/gGMz2N

A Growth Agenda for America - An economy grows through increased production, which is financed by capital or savings. Congress can encourage this process with the right tax reform.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548172409030684.html

Final paper on supervisory colleges issued by the Basel Committee
http://www.bis.org/press/p101012.htm

Political Target Practice - A case study in what Democrats really mean by campaign 'disclosure' http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575538402294440806.html

Vote 2010 Update with Michelle Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVF6c01fqys

The 2010 Spending Record - In two years, a 21.4% increase
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703358504575544351734226956.html

Secretary Clinton Travel Diary: Sec Clinton Dedicates New Embassy Compound and Robert C. Frasure Street
http://bit.ly/96Ioh0

Obama and the Politics of Outsourcing - For every job outsourced to Bangalore, nearly two jobs are created in Buffalo or other American cities
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575537983245805688.html

Activists Have Nothing to Say to Grand Jury | By Elizabeth DiNovella
http://t.co/pRZuEVh

Europe the Intolerant - The continent's progressive image is a fabrication of the American liberal mind
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575537950006608746.html

President Obama: Attend a Vote 2010 House Party
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws-l38SSqg8

Obamacare vs. the Rule of Law
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/07/obamacare-vs-the-rule-of-law

David Plouffe Obama Campaign Update: October 12, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD_Ck5g1pmE

Hope and Change - The politics of uplift and inspiration, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575546470217381134.html

U.S. Positions at the Annual Meeting of the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/149293.htm

Boehner's 'Plan B' for ObamaCare - Hearings can be used to sell market-friendly fixes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575546230578804328.html

Are Humans Genetically Disposed to Be Statists?
http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/are-humans-genetically-disposed-to-be-statists

Pakistan Is Not America's Enemy - A sustained U.S.-Pakistani partnership after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan could have produced a very different history than the one we wrestle with today
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703358504575544092642205742.html

If You Cant Beat Them, Silence Them
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/11/morning-bell-if-you-cant-beat-them-silence-them

Press Briefing

Oct 11, 2010

White House blog post on the struggles of LGBT youth
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/09/it-gets-better

The Fed Compounds Its Mistakes - Talk of increasing inflation to reduce unemployment is dangerous and unnecessary
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575538532260290528.html

USAID Assistance in Pakistan
http://blogs.state.gov/ap/index.php/site/entry/usaid_assistance_in_pakistan

Shootout at the EPA Corral - Texas takes aim at the White House's illegal carbon rules
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575538834180153298.html

The Economics of Drug Violence - Competition in the narcotics trade is preferable to monopolistic syndicates
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657304575540502615107046.html

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: In Holland, Free Speech on Trial
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657304575539872944767984.html

Remarks at Afghanistan Minerals Roadshow
http://www.state.gov/e/rls/rmk/2010/149240.htm

Shutting Up Business - Democrats unleash the IRS and Justice on donors to their political opponents
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735804575536370151720874.html

Enduring Leadership: Marshall's Legacy For American Public Diplomacy in the 21st Century
http://www.state.gov/r/remarks/2010/149208.htm

MIRACLE: California’s Air Becomes 340% Cleaner Overnight
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/08/miracle-california%E2%80%99s-air-becomes-340-cleaner-overnight/

Geithner in Sunday's Washington Post: ‘Five Myths about Tarp’
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg900.htm

Afghanistan must embrace women's rights
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/08/AR2010100806343.html

Remarks to the International Youth Foundation's 20th Anniversary Reception
http://www.state.gov/g/149203.htm

A Nobel Vision of a Better China - With Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, China's pro-democracy movement may finally have found its leader
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657304575539513894444800.html

Technology = Salvation - An early investor in Facebook on the subprime crisis and why American ingenuity has hit a dead end
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575537882643165738.html

The Politics of Foreclosure - Washington's latest obstacle to a housing market recovery
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575538440995389092.html

Press Briefing

Oct 08, 2010

The Employment Situation in September
http://goo.gl/fb/RwtVK

Tibetans Find Freedom in Exile - Since the Dalai Lama's expulsion in 1959, India has become home to at least 120,000
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843804575534372072487894.html

New Patterns of Investment in the Global Economy: Implications for U.S. Leadership
http://www.state.gov/e/rls/rmk/2010/149187.htm

