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Watch Vice President Cheney at Heritage Wednesday

Vice President Dick Cheney will speak at The Heritage Foundation on Wednesday about the war on terror.

» Watch his remarks online at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday

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Throwing money at the problem

Washington liberals—and unfortunately some self-described conservatives as well—have settled on a misguided “solution” to the prospect of an economic downturn. They want to throw money at the problem, even though giveaways have time and again proved unhelpful or even counterproductive.

Take our poll: Which is the best way to help the economy recover from an expected downturn?

History demonstrates that it is tax rate cuts that stimulate the economy, according to Heritage research. Giving away money to taxpayers and expanding unemployment insurance, as lawmakers are proposing, will not stimulate the economy out of a possible recession.

Exploring the results of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts in a new analysis, Heritage economist Brian Riedl found that the 2003 tax rate cuts worked far better than the 2001 “rebates” to spark growth in the private sector.

Likewise, point out Heritage’s James Sherk and Patrick Tyrrell, liberal proposals to extend unemployment insurance from 26 weeks to 39 weeks are unlikely to stimulate growth, while they would provide disincentives to employment and generate relatively little new consumption.

“To stimulate the economy and create jobs, Congress should increase the incentives for businesses to invest,” Sherk and Tyrrell argue.

Good news on the Second Amendment

Laws on the books in Washington, D.C. have for decades effectively banned the possession of handguns and severely curbed the ownership of long guns. In striking down these unconstitutional rules, a federal court found that not even a law-abiding citizen may own a weapon “that could be readily accessible to be used effectively when necessary for self-defense in the home.”

The Solicitor General, the government’s top litigator, recently filed a brief in this case, which is now before the Supreme Court. “For constitutionalists and gun-rights advocates, the Solicitor General’s brief is a big victory,” explain Heritage legal experts Todd Gaziano and Andrew Grossman. “It got the big question, the one that matters, right: Americans do have a right to keep and bear arms.”

But while they remain optimistic about the outcome of the case, Gaziano and Grossman warn that “the government, no matter what political party controls it, faces very strong incentives to protect its own power.”

When the case was before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, Heritage legal scholars helped the winning side prepare its arguments. For example, Heritage hosted an important “moot court,” or practice oral argument session, and other preparatory sessions to brief the primary advocates on strategy and Constitutional arguments.

—Chris Albright

In other news

Six men charged in a plot to blow up Chicago’s Sears Tower face a new trial after the first trial ended in a mistrial.
The Washington Post outlines how federal bureaucrats are regulating what sorts of electrical appliances we have in our homes—another case of the government picking winners and losers. For example, the latest energy bill will effectively ban the incandescent light bulbs that most of us use in our homes. Washington apparently believes that compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) are better for us, though sales figures suggest consumers disagree: the Department of Energy admits that just 20 percent of bulbs sold last year were CFLs.
In 2005, the abortion rate fell to its lowest level since 1974, according to a survey by an advocacy group.
President Bush has nominated the current commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, Gen. David McKiernan, to lead the international forces in Afghanistan.
The State Department has signaled its support for Georgia’s inclusion in NATO.
Even though nuclear energy promises a cheap and clean energy solution, Europe’s international bureaucrats are suggesting that concerns about waste disposal may slow a nuclear industry revival.
A new study finds that companies undergoing mandatory politically-correct “diversity training” programs often saw decreases in the number of women and racial minorities in management. The data, report the Washington Post, “showed that mandatory programs — often undertaken mainly with an eye to avoiding liability in discrimination lawsuits — were the problem.”

Coming up at Heritage

To attend these or any other events at Heritage please RSVP at Heritage’s website. Or you can view these events live online. All times are Eastern.

On Thursday, Jan. 24 at 11:00 a.m., Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) will outline a principled immigration reform policy.
On Friday, Jan. 25 at 11:00 a.m., Zimbabwe’s shadow justice minister, David Coltart, discusses prospects for economic recovery and political reform in Zimbabwe.

Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Chris Albright contributed to this report.