Free Republic

The fact that it’s being proposed by Republicans doesn’t make it any more economically palatable. Madness is rare in individuals — but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule — Friedrich Nietzsche ‘Cap and trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way,” Barack Obama declared after Democrats’ disastrous losses in the 2010 midterm elections. That shellacking finally killed off the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill. From it was born the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and the Obama administration’s war on coal, in turn a contributory factor to Donald Trump’s election and Republicans’...

Criticism for the Obama Administration's economic agenda is hitting very close to home. Martin Feldstein, an advisor to the President on economic issues and Harvard University professor has become openly critical of the President's health care agenda. In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal (aptly titled "ObamaCare's Crippling Deficits"), Feldstein states that "the higher taxes, debt payments and interest rates needed to pay for health reform mean lower living standards."

Barack Obama’s new working group on taxes has an unlikely member: a current board member of American International Group Inc. AIG has been under fire from the Obama and congressional leaders in both parties for doling out $165 million in bonuses to executives after accepting $173 billion in government bailout funds. But when the White House announced the creation of its new Task Force on Tax Reform, economic adviser Peter Orszag said that one of its members will be Martin Feldstein. Feldstein is a Harvard economics professor who has been involved with U.S. economic policy for decades. He was a...

Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has announced that Martin Feldstein, former chief economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan, has endorsed John McCain for president. "I am proud to lend my support to John McCain for president," said Martin Feldstein. "John McCain is the candidate with the experience and leadership to keep America secure, with a proven track record as a fiscal conservative who can bring spending in Washington under control, and who can be trusted to build a stronger economy and brighter future for the next generation." McCain thanked Feldstein for his support, stating, "Martin Feldstein was a trusted advisor...

The Successor to Greenspan Has a Very Tough Act to Follow WHEN Alan Greenspan finally retires from the Federal Reserve, will he leave behind any of his DNA? Now in his 18th remarkable year as Fed chairman, the owlish and idiosyncratic Mr. Greenspan is required by law to step down in January 2006. Nominating a successor could be President Bush's biggest economic decision next year, given Mr. Greenspan's mythic reputation as the guardian of price stability and economic growth. A big uncertainty is how any successor will extend Mr. Greenspan's approach to monetary policy, which has been as much an...

President Bush plans to overhaul his economic team for the second time in two years and wants to tap prominent figures outside the administration to help sell rewrites of Social Security and the tax laws to Congress and the country, White House aides and advisers said over the weekend. The aides said the replacement of four of the five top economic officials -- including the Treasury and Commerce secretaries, with only budget director Joshua B. Bolten likely to remain -- is part of Bush's preparation for sending Congress an ambitious second-term domestic agenda.