The U.S. Will Lose a China Trade War - Washington can't afford a weak-dollar policy. The only thing standing between the U.S. and a Greek-style sovereign debt crisis is the dollar's status as the global currency.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843804575534423508502744.html

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/10/149190.htm

Missed Trade Opportunity - The European Union capitalizes on U.S. protectionism -- South Korea Free Trade Agreement
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735804575536972846474404.html

Community of Democracies Informal Ministerial Meeting
http://www.state.gov/g/149154.htm

The 'Limited Inflationists' - Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his QE Street Band
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735804575535791390597042.html

Remarks at the Trygve Lie Symposium on Business and Human Rights
http://www.state.gov/g/149150.htm

Murdoch: Unless we measure success by how children perform, we'll have higher standards for pop stars than public schools
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575538080168519658.html

How to Contain Radical Islam: Lessons from South Asia
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/search-for-publications/browse-alphabetic-list-of-titles/?class_call=view&pub_ID=3565&mode=view

How a Bagram Detainee Foiled the Euro Terror Plot - The plan was disrupted because we were lucky enough to have the key witness in detention. It's a shame we didn't try to extract similar intelligence from Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735804575536502486233766.html

Using Functional Populations to Create More Realistic Simulations
http://www.idga.org/article.cfm?externalid=3294

Revolt of the Accountants - Washington is turning America into Paperwork Nation
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575538502008810226.html

Remarks for Launch of Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health
http://www.state.gov/g/149152.htm

Obama's Energy-Policy Goals Versus China's
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/07/obama%e2%80%99s-energy-policy-goals-versus-china%e2%80%99s/

China's Ambitions in the South China Sea
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/fileadmin/stored/pdfs/apb071.pdf

Side Effects: Obamacare Compels More Employers to Dump Coverage
http://fixhealthcarepolicy.com/in-the-news/side-effects-obamacare-compels-more-employers-to-dump-coverage

The Protectionist Instinct - Political support for free trade is a remarkable achievement of civic education—one threatened by our weak economy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531720311339894.html

Will Growing Government Debt Undermine the American Dream? The Implications of Mounting Federal Debt and Spending for the Debt-Paying Generation
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/09/Will-Growing-Government-Debt-Undermine-the-American-Dream

Press Briefing

Oct 07, 2010

The Obama Administration's Support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/10/149074.htm

Geithner's 'Cooperation' - Dollar devaluation is not economic leadership
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735804575536453177817206.html

Secretary of Treasury Timothy F. Geithner Remarks at the Brookings Institution
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg894.htm

Toward a New American Century - Immigration reform, investments in human capital, and a saner housing policy can help restore U.S. economic leadership
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531894174441102.html

Fighting Back Against Arbitrary Government Rule
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/06/morning-bell-fighting-back-against-arbitrary-government-rule

ObamaCare and the Election - The GOP needs to raise the health-care stakes in 2010, and beyond
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843804575534072299141554.html

Press Briefing

Oct 06, 2010

The Coming Golden Age of Television - TV networks and video programming are among the only traditional media to grow since the advent of the Internet
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704380504575530461209634820.html

The Demilitarization of Europe - Our NATO allies aren't spending enough to be credible security partners anymore
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531722614613144.html

Of Scoundrels and Speech - The First Amendment protects even jerks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575532221786782014.html

Undiplomatic Hold-Ups - Boxer and Brownback vs. U.S. interests
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575521831759579778.html

UNHCR Roundtable on Asylum-Seekers and Refugees Seeking Protection on Account of Their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
http://www.state.gov/g/prm/rls/rmks/2010/149000.htm

Pax Americana and the New Iraq - Iraq's Shiites, especially, have a healthy fear of Iran and a desire to keep Persian power at bay
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843804575534131136793708.html

Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets Mary J. Miller Remarks before the Future Industry Association Treasury and Rates Conference
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg890.htm

The Soul of the Spending Machine - Republicans need new rules to aid their policy priorities
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575532410134909310.html

61st Session of the UNHCR Executive Committee - U.S. Government Plenary Statement
http://www.state.gov/g/prm/rls/rmks/2010/148629.htm

Why praise violent, misogynistic hip-hop stars?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703859204575526401852413266.html

Remarks by Delegation of the United States of America to the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/149010.htm

