Press Briefing

Sep 23, 2010

Excerpts of President Obama's Remarks to the United Nations General Assembly
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/22/excerpts-president-obamas-remarks-united-nations-general-assembly

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/147594.htm

Don't Be Afraid of Frankenfish - Genetically engineered salmon will meet growing demand for protein-rich food without depleting wild fish stocks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704129204575506270723050064.html

Sec Clinton Remarks at UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Millennium Development Goals' Maternal and Child Health Event
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/09/147592.htm

Shakedown in the Rain Forest - The attempt to loot Chevron for $27 billion is falling apart
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703625304575115831733424838.html

Sec Clinton Remarks at "Inclusive Finance: A Path to the MDGs" Luncheon
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/09/147595.htm

Too Little Inflation? - Central bankers who say they want higher prices usually get them
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703860104575507971718234914.html

Breakfast With Ahmadinejad
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703860104575507961881959510.html

How Seniors Will Pay for ObamaCare - In many areas, Medicare Advantage enrollees will lose about one-third of their health insurance benefits. The cuts will finance new subsidies for younger people.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704129204575505804034634066.html

Obama Administration September Housing Scorecard Shows Continued Advances in Housing Market
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg869.htm

Industry Views: IER Testimony for the Hearing on the Global Clean Energy Race
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/09/22/ier-testimony-on-the-hearing-on-the-global-clean-energy-race/

Briefing on the P-5+1 Ministerial Meeting by a Senior Administration Official Via Teleconference
http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/rm/147563.htm

How to Level the Capital Playing Field - The best way to deal with China's exchange-rate policy may be to borrow a page from its monetary playbook
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703860104575507253727570456.html

Treasury Sec Tim Geithner Written Testimony House Financial Services Committee - Basel III
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg867.htm

Red Tape Rises Again: Cost of Regulation Reaches $1.75 Trillion
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/22/red-tape-rises-again-cost-of-regulation-reaches-1-75-trillion

Press Briefing

Sep 22, 2010

Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves: The United States Commitment By the Numbers
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/147494.htm

A Teacher Quality Manifesto - What happens to bright teachers stuck in schools that don't have the right to hire by performance and build a culture of excellence? They quit.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440604575496281030445268.html

Transforming Distressed Neighborhoods into Neighborhoods of Opportunity
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/21/transforming-distressed-neighborhoods-neighborhoods-opportunity

The Carter-Obama Comparisons Grow - Walter Mondale himself sees a parallel
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704129204575505822147816104.html

White House: Building a New Foundation
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/21/building-a-new-foundation

Questions for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Do democracy, freedom and human rights have a place in Islamic theology? Is Iran holding two American hikers hostage?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989304575504061960018840.html

Why They Go Green - A green breakfast to thank Harry Reid
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704129204575505982913143218.html

Republicans in Congress Push to End Consumer Protections, Let Wall Street Run Loose
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/21/republicans-congress-push-end-consumer-protections-let-wall-street-run-loose

The Real Gulf Disaster - The well is plugged. The moratorium drags on.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989304575504201916757646.html

State Dept.'s Multilateral Newsletter: Volume 2 - September 17, 2010
http://www.state.gov/p/io/147464.htm

Obama, Warren and The Imperial Presidency - The Senate should vote on all senior appointments within 60 days. But the president should give it a chance to vote
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989304575503661726493580.html

Infrastructure Investment in the Long-Term & The Case for a National Infrastructure Bank. By Assistant Secretary Krueger. Testimony Before Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg863.htm

Massive Medicare Advantage Cuts
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/17/massive-medicare-advantage-cuts

Implementing the National Space Policy: Opportunities and Challenges
http://www.state.gov/t/vci/rls/147461.htm

More Proof We Can't Stop Poverty By Making It More Comfortable
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12149

Press Briefing

Sep 21, 2010

The Pentagon Is Serious About Saving Money - Last year we awarded $55 billion in 'competitive' contracts for which only one bid was received
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703904304575497754176193396.html

Cap Gains Taxation: Less Means More - A new study suggests a zero cap gains rate could create millions of jobs at a fraction of the cost of the spending stimulus
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703556604575501892210065882.html

Fighting Fraud and the Consequences of Defunding the Affordable Care Act
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/20/fighting-fraud-and-consequences-defunding-affordable-care-act

A Tale of Two Recoveries - The state of the economy after a year of 'rebound'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989304575504053230524906.html

President Obama's Town Hall on the Economy, Business and the Middle Class
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/20/president-obamas-town-hall-economy-business-and-middle-class

The Recession and the Housing Drag - The more the government tries to prevent prices from finding an equilibrium, the longer it will take for the economy to begin growing again
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989304575503752698078816.html

Public-Private Partnership Brings Clean Drinking Water to Flood Victims
http://blogs.state.gov/ap/index.php/site/entry/partnership_clean_water_pakistan

Republicans should be grateful tea partiers did not run as third-party candidates and split the antistatist vote
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989304575503921088554324.html

Under Secretary Levey Remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg862.htm

Don’t Wish Upon an Energy Star to Save the Environment
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/09/20/don%e2%80%99t-wish-upon-an-energy-star-to-save-the-environment/

U.S.-Colombia Action Plan on Racial and Ethnic Equality
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/scp/fs/2010/147375.htm

Conservatives: The Economic Toll of the Federal President's Tax Hikes
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/20/morning-bell-the-economic-toll-of-the-obama-tax-hikes

Press Briefing

Sep 20, 2010

Federal President Castigates GOP Leadership for Blocking Fixes for the Citizens United Decision
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/18/weekly-address-president-obama-castigates-gop-leadership-blocking-fixes-

Barbara Boxer (D., Armenia) - The Democrat trashes an Obama nominee
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703743504575493683813895358.html

In "My Nigeria," Peter Cunliffe-Jones traces Nigeria's history since independence and tries to measure the legacy of British rule
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703376504575492382253507788.html

Stimulus for Clunkers - A new study charts an economic failure
WSJ, Sep 20, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703904304575497903033602826.html

By now, the only defense Democrats can mount of the Obama stimulus programs is that the economy would have been worse without them. There's no way to disprove this counterfactual, but now we have some empirical evidence other than 9.6% unemployment and 1.6% growth.

To wit, economists Atif Mian of the University of California Berkeley and Amir Sufi of the University of Chicago have examined "cash for clunkers," the $2.85 billion program that subsidized consumers to buy new cars and destroy older ones. Their conclusion: The program "had no long run effect on auto purchases." It did juice sales during its two-month run last summer, by about 360,000 cars, but then it quickly hurt sales by about the same amount, in effect stealing purchases from the future. The program was a wash in a mere seven months.

White House economists might dismiss that finding because their larger goal with cash for clunkers was to stimulate "aggregate demand" in the overall economy. Earlier this year, Christina Romer, the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, wrote that cash for clunkers was an example of "very nearly the best possible countercylical fiscal policy in an economy suffering from temporarily low aggregate demand." The program wasn't sold as a discount for cars people were already planning to buy, but rather to encourage knock-on economic activity such as more consumer spending and job creation.

It's impossible to test what would have happened without cash for clunkers because there's no control group. But Messrs. Mian and Sufi do the next best thing by looking at how clunkers were distributed around the country. Comparing high-clunker areas to low-clunker areas—and thus the areas that were more "stimulated"—allowed them to measure relative economic outcomes.

Lo, Messrs. Mian and Sufi found in their paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research that there was "no noticeable difference" in economic outcomes among the 957 metropolitan areas they studied. They did detect an economic blip in cities where the auto industry is concentrated but note that the rebound can't be disentangled from the Chrysler and GM bailouts.

Messrs. Mian and Sufi caution that their findings "do not warrant the claim that all forms of fiscal stimulus fail to boost long-run economic output" (their emphasis). But if this is the result from the "best possible" stimulus program—per Ms. Romer—the impact of the others must have been awful.


