Free Republic

In 2006, Chris Hausman, a fourth-generation Midwestern farmer long accustomed to depending on government support for survival, traveled across the world to witness a revolution in agriculture. It had been more than 20 years since a left-leaning government in New Zealand chose to eliminate government subsidies for farmers, and Hausman was surprised at what had transpired since. “I will tell you it was a shock to their agricultural system,” says Hausman, 58, who farms corn and soybeans on a 1,500-acre plot 150 miles south of Chicago. “You had a system dictated by government programs that was thrown out the window...

$11 Billion In Missing Obamacare Subsidies From Mass Tax NoncomplianceComplications arising from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits (PTCs) are causing millions of people to effectively break the law. People who benefit from advance premium tax credits (APTCs) must file tax returns and include a form to reconcile the advanced amount to the actual end-of-year entitled amount. The failure of so many people to fulfill this new legal requirement has led the government to spend more than it should have as APTCs tend to be higher than legally entitled amounts. The big news is that tax filers,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign (all times EDT): 4:20 p.m. Donald Trump is telling Iowans that one of his campaign goals is to "make America grow again." Speaking at a rally Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, Trump touted his plans to boost economic growth and help American farmers, including his proposal to lower the tax rate on family farms to 15 percent....

It’s not coincidence or bad luck that causes government economic development programs to so reliably fail to meet their promises — there are good reasons to expect this. So why do politicians keep returning to this dry well? Sadly, even an unconventional, non-careerist politician like Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is taking a turn with an executive order that appears to embrace the flawed economic central planning vision that inspires such programs. He is doing so despite having expressed skepticism about such programs in his first election campaign and reducing their scale after he was elected. The governor's executive order creates...

Like a crazed serial killer, the liberal green groups are celebrating their “victory” of putting America’s major coal producers out of business — to say nothing of the tens of thousands of miners placed in unemployment lines. Several thousand more mining jobs were lost last month. Now to get their next homicidal high, the leftists have turned their ambitions on the oil and natural gas industries. Here is how the Sierra Club spokeswoman, Lena Moffit, explains the grand, green vision: “We have moved to a very clear and firm and vehement position of opposing gas. We oppose any new gas-fired...

The oil price rout has caused a lot of headaches in the renewable industry, especially in the heavily subsidized U.S. solar sector, which is suffering some setbacks even as solar installations are growing rapidly. Solar power suppliers are scaling back operations as demand is growing slower than expected, and the sector is wondering where to go from here. Investors have, of course, sensed the uncertainty. An industry that showed so much promise—particularly against the background of international efforts to curb the effects of climate change—is now in the doldrums. So what went wrong?

Judge Rosemary Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an opinion today declaring that the Obama administration violated the Constitution by funding Obamacare subsidies for which Congress did not appropriate funds. “Congress passes all federal laws in this country,” the judge wrote in her opinion in the case of U.S. House of Representatives v. Burwell. “The Court will enter judgment in favor of the House of Representatives and enjoin the use of unappropriated monies to fund reimbursements due to insurers under Section 1402,” the judge said. …

It seems that federal officials have worked overtime to undermine public trust. Benghazi, the IRS abuses, the “fast and furious” gun-running fiasco, the solar power boondoggles, and the seemingly endless implementation problems of the Affordable Care Act—all these scandals have common themes: arrogant and abusive bureaucracy, double dealing, lame excuses, and legal hairsplitting. The outrages listed above can be placed squarely at the doorstep of the White House. But one scandal is truly bipartisan: How key administration and congressional officials connived to create, under cover of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, special health insurance subsidies for members...

A federal judge has ruled the federal government has been inappropriately paying out Obamacare subsidies, which House Republicans sued over. The lawsuit argues the Obama administration is spending money that was never allocated by Congress.

Former Sen. Phil Graham once quipped that “if you think health care is expensive now, wait until it’s free.” He said that when President Clinton was, unsuccessfully, trying to get his wife’s Health Security Act through Congress in 1993. Graham was right. While Clinton didn’t get his plan enacted, health care has become increasingly “free” to consumers, as the share they pay out-of-pocket dropped from 47% in 1960, to 23% by 1980 to less than 11% today. This trend has been driven almost entirely by government policies — either through government programs like Medicare and Medicaid, or because of distortions...

Tesla Motors recently reported that it has received close to 400,000 orders for its yet to be released, $35,000 Model 3. Most of the pre-ordered vehicles are not even expected to be delivered until after 2018. While congratulations may be in order to Tesla for seemingly developing a mainstream electric vehicle (EV) that has so much consumer interest that demand is far outpacing supply, one question must be asked. Why the hell is the vehicle being subsidized to the tune of $1.5 billion in future tax credits? If Tesla has proven that EVs can be profitably manufactured, it is...