The Private Sector Can Improve Infrastructure with Privatization not a Bank
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/0929_infrastructure_privatization_winston.aspx

Serendipitous Connections - Innovation occurs when ideas from different people bang against each other
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531790397679612.html

How Handwriting Trains the Brain - Forming Letters Is Key to Learning, Memory, Ideas
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518.html

Press Briefing

Oct 05, 2010

Readers Write: Healthy Children Need Healthy Parents
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entries/readers_write_health/

Jennifer Rubin on how California's optimism has been replaced by cynicism and regulation
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575532410472662810.html

Truth in the Time of Putinism - Kremlin critics fear assassination and kangaroo courts
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703859204575526041067013892.html

Obama Tactics Rebound on Rahm - Rahm runs into a Chicago roadblock
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575532120616441014.html

President Obama Meets with Economic Recovery Advisory Board
http://goo.gl/fb/rsIUB

Hating 'Superman' - Teachers unions are on the moral defensive
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882404575520160925291820.html

White House Women's Entrepreneurship Conference: Closing Session
http://goo.gl/fb/cXaDQ

Manchin vs. Obama(Care) - A West Virginia Democrat tries to get elected
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882404575520360188448950.html

White House Press Briefing
http://goo.gl/fb/UIQES

The 'Pay for Delay' Rap - The drug industry, the FTC and overzealous antitrust
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449511811622220.html

President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board Meeting
http://goo.gl/fb/GTWOw

Speak Up on D.C. Schools, Mr. President - The president remains silent about the fate of Michelle Rhee, the successful chancellor of public schools in the nation's capital
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575532293014870442.html

White House Women's Entrepreneurship Conference: Opening Session
http://goo.gl/fb/3JktB

The Bill Gates Income Tax - If Washington's most famous billionaires are really worried about their state's finances, they'd write personal checks to the government and leave everyone else alone
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882404575520241519315372.html

New START: Security Through 21st-Century Verification
http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2010_09/Gottemoeller

The Red Dragon’s Carbon Footprint
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/04/the-red-dragons-carbon-footprint/

Press Briefing

Oct 03, 2010

Will Obama's foreign policy follow his new democracy rhetoric?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/03/AR2010100303382.html

From Wikinomics to the Tea Party - Government is the institution most obviously frozen in the pre-Web era
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703859204575525940019780582.html

The case for ambulance service fees
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/03/AR2010100303622.html

Adam Smith - A mind that ranged over politics, law and ethics—and produced the definitive defense of free markets
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704654004575518151286879946.html

Right call on the Black Panthers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/03/AR2010100303620.html

Target: Ireland - Europe tries to beat the Republic into tax submission
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703465504575528013807144380.html

White House - Building Skills for America’s Future
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/04/building-skills-america-s-future

Leahy's Supreme Tie-Breakers - A plan for liberal Justices to come out of retirement
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704483004575524023517652614.html

Helping More Women-Owned Small Businesses Compete for Federal Contracts
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/04/helping-more-women-owned-small-businesses-compete-federal-contracts

'Essential' Bailouts - Under Dodd-Frank, some creditors are more equal than others
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704483004575524232993529218.html

National Cyber Security Awareness Month Kicks Off
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/01/national-cyber-security-awareness-month-kicks

The Lap Dog Coalition - Blue Dog Democrats voted with Nancy Pelosi 80% of the time on economic issues
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703859204575526061943295810.html

Statement by the President on the Occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Reunification of East and West Germany
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/10/02/statement-president-occasion-20th-anniversary-reunification-east-and-wes

Historian Victor Davis Hanson writes that the American university is the most politically intolerant and monolithic institution in the country
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703859204575526090709113292.html

The White House Women’s Entrepreneurship Conference
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/01/white-house-women-s-entrepreneurship-conference

The Trade and Tax Doomsday Clocks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575521822940983434.html

U.S. Stabilization Capabilities: Lessons Learned From Kyrgyzstan
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/stabilization_kyrgyzstan

Peace Doesn't Keep Itself - Defense spending has increased at a much lower rate than domestic spending in recent years and is not the cause of soaring deficits
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704483004575524763315951380.html

Enough With the Low Interest Rates! - Fed policy punishes savers without making credit more readily available
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704654004575517940057210022.html