White House Blog - No Excuse for Holding Middle Class Tax Cuts Hostage
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/20/no-excuse-holding-middle-class-tax-cuts-hostage

New START treaty's China challenge
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/new_start_treaty_china_challenge_5niHZQbbup6tknXsyjN2II

Hiring More Veterans to Keep Serving America
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/18/hiring-more-veterans-keep-serving-america

The Christie Example - New Jersey government workers should have 401(k) plans instead of pensions
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703904304575497841167571272.html

U.S. Goals and Priorities at UN General Assembly
http://www.state.gov/p/io/rm/2010/147294.htm

'There Is No More Molly' - NYC Mosque it's the only time Barack Obama has ever stood up for anybody's First Amendment rights
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703904304575497912316992160.html

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/147326.htm

Let Them Eat Tax Hikes - Thirty-one House Democrats signed a letter urging Ms. Pelosi to bring a bill to extend all the tax rate reductions, not just the middle-class cuts
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703904304575497894157033342.html

Japan: Lost in Translation? - Why the world's third largest economy has dropped out of the global conversation
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440604575495953989678326.html

The 1099 Stonewall - Harry Reid keeps his majority together - Small business requirements
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703904304575498071550034964.html

How the Surge Was Won - America's longest-serving general in Iraq says that when they realized the U.S. presence in their communities was permanent, allies came 'out of the woodwork'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440604575495710818032650.html

The Republican Answer to George Soros's Money - Steven Law admires how the left organized itself during its wilderness years. Now he's got $50 million to help elect candidates on the right
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703904304575497754131295506.html

U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy in Yemen
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rm/2010/147296.htm

On Elizabeth Warren - Obama to Senate: Stick that in your advice and consent clause
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440604575495681843430198.html

On 15th Anniversary of the 4th UN Conference on Women, State Department Co-Sponsors Summit to Empower Women Across Asia
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/147279.htm

Lady Gaga and Liberace: Separated at Birth? - His spangles, her spikes. Hmm. Makes you miss the old days.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575490214288135490.html

State Security, Post-Soviet Style - Closing down independent political life, branding critics as 'extremists.' Review of Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan's "The New Nobility"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489774021664514.html

Demirgüç: one of the culprits was the duo of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

In "Life After the Crisis: Where do we go from here?", World Bank Chief Economist Asli Demirgüç-Kunt says:

[...] while the recent global crisis had multiple causes, one of the culprits was the duo of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. U.S. policymakers encouraged these financial institutions to increase the availability of mortgages to borrowers with questionable ability to repay. Subsequent relaxing of standards, the increase in home prices due to a larger pool of “qualified” borrowers, and their eventual default in large numbers during the downturn all added to the severity of the crisis.

I asked her (first comment to her post above):

hi, can you provide references for that part of your post? Stiglitz [2] is very adamant that this is a red herring.

I know that AEI's Peter J. Wallison has persuasively shown arguments putting guilt on the GSEs, the CRA and lawmakers and the Executive [3], but I'd like to see analyses a bit less political and clearly academic about the subject, replying to Stiglitz's comments and his references:

Those that want to believe in the market have struggled to find someone else to whom blame can be shifted. One often heard candidates are government efforts to encourage lending to minorities and underserved communities through the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements and to increase home ownership through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Default rates on CRA lending are actually lower than on other categories of lending, and CRA lending is just too small, in any case, to have accounted for the magnitude of the problem.14

His reference #14 is a note:

See Canner and Bhutta (2008) and Kroszner (2008).

Those references, in turn, are [4] and [5]. Both Stiglitz's comments and his references are preivous to July 2009, that is a bit old.


References

[1]  Asli Demirgüç-Kunt: "Life After the Crisis: Where do we go from here?", Sep 17, 2010, http://blogs.worldbank.org/allaboutfinance/life-after-the-crisis-where-do-we-go-from-here

[2]  Joseph Stiglitz: Interpreting the causes of the great recession of 2008. Lecture prepared for the Eighth BIS Annual Conference, Basel, 25–26 June 2009.

[3]  Peter Wallison: "The True Origins of This Financial Crisis", in "Getting the Story Right: The True Origin of the Financial Crisis", AEI Online, Feb 2009, http://www.aei.org/issue/100012

[4]  Canner, G. and N. Bhutta, “Staff Analysis of the Relationship between the CRA and the Subprime Crisis,” memorandum, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, November 21, 2008.

[5]  Kroszner, R.S., “The Community Reinvestment Act and the Recent Mortgage Crisis,” speech at Confronting Concentrated Poverty Policy Forum, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, D.C., December 3, 2008.

Press Briefing

Sep 17, 2010

U.S. Can't Risk Slow START
http://www.state.gov/t/us/147267.htm

Wealth and Poverty - How's that inequality thing working out?
WSJ, Sep 17, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440604575495933472536928.html

If there is a single unifying principle behind the Democratic agenda of the last two years, it is this: Reduce income inequality. So yesterday's annual Census Bureau review of American incomes is a kind of progress report on how this agenda is working out. In a word, our wealth isn't spread any more equitably, though more of us are poor.

The Current Population Survey shows that in 2009 the poverty rate climbed to 14.3% from 13.2% in 2008—the highest since 1994. That figure translates into 43.6 million Americans living below the poverty line, the largest absolute number in the half-century for which comparable data are available. At $49,777, the real median household income fell slightly, though not in a statistically significant way. It declined 1.8% among families and rose 1.6% for individuals.

In a statement yesterday, President Obama attributed these results to the financial panic and recession, and that's true in part. The Census data also overstate the true level of poverty because they don't include noncash government payments like housing subsidies, food stamps, the earned income tax credit or entitlements like Medicaid.

But then Mr. Obama couldn't resist adding that "Even before the recession hit, middle class incomes had been stagnant and the number of people living in poverty in America was unacceptably high, and today's numbers make it clear that our work is just beginning." So to address the rising poverty on his watch, the President wants to plow ahead with the same policies that aren't reducing poverty.

We draw a different lesson, which is the continuing imperative of rapid economic growth. Census Bureau figures over the last 50 years show that poverty falls most rapidly during times of the most sustained growth—the 1960s, 1980s and second half of the 1990s. The poverty rate also fell in the mid-2000s before heading up again when the recession hit. The most important goal of economic policy should be to increase society's overall wealth. This helps the poor and everybody else.

Yet starting with his first budget proposal, Mr. Obama has made clear that his main policy purpose is reducing inequality. As the White House budget scribes put it, "There's nothing wrong with making money, but there is something wrong when we allow the playing field to be tilted so far in the favor of so few. . . . It's a legacy of irresponsibility, and it is our duty to change it."

Thus the 2009 stimulus was assembled around social programs and redistribution, defying even Keynesian precepts about immediate job creation. Among its many other goals, ObamaCare is intended to produce "a leveling" of the "maldistribution of income in America," as Senate Finance Chairman and chief author Max Baucus put it. Even now, amid a mediocre recovery and 9.6% unemployment, the inequality imperative is driving Democrats to insist on a huge tax increase—no matter the impact on growth.

The irony is that, while there has been a modest widening of the income gap in recent decades, the Census (as measured by the "Gini index") shows that inequality has remained mostly unchanged since the early 1990s—regardless of which party is in power. The reasons are many and rooted in larger economic and social forces that can't be fixed with higher taxes and White House social engineering.

More important, this preoccupation with inequality is actively harmful because it leads to economic policies that inhibit growth. That's the real warning in the new Census data. Democrats are succeeding in their goal of punishing business and the wealthy, but to the extent that this has produced anemic growth it is also punishing the poor and middle class.

The moral claim of Obamanomics is that it ensures that everyone pays his "fair share," but its early returns show this agenda is producing more poverty. In their obsession with income shares and how many people have how much wealth, the Obama Democrats are imposing policies that ensure only that there will be less wealth for everyone to spread around.


