Israeli Economists Agree with Rand Paul: End Foreign Aid

February 7th, 2011

“The question of foreign aid is one that has pitted economists against politicians, special interest groups, and foreign policy demagogues for decades. No stranger to this controversy is Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who like his father, Texas Representative Ron Paul (both Republicans), has proposed ending U.S.foreign aid to all countries, including Israel, a decision that has earned the scorn of numerous groups on both the Left and the Right.”

“However, one critical aspect of the debate that has been neglected from public discourse on the topic — and that Sen. Paul may be unaware of — is the opposition of numerous Jewish and Israeli economists and religious Zionist groups to Israeli foreign aid. Like Sen. Paul, these figures believe that foreign aid is an affront against Israeli liberty and sovereignty, as well as a drain on the development of numerous sectors of the Israeli economy, such as the weapons and biotechnology industries.”

“Individuals including Israeli economists Ran Dagoni, Yoel Bainerman, and Alvin Rabushka, the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, as well as groups including the Jewish Task Force, the Zionist Freedom Alliance, and the Manhigut Yehudit faction of the Likud Party have long advocated for an end to U.S. foreign aid to Israel. These groups insist that Israel must develop her own economic strength and move towards more free-market economic reforms as a means of boosting national prosperity and strength.”

“Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that foreign aid may do more harm than good, and proposed efforts to wean Israel off of American military aid payments.”

Full column by Daniel Sayani from The New American @ http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/6201-israeli-economists-agree-with-rand-paul-end-foreign-aid

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“America’s bloated defense budget is ripe for cutting”

February 2nd, 2011

“A view of defense that requires reshaping the world in America’s image is a blank check for the Pentagon. If it justifies $700 billion a year—about as much as the military spending of all other nations combined—why not twice or three times that amount? There will always be another hostile regime to replace or failed state to rebuild.”

“If conservatives applied to military spending the same skepticism they bring to misbegotten or obsolete domestic programs, they would ask whether making the world safe through democracy is a viable defense strategy. They might also wonder why we have 47,000 military personnel in Japan 66 years after the end of World War II, 28,500 in South Korea 58 years after its war with the North ended, and more than 80,000 in Europe 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These affluent countries are perfectly capable of defending themselves from whatever threats they still face.”

” “The Pentagon presently spends more in constant dollars than it did at any time during the Cold War,” notes Andrew Bacevich, a professor of international relations at Boston University. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), whose proposal for reducing this year’s federal spending by $500 billion includes $48 billion in defense cuts, notes that “military expenditure has increased by nearly 120 percent” since 2001.”

Full column by Jacob Sullum from Reason.com @ http://reason.com/archives/2011/02/02/no-military-immunity

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Senator Rand Paul Serious About Cutting Spending

January 27th, 2011

“Rand Paul, the newly-elected senator from Kentucky and Congressman Ron Paul’s son, is one fresh face in Congress who’s serious about reducing the size and cost of the federal budget. Senator Paul has introduced a new bill, the unpretentiously named “Cut Federal Spending Act of 2011,” that proposes $500 billion worth of spending cuts for the federal government.”

“Naturally enough, the smirking supporters of big government have treated the bill with contempt — “wacko,” an economist from the Brookings Institute called it – but Senator Paul’s bill is certainly an early benchmark, a minimum standard for what will have to be achieved to bring America’s crisis under control.”

“This is, after all, not a debt crisis but a crisis of morbidly obese government, for which our tens of trillions in national indebtedness are merely the price that must be paid for public extravagance. And Senator Paul’s 12-page bill cuts to the chase, proposing to eliminate dozens of useless and burdensome government programs, offices, and departments and to cut many others to the bone. And all of this, as Senator Paul makes very clear, is but the beginning of what is needed.”

“The bill envisions drastically reducing spending across the board, including:

$42,542,000,000 from the Department of Agriculture
$5,322,000,000 from the Department of Commerce
$27,270,000,000 from the Department of Energy
$26,510,000,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services
$23,765,000,000 from the Department of Homeland Security
$10,934,000,000 from the Department of the Interior
$9,057,000,000 from the Department of Justice
$2,803,000,000 from the Department of Labor
$20,321,000,000 from the Department of State
$42,810,000,000 from the Department of Transportation
$3,238,000,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency

Full report by Charles Scaliger of The New American @ http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/6062-senator-rand-paul-serious-about-cutting-spending

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New Republicans, Same Old Militarism

January 24th, 2011

“As the 112th Congress gets under way, a key question remains about where tea-party influence will push the Republican caucus on foreign policy — toward a more restrained stance on overseas commitments and Pentagon spending, or in the familiar trajectory of fiscally calamitous military adventures.”

“Since the tea party took off last year, pundits have predicted that its anti-spending zealots would eventually target the Pentagon. Neoconservatives are clearly nervous about that prospect. Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham have lamented the rise of an “isolationist” wing of their party, and a slew of Wall Street Journal and National Review op-eds have warned tea partyers away from defense spending. Meanwhile, antiwar pundits have heralded every dovish murmur from the right.”

“But the evidence that the new Republicans will challenge defense spending is slight.”