The Obama Experts vs. the Rule of Law
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/04/morning-bell-the-obama-experts-vs-the-rule-of-law

George Washington was a genius and a titan, but it was politics, not war, at which he excelled
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882404575520061512222160.html

Alien Tort Victory - Business can't be held liable for overseas human rights abuses
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989304575503703623437096.html

IMF: Shaping the New Financial System
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/spn/2010/spn1015.pdf
             Press release: http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2010/pr10376.htm

School Reform Rainmakers - John Walton had the right idea for education donors
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522302370477856.html

Weekly Address: Solar Power & a Clean Energy Economy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/02/weekly-address-solar-power-a-clean-energy-economy

China's Aggressive New Diplomacy - Beijing drives its neighbors into the arms of the U.S.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704483004575523710432896610.html

Press Briefing

Oct 02, 2010

Implementing the National Space Policy: Opportunities and Challenges
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/147461.htm

San Franciscans Try to Take Back Their Streets - Even the liberal mayor is backing an initiative that would make public spaces safe again from the homeless industry and young thuggish vagrants
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522461338661360.html

New Executive Order Targeting Iranian Officials Responsible for or Complicit in Serious Human Rights Abuses
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/148345.htm

'Things Could Get Pretty Messy' - The man who would be the next House majority leader talks about the GOP agenda and working with Obama
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704483004575524114269305180.html

White House: A Living-Room Discussion with Middle Class Families
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/28/a-living-room-discussion-with-middle-class-families

MSCs a viable alternative?
http://www.marsecreview.com/?p=376

Rebuilding Together: Europe and the United States after the Global Financial Crisis
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg875.htm

Healthamburglar - McDonald's meets ObamaCare
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704483004575523980464573518.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Comparative counterinsurgency in Yemen
http://www.gloria-center.org/meria/2010/09/novak.html

Our Afghanistan mission diverts us from meeting China’s naval challenge
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-222855-109-our-afghanistan-mission-diverts-us-from-meeting-chinas-naval-challenge.html

White House White Board: CEA Chair Austan Goolsbee Explains the Tax Cut Fight
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/29/white-house-white-board-cea-chair-austan-goolsbee-explains-tax-cut-fight

The 'Spillover' Fallacy: Islamic Militants in Central Asia
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/6558/the-spillover-fallacy-islamic-militants-in-central-asia

Scientists conclude current guidelines on BPA are safe
http://www.webmd.boots.com/news/20101001/scientists-conclude-current-guidelines-on-bpa-are-safe

Critical questions regarding the role of foreign fighters in Shabaab
http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2010/09/critical_questions_regarding_t.php

Press Briefing

Oct 01, 2010

Warren op-ed: It's Time To Simplify Financial Regulation - Can customers easily understand the product? Regulators should be focused on that questionhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522062731420330.html

Black Churches and the Prosperity Gospel - Depending on miracles as a financial strategy is a dangerous way to live
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522202425314706.html

Companies Reducing Energy-related Business with Iran
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/148458.htm

Former Bush White House staffer Peter Wehner on ObamaCare and the New Republic's Jonathan Chait
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704654004575518313840463750.html

Two Cheers for the New Bank Capital Standards - Why do we still rely on the rating agencies, and why are we still allowing Lehman Brothers levels of leverage?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704523604575511813933977160.html

Remarks at Vital Voices of Asia Women's Summit
http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/rls/rem/2010/148457.htm

Beggar the World - Monetary instability is a threat to the global recovery
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704483004575523822949744704.html

Russ Feingold: ‘The Conscience of the Senate and Wisconsin’s Strongest Advocate’
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/ericasagrans/gGMzhV

Echoes of the Great Depression. By Phil Gramm
As in the 1930s, policy uncertainty and hostility to business have retarded recovery. At least this time around the political price for economic failure promises to be swift.
WSJ, Oct 01, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522351201224286.html

[Excerpts:]

This may not be your grandfather's Great Depression, but many aspects of today's situation would remind him of the 1930s. If the recession that officially ended a year ago feels uncomfortably surreal to you yet familiar to him, it's probably because the recovery went missing.