China's Currency Policies and the U.S.-China Economic Relationship. Sec Timothy F. Geithner
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg858.htm

Constitution Day and the Perilous Future: "The federal government, yes, can do most anything in this country."
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/17/morning-bell-constitution-day-and-the-perilous-future

Is Google a Monopolist? A Debate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489582364177978.html

China's Real Monetary Problem - Focus on yuan sterilization, not the yuan-dollar rate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703743504575493120916038074.html

The U.S. at the U.N. and Beyond: A World of Transnational Challenges
http://www.state.gov/p/io/rm/2010/147232.htm

On Wind Power: : Where’s the Empirical Proof?
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/09/16/overblown-wheres-the-empirical-proof-part-iv/

NASA Ready to Send Humanoid Robot to Space
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/nasa-ready-to-send-humanoid-robot-to-space

The Uninsured Numbers Are Bad, but Obamacare Can Make Them Worse
http://fixhealthcarepolicy.com/in-the-news/the-uninsured-numbers-are-bad-but-obamacare-can-make-them-worse

Press Briefing

Sep 16, 2010

President Obama on Small Business Jobs & Tax Cuts: "We Don't Have Time for Any More Games"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/15/president-obama-small-business-jobs-tax-cuts-we-dont-have-time-any-more-games

Rooting for Redistribution - Are Americans easily fooled about their real interests? Review of Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson's "Winner-Take-All Politics"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703897204575488730182039948.html

White House - New Plans Underway to Increase Contracts to Small Business
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/15/new-plans-underway-increase-contracts-small-business

The Case for a 'Repeal Amendment' - Virginia will consider proposing a constitutional amendment that would allow two thirds of the states to repeal a federal law
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489572655964574.html

President Obama's Message to Veterans on Retroactive Pay Due to 'Stop Loss'
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/15/president-obamas-message-veterans-retroactive-pay-due-stop-loss

Principles for Economic Revival - Our prosperity has faded because policies have moved away from those that have proven to work. Here are the priorities that should guide policy makers as they seek to restore more rapid growth.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489830041633508.html

Republican Tax Plan Doubles Nation's Deficit in Just Ten Years
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/15/republican-tax-plan-doubles-nations-deficit-just-ten-years

Conservatives: The New START Rubberstamp Threat to National Security
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/16/morning-bell-the-new-start-rubberstamp-threat-to-national-security

Conversations With America: Meeting the Millennium Development Goals
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/conversations_with_america_mdgs

Too Much Progress - D.C. voters give a reform mayor, Fenty, the boot
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703743504575493841164082512.html

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/147200.htm

It's the Spending, Stupid - A chronic voter 'concern' has now exploded into a broad public movement
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703743504575493953591176476.html

Press Briefing

Sep 15, 2010

Speech by Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Michael S. Barr, Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprise of House Committee on Financial Services
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg854.htm

Tax Cuts vs. 'Stimulus': The Evidence Is In - A review of over 200 fiscal adjustments in 21 countries shows that spending discipline and tax cuts are the best ways to spur economic growth
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405311447498820.html

The President's Forum With Young African Leaders
http://www.state.gov/p/io/rm/2010/147154.htm

Conservatives: The Obamacare and Obama Tax Hike Double Whammy on Seniors
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/15/morning-bell-the-obamacare-and-obama-tax-hike-double-whammy-on-seniors

Ayman al-Zawahiri: Nine Years After the Start of the Crusader Campaign
http://worldanalysis.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1476

OVERBLOWN: Windpower on the Firing Line (Part I)
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/09/14/overblown-windpower-on-the-firing-line-part-i/

Working To Expand Opportunities in Tajikistan
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/blake_tajikistan

Federal President's Proposed Oil and Gas Tax Hikes to Cost U.S. Economy 154,000 Jobs in 2011
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/09/14/obama%E2%80%99s-proposed-oil-and-gas-tax-hikes-to-cost-u-s-economy-154000-jobs-in-2011/

A Discussion on the New START Treaty
http://www.state.gov/t/vci/rls/147120.htm

Conservatives: Holding Economic Recovery Hostage
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/13/morning-bell-holding-economic-recovery-hostage

Statement by President Obama on the Small Business Jobs Bill
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/14/statement-president-obama-small-business-jobs-bill

Obamacare: The Real Price Tag is a Moving Target
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/13/obamacare-the-real-price-tag-is-a-moving-target

Intensifying Diplomacy in the Lead up to the Referenda in Sudan
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/147103.htm

Short Sales Bans: Shooting the Messenger?
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12131

Press Briefing

Sep 14, 2010

US-Vietnam Relations
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/fileadmin/stored/pdfs/apb067.pdf

Remote Control: A Blind Man Goes Sailing With Help From Afar
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477612698984010.html

Advancing U.S.-Ukraine Partnership
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/advancing_ukraine_partnership

Europe Reverts to Type - The EU's response to anti-Semitism? "No comment."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489453411397686.html

Federal President Embraces the 'Pre-emption' Doctrine - Will federal law trump state law when it upsets the trial lawyers?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489571017923434.html

Jennifer Rubin on the reports that Obama aide Valerie Jarrett is the leading candidate to replace White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489891398680882.html

Can Turkey Defuse Iran's Nuclear Challenge?
http://www.idga.org/article.cfm?externalid=3133

Basel's Capital Illusions - The 2008 meltdown was not the result of lax regulation but of abuse of the U.S. financial system by the political class in Washington
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489592929851132.html

Boehner's Tax Bungle
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489834263214218.html

Back Door Card Check - Big Labor's man at the NLRB tries to rewrite labor law by fiat
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597204575483882585485368.html

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/147084.htm

Obamanomics Meets Incentives - Why cuts in marginal tax rates increase economic growth, but cash for clunkers merely created a boom and bust cycle in auto sales
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597204575483562048654780.html

Message of Felicitation Amir-ul-Momineen Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid, on the Eve of Eid-ul-Fitr
http://worldanalysis.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1465

The 1099 Insurrection - The White House fights an effort to ease a burden on small business
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703897204575488272691514074.html

Realities of Biopharmaceutical Research & Development
http://www.innovation.org/index.cfm/NewsCenter/Newsletters/Newsletters?NID=185

Obamacare vs. the Rule of Law
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/14/morning-bell-obamacare-vs-the-rule-of-law

Press Briefing

Sep 13, 2010

Prez Obama & Gov Kaine: Moving America Forward
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMGhMbg5IGY

To Pressure Iran, Squeeze Russia and China - European governments have joined the international sanctions effort. But Beijing and Moscow aren't going along
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703453804575479791919603272.html

White House - Another Government Shutdown?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/10/another-government-shutdown

Darth Boehner - Democrats want voters to fear the GOP leader more than their policies
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703897204575487914103984430.html

U.S. Responds to Mudslides, Flooding in Guatemala
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/guatemala_mudslides

Sebelius Has a List - Political thuggery from HHS
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597204575483900330728436.html

The U.S. Needs Its Own Industrial Policy - China's government incubates business with capital and other incentives. So should America's.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597204575483580272717818.html

The Size of Government and the Choice This Fall - In polls, Americans overwhelmingly prefer small government and low taxes to the alternative. Yet they've been given big government, one program at a time.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478141708959932.html

China's 'Finlandization' Strategy in the Pacific - Beijing is moving aggressively to counter US power projection in Asia to bring our allies under its sway.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421753851404076.html

The Afghanistan Study Group Report: An Exercise in Determined Ignorance
http://www.registan.net/index.php/2010/09/11/the-afghanistan-study-group-report-an-exercise-in-determined-ignorance/

Feed-In Tariffs Are Good for Expensive Renewables, But Are They Good for Consumers?
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/09/10/feed-in-tariffs-are-good-for-expensive-renewables-but-are-they-good-for-consumers/

Remarks by the First Lady at September 11th Memorial Service
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/11/remarks-first-lady-september-11th-memorial-service

Don't Expect Much From the R&D Tax Credit - Apple does little of the kind of research that would be eligible. Nor do the thousands of companies that develop applications and accessories for iPhones and iPads.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575481534193344088.html

IMF Working Paper: Bank Capital and Uncertainty
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24199.0

Mr. Obama hit Republicans hard for not passing his $42 billion Small Business Jobs Act
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575465401201669056.html

Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer Travels to India and China
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/146983.htm

Questions for Imam Rauf From an American Muslim - He may not appear to the untrained eye to be an Islamist, but by making Ground Zero an Islamic rather than an American issue he shows his true allegiance
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575481882969581708.html

The President's Press Conference: From the Economy to the Middle East and "What This Nation Was Founded On"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/10/presidents-press-conference-economy-middle-east-and-what-nation-was-founded

The ACLU Is Dismissed - Obama wins one for the Presidency on the state-secrets privilege
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575481802981541076.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_opinion

Press Briefing

Sep 10, 2010

Strengthening U.S.-Russia Relations
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/strengthening_russia_relations

Why We're in for a Long, Hard Economic Slog - Evidence from 14 U.S. recessions shows that the economy doesn't recover until housing recovers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478083619331668.html

Pakistan Relief Fund Helps Bring Clean Water to Flood Victims
http://blogs.state.gov/ap/index.php/site/entry/pakistan_relief_fund_clean_water

Half-Billion Dollar Schools Can’t Fix American Education
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/10/morning-bell-half-billion-dollar-schools-cant-fix-american-education

Treasurys and the Danger of Short-Term Debt - More than 60% of U.S. debt is set to mature within the next three years
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451580887189818.html

We'll Always Have Basel - In the fight over bank capital, more is better
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575481921638936434.html

From Zombie Banks to Zombie Mortgages? - Japan misallocated capital during its lost decade. How the U.S. can avoid its mistakes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478072373684644.html