Over 10 years ago the state began an experiment in economic development policy. Gov. Jennifer Granholm pushed through a plan to gradually spend $2 billion through a “21st Century Jobs Fund.” Famously, she told Michiganders that they would be “blown away” by the incredible results of this spending. Well, the results are in and it’s hard to describe the 21st Century Jobs Fund as anything other than a complete failure. The money has all been spent, but no one has been blown away. And if new jobs have been created by this spending, they have not been consistently or coherently...

As it continues to defy common sense and the laws of economics with its lofty stock price, Tesla has again shown it has little corporate competence in the ability to deliver a consistently functional product that satisfies customers. The latest evidence comes in the recently rolled out Model X, which is allegedly an SUV, but looks like just another car. Retailing at a price only the extremely wealthy can afford ($138,000), the all-electric follow-up to the similarly troubled Model S automobile has stumbled out of the gate. The problems were outlined in a Consumer Reports article posted online Tuesday,...

Millions of poor Americans will be eligible for federal subsidies to help pay the cost of Internet service after new regulations were approved in a whirlwind Federal Communications Commission meeting on Thursday. The FCC voted to expand its 30-year-old program called Lifeline, which previously offered $9.25 in subsidies for phone and basic cell service. The three Democratic commissioners approved the proposal over opposition from the two Republicans, who have concerns about the program's budget. The vote was delayed for more than three hours as Republicans accused FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler of scuttling a late-night compromise to bring them on board....

When taxpayers lost more than a half-billion dollars on the failed solar manufacturer Solyndra, they were understandably upset. But Solyndra isn’t the only corporate body in the graveyard of green bankruptcies. And more are surely on the way. Over a decade ago Congress created a loan-guarantee program that allows the Department of Energy (DOE) to gamble taxpayers’ money to promote “clean” energy projects. The 2009 stimulus package created a new loan-guarantee program that expanded the pot of money available. Many of the companies taking advantage of the program also rake in a wide assortment of other state and federal tax...

If solar and wind were indeed catching up to other forms of electricity generation, they wouldn’t need current subsidies, much less ever-growing ones. Such are the incredible costs of producing energy with “free fuel" While driving the mostly empty and flat 1,000 miles from Houston to Colorado Springs recently, I noticed something I hadn’t seen much just a few years ago—lots of wind farms dotting the landscape, but none anywhere near even small population centers. And another funny thing, though: Invariably, many of the turbines weren’t moving and one of the largest appeared to have about 100 turbines, yet I...

German power giant E.ON on Wednesday said it booked a €7.0 billion ($7.7-billion) net loss in 2015 and warned that “the course ahead will be tougher and longer than anticipated”. […] German power utilities have complained that the country’s transition from conventional carbon fuels to greener, cleaner sources of energy is squeezing their margins. The cost of having to close down their nuclear power plants and the heavy subsidies afforded to renewable energy have pushed them deeply into the red, the companies argue. The glut of government-subsidized solar, wind and other renewable power has led to a collapse in wholesale...

**SNIP** Hundreds of thousands of people lose subsidies under the health law, or even their policies, when they get tangled in a web of paperwork problems involving income, citizenship and taxes. Some are dealing with serious illnesses like cancer. Advocates fear the problems, if left unresolved, could undermine the nation's historic gains in health insurance. Walk Whitlow was under treatment for cancer when he found out his financial assistance under President Barack Obama's health care law got slashed - meaning his premium quadrupled and his deductible went from $900 to $4,600. Lynn Herrin got irritated when she had to pay...

Wall Street, media and government darling Tesla Motors has seen its stock price nearly halved from seven months ago. For so long it has seemed that ongoing bad news never had an effect on the heavily subsidized upstart, but now perhaps the Teflon is eroding off CEO Elon Musk. The precipitous, rapid descent preceded last week's horrid earnings report. USA Today helped smear lipstick on the pig, cheerily noting shares rose "14 percent at one point" after its earnings "miss" on Wednesday, because Musk delivered investors a "rosy outlook for the rest of 2016." This was in context of...

"There's an Iowa way of doing this, and the rest of the candidates did it the Iowa way," Majda Sarkic, a spokeswoman for the pro-ethanol group America's Renewable Future, told National Review days before the Iowa caucuses. All of the candidates except Ted Cruz, that is. In a highly unusual move for a man who sought, and ultimately won, the support of Iowa caucus-goers, Cruz didn't court, kowtow to, or bow down before King Corn. From the time they arrived in the Senate eyeing a presidential run three years ago, he and his advisers have known that his opposition to...