During the average recovery since World War II, gross domestic product (GDP) surpassed the pre-recession high five quarters after the recession began. It has never taken longer than seven quarters. Yet today, after 11 quarters, GDP is still below what it was in the fourth quarter of 2007. The economy is growing at only about a third of the rate of previous postwar recoveries from major recessions.

Obama administration officials such as Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner have argued that without their policies the economy would be worse, and we might have fallen "off a cliff." While this assertion cannot be tested, we can compare the recent experience of other countries to our own.

[Change in total employment, 2007 compared to Q2-2010 http://sg.wsj.net/public/resources/images/ED-AM322_gramm_NS_20100930175224.gif]

The chart nearby compares total 2007 employment levels in the United States, the United Kingdom, the 16 euro zone countries, the G-7 countries and all OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries with those of the second quarter of 2010. There are 4.6% fewer people employed in the U.S. today than at the start of the recession. Euro zone countries have lost 1.7% of their jobs. Total employment in the U.K. is down 0.6%, G-7 average employment is down 2.4%, and OECD employment has fallen 1.9%.

This simple comparison suggests two things. First, that American economic policy has been less effective in increasing employment than the policies of other developed nations. Second, that if there was a cliff out there, no country fell off. Those that suffered the most were the most profligate, such as Greece, and their problems can't be blamed on the financial crisis. While the most recent quarterly growth figures are just a snapshot in time, it is hardly encouraging that economic growth in the U.S. (1.7%) is lower than in the euro zone (4%), U.K. (4.8%), G-7 (2.8%) and OECD (2%).

Most striking about these comparisons is their similarity to the U.S. experience in the Great Depression. Using data from the League of Nations' World Economic Survey, we can look at unemployment in developed nations between 1929 and the end of 1938. Ten years after the stock market crash, total employment in the U.S. was still almost 20% below the pre-Depression level. The decline in France was similar. But in the U.K. and Italy, total employment was up 10% and 12%, respectively. Industrial production on average in the six most developed countries was almost 16% above their 1929 levels by the end of 1938, but industrial production had declined by 20% in the U.S.

Today's lagging growth and persistent high unemployment are reminiscent of the 1930s, perhaps because in no other period of American history has our government followed policies as similar to those of the Great Depression era. Federal debt by the end of 1938 was almost 150% above the 1929 level. Federal spending grew by 77% from 1932 to 1934 as the New Deal was implemented—unprecedented for peacetime.

Still the economy did not take off. Winston Churchill gave a contemporary evaluation of the Roosevelt policy by observing, in the April 24, 1935, Daily Mail, "Nearly two thousand millions Sterling have been poured out to prime the pump of prosperity; but prosperity has not begun to flow."

The top individual income tax rate rose from 24% to 63% to 79% during the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations. Corporate rates were increased to 15% from 11%, and when private businesses did not invest, Congress imposed a 27% undistributed profits tax.

In 1929, the U.S. government collected $1.1 billion in total income taxes; by 1935 collections had fallen to $527 million. In 1929, individual income taxes accounted for 38% of government revenues, corporate taxes accounted for 43%, and excise taxes for 19%. By 1939, individual income taxes made up only 26% of federal revenues, corporate income taxes made up 29%, and excise taxes made up 45%.

When Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau suggested to President Roosevelt that the administration cut income tax rates in 1939, Roosevelt, apparently concerned about the possible effect of deficit-financed tax cuts on interest rates, asked, "You are willing to pay usury in order to get recovery?" Morgenthau said that he responded, "Yes sir." The president disagreed.

The Roosevelt administration also conducted a seven-year populist tirade against private business, which FDR denounced as the province of "economic royalists" and "malefactors of great wealth." The war on business and wealth was so traumatic that the League of Nations' 1939 World Economic Survey attributed part of the poor U.S. economic performance to it: "The relations between the leaders of business and the Administration were uneasy, and this uneasiness accentuated the unwillingness of private enterprise to embark on further projects of capital expenditure which might have helped to sustain the economy."

Churchill, who was generally guarded when criticizing New Deal policies, could not hold back. "The disposition to hunt down rich men as if they were noxious beasts," he noted in "Great Contemporaries" (1939), is "a very attractive sport." But "confidence is shaken and enterprise chilled, and the unemployed queue up at the soup kitchens or march out to the public works with ever growing expense to the taxpayer and nothing more appetizing to take home to their families than the leg or wing of what was once a millionaire. . . It is indispensable to the wealth of nations and to the wage and life standards of labour, that capital and credit should be honoured and cherished partners in the economic system. . . ."