Guiding Principles for Managing Sovereign Risk and High Levels of Public Debt ("The Stockholm Principles")
http://www.imf.org/external/np/mcm/stockholm/principles.htm

ObamaCare 'Amnesia' - Long ago, in a political galaxy far, far away, Democrats passed . . .
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477683320736458.html

Brookings: Five Myths About U.S. Exports
http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2010/0905_exports_katz_rothwell.aspx

President Obama Discovers Incentives - The president's proposed tax cuts for business are a welcome departure from Keynesian stimulus
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703453804575479981552545968.html

President Calderón is serious about restoring law and order. Here's how the U.S. can help.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477472352890934.html

The White House - The Affordable Care Act Did Not Cause Unjust Premium Increases
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/08/affordable-care-act-did-not-cause-unjust-premium-increases

The Obama Heyday Is Over - With so many Democrats running against the president's agenda in the midterm, change will come in the next Congress, regardless of which party is in control
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575482122517174884.html

The White House - Fighting Foreclosures and Strengthening Neighborhoods
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/08/fighting-foreclosures-and-strengthening-neighborhoods

Can You Smell What Is He Cooking? - Why the president's new stimulus won't work
http://reason.com/archives/2010/09/08/can-you-smell-what-obamas-cook

Press Briefing

Sep 09, 2010

In "Origins," Annie Murphy Paul explores current scientific thinking about how our lives are shaped by what happens to us in utero
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575448773639436854.html

Dr. Seuss and the Afghan Military - Afghan soldiers and police are plenty intelligent. Literacy will help them become a modern force
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478070008208694.html

The White House Blog - Boehner's Budget Gimmicks: Another Attempt to Hold Middle Class Tax Cuts Hostage
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/08/boehners-budget-gimmicks-another-attempt-hold-middle-class-tax-cuts-hostage

How ObamaCare Guts Medicare - The president's pledge that 'If you like your health plan, you will be able to keep it' clearly does not apply to America's seniors
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437311393854940.html

Joint Statement of Secretaries Geithner and Clinton on the Republic of Korea's Announcement of Sanctions on Iran
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg848.htm

The Federal Heath-Care Tease - Minnesota's Governor declines to take the ObamaCare bait
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478160851816780.html

Importance of Investment in the Global Economy
http://www.state.gov/e/rls/rmk/2010/146894.htm

Caricature in Cleveland - You can't restore business confidence by bashing business
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703453804575479982836215238.html

Symposium: What Should the Federal Reserve Do Next?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477580959771188.html

In Guyana, Saying Farewell to the HSV Swift 
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/guyana_swift_farewell

The health-care overhaul enacted last spring won't significantly change national health spending over the next decade compared with projections before the law was passed - government figures
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704362404575480161749608830.html

First Lady Michelle Obama Delivers Call to Action for Improved Childhood Nutrition and Physical Fitness
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/08/first-lady-michelle-obama-delivers-call-action-improved-childhood-nutrit

A President's Class War - Where on the income scale does Mr. Obama divide the country between us and them?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703453804575479831591176068.html

Corruption and Finance: Are Innovative Firms Victims or Perpetrators?
http://blogs.worldbank.org/allaboutfinance/node/614

Federal President's Foreign Policy: Neglecting Allies and Appeasing Foes
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/08/morning-bell-neglecting-allies-and-appeasing-foes

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/146899.htm

Tax Contradictions - Obama says the economy needs a tax cut—and a tax increase
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477661420876100.html

Press Briefings

Sep 08, 2010

From Children's Grief, Signs of Growth
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703720004575477614058976560.html

Salvation in Small Steps - With the collapse of various ideologies and totalizing nostrums, human rights became ever more important in world affairs. Moyn's "The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477571192822084.html

Time for Emergency Economic Reform - How about a payroll tax holiday, funded by a federal spending, hiring and pay freeze?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451211979331930.html

Time for Emergency Economic Reform - How about a payroll tax holiday, funded by a federal spending, hiring and pay freeze?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451211979331930.html

Our Spontaneous Universe - I have never quite understood the conviction that creation requires a creator
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575469653720549936.html

Politics and the Cult of Sentimentality - Wilde said that sentimentality is the desire to have the luxury of emotion without paying for it
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703417104575473932096641548.html

New START: Security Through 21st-Century Verification
http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2010_09/Gottemoeller

Conservative: New Start Is Unilateral Disarmament - The treaty's little-noticed limits on conventional weapons systems will reduce our ability to project power around the world
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703618504575459511831427690.html

External demand shocks are not historically associated with sharp declines in output growth in Low-Income Countries
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24190.0

'Sword of Damocles' - A welcome White House legal rebuke to the mass climate tort
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455630272135688.html

Are Ethicists More Attentive Daughters and Sons?
http://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2010/08/are-ethicists-more-attentive-daughters.html

Iran's Shadow Games - Now you see a nuclear proliferation threat, now you don't
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477761797589920.html

Wild chimps outwit human hunters
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8962000/8962747.stm

The German Miracle: Another Look - Germany has cut government spending and its economy is growing smartly. It's not the first time that market-friendly policies have led the nation out of crisis.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461873411742404.html

Nongoloza's Children: Western Cape prison gangs during and after apartheid by Jonny Steinberg
http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/correctional/nongolozaschildren.pdf

Housing Crisis? Look to Canada for Answers
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12115

Greenspan Calls for Repeal of All the Bush Tax Cuts
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/business/economy/07greenspan.html

Orszag: Let’s continue the tax cuts for two years but end them for good in 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/opinion/07orszag.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Press Briefing

Sep 07, 2010

The Right Comparison Between Recoveries
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/06/right-comparison-between-recoveries

The Hazards Of Doing Good - From Live Aid in the mid-1980s to today, Western attempts to help famine-plagued Ethiopia have had little effect. Peter Gill's "Famine and Foreigners"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703618504575460680218948348.html

Global Shale Gas Initiative: Balancing Energy Security and Environmental Concerns
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/global_shale_gas_initiative

In Defense of Physician Autonomy - Politicians hurt patients when they make doctors follow bureaucratic algorithms
By SAUL GREENFIELD
WSJ, Sep 07, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575464071972916464.html

The auditorium was filled with young, newly minted physicians sitting nervously in white jackets. When the chairman of surgery mounted the stage to address me and my fellow surgical interns, we immediately hushed and gave him our attention. I don't now recall most of what he said, but one remark has stayed with me through my 25 years of surgical practice: "You can't practice medicine by committee."

He didn't mean that we shouldn't listen to associates or seek their advice, or that we shouldn't be aware of scientific literature conveying the opinions and research of others. He meant that every physician must, at some point in the patient-care process, make decisions and take responsibility for them. And unless the doctor does so, the outcomes will be compromised. He was warning against groupthink and telling us that patients often present challenges that cannot be solved by easily consulted algorithms.

The chairman's admonition was a succinct definition of the parameters of the doctor-patient relationship. And in the eyes of many contemporary medical thinkers—those who seek to reorder the universe of medical care in this country—it would be heretical.

In recent political debates, the autonomous physician has been portrayed as a problem to be solved, an out-of-control actor motivated by greed—and a major cause of rising health-care costs. Insurance companies and the federal government have sought to control physician behavior with the dual aim of decreasing costs and improving care. In their view, individual and regional disparities in rates of medical testing, hospitalization and surgical procedures are ipso-facto demonstrations of physician autonomy run amok.

In the United Kingdom, the National Institute for Clinical Effectiveness (NICE) provides guidelines for clinical care in order to ensure greater uniformity of practice and, it claims, better care. In this country, the recent health-care reform law established a Comparative Effectiveness Institute with the same aims.

Such institutions are illegitimate and undesirable. My field of pediatric urology is only a small subset of medicine, but recent experience demonstrates the dangers of bureaucratic, committee-based practice.

In 2007, NICE published guidelines for the care of children with urinary tract infections. A committee of diverse specialists reviewed the literature and voted on the final recommendations. Without going into great detail, these guidelines enacted a significant departure from then-current practice by recommending against thorough radiographic evaluation in many instances.

One member of the committee who was out-voted on the final guidelines publicly castigated NICE and accused the committee of misusing statistics, failing to involve the proper specialists, and seeking mainly to decrease costs. The criticisms were correct.

Since the NICE recommendations were promulgated, publications in peer-reviewed journals have shown that many children with significant underlying conditions—some leading to serious kidney disease—would go undiagnosed if the NICE guidelines were followed.

