A December 18th USA Today headline read: “House narrowly OKs year-end, $100B jobs bill.” But then reading Associated Press report we learn:

According to documents released by Democrats, the measure would cost $154 billion. But there’s also another $20 billion from the federal treasury to keep the highway trust fund afloat.

Similarly, under the headline: “U.S. House Approves $154 Billion Jobs Bill, Debt Limit Increase”, Bloomberg reports:

The U.S. House approved a $154 billion economic-aid package and a $290 billion increase in the legal limit on government borrowing as the chamber wrapped up its legislative business for the year.

So where did … Continue Reading

Reporting on a new study from Tufts University on the deleterious effects of US farm subsidies on Mexican farming, New York Times reporter Elisabeth Malkin wrote on December 15th:

When American companies cannot compete against imports that they believe are being “dumped” at below-market prices, they are quick to demand remedies from Washington, usually in the form of punitive tariffs. These days, the alleged culprit is often China.

But try looking at things from south of the border and the picture shifts. There, the culprit is just as likely to be the United States, particularly when it comes to agriculture.

While Malkin’s … Continue Reading

Reporting on health care in the December 15th Sacramento Bee Bobby Caina Calvan writes:

But the vast majority of small businesses would benefit from the proposals, according to health advocates.

Most small businesses would be exempt from new payroll taxes and other potential penalties levied against larger firms that choose not to offer health coverage to their employees. At the same time, these small businesses could benefit from subsidies and the new exchange by allowing their uninsured workers to buy insurance from the exchange.

But as Heritage scholar John Ligon details, the subsidies and credits in the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s … Continue Reading

Covering the Medicare ‘buy in’ addition to Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) health care bill in December 14ths USA Today, Richard Wolf reports:

Still, Medicare has lower administrative costs than most private plans and pays less to doctors and hospitals.

This is technically true, but only if you look at Medicare v. private plan spending on a total spending basis. Heritage fellow Robert Book explains why this is a terrible metric:

Imagine, for a moment, that Fred and Jane each have a credit card from a different bank. Fred charges $5,000 a month, and Jane charges $1,000 a month. Suppose it

… Continue Reading

Andrew Revkin and Tom Zeller filed a story for the December 9th New York Times on the Copenhagen Climate Conference reporting:

Asked about arguments by diplomats and some protesters that the United States should provide hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to developing nations as reparations, Mr. [Todd] Stern, the special envoy for climate change, bluntly fired back at a news conference. ‘I actually completely reject the notion of a debt or reparations or anything of the like,’ he said. ‘For most of the 200 years since the Industrial Revolution, people were blissfully ignorant of the fact that emissions

… Continue Reading

A November 29th Associated Press article reports that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has pressured the NBA to drop Adidas as the league’s official uniform supplier because the German company plans to move production of NBA gameday jerseys from upstate New York to Thailand:

Schumer planned to publicly urge the leadership of the NBA on Sunday to intervene and stop Adidas from moving production of the league’s official uniforms to Thailand, or pull out of its contract with the sports apparel giant.

Schumer said not only is “an all-American product” at stake, but also about 100 jobs at American Classic Outfitters’ factory

… Continue Reading

A December 8th Associated Press item by David Espo reports:

At its core, the legislation would expand health care to millions who lack it, ban insurance companies from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions and rein in the rise of health care spending nationally.

The first two items are fine, but the last assertion on cost control is just plain false. Much of the media bought Democrats spin that the recent Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Senate bill showed that proposed health care changes are somehow fiscally responsible. Yet what the CBO actually reported was … Continue Reading

On December 4th, the BBC ran a story titled “Colleague defends ClimateGate professor” with a side-bar headed “CLIMATEGATE TIMELINE” reading:

19 Nov - Rumours appear on blogs that a hacker had obtained emails from CRU computers
20 Nov - UEA confirms emails and documents from CRU had appeared illegally on the internet”.

For brief, relevant background to the BBC’s role in the affair, note that their own Paul Hudson, who addresses “climate” issues, has acknowledged having had the material as of October 12, 2009, but sat on it. On that day the writer who admits to having received the information posted an … Continue Reading

The November 27th Washington Post had a front page headline under a Juliet Eilperin article reading: “China sets target for emission cuts. Premier to go to Copenhagen. Moves could signal progress in climate talks.”

The theme of the story is a looming, possible and very significant policy development, in which the United States would commit to binding, steep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions produced by combusting traditional energy sources (hydrocarbons or “fossil fuels”). This is a policy goal in favor of which the Post has aggressively editorialized. Other than massive expansion of nuclear power, there is no known way to … Continue Reading

On November 30th, the Washington Post’s Mary Beth Sheridan reported on voter turnout in Sunday’s Honduran presidential election:

Turnout was 47.6 percent, several points less than the total in the last presidential election in 2005, according to projections released by the country’s electoral tribunal.

On December 1st, the Washington Post’s Mary Beth Sheridan reported:

The exact turnout in Sunday’s vote was still not known, with the country’s electoral tribunal saying official figures may not be available for weeks. The tribunal said that, based on projections from about half the ballot boxes, 62 percent of eligible voters participated. However, an independent Honduran

… Continue Reading