The regulatory burden exploded during the Roosevelt administration, not just through the creation of new government agencies but through an extraordinary barrage of executive orders—more than all subsequent presidents through Bill Clinton combined. Then, as now, uncertainty reigned. As the textile innovator Lammot du Pont complained in 1937, "Uncertainty rules the tax situation, the labor situation, the monetary situation, and practically every legal condition under which industry must operate."

Henry Morgenthau summarized the policy failure to the House Ways and Means Committee in April 1939: "Now, gentleman, we have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work . . . I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started . . . and an enormous debt, to boot."

Despite the striking similarities between then and now, there is one major difference: Roosevelt's policies remained popular even as the economy faltered. The magnitude of the Depression, with its lack of stabilizers and safety nets, traumatized Americans and undermined their confidence in the economic system. This induced voters, as historians would later do, to judge Roosevelt not on his results but on his intentions.

Today, however, the Obama program appears to be failing politically as well as in the marketplace. The trauma of the financial crisis did not approach that of the Great Depression, and Americans do not appear to have lost faith in our economic system or come to see government as the savior. While progressivism gave the New Deal its intellectual foundations, history today is driven by the freedom tide that produced our economic revival in the 1980s and '90s and still drives economic liberalization in China and India.

Finally, we should not underestimate that this administration faces stronger and more united congressional opposition than FDR ever faced. The House and Senate Republican leadership has far surpassed all expectations of a minority party.
[...]

Mr. Gramm is a former U.S. senator from Texas and former professor of economics at Texas A&M University.


Treasury Announces Further Sales of Citigroup Securities and Cumulative Return to Taxpayers of $41.6 Billion
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg887.htm

U.S. Imposes Offshore Drilling Moratorium, but Other Countries Fail to Follow
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/09/30/u-s-imposes-offshore-drilling-moratorium-but-other-countries-fail-to-follow/

Press Briefing

Sep 30, 2010

Reforming Government: Congressional Republicans Haven't Changed & Can't Bring the Change We Need
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/30/reforming-government-congressional-republicans-havent-changed-cant-bring-change-we-n

Grading the Governors - A new Cato Institute report on the fiscal best and worst
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522123526567594.html

Assistant Sec for International Markets and Development Marisa Lago Introductory Comments for Eurofi Panel Discussion of "Prospects of future G-20 discussions and Expected impacts for the EU"
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg879.htm

Why Congressional intelligence is an oxymoron
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522202579025986.html

Treasury Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin Written Testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on "Implementing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act"
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg881.htm

McDonald's May Drop Health Plan - the law ripples through the real world
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703431604575522413101063070.html

Distrust in U.S. Media Edges Up to Record High
http://www.gallup.com/poll/143267/Distrust-Media-Edges-Record-High.aspx

Conservatives: The Bipartisan Fight Against the Obama Tax Hikes
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/30/morning-bell-the-bipartisan-fight-against-the-obama-tax-hikes

Statement by the President on the House Approval of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/29/statement-president-house-approval-james-zadroga-911-health-and-compensa

In Elizabeth Warren We Trust? - The unaccountable head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has repeatedly used shoddy data to push policies she favors
By Todd Zywicki
WSJ, Sep 30, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704523604575512060220672440.html

The Obama administration has promised that the Federal Reserve's new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be independent from politics, a model of regulatory expertise grounded in sound data and economics. Naming Harvard Law Prof. Elizabeth Warren as de facto agency head undermines both goals.

By appointing another White House czar to avoid Senate confirmation, the administration politicized the powerful new bureaucracy from its birth. And by appointing an individual with a track record of using questionable research to advance policy ends, it has jeopardized the second goal as well.

Consider Ms. Warren's much-ballyhooed study on the alleged link among health problems, medical expenses and personal bankruptcy filings. Published in the February 2005 issue of Health Affairs, the report was timed to head off bipartisan bankruptcy legislation that was enacted later that year. Ms. Warren and her co-authors claimed that "at least" 46% of personal bankruptcy filings in 2001 (the year from they collected the data) were the result of "medical causes," and that this represented a 23-fold increase over 20 years.