Over a decade ago, researchers at Dartmouth College documented disparities in rates of tonsillectomy in children. They famously asserted that certain high rates of tonsillectomy were inappropriate and did not improve health outcomes. To do this, they relied only on insurance claims and hospitalization rates; they had no data on the prevalence of recurrent tonsillitis or long-term cardiovascular morbidity from obstructive sleep apnea. In fact, they had no data comparing the quality of life of individuals denied the procedure with that of individuals who underwent surgery. Their broad statistical overview was simply unable to answer many important questions.

Physician autonomy is a major defense against those who comfortably sit in remote offices and make calculations based on concerns other than an individual patient's welfare. Uniformity of practice is a nonsensical goal that fails to allow for differing expression of disease states.

This is not to say that clinical research, randomized controlled trials, literature meta-analyses and guidelines are not necessary and useful. They are all essential. It is also not an argument against rigorous oversight of physician behavior, licensure and training. But we must recognize that many physicians will often make decisions that deliberately do not conform to "community standards"—and that patients will be better for it.

Dr. Greenfield is director of pediatric urology at the Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo and a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.


Europe's Bank Stress Tests Minimized Debt Risk
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704392104575475520949440394.html

Whatever Happened to Walking to School? - Those of us who remember using our own legs for transit now run the risk of sounding Abe Lincolnesque
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575469542721199832.html

Learning From Experience on Arms Control - Russia and the United States have made steady progress on verification since the 1980s
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467654209460656.html

School Voucher Breakout - A bipartisan endorsement in Pennsylvania
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455782883586338.html

Statement by President Obama on the Passing of Jefferson Thomas
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/06/statement-president-obama-passing-jefferson-thomas

Washington and the 'Recovery Summer' That Wasn't - The nation's capital endures recessions with less discomfort than anywhere else, and that's truer than ever today
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467900196619676.html

Krueger Op-Ed: Measure Succeeds in Promoting Private-Sector Hiring
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg845.htm

The Obama Economy - How trillions in fiscal and monetary stimulus produced a 1.6% recovery
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703444804575071281687927918.html

Press Briefing

Sep 06, 2010

President Obama to Announce Plan to Renew and Expand America’s Roads, Railways and Runways
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/06/president-obama-announce-plan-renew-and-expand-america-s-roads-railways-

Rocks, YouTube Undergird Kashmiri Protests
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704855104575469850119145276.html

How Government Unions Became So Powerful - While politicians have opposed the right to strike, public-sector labor leaders have focused on pay increases and constitutional guarantees
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467642879738582.html

Eugene Robinson: The American people are acting like a bunch of spoiled brats
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575469663663590510.html

The Wages of Stimulus - More spending, higher unemployment
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575469702542446716.html

Okada and Westerwelle: The Moral Challenge of a Nuclear-Free World
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453900642425906.html

In 2007, 239 patients died of malnutrition in British hospitals
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463772676581084.html

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/146825.htm

The Diviner of System Risk - Ben Bernanke as Carnac the Magnificent
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467872819971324.html

Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell Briefs on Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/mitchell_israeli-palestinian_negotiations

On Employment Numbers, Romer and Econometric Models
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/03/morning-bell-the-audacity-of-failure

Statement at Round Table 1: Article 19 - Living Independently and Being Included in the Community. By Judith Heumann, Special Advisor for International Disability Rights
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/rm/2010/146772.htm

Second Gulf Explosion Doesn’t Take Away Need for Drilling
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/02/second-gulf-explosion-doesn%E2%80%99t-take-away-need-for-drilling

Press Briefing

Sep 03, 2010

The White House - West Wing Week: "Dispatches from Iraq"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/03/west-wing-week-dispatches-iraq

Federal President Is Still AWOL on Sudan / The country may soon return to war, and the perception of U.S. indifference isn't helping
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439274119871804.html

The White House - Making Preparations Prior to the Impacts of Hurricane Earl
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/02/making-preparations-prior-impacts-hurricane-earl

Want Middle East Peace? Deny Iran Nukes / Israeli-Palestinian talks are good, but Tehran's nuclear drive continues
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575464062562925390.html

The White House - Two New Studies: Health Reform Benefits Small Business
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/02/two-new-studies-health-reform-benefits-small-business

Tony Blair on the Panic - Britain's former prime minister understands better than most the origins of the financial crisis
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467523488193204.html

The White House Blog - There’s Courage in Our Country’s Classrooms
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/02/there-s-courage-our-country-s-classrooms

The Small Business The 97% Fallacy - The president's plan to raise top marginal rates is holding back the very people who should be leading the economic recovery
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575454061524326290.html

Three Software Tricks for Sorting Through the Barrage of UAV Footage
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/software/three-software-tricks-for-sorting-through-barrage

Democratic Salvage Plan - How Nancy Pelosi might save her majority
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467353597659766.html

The French ambassador to Iraq says it's "the true laboratory of democracy in the Arab world."
WSJ, Sep 02, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463900304368796.html

Boris Boillon, the French ambassador to Iraq, in an interview with Le Figaro, Aug. 31:

The tactic of al Qaeda, which aims to put the country in fire and blood, to rekindle the civil war, has failed. The specter of partition in Iraq is behind us. . . . The record has improved since we passed a hundred deaths per day four years ago, to ten deaths per day today. In fact, the trend reversed itself when U.S. troops began leaving the cities, in June 2009. With the final withdrawal, this trend should continue and stabilize. . . .

Of course, the Iraqis say that the allied intervention of 2003 cost them dearly in lives and destruction of infrastructure, but they are aware also that it has liberated the country. The picture is therefore both positive and negative. Iraqis enjoy the fruits of democratization: the blossoming of the press, the emergence of a civil society, the free political parties, the exemplary nature of elections. These are all facts.

It is absolutely necessary, when one speaks of Iraq, to reason nonideologically. Iraq is the true laboratory of democracy in the Arab world. It is there that the future of democracy in the region will play itself out. Iraq could potentially become a political model for its neighbors. And, whether one likes it or not, all this has come about thanks to the American intervention of 2003. . . .

That no consensus has emerged around a [new] head of government proves that the political game occurs in Iraq and no neighboring country is able to impose its choice on Iraqi politics.

Even if the door is broken open, it must be restated that the last election constituted a victory for democracy. There are not many other countries in the region where results are not known before the vote.


In Sudan and Kenya, Grassroots Diplomacy
http://blogs.state.gov/sudan/index.php/site/entry/in_sudan_grassroots_diplomacy

Hooray for the U.N. - A dispute tribunal vindicates a whistleblower, Artjon Shkurtaj
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575465882341825778.html

Press Briefing

Sep 02, 2010

What Do We Know About the Impact of Remittances on Financial Development?
http://blogs.worldbank.org/allaboutfinance/what-do-we-know-about-the-impact-of-remittances-on-financial-development

Teachers for Coverups - The Wall Street Journal applauds the L.A. Times's decision to publish evaluations of public school teachers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463841606641572.html

Briefing on U.S. Government's Continued Efforts to Disrupt and Dismantle Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rm/2010/146597.htm

The Lawfare Wars - The al-Nashiri bugout, and attack of the killer lawyers—on drones
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463721720570734.html

The White House - Continued Recovery for America’s Agricultural Economy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/01/continued-recovery-america-s-agricultural-economy

If Saddam Had Stayed - Saddam would have joined the nuclear bad-boys club with Iran and North Korea
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575465721991599994.html

The White House - Forging Ahead on Middle East Peace Talks
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/01/forging-ahead-middle-east-peace-talks

Projects To Develop Novel Monitoring Networks for Advanced Power Systems Selected
http://www.fossil.energy.gov/news/techlines/2010/10040-Projects_To_Develop_Novel_Monitori.html

Update: US Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/146606.htm

Some Coal-Fired Power Plants Were Built Last Year, is This the Start of a New Trend or Are New Coal Plants Dead?
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/09/01/some-coal-fired-power-plants-were-built-last-year-is-this-the-start-of-a-new-trend-or-are-new-coal-plants-dead/

White House - New Resources for Employers and Unions to Help Keep Health Coverage Accessible and Affordable
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/31/new-resources-employers-and-unions-help-keep-health-coverage-accessible-and-affordab

The administration's 'summer of recovery' has fizzled in almost every way imaginable. The growth rate is less than half what it was at this stage after the 1974-75 and 1981-82 recessions.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575465462926649950.html

Press Briefing

Sep 01, 2010

Bring Back the Estate Tax Now - Allowing it to lapse has cost us billions of dollars in revenue this year
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575454073982825164.html

