Some American conservatives are finally getting serious about wooing “Sam’s Club” voters. Republican senator Mike Lee has unveiled a new tax plan that would offer a $2,500 per child tax credit to all parents with dependent children. Lee’s speech introducing the idea was refreshing not only because of its meatiness and substance, but also because it distanced itself […]

Executives at the Indiana-based biofuels producer E-Biofuels have enjoyed lavish lifestyles over the past five years, driving Ferraris, buying Picassos and wearing diamonds. These luxuries weren’t the result of hard work and honest profits, but fraud. Now investors and taxpayers alike are out more than $100 million in what federal prosecutors are calling the largest […]

One of the biggest pieces of recent health care news is the slowdown of US spending. We’ve noted that among the biggest factors contributing to this is the rise of high deductible plans, but those plans also have a dark side. The WSJ looks at the high out-of-pocket costs these plans can force on consumers:  At businesses […]

The WaPo reports that the al-Qaeda linked group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant emerged victorious yesterday from a firefight with a “more moderate” rebel group, the Northern Storm Brigade (part of the Free Syran Army). The al-Qaeda group has come into control of the northern border town of Azaz, which the FSA seized […]

Germany’s green revolution—its energiewende—has been sputtering for some time, but the chorus of media voices decrying the ill-thought-out green policy is getting deafening. Der Spiegel lashed out at length at the renewable energy plan earlier this month, and last week the FT added its two cents on the ugly effects of propping up expensive renewables. By guaranteeing solar […]

The Obama administration is alienating the Saudis with its Syria and Iran policies, perhaps to unprecedented levels.The Saudis are good at what they do and are not sentimentalists. In Egypt, Saudi support for the generals led to an embarrassing flop of the Obama administration’s pro-Morsi policies. In Syria and Iran, the Obama administration again finds […]

China knows it has a pollution problem. Its rivers are drying up; much of what remains is heavily polluted and occasionally plays host to dead animal flotillas. Its megacities huddle under clouds of deadly smog.What Beijing is less clear on is what to do about it. It is throwing money at the problem, but that […]

If you’ve ever followed the news about big construction projects (like a high-speed rail line, to pick a random example), you know that cost overruns and delays are par for the course. We can almost guarantee you’ve never seen overruns like these: an oil project in the north Caspian Sea produced its first barrel of oil […]

Resource-rich African countries are pushing back to a greater extent than ever before against the Chinese companies and workers extracting those resources. From Gabon to Chad to Niger, China is heavily engaged in mining African minerals and raw materials. Sketchy African regimes appreciate China’s hands-off approach and lack of concern about local politics. But just […]

The Republican base may be single-mindedly focused on repealing Obamacare, but it looks like the party leadership is finally be coming around to the “replace” part of their agenda. WaPo reports that the Republican Study Committee has produced a concrete proposal for an ACA alternative and will push for a House vote on the measure. More: Under the […]