Both conclusions are extremely suspect. First, the study provided an implausibly broad definition of "medical bankruptcy"—including any filer who reported uncontrolled gambling, drug or alcohol addiction, or the birth or adoption of a child.

Equally dubious, the authors classified a bankruptcy as having a "major medical cause" if the individual had accumulated more than $1,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses (uncovered by insurance) over the course of two years prior to filing—regardless of income, and even if the debtor did not cite illness or injury among the reasons for bankruptcy.

In 2001, average per capita out-of-pocket medical expenses were $683. During the two-year period Ms. Warren and her co-authors studied, in other words, Americans spent an average of $1,366 on uninsured medical expenses, or 30% more than their threshold definition of a "major medical cause." There was no larger context for their threshold figure: A debtor with $1,001 in uncovered medical expenses and $50,000 on a Saks card would constitute a "medical bankruptcy" in their study.

The claim of a 23-fold increase in medical bankruptcies was based on a comparison of their 2001 data with Ms. Warren's research in a 1981 study—which appears to count only those who self-reported as having filed bankruptcy for medical reasons. This is a completely different and much narrower definition of "medical bankruptcy" than the one she used 20 years later, and obviously inflates the increase.

In contrast to Ms. Warren's studies, a battery of analysis, including research done by the Department of Justice's Executive Office of the United States Trustee (which oversees the administration of bankruptcy cases), and by Daniel Dranove and Michael Millenson of Northwestern University, concluded that fewer than 20% of bankruptcies are caused by health problems or medical expenses.

Last year Ms. Warren and her co-authors were back with an even more dramatic study, in the American Journal of Medicine, timed to promote President Obama's health-care reform law. Drawing on 2007 filings, the authors concluded that 62% of bankruptcy filings were the result of medical issues and that the odds that a bankruptcy had a medical cause had doubled between just 2001 and 2007. This study was also flawed.

After Congress made it harder for people to skip out on their debts in 2005, the number of bankruptcy filings plummeted. In 2001, the year Ms. Warren used for the first study, there were 1,452,030 personal bankruptcy filings; in 2007 there were 822,590. Even if we are to accept the methodologies of the two studies for the sake of argument, there were 670,838 "medical bankruptcies" in 2001 and 510,828 medical bankruptcies in 2007—a drop of 160,000 per year. Yet Ms. Warren's article nowhere acknowledges that the absolute number of bankruptcies and purported medical bankruptcies declined.

Concerns about Ms. Warren's presentation and interpretation of data have been longstanding. As I wrote in these pages in August 2007, her book "The Two-Income Trap" willfully ignores the obvious in her own data: that spiraling taxes—and not living expenses—were a major cause of middle class financial woes.

Similarly, reports of the Congressional Oversight Panel of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)—a panel of which she was chair—uniformly treated home foreclosures as the result of bank fraud and the bullying of helpless homeowners. Fraud and bullying there was, but her panel consistently ignored the many foreclosures that have resulted from a homeowner's strategic decision to walk away from a house whose value has fallen below the amount still owed on the mortgage. Economists and housing analysts widely agree that a substantial number of defaults occur for this reason. That reality is largely absent from the TARP panel's reports.

The head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is one of the most powerful bureaucratic positions ever created in the American political system. It can regulate or ban almost every consumer credit product in the country, yet it is beyond Congress's power of the purse because its budget is guaranteed as a percentage of the Fed's annual revenues. Under normal circumstances, the Senate would have the opportunity to ask Ms. Warren to explain the way in which she has sometimes interpreted data in her research before entrusting her with control of the agency.

By doing an end-run around the confirmation process, the Obama administration has eliminated our opportunity to find out. And by installing the head of the agency as an assistant to the president inside the White House, it has insulated her from meaningful congressional oversight.

Mr. Zywicki teaches bankruptcy and contracts at the George Mason University School of Law, and is the co-editor of the University of Chicago's Supreme Court Economic Review.


Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/148403.htm

Democrats and the Health-Reform Albatross - By making so many misleading claims, the president created an army of opposition
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522073624475054.html

IMF: Global Financial Stability Report
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/gfsr/2010/02/index.htm

The Protectionist Threat of Another Great Depression
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/29/morning-bell-the-protectionist-threat-of-another-great-depression