Shikha Dalmia on the General Motors IPO
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463972500361374.html

From the Desk of Maria Otero, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs
http://www.state.gov/g/146541.htm

Letters From the Imam - Feisel Abdul Rauf on Israel and Iran
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451762406545760.html

Readout of President Obama’s Briefing Call with FEMA Administrator Fugate on the Preparations Being Made in Advance of Hurricane Earl
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/01/readout-president-obama-s-briefing-call-with-fema-administrator-fugate-p

Office 39, Call Office 99 - More useful pressure on North Korea
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463934062014778.html

Ben Rhodes Answers Your Questions About Iraq Following the President's Oval Address
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/31/ben-rhodes-answers-your-questions-about-iraq-following-presidents-oval-address

Conservatives: The Obama Doctrine
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/01/morning-bell-the-obama-doctrine

President Obama's Address on the End of the Combat Mission in Iraq
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/31/president-obamas-address-end-combat-mission-iraq

'Systemic Risk' Stonewall - Some bailout questions the Fed still hasn't answered
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463781244452958.html

It’s Time for Reality, Not Deadlines, in Iraq and Afghanistan
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/31/morning-bell-its-time-for-reality-not-deadlines-in-iraq-and-afghanistan

Press Briefing

Aug 31, 2010

Camille Paglia writes that pressuring middle-class young people into "word jobs" is cruelly shortsighted - "The elite schools, predicated on molding students into mirror images of their professors, seem divorced from any rational consideration of human happiness."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461691182268962.html

The White House - Economic Recovery for Small Businesses: Now is Not the Time to Pull Back
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/30/economic-recovery-small-businesses-now-not-time-pull-back

TARP and the Continuing Problem of Toxic Assets - It was a bold bet that the Treasury and Fed could engineer an economic recovery without allowing the repricing of US housing stock
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455951017059416.html

White House - Landmark: Number of Donut Hole Rebate Checks Passes One Million
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/30/landmark-number-donut-hole-rebate-checks-passes-one-million

Tire-d Old Trade Policies - You can't boost exports by trashing imports
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703669004575458523112347824.html

Abolish tenure, require more teaching, put star professors online
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703618504575460252029820466.html

The White House Blog - Agent Orange and Veterans: A 40-Year Wait
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/30/agent-orange-and-veterans-a-40-year-wait

J McCain: The Surge and Afghanistan - Unless he understands the reason for success in Iraq, the president is unlikely to lead a successful strategy against the Taliban
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703618504575459983690019468.html

White House: Katrina - Five Years Later, Our Commitment Continues
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/30/five-years-later-our-commitment-continues

Why We Fought and What We Achieved - Saddam had launched multiple wars, used weapons of mass destruction and aided global terrorism. Now Iraq's government is an ally and represents all the Iraqi people.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461452331806476.html

Remarks on the 47th Anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" Speech. By Hannah Rosenthal, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism . Imam Yahya Hendi From Clergy Without Borders, Washington, DC, August 28, 2010

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/rm/2010/146434.htm

Social Security Bait and Switch - 'Harry, am I making this up?' Yes, Mr. President, you are.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461601764263106.html

IMF Enhances Crisis Prevention Toolkit
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2010/pr10321.htm

Alvin Greene Mocks White House Staff As 'Harvard Rich Kids'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453211943767790.html

Press Briefing

Aug 30, 2010

Muslim: It was only after losing the fight for total state power against democracies and dictatorships alike that Islamists launched their war against the West
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453211943767790.html

Conservative: The World Trade Center Mosque and the Constitution
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455503946170176.html

Export Controls for the 21st Century - The current system is a legacy of the Cold War and fails to distinguish between low-tech items and the most advanced proprietary technology
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575454313481209990.html

On the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) Tax Task Force Report
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/27/perab-tax-task-force-report

Jimmy Carter in Pyongyang - Back to the same old North Korean games
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703669004575458422510924854.html

Our Man in Caracas - Good news: Chávez doesn't like him
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449933853736568.html

Ten Fallacies About Web Privacy - We are not used to the Internet reality that something can be known and at the same time no person knows it
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455192488549362.html

Alinsky Wins at the SEC - A new proxy access rule will help activists and unions, not shareholders
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455791673609002.html

Kirchner's Assault on the Press - This week's target: Argentina's two most influential daily newspapers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455483542041338.html

The White House Blog - Preparing Workers for New Careers
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/27/lost-and-found-preparing-workers-new-careers

The Folly of Subsidizing Unemployment - My calculations suggest the jobless rate could be as low as 6.8%, instead of 9.5%, if jobless benefits hadn't been extended to 99 weeks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575454431457720188.html

Energy Dept: Setting the Record Straight on Weatherization
http://blog.energy.gov/blog/2010/08/27/setting-record-straight-weatherization

The $31 Billion Revenue Fantasy - Those who make $200,000 a year are 3% of all taxpayers but pay 52% of all income taxes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703876404575200621394266894.html

The White House Blog - Helping New Orleans Rebuild Its Schools
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/28/helping-new-orleans-rebuild-its-schools

Spreading Hayek, Spurning Keynes - Professor Leads an Austrian Revival
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703418004575455911922562120.html

When Justice Comes Naturally - The Constitution can 'live' without losing its core meanings. Review of Hadley Arkes's Constitutional Illusions & Anchoring Truths.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575448761803060070.html

The 1.6% Recovery - The results of the Obama economic experiment are coming in
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455823740024224.html

Remarks by the President on the Fifth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/29/remarks-president-fifth-anniversary-hurricane-katrina-new-orleans-louisi

Lebanon's parliament amended a 1946 law that had been used to bar the 400,000 Palestinians living in the country from taking any but the most menial jobs
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435933047619568.html

Press Briefing

Aug 27, 2010

USAID Launches Pakistan Flood Relief Info Sharing on “Humari Awaz” Cell Phone Network
http://blogs.state.gov/ap/index.php/site/entry/pakistan_flood_relief_info_sharing_humari_awaz

A new study confirms what I've been saying for decades: Paying high fees to fund managers is the route to lower returns
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575447531979322798.html

The SEC's Sop to Unions - Under the new rules, average shareholders won't muster the numbers to influence corporate elections
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451343422958522.html

A Challenge for WTC Mosque Opponents - The rights of American Muslims are being questioned in other locations. Will Gingrich and Palin speak out on their behalf?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453123857886644.html

Blanche Lincoln's Last Earmark: changes to Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE) - The spending problem, in profile
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449422819519354.html

Protecting Medicare Benefits and Offering Clear Choices for Seniors
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/26/protecting-medicare-benefits-and-offering-clear-choices-seniors

Intel's Otellini: "the next big thing will not be invented here. Jobs will not be created here. And wealth will not accrue here. Ultimately, we will face an inevitable erosion and shift of wealth—much like we are witnessing today in Europe."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453803561625516.html

Women's Equality Day and the 90th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/26/womens-equality-day-and-90th-anniversary-19th-amendment

Scapegoating For-Profit Colleges - Obama tees up another private industry for punishment
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425830335709738.html

200,000 Homes Weatherized Under the Recovery Act
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/26/200000-homes-weatherized-under-recovery-act

Time for Obama to Pull a Clinton - When I met with the president in early 1995, I warned him he would not be re-elected unless he changed his reputation
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453450250159546.html

UN mapping report leaked: Crime of genocide against Hutu center of controversy
http://congosiasa.blogspot.com/2010/08/un-mapping-report-leaked-crime-of.html

Public Pensions and Our Fiscal Future - Few Californians in the private sector have $1 million in savings, but that's effectively the retirement account they guarantee to many government employees
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449813071709510.html

Press Briefing

Aug 26, 2010

Jared Bernstein on Republicans, the Recovery Act and "jobs created or saved"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/25/increasingly-awkward-dance

The Military Should Mirror the Nation - America's Armed Forces are drawn from an increasingly narrow segment of society
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451531529098478.html

Five Principles to Make “Contingent Capital” More Like Capital and Less Contingent
http://www.cambridgewinter.org/Cambridge_Winter/Archives/Entries/2010/8/25_NOW_MORE_ABSORBENT!.html

Stop the Madness - Washington is spending the country into economic decline
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449961346648370.html

The IRS Targets Incompetent Tax Preparers - That's good news. But the agency is going overboard
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575447873306166034.html

U.S. Provides $50 Million in Early Recovery Aid to Pakistan Flood Victims
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr100825_1.html

