In The News

Over the past few years, Americans have cut back on their lifestyles by far more than 1%, writes Tom Giovanetti, as quoted in Forbes. It will be hard to demagogue successfully against a 1% reduction in government spending.

The lack of spending cuts in legislation that averted the fiscal cliff will place enormous pressure on entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and even the president’s new heath insurance plan when negotiations begin in coming weeks to reduce the deficit, analysts said Wednesday.

President Obama’s claim that higher taxes are necessary for more revenue is a sham. He has refused to use two easy ways to get more money–big money.

Boehner never initiated a spending-cut PR campaign, so Republicans are hoping they will be able to get some cuts in the next round of fiscal negotiations. But it won’t happen until they learn how to make excessive government spending the issue.

During fiscal cliff talks, transparency advocacy groups including the Institute for Policy Innovation called on President Obama and congressional leaders to post bills online for 72 hours before a vote; release in real-time details on any lobbyist meetings; and disclose any "side deals" for future legislative consideration.

A Rio Rancho man faces charges of music piracy after investigators found more than 20,000 bootleg CDs in his possession. A study by the Institute for Policy Innovation indicated that music theft means more than 70,000 jobs lost in the music community and more than $2 billion in lost wages to American workers.

Trade restrictions are almost always a bad idea. In the case of natural-gas exports, they would be particularly foolish and economically disastrous.

ALEC's Communications and Technology Task Force is examining "uber trends" affecting the telecom world, big changes that won't be easy to "crystallize into model legislation," as the heavyweight organization has often done in the past, said IPI's Bartlett Cleland, Private Chair.

If Obama wants more federal revenue, he can have it without raising taxes. Just relax the restrictions on drilling on federal lands and offshore and let natural gas companies export abroad.