The White House is shrugging off the Republican electoral victories. But we know what the elections mean: The people are fed up with the march toward nationalization and socialism. Just like the 2006 elections were a repudiation of Bush’s war policy, yesterday marked public discontent with the Democrats’ war on the economy. This is all [...]

Independent Institute Senior Fellow Robert Higgs is interviewed here by Judge Andrew Napolitano on Fox News’ program, “Freedom Watch,” regarding the utter folly of the gigantic federal spending programs first started under George W. Bush and now enormously expanded by Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress. Prolonging the recovery amidst enormous economic confusion and new [...]

As Congress debates the merits of the “public option” for health insurance, we might look at Florida for some experience, because Florida has had a public option for years, not for health insurance but for property insurance.
After Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992 some Floridians were having difficulty purchasing homeowners’ insurance.  (The reason: rates are [...]

On Sunday, leading Obama officials criticized Wall Street, complaining about high bonuses, blaming business for high unemployment and seemingly protesting that financial institutions have both taken on too much risk and yet have not lent out enough money. The administration is not accepting much blame on its own for the unemployment and economic slump. Meanwhile, [...]

Under the Age of Obama, as some conservatives like George Will begin to question how much these open-ended foreign occupations serve US interests, and the left is stuck with a president pushing for a war that many of them had opposed, the rationales behind continuing US imperialism are beginning to shift again. Now Code Pink, [...]

Independent Institute Senior Fellow Robert Higgs is interviewed on Fox News’ “Freedom Watch with Judge Andrew Napolitano” on how Barack Obama is Herbert Hoover’s true “Progressive” heir as an economic interventionist, corporatist and protectionist. Hoover’s policies caused the Great Depression and Franklin Roosevelt then continued and greatly expanded such policies as his New Deal, deepening [...]

The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a year old now.  On September 19, 2008, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced the need for a $700 billion program to purchase toxic assets held by banks to prevent a financial meltdown, and after some modification TARP was rapidly approved by Congress on October 3.  Looking back after [...]

According to ABC News, Washington D.C. police initially estimated that a crowd of 60-70,000 people traveled from across the U.S. to participate in a massive demonstration (in the rain) not just against ObamaCare but the overall, huge explosion of federal power, spending and debt. Updated estimates (see London Daily Mail and San Francisco Examiner) place [...]

In President Obama’s address on health care reform to Congress last night (September 9) he argued for a public option to private health insurance as an alternative, to compete with private insurers and give them an incentive to be responsive to their customers.
Some critics have argued that with the advantages of government backing and the [...]

Dateline: September 9, 2009:
Obama speech (as I watch): From the lips of POTUS  . . .
Introduction:
Insurance companies are evil but I do not want to put them out of business. (Huh? After listening to the litany of insurance company evildoing, any sane person would put them out of business.)
Middle section:
I favor a not-for-profit public [...]