Updated daily, InsiderOnline (insideronline.org) is a compilation of publication abstracts, how-to essays, events, news, and analysis from around the conservative movement. The current edition of The INSIDER quarterly magazine is also on the site.
January 25, 2013
Latest Studies: 34 new items, including an e-21 assessment of Jack Lew’s views on fiscal policy, and an American Action Forum review of the year in regulation
Notes on the Week: Inaugural address shows Obama’s radicalism, Clinton takes responsibility says Clinton, Obama’s recess appointments invalid says court, and more
To Do: Celebrate school choice.
Budget & Taxation
• 16 Tons of Keynesian Economics – American Enterprise Institute
• Jack Lew Complicates Resolution of Fiscal Imbalance, Financial Regulatory Reform – e-21: Economic Policies for the 21st Century
• The Next Four Years of Fiscal Conservatism: What Must Be Done to Sustain the Nation – e-21: Economic Policies for the 21st Century
• Airing Out the Smoke-filled Rooms: Bringing Transparency to Public Union Collective Bargaining – Goldwater Institute
• Overview of Local Retirement Systems Under State Governance – Texas Public Policy Foundation
Crime, Justice & the Law
• Tort Reform Update: Recently Enacted Legislative Reforms and State Court Challenges – Federalist Society
Economic Growth
• The “Poor” Are Getting Richer – Fraser Institute
• What’s in Store for Canada Under Obama’s Second Term as President – Fraser Institute
Education
• Solving America’s Math Problem – Education Next
• The Common Core: A Poor Choice for States – Heartland Institute
• The Past and Present of Customized Learning in Maine – Maine Heritage Policy Center
Foreign Policy/International Affairs
• Hagel, Kerry, and Brennan Senate Confirmation Hearings: U.S. Policy on Sub-Saharan Africa – The Heritage Foundation
• Kerry, Hagel, and Brennan Senate Confirmation Hearings: U.S. Policy on Asia – The Heritage Foundation
• Senate Confirmation Hearings for Hagel and Kerry Views on Russia – The Heritage Foundation
• The Hagel, Kerry, and Brennan Senate Confirmation Hearings: U.S. Policy for the Western Hemisphere – The Heritage Foundation
Health Care
• Options for Georgia Going Forward under the PPACA – Georgia Public Policy Foundation
• Hold the Line: Protecting the States from Obamacare – Texas Public Policy Foundation
Immigration
• Amnesty and the U.S. Labor Market – Center for Immigration Studies
• Before Considering Another Amnesty, Look at IRCA's Lessons – Center for Immigration Studies
• Migration Enforcement Agency Discourages Funds for Its Own Work – Center for Immigration Studies
• Upholding the Value of Our Citizenship – Center for Immigration Studies
International Trade/Finance
• Chinese Growth, GDP, and Other Things the U.S. Should Doubt – The Heritage Foundation
Labor
• Safeguarding Employees’ First Amendment Rights through Paycheck Protection – James Madison Institute
Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
• What’s Next? Energy and the Environment in President Obama’s Second Term – Capital Research Center
• A Legal Overview of Utah’s H.B. 148—The Transfer of Public Lands Act – Federalist Society
• How to Keep Promises to Expand Energy Production and Create American Jobs – The Heritage Foundation
• The Looming Rate Bomb: The 33 Percent Renewable Electricity Mandate and Electricity Prices in California – Pacific Research Institute
• It’s Time to End Texas’ Licensing of Geoscientists – Texas Public Policy Foundation
• PennFuture v. Ultra Resources: Collateral Attacks On State Permitting – Washington Legal Foundation
Regulation & Deregulation
• Piling On: The Year in Regulation – American Action Forum
• Protecting Innovation The Role of Attorneys General in Antitrust Enforcement – Texas Public Policy Foundation
Transportation/Infrastructure
• Infrastructure Investment: A State, Local, and Private Responsibility – Cato Institute
• Enterprising Roads: Improving the Governance of America’s Highways – Reason Foundation
• Gasoline Taxes and Tolls Pay for Only a Third of State & Local Road Spending – Tax Foundation
Ten things worth reading this week: (Note to readers: A short and hectic week left us little time to produce the usual rundown. Instead, we offer below a survey of the most interesting things we read this week. Hope you enjoy the links.)
