Saturday, March 31, 2012

EDITORIAL FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES. The housing market's nonrecovery

EDITORIAL FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES.

EDITORIAL: The housing market's non recovery

Freddie Mac issued a report Wednesday claiming the housing market may be emerging from a long slump. The government-backed mortgage giant happily cited the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo confidence index, which is up for the fifth month in a row. The home builders forecast increased home sales for the coming year, based on an expectation of higher economic growth. Unfortunately for Freddie Mac, the real data provide little reason for such optimism.

MURRAY: War on coal escalates

Faced with rising gas prices, President Obama recently outlined what he calls an "all-of-the-above" energy policy "that develops every available source of American energy - oil, gas, wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels and more." You may notice something missing there - coal, America's most abundant and affordable fuel source. The administration's "all of the above" strategy is anything but.

ZUBRIN: Obama shoots down Mars exploration

In its budget submitted to Congress Feb. 13, the Obama administration zeroed out funding for NASA's future Mars exploration missions. The Mars Science Lab Curiosity is en route to the red planet, and the nearly completed small Maven orbiter, scheduled for launch in 2013, will be sent, but that's it. No funding has been provided for the Mars probes planned as joint missions with the Europeans for 2016 and 2018, and nothing after that is funded, either. This poses a crisis for the American space program.

KNIGHT: Overplaying the hate card

If Oscars were awarded for liberal hysteria, California's Rep. Barbara Lee would be a perennial contender. On Tuesday, at a congressional forum on the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, Ms. Lee proclaimed that it was the result of "a toxic and deadly mix."

MILLER: America's high tax leadership

The United States is now, officially, the worst place to do business in the developed world. On Sunday, Japan lowered its corporate tax rate in the hopes of luring business to its shores, handing the title of highest tax rate to the Land of the Free. The market reaction on Monday will tell whether money will begin flowing away from us and toward the more business-friendly Asian country.

EDITORIAL: Obama's lotto ticket

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Thursday that President Obama wasn't going to buy a lottery ticket. That's a shame. By Friday, the multi-state Mega Millions jackpot had reached $640 million. The biggest spender in the history of the world could have had a fair shot at the world's biggest cash prize by matching the six numbers drawn.

EDITORIAL: The housing market's nonrecovery

DONATELLI: Ryan and Walker lead the way

Leadership is a word much used but in short supply in the political world today. Politicians forever talk about it but seldom seek to solve big problems by advocating real solutions and then working to find a consensus that can move the country forward. Fortunately, there are at least two public officials who hail from Wisconsin, the Badger State, one in Washington and one in Madison, who are working diligently to turn America away from the fiscal cliff toward which we are headed.

GOLDBERG: 'Conservative' interpretations of Obamacare

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg likes the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act and other ingredients of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Why, she asked toward the end of three days of hearings, shouldn't the court keep the good stuff in Obamacare and just dump the unconstitutional bits?

MURDOCK: Growth option for payroll-tax-holiday funds?

The temporary payroll-tax holiday that Americans are enjoying now looks like a full-time component of the U.S. economy. So it might as well be put to better use. Congress should let payroll-tax-cut recipients place some or all of this money in voluntary personal retirement accounts.

PATTERSON: Obama kills coal - as promised

"If someone wants to build a new coal-fired power plant they can, but it will bankrupt them because they will be charged a huge sum for all the greenhouse gas that's being emitted."

LAMBRO: No one's buying Biden's Brooklyn Bridge

Vice President Joseph R. Biden has begun attacking former Gov. Mitt Romney's credentials on the economy - the issue for which President Obama gets his worst marks in his job-disapproval polls.

NAPOLITANO: Can government force you to eat broccoli?

This week, the Supreme Court measured Obamacare to see whether it fits within the confines of the Constitution. The big picture is whether the Constitution limits the behavior of the federal government to the plain meaning and historical context of the Constitution, or whether clever lawyers and politicians can interpret language in the Constitution so as to justify whatever Congress wishes to do.

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