Big Foot on Campus - Why colleges want a waiver from ObamaCare
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451710632099560.html

Minutes of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy July 2010 Official Meeting
http://www.state.gov/r/adcompd/146252.htm

Oil Spill & The Gulf Claims Racket - The lawyers are upset they aren't getting more of the action
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449692864994262.html

A Muslim Reformer on the Mosque - The warriors for tolerance and the antimosque crusaders are both wrong
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451433090488678.html

The Fed Is Running Low on Ammo - It still has options if more monetary easing is needed. But they're not very effective
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575448022122679194.html

IMF Paper: Can Global Liquidity Forecast Asset Prices?
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24164.0

The White House is having a disastrous 'summer of recovery.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451502211231456.html

Press Briefing

Aug 25, 2010

Working Together To Save Lives in India
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/india_leh_flooding

Cleaning Up the Mortgage Mess - Obama's program to help homeowners has unfortunately made things worse
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704075604575356663725805580.html

Countering Piracy: International Partnership Achieves Steady Progress
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/piracy_international_partnership_progress

Our Blue-Collar Great Depression - American workers who are less well-educated need a lifeline until new opportunities emerge.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704023404575429864088150270.html

The Case for Economic Optimism - Investment in equipment and software is strong, as is the outlook for exports
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703995104575389041193020822.html

Why the Senate Should Block 'New Start' - The nuclear treaty is the first step toward unilateral disarmament
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405634208565808.html

U.S. Government Hosts Conference on Improving Southern Sudan's Agriculture
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr100824.html

The Trial Bar Heads to Iraq - A lawsuit that would create civil damages for wartime decisions
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575447613501672210.html

Wireless in Gaza - If young Palestinians have access to better information today, they may make better decisions tomorrow
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435923218083624.html

Human Rights Kowtow - The Obama Administration makes itself an accomplice to U.N. corruption
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449960554393200.html

Vice President Biden Releases Report on Recovery Act Impact on Innovation
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/24/vice-president-biden-releases-report-recovery-act-impact-innovation

The Housing Mirage - Homeowner subsidies have only delayed the day of reckoning
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449751158395676.html

The Afghanistan War Is Mainly About Pakistan and India - Actually, it's about the whole region.
http://www.slate.com/id/2264918/

Putting the Brakes on ObamaCare  How a Republican Congress could begin the process of repealing this unpopular law
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437271015655924.html

Press Briefing

Aug 24, 2010

The White House Blog - Their Economic Policies Haven’t Changed, So They Won’t Bring the Change We Need
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/24/their-economic-policies-haven-t-changed-so-they-won-t-bring-change-we-need

Wind Power Won't Cool Down the Planet - Often enough it leads to higher carbon emissions
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703792704575366700528078676.html

White House: 31,000 Homes Weatherized in June
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/23/31000-homes-weatherized-june

Virginia Is for Surpluses - Erasing red ink without a tax increase
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703579804575442063233671300.html

The White House Blog - Your Credit Card Bill of Rights Now in Full Effect
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/23/your-credit-card-bill-rights-now-full-effect

The Politics of Plastic - The war against credit cards is raising costs and harming consumers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575447613154049510.html

Identified a family of retroviruses in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (update)
http://digs.by/cFFWeq

Cracks in the Iranian Monolith - Opposition is spreading in the streets, in prisons, and even in the military
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409611936612020.html

Like Bush, Not Clinton, Obama Follows His Heart Not Polls
http://blogs.wsj.com/capitaljournal/2010/08/22/like-bush-not-clinton-obama-follows-his-heart-not-polls/

Press Briefing

Aug 23, 2010

Lorenz Of Arabia - As a wartime strategy, Germany tried to foment a Grand Jihad in Muslim lands
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703461504575444532238358048.html

The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility - The idea that companies have a duty to address social ills is not just flawed, argues Aneel Karnani. It also makes it more likely that we'll ignore the real solutions to these problems.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703338004575230112664504890.html

The White House Blog - At the Indiana State Fair: Farmers, The First Entrepreneurs
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/20/indiana-state-fair-farmers-first-entrepreneurs

The Guns of August, 1990 - The last 20 years would have been very different had American forces taken that open road to Baghdad the first time around
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703589404575417820146420794.html

Reducing Energy Costs while Creating Green Jobs for Americans, by Secretary Shaun Donovan
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/20/reducing-energy-costs-while-creating-green-jobs-americans

Australian Boomerang - Another big spending center-left party loses its majority
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703461504575442693926568832.html

President Obama Challenges Politicians Benefiting from Citizens United Ruling to Defend Corporate Influence in Our Elections
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/21/weekly-address-president-obama-challenges-politicians-benefiting-citizen

ObamaCare's Tax on Taxes - The latest gambit to punish for-profit health insurers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435473272964804.html

How States Hide Their Budget Deficits - The SEC's charges against New Jersey for misleading investors should warn other states against sweeping the truth under the rug
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703579804575441240180244472.html

Iran Unveils New Drone
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704504204575444872540980904.html

Treasury Concludes Three Weeks of Global Engagement with Governments, Private Sector on Iran
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg835.htm

$4.4 Trillion - That's how much the spending baseline has increased in 31 months
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439543402718272.html

Obama Administration Housing Scorecard Shows Continued Progress in Housing Market, but Challenges Remain
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg833.htm

Gates and Buffett Take the Pledge - Wealthy businessmen often feel obligated to 'give back.' Who says they've taken anything?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575438993318888822.html

Press Briefing

Aug 20, 2010

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/146107.htm

The Lockerbie Bomber and Scotland's Disgrace - A political stunt freed a mass murderer and brought needless grief to many in the US
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437221006992494.html

Bashing Beijing Will Not Help Our Trade Deficit - Higher wages, not a stronger yuan, will help Chinese workers and reduce US imports
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704023404575429843465266202.html

State Dept: A Critical Milestone in Iraq
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/milestone_iraq

The SEC's Jersey Score - At last, a state gets hit for securities fraud
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439431857019668.html

Seniors Already Seeing Lower Prescription Drug Costs
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/18/seniors-already-seeing-lower-prescription-drug-costs

More Countrywide Loans - What Senate ethicists didn't tell us on Dodd
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435851680516676.html

Remarks by the President at a Discussion with Ohio Families on the Economy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/18/remarks-president-a-discussion-with-ohio-families-economy

Victory in Iraq  -American arms created a republic, if Iraqis can keep it
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439743828817562.html

An assessment of the long-term economic impact of stronger capital and liquidity requirements
FSB & BCBS, August 2010
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs173.htm

The Basel Committee's assessment of the long-term economic impact finds that there are clear net long term economic benefits from increasing the minimum capital and liquidity requirements from their current levels in order to raise the safety and soundness of the global banking system. The benefits of higher capital and liquidity requirements accrue from reducing the probability of financial crisis and the output losses associated with such crises. The benefits substantially exceed the potential output costs for a range of higher capital and liquidity requirements.

The FSB-BCBS MAG assessment of the macroeconomic transition costs, prepared in close collaboration with the International Monetary Fund, concludes that the transition to stronger capital and liquidity standards is likely to have a modest impact on aggregate output. If higher requirements are phased in over four years, the group estimates that each one percentage point increase in bank's actual ratio of tangible common equity to risk-weighted assets will lead to a decline in the level of GDP relative to its baseline path by about 0.20% after implementation is completed.  In terms of growth rates, this means that the annual growth rate would be reduced by an average of 0.04 percentage points over a four and a half year period, with a range of results around these point estimates. A 25% increase in liquid asset holdings is found to have an output effect less than half that associated with a one-percentage point increase in capital ratios. The projected impacts arise mainly from banks passing on higher costs to borrowers, which results in a slowdown in investment. A two-year implementation period leads to a slightly larger reduction from the baseline path, with the trough occurring after two and a half years, while extending the implementation period beyond four years makes little difference. In all of these estimates, GDP returns to its baseline path in subsequent years.


Winning the Peace in Iraq - The last American combat troops left Iraq this week. But when 'Operation New Dawn' begins on Sept. 1, the U.S. will still have a vital mission—and interests—there
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439381641164538.html

Get Ready for Ads in Books
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435243350910792.html

Proposal to ensure the loss absorbency of regulatory capital at the point of non-viability - consultative document
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs174.htm

Press Briefing

Aug 19, 2010

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/146066.htm

Barney Frank to Fannie Mae: Drop Dead - Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437574151872544.html

Barney Frank has been all over the airwaves this week with a clear and—we never thought we'd say this—perfectly sound message about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: "They should be abolished."

