Doubling the National Debt
March 27, 2009 | By Nathaniel Ward
President Obama's proposed spending plans would double the national debt in just ten years, according to a Heritage Foundation analysis.
To ensure the media knows just what this means, our experts sent them this chart illustrating the debt growth:
John McCain at Heritage
Government overspending at a time of economic crisis amounts to "generational theft," Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told a full house in Heritage's Allison Auditorium on Thursday.
Ed Feulner a Fox 'Power Player'
Fox News Sunday will honor Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner as this week's "Power Player of the Week." The segment, which runs near the end of the hour-long program, airs on local Fox stations this Sunday morning and re-airs on Fox News Channel at 6:00 p.m. eastern. Please check your local listings for broadcasts in your area.
—Amanda Reinecker
Other Heritage work of note
- President Obama said today that he will send an additional 4,000 American troops to Afghanistan in order to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al Qaeda and its terrorist allies. He urged patient commitment to securing Afghanistan and called for greater cooperation from Pakistan in dealing with the tribal areas that have been a hotbed of extremism. "We should all be thankful" that those committed to defending the nation prevailed within the Obama administration, Heritage Foundation expert Lisa Curtis says. "The American people will be safer because of it."
- You know government needs to be more transparent when even a self-proclaimed socialist Senator publicly calls for more openness, Heritage President Ed Feulner argues. In what is undoubtedly a rare instance of agreement, Feulner concurs with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that transparency is "the only way we can hold policymakers and bureaucrats accountable for what they do with our money."
- Heritage researcher Brian Brown challenges the notion of government-organized public service on the grounds that such proposals would "not only fail the country [but] might even make things worse". Centralized coordination of public service, Brown argues, taints public-spiritedness and stewardship by creating an unhealthy reliance on the government.
- A pending Supreme Court case could undermine a key legal protection, Heritage legal experts Brian Walsh and Andrew Grossman warn. Federal law has increasingly disregarded whether the defendant had any idea he was breaking the law, they explain. And if this case goes the government's way, "more individuals will be prosecuted and convicted for conduct that they had no reason to believe violated any law."
- Heritage tax policy and entitlement reform expert JD Foster has had a banner week in the media. In the past ten days, RealClearPolitics.com has featured three articles from the Norman B. Ture Senior Fellow.
- When it comes to health care reform, Heritage vice president Stuart Butler advises Congress to look within. As an alternative to a government-run healthcare system, Butler proposes that Congress arrange a state-by-state system similar to the Federal Employee Health Benefits policy that members of Congress use. This program allows federal workers to enjoy real competition among private health insurance plans.
- Peter Brookes, a national security expert at The Heritage Foundation, details the consequences of a hasty shutdown of the terrorist detention facility in Guantanamo Bay. His article is the cover story on this month's issue of Townhall Magazine.
In Other News
- Congress softened its stance against hefty corporate bonuses on Thursday. A House committee has abandoned the plan to tax bonuses at bailed-out firms at a 90 percent rate—but only if the government deems the bonuses not "unreasonable or excessive." Unfortunately, this vagueness seems ripe for abuse.
- When it comes to health care reform, the President says he is open to "all serious ideas." Congressional leaders, though, are working to enact their favored big-government plan with little debate. They're pushing a government-run health care plan that would "compete" with private systems and open the door for a still broader government role in the industry.
- President Obama's executive order to close the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba left open the question of what to do with the enemy combatants held there. The Obama administration has suggested that some be released in the United States.
- There are several theories about the cause of the global financial crisis. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva offered a new one on Thursday: "white people with blue eyes."
- In the first ever White House online town-hall meeting, President Obama answered questions ranging from drug legalization to unemployment to "green jobs."
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 Monday, March 30 at 11:30 a.m., a panel of experts explores whether the upcoming G-20 summit poses threats to America's interests.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Amanda Reinecker contributed to this report.