• In his second inaugural address on Monday, President Obama showed his understanding of constitutional government to be very different view from that of the Founders. “Obama wants to reframe the Founding away from its emphasis on the unalienable rights we hold over government to an emphasis on government as the collective expression (and regulator) of everything we do, and the central expression (in the form of President Obama) of the call of history. And today, that call he hears is for government to redefine marriage and heal the planet.” [“Obama’s Radicalism Revealed,” by Matthew Spalding, The Foundry, January 23]
• President Obama’s January 2012 recess appointments of three individuals to the National Labor Relations Board are invalid, according to The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Court. In a case involving a dispute between a canning company and its union, the Court ruled that the NLRB had no authority to issue an enforcement order in February 2012 because it lacked a quorum. The Court rejected the administration’s theory that recess appointment can be made during normal breaks within a Senate session. The Court further ruled that recess appointments can be made only for vacancies that occur during a recess of the Senate. In other words, the President cannot wait for a recess to make an appointment in order to avoid the need for Senate approval. [Canning v. NLRB, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Court, January 25]
• Thanks to their state’s renewable energy standards, Californians will end up paying about 13 percent more for their electricity in 2020. That’s on top of an expected increase of nearly 20 percent that will happen because of other new regulations on the energy sector, including a cap-and-trade program. All part of California’s one-state war on global warming. [“The Looming Rate Bomb: The 33 Percent Renewable Electricity Mandate and Electric Prices in California,” by Benjmain Zycher, Pacific Research Institute, January 2013]
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton takes responsibility for security at American embassies, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress on Wednesday. In her testimony on what went wrong in Benghazi, Libya, on 9/11/2012, she also asked (seemingly rhetorically): “What difference, at this point, does it make” whether the deaths of four Americans were caused by terrorism or a protest that got out of hand? She further said she couldn’t have been aware of the embassy’s own warnings about its deteriorating security, explaining: “1.43 million cables come to my office. They're all addressed to me.” But, she takes responsibility! [“Clinton on Benghazi: Protest, Terrorist Attack—What Difference Does It Make?” by Helle Dale, The Foundry, January 24; and “Clinton Takes One for Her Team,” by Morgan Lorraine Roach, The Foundry, January 24]
• As both Congress and the Obama administration contemplate new federal money for infrastructure, they might notice what the rest of the world seems to have noticed: Private funding for infrastructure works better than public funding. [“Infrastructure Investment: A State, Local, and Private Responsibility,” by Chris Edwards, Cato Institute, January 2013]
• It’s still early days for think tank evaluation, much like stock exchanges were before anyone calculated a price/earnings ratio. But James McGann’s think tank rankings (www.gothinktank.com) have taken a significant step toward answering the question: Which think tanks are most effective? [“Thinking about Think Tanks: Which Ones Are the Best?” by Alejandro Chafuen, Forbes, January 23]
• Despite President Obama’s pro-labor policies, unions have lost more members during Obama’s four years in office so far than they did during President Bush’s eight. [“Why the Unions Are Shrinking,” by Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Washington Examiner, January 22]
• “Technically, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research Business Cycle Dating Committee, the most recent recession ended in June 2009. In theory, the rationale for deficit spending ended on that date as well. Of course, economic conditions today are not very satisfactory. But if it is necessary to run deficits whenever conditions are ‘not very satisfactory,’ when will we not run deficits?” [“16 Tons of Keynesian Economics,” by Arnold Kling, The American, January 22]
• Average hourly wages adjusted for inflation might be liberals’ favorite statistic; but if you understand what it’s really measuring, then you understand that it doesn’t tell the story of middle class stagnation that liberals think it does. But if you believe that tale, then you should tweet it on your iPad or your iPhone, whichever you have handy. [“The Myth of a Stagnant Middle Class,” by Donald Boudreaux and Mark Perry, Wall Street Journal, January 23]
• Part time professors, like part time workers at Taco Bell, are feeling the pinch of ObamaCare mandates, too. Some schools are trying to make sure their part-time teachers do not work more than 30 hours per week, so that they can avoid ObamaCare’s mandate to provide them with health insurance. [“Confused Professors Shocked Schools Are Cutting Their Hours to Avoid Obamacare Penalties,” by Marc Thiessen, AEIdeas, January 23]
• Celebrate school choice. Next week is National School Choice Week. Hundreds of organizations across the country are holding events to highlight the value of giving families educational options and introducing competition into education.
• If you can’t attend the National Review Institute Summit this weekend, follow the action by checking the Twitter hashtag #NRIsummit. Some of the programs: Does the Constitution Have a Future, Solutions from the States, Do Demographics Doom the Right, and What Is a Conservative Foreign Policy? Heritage President-elect Jim DeMint will give a talk at the Saturday dinner.
• Hear John Mackey, Whole Foods co-founder and author of Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business, talk about his vision of free market capitalism as a path of ethical transformation. Mackey will speak at the Cato Institute on February 4, at 5 p.m.
• Assess the accuracy of the movie Zero Dark Thirty. On January 29, at 10 a.m., the American Enterprise Institute will host a panel discussion featuring three CIA veterans who were involved in the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
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