Well, praise be. Two years ago next month, then Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson put the two government-sponsored mortgage-finance giants into conservatorship, and Congressman Frank declared himself pleased that there was a good chance, according to government bean-counters, that the rescue wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime. Also at the time, Mr. Frank scoffed at the Bush Administration's view that Fan and Fred should be wound down, saying it would never happen. One and a half trillion dimes ($149 billion) later, Mr. Frank appears to have seen the light.

Recall that in 2007 Mr. Frank had complained that the reason Fannie and Freddie hadn't been reformed earlier was "the insistence of some economic conservative fundamentalists in the Bush Administration who, to be honest, don't think there should be a Fannie Mae or a Freddie Mac." Welcome aboard, Barney.

In another sign that he's an avid reader of these columns, Mr. Frank even told Fox Business, "If we want to subsidize housing then we could do it upfront and let the budget be clear about that." That is certainly a more honest way to subsidize housing and makes us think we don't write in vain.

We prefer no subsidy for homeownership, not least because the painful experience of the last 40 years is that such policies lead to boom and bust and awful economic harm. Canada has neither a Fannie Mae nor a mortgage-interest tax deduction, and yet its homeownership rate is higher than America's. The homebuilder-Realtor-mortgage banker lobby will object, which is no doubt why Treasury chief Tim Geithner continued to call for some federal role in guaranteeing mortgages at his housing finance gabfest this week. But that road inevitably leads to the Son of Fannie.

The housing reform debate is only beginning, but for now we'll associate ourselves with Mr. Frank's view that if Congress wants to subsidize housing, it ought to do so directly out of annual appropriations, allocating dollars in open and transparent fashion against other priorities.


Assessing the macroeconomic impact of the transition to stronger capital and liquidity requirements - Interim Report
BCBS & FSB
http://www.bis.org/publ/othp10.htm

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Financial Stability Board set up the Macroeconomic Assessment Group (MAG) to assess the macroeconomic effects of the transition to strengthened capital and liquidity regulations. The MAG comprises economic modelling experts from central banks and other authorities. In its Interim Report, the MAG concludes that, for each percentage point increase in the target capital ratio implemented over a four-year horizon, the level of GDP relative to the baseline path declines by a maximum of about 0.19%. The maximum GDP loss occurs four and a half years after the start of implementation, after which GDP recovers towards its baseline path. The associated rise in banks' lending rates would amount to about 15 basis points for each percentage point increase in capital. These costs will slowly dissipate during and after the phase-in, returning GDP to the path it would have followed in the absence of the changes. The impact of the new regulatory framework on specific national financial systems will depend on current levels of capital and liquidity in those systems, and on the consequences of changes to the definitions used in calculating the relevant regulatory ratios. These results imply that the reforms proposed by the Basel Committee are likely to have, at most, a modest impact on aggregate output, provided that appropriate transition arrangements are in place.


Deconstructing Harry Reid - The Senate majority leader's inexplicable desire to debate taxes in September
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437413307858620.html

Somalia: Frozen Warfare in Mogadishu
http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Analysis/Somalia_Frozen_Warfare_in_Mogadishu_Intelligence_Brief_2.shtml

Blagojevich 23, Fitzgerald 1 - Chicago's jester politician humiliates the Justice Department
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437490986410482.html

Press Briefing

Aug 18, 2010

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/146049.htm

Obama Follows Nixon On Oil Spills - The overreaction to Santa Barbara in 1969 left the country dangerously vulnerable
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425541427252542.html

Ralph Nader: Where Left and Right Converge - Anticorporatist views are becoming more and more common
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435321716423354.html

FASB's Tort Bar Gift - New accounting rules would give lawyers a lawsuit roadmap
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435851610547946.html

If 10-year interest rates, which are now 2.8%, rise to 4% as they did last spring, bondholders will suffer a capital loss more than three times the current yield
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425384002846058.html

The Avastin Mugging - The FDA rigs the verdict against a good cancer drug
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405203894857436.html

Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner Opening Remarks at theConference on the Future of Housing Finance APFD
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg830.htm

Lift the wraps on the Himalayan border situation - Let facts speak for themselves on the India-China frontier
http://chellaney.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!4913C7C8A2EA4A30!1237.entry

Press Briefing

Aug 17, 2010

The White House Blog - Slowing Large Health Insurance Premium Increases
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/16/slowing-large-health-insurance-premium-increases

Comrade Duch and the Killing Fields - When will justice come to more senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703940904575395052402779036.html

The White House Blog - New Battery Technology and New Jobs in Wisconsin
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/16/new-battery-technology-and-new-jobs-wisconsin

Uncle Sam, Venture Capitalist - Meet the battery company that Obama visited yesterday
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575433882374313148.html

Japan as Number Three - Beijing's rise, Tokyo's fall and the wealth of nations
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575433212314778700.html

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145997.htm

The Future of Housing Finance - We'll never get a rational mortgage system until the government's affordable housing mandates are ended
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425231311880538.html

Press Briefing

Aug 16, 2010

Exploring the Many Facets of Deterrence, by Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation
http://www.state.gov/t/vci/rls/145954.htm

The Fed Can't Solve Our Economic Woes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575418964014417740.html

US Groundbreaking Effort to Provide Emergency Food Assistance to Earthquake Victims in Haiti - Two New Grants Utilize Cash and Food Vouchers to Complement In-Kind Food Aid
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr100813.html

Subsidy As a Way of Life - In the U.S. it's 'work, work, work.' A rock drummer in France gets a state stipend.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703960004575427731291231298.html

Presidential Memorandum--Continuation of U.S. Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/12/presidential-memorandum-continuation-us-drug-interdiction-assistance-gov

How Not to Win Hearts and Minds - In a U.N. survey, 52% of Afghans said foreign aid organizations 'are corrupt and are in the country just to get rich.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703999304575399422302747074.html

Press Briefing

Aug 13, 2010

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145945.htm

State Sec Clinton On New START Treaty Ratification
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/08/145879.htm

Awlaki vs. Predator - American members of al Qaeda aren't merely criminal suspects. They're active enemy combatants who can be targeted like other terrorists.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704901104575423253031580156.html

Obama Administration Announces Additional Support For Targeted Foreclosure-Prevention Programs To Help Homeowners Struggling with Unemployment
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg823.htm

Georgia and the Limits of Russian Power - Moscow's occupation forces remain in the country, but the future looks bright for Tbilisi
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425090664809722.html

White House: Teaching Our Way to a Stronger Economy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/teaching-our-way-a-stronger-economy

Rosty and Reagan - A lesson in tax reform and bipartisanship
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425661456858140.html

Are Plastics Making Us Fat? - Health gurus claim chemicals—not calories—are the cause of obesity
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703545604575407201305888876.html

How did Sudan implode so catastrophically?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421901117532376.html

Hezbollah, Radical but Rational
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100811_hezbollah_radical_rational

The Dodd-Frank Bailout is Already Here
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/12/morning-bell-the-dodd-frank-bailout-is-already-here/

Nanostructured Metamaterial Enables Invisibility Cloak, Amplifies Light, Reduces Dramatically Absorption
http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/nanostructured-metamaterial-enables-invisibility-cloak

Press Briefing

Aug 12, 2010

Why Obama Is Still the Favorite in 2012 - Hispanic voters hold the balance of power—and Republicans aren't winning their support
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409300064389276.html

Europe Jumps Off the Keynesian Bus - The economy is looking bright in Britain and Germany after those governments announced plans to reduce spending
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421231390302638.html

Nuclear Reactor Renaissance - Nuclear reactor design is poised for a desperately needed revival. Here are seven contenders.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/nuclear/nuclear-reactor-renaissance

The White House Blog - Another Step Towards Sustainable Recovery
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/another-step-towards-sustainable-recovery

No Bad Idea Left Behind - Congress turns even a border security bill into a job killer
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575422293810650232.html

Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore a Stimulus Success Story; Project to Add Desperately Needed Highway Capacity
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/caldecott-tunnel-fourth-bore-a-stimulus-success-story-project-add-desperately-needed

Gay Marriage: Leave It to the Voters - I support it as a policy matter, but having the courts mandate it promises trauma of the sort that followed Roe v. Wade
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421223725915454.html

Commerce Secretary: The Cost-Saving Census
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/cost-saving-census

Washington vs. Paul Ryan - What happens when a politician is more honest than his critics
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419473063003094.html