UPDATE: The Senate defeated the cloture for Godwin Liu 52-43. Read the story here . By Bill Wilson — Today, the Senate will be taking a cloture vote on Goodwin Liu for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Senate Republicans would do well to make sure it fails. Else, the transformation of the Constitution from “a charter of negative liberties” […]

By Bill Wilson – Whatever Barack Obama cannot achieve legislatively, he appears Hell-bent on just doing administratively.  The latest example is mortgage cramdowns — where the government would arbitrarily reduce the principal owed on a mortgage for some underwater borrowers who now owe more on their homes […]

By Bill Wilson – Every American should be afraid when their government tells them to keep their mouths shut. This is especially true when the subject relates to a matter of national public policy. On Monday, Lafe Solomon, acting general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board […]

By Bill Wilson – It feels like we’ve been here before. The malaise-filled economic train wreck of the Carter years has risen zombie-like from the ash heap of history to inflict its special brand of pain and suffering. On May 6, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that unemployment rose from 8.8 percent to 9 percent in April . That includes a 205,000 increase […]

By Bill Wilson – This week, House Republicans will be making moves to ramp up U.S. oil production, specifically by voting to lift Barack Obama’s de facto moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.  HR 1229 and 1230 , being presented by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings. […]

By Bill Wilson – A federal judge has granted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority over the issuance of water permits in the Everglades , and giving the state of Florida until July 1 to comply with the ruling.  By then, Florida is required to show what steps it is taking to reduce phosphorous fertilizer runoff from sugar and other farms into the Everglades. Florida has promised […]

By Bill Wilson – China may be preparing to cut its foreign exchange reserves by about two-thirds, down to about $1 trillion from its current $3.04 trillion level, according to Chinese news service Xinhua . Why? China simply has too much money , according to Zhou Xiaochuan, the head of the People’s Bank of China.  “Foreign-exchange reserves have exceeded […]

By Bill Wilson – On April 18, the Heritage Foundation’s Hans A. von Spakovsky, a former Federal Election Commissioner, broke a story for Pajamas Media about a draft executive order by the White House to compel companies, their directors, and officers to disclose donations to candidates, parties, campaign committees, and non-profit groups that make independent expenditures during an election cycle. The executive order would apply to both “[a]ll […]

By Bill Wilson – Now that Iceland has told international banks and the European Union (EU) to pound sand, by refusing to bail out the UK and Netherlands who covered the losses of British and Dutch investors who lost $5.8 billion in Icesave when the bank failed in 2008 , a funny thing has happened. Or has not. The Earth did not open up, sucking the North Atlantic island nation into the deep reaches. The sky […]

By Bill Wilson – The U.S. cannot say it was not warned. For years now, sovereign credit rating agencies have repeatedly told Congress to get its torrent of deficit spending under control, or else face a downgrade of its gold-plated Triple-A credit rating. Alas, we did not […]