Full analysis by Benjamin Friedman of The Cato Institute @ http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12727

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Military Spending: The New Third Rail

January 21st, 2011

Social Security has long been the “Third Rail” of American politics. Even conservatives seeking a cut in government spending have had to be careful when talking about Social Security, because of the organized power of the recipients of this government program.

Now as Republicans look for ways to cut spending and rein in trillion dollar deficits, they have tried to exclude military spending from the targets of budget cutters. Bob Adelman at The New American looks at “The Spending Reduction Act of 2011″ which proposes trillions in reduced spending over ten years, without cuts in military spending http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/5991-military-spending-the-new-third-rail

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‘Communist Monopoly’ Teaches Downside of Socialist Life

January 20th, 2011

Der Spiegel reports:

“A Polish research institute has developed a board game to teach young people about life under Communism. In the game, which is inspired by Monopoly, players must wait in endless lines at stores for scarce goods. For added realism, they have to put up with people cutting in line and products running out — unless they have a “colleague in the government” card.”

“There are no glamorous avenues for sale, nor can players erect hotels, charge rent or make pots of money. In fact, a new Polish board game inspired by the classic Monopoly is all about communism rather than capitalism.”

“The goal of the game, which will officially be launched on Feb. 5, is to show how hard and frustrating it was for an average person to simply do their shopping under the Communist regime in Poland. The game has been developed by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), a Warsaw-based research institute that commemorates the suffering of the Polish people during the Nazi and Communist eras.”

Full story by Jill Petzinger from Der Spiegel weekly @ http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,740587,00.html

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DHS Laptop Seizures Harass Travelers

January 18th, 2011

“Laptop seizures are a growing menace in America today and it’s not about your computer software having a stroke. It’s about the Department of Homeland Security, without warrant or even “reasonable suspicion,” (aka “probable cause”) seizing computers, cell phones, Blackberries and other electronic properties from Americans returning to their “homeland.” ”

“Glenn Greenwald reports in his Salon.com column that a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union has revealed that in an 18-month period beginning in October, 2008, DHS subjected more than 6,000 people, half of them American citizens, to electronic searches when entering the country. The agents go through the data, copying it as they see fit and storing it for possible distribution to other agencies throughout the government. The unhappy traveler may not get his equipment back for months or, in some cases, never gets it back at all.”

” “Worse, all of this is done not only without a warrant, probable cause or any oversight, but even without reasonable suspicion that the person is involved in any crime.” Greenwald wrote. ”

Full column by Jack Kenny of The New American @ http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/constitution/5944-dhs-laptop-seizures-harass-travelers

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Hu’s Visit Clouded by Lingering Oppression

January 18th, 2011

“When Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington this week, he can expect a gracious welcome and a state dinner that he was denied on his first visit in 2006. But he can also expect tough discussions on trade, foreign exchange, national security and, hopefully, human rights.”

“As head of the Chinese Communist Party, Hu has paid lip service to “putting the people first,” but there has been little progress in liberalizing the political regime. The reality is that President Hu’s idea of a “harmonious society” is one directed by the ruling elite, in which order emerges from the top-down, not spontaneously under a constitution of liberty.”

“China can be proud of the rapid economic progress it has made since 1978, when it was still a centrally planned economy with little foreign trade. Today, as the world’s second largest economy, the People’s Republic has gained wealth but not freedom. The Chinese people have a vastly wider range of economic and social opportunities than under the dictatorship of Mao Zedong, but their basic human rights continue to be denied by a Communist Party determined to maintain its monopoly on power.”

Full commentary by James Dorn of The Cato Institute @ http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12709

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National School Choice Week

January 12th, 2011

“Our message is simple: we need a K-12 education system that provides a wide array of options. We need an effective education system that has the flexibility to personalize and motivate students and allow parents to choose the school that is best for their child.”

“National School Choice Week was created to provide a concentrated focus on this mission – a time for the media and the public to hear our resounding message and a time to bring new voices into the chorus. There is no one organization behind this effort; those working on setting it up come from a variety of school reform organizations. We may each have a specialty: charter school growth and success, universal vouchers and tuition tax credits, corralling out-of-control spending, or union accountability, but each is equally important and all should plan to be a part of this special week.”

More information on School Choice @ http://schoolchoiceweek.com/

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Can We Trust the GOP?

January 12th, 2011

“After two years of absolute Democratic power, many voters hope that the Republicans will restore fiscal sanity to Washington. But a look at the GOP’s track record and campaign promises should give us pause.”

“Historically, Republicans have often been worse spenders than Democrats. Since 1962, they controlled the White House during six of the 10 largest annual percentage increases in real discretionary outlays (see Figure 1). Discretionary spending is the part of the budget that is appropriated every year, as opposed to mandatory spending, which is on autopilot and can only be changed by altering the law behind the programs. For three of the 10 years with the biggest increases in discretionary spending, Republicans controlled Congress as well as the White House.”

“Figure 2 shows, in inflation-adjusted figures, how much each modern full-term president added to his predecessor’s final budget (or to his own, if he was re-elected). By this measurement, Republican George W. Bush outspent everyone”

Full analysis with graphs & tables by Veronique de Rugy @ http://reason.com/archives/2011/01/12/can-we-trust-the-gop

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