Economy
Global Tax on Air Travel Proposed
Written by Alex Newman
At a United Nations climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, world leaders proposed a levy on long-haul air travel as a way to raise money to supposedly help less developed countries adapt to alleged anthropogenic (human-caused) “climate change.” If the proposal were to become reality, the United Nations would be able to supplement “contributions” from member nations with its own international tax, something world-government promoters have dreamed about for decades.
Last week’s Chrysler-Fiat alliance cements a total federal commitment of $33.48 billion in federal loans and aid to the Chrysler Corporation, its suppliers, and Chrysler Financial. The billions were committed through last year’s TARP legislation and Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus bill passed in February of this year.
President Barack Obama’s director of the National Economic Council, Larry Summers, spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations on June 12. At the time of this writing, a video and a transcript were both available at the CFR website. The stated purpose was to present his “Reflections on Economic Policy in Time of Crisis,” but the theme seemed to be saving the free market from having too much freedom. He even credited socialist economist John Maynard Keynes with the “great insight” that the free market will supposedly fail to achieve a natural balance between supply and demand “two or three times a century, perhaps a little more.” Obama's Energy Plan
Written by Ed Hiserodt
Many factors have enabled the United States to become the wealthiest nation on Earth: limited government, secure property rights, a free-market capitalist economic system, a relatively stable currency, and an abundance of available energy. One might note that all of these elements are increasingly under attack from politicians, but a successful assault on the access we have to the energy that powers our economy would devastate our country — even if we did everything else right.
GM's Bankruptcy
Written by Charles Scaliger
Monday, June 1, was the end of an era for the American automotive industry. As nearly everyone not living in the jungles of Borneo knows by now, once-mighty General Motors, the flagship corporation of American automobile manufacturing and one of the most potent symbols worldwide of American industrial might, slid into Chapter 11 bankruptcy after the Great Recession dealt the long-foundering giant the coup de grace. In what is being billed as the fourth-largest bankruptcy in American history and the largest ever for an industrial manufacturer, GM claims $82.29 billion in assets against almost $173 billion in debt — this, be it duly noted, after billions in federal government bailout monies have been shoveled GM’s way.
