Copyright 2012 The New York Sun Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:19:55 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss National :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/national admin@nysun.net (Seth Lipsky) webmaster@nysun.com en-us LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/obamas-budget-looks-dead-on-arrival-at-the-seante/87704/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:18:47 EST If you shake out the Obama budget in terms of bold headlines, it’s really a class-warfare, tax-the-rich budget. Layer upon layer of tax hikes are piled on successful investors, small-business owners, and corporations. The capital-gains tax goes from 15% to 24% (including Obamacare). The dividends tax goes from 15% to nearly 40%, and that’s not including the double tax on corporate profits embodied in dividends and capital gains. The Bush tax cuts for top earners are repealed. There’s the 30%... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/editorials/contraception-battle-masks-a-mystery-the-case/87703/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:49:20 EST What got President Obama’s contraceptive compromise into the headlines was the religious angle. What deserves to keep it there is the economic angle. After Catholic organizations complained that the federal government wanted to force them to include free contraceptive coverage in their health insurance plans, the White House announced a compromise. As the White House described it, “if a woman’s employer is a charity, hospital or other religious organization that has a religious objection to... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/bernanke-emerges-as-an-issue-on-the-campaign-train/87700/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:58:32 EST Out on the campaign trail, Fed head Ben Bernanke is an unpopular guy. Governor Romney and Speaker Gingrich have both said they would replace Mr. Bernanke, not reappoint him. Congressman Ron Paul would swap the whole Federal Reserve monetary system for a gold-linked dollar, making the yellow metal legal tender. It was Governor Perry of Texas, before he dropped out of the race, who said more quantitative easing by the Fed would be “almost treasonous.” Republicans in Washington are equally... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/bernanke-gets-one-thing-right-taxes/87695/ Tue, 7 Feb 2012 16:16:01 EST For one time in a row the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, got the story right. No, it wasn’t King Dollar. It was taxes. Testifying before members of the Senate Budget Committee today, Mr. Bernanke referred to the scheduled repeal of the Bush tax cuts. He said, “If no action is taken by January 2013, there will be a very sharp change in the fiscal stance of the United States government.” Now, lest we give him too much credit, Mr. Bernanke was kind of making a Keynesian point. Why?... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/national/mannings-law-confounds-the-experts-inviting/87694/ Mon, 6 Feb 2012 12:32:05 EST The victory of the New York Giants in the National Football League’s Super Bowl is the latest in a series of recent news developments that underscore a principle that might be called Manning’s Law, after the Giants quarterback Eli Manning: The predictions of “experts” are often wrong. You can look it up. Sports Illustrated, the venerable, highly profitable jewel of the Time Warner Corporation’s magazine empire, employs a veteran sportswriter named Peter King. The magazine describes him as “one... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/message-to-mitt-a-rising-tide-lifts-all-boats/87690/ Fri, 3 Feb 2012 20:44:14 EST That great phrase was coined by the late Jack Kemp, who believed that growth and opportunity for all is the answer to poverty. Kemp believed it was the answer to all things economic. And he was right. The best anti-poverty program is the one that creates jobs. The answer to large budget deficits? Grow the economy, create jobs, watch incomes rise, and let the tax revenues come rolling in. Partly from Jack Kemp’s work, and partly from his own experience, Ronald Reagan believed the same thing. He... LEWIS LEHRMAN http://www.nysun.com/national/lehrman-to-romney-santorum-join-the-alliance/87682/ Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:15:29 EST At a recent Presidential debate, the Republican candidates discussed a new Gold Commission much like the one to which President Reagan appointed Ron Paul and me in 1981. When asked, Jim Grant and I agreed to serve as co-chairmen of a new gold commission — proposed by Newt Gingrich if he were elected. Just weeks prior, Senator Paul was reported by the Weekly Standard as having called for just such a commission. We said at the time that we would serve on a gold commission established by any... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/romney-readies-tax-reform-plan-to-deal-with-sub/87679/ Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:31:08 EST One would think that with one of the weakest economic recoveries on record, President Obama would be desperately searching for ways to promote economic growth. It is, after all, an election year. Most pundits and pollsters agree that it’s the economy, stupid. Instead, Mr. Obama used his State of the Union speech to rail on about fairness, inequality, and redistribution. The Obama strategy is simple: Tax the rich because they don’t pay enough. The problem is, they do pay enough. According to the... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/obamas-tax-proposal-is-designed-to-come-at-me/87676/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:18:10 EST President Obama's proposal to increase taxes on the rich is “designed to come at me,” GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney told me this morning. In his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Obama proposed a minimum 30% tax rate on Americans earning more than $1 million a year. The proposal — known as the “Buffett Tax” after Warren Buffett famously said his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does — was a key part of the president's populist push for "fairness" in his speech to the... BENYAMIN KORN http://www.nysun.com/editorials/palin-factor-starts-to-emerge-in-gop-race/87664/ Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:32:53 EST Who is the leader of the “Not-Romney” movement within today’s GOP? Is it Newt Gingrich, whose surge in the South Carolina opinion polls puts him within striking distance of front-runner Mitt in tomorrow’s vote? Is it Ron Paul, whose dedicated core of “hard-money” but isolationist supporters gives him 15 to 20% in every Republican contest? Or is it Rick Santorum, recently endorsed by a raft of Christian evangelical leaders? For my dollar, the leader is Sarah Palin, whose endorsements continue to... ANDRESEN BLOM http://www.nysun.com/national/all-eyes-on-gingrich-in-wake-of-his-call-for/87662/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:32:14 EST All eyes at the debate tonight will be on the former speaker of the House, and current president aspirant, who this week dramatically moved the political discourse by calling for a new Gold Commission. Mr. Gingrich is no stranger to gold. He was one of the seven cosponsors of Jack Kemp’s 1984 Gold Standard Act. A gold commission is an astute way of easing into a subject that every candidate fears might put them into a thicket of technicalities over their heads. Even Rep. Ron Paul, well... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/secret-romney-ryan-entente-bodes-well-for-gop/87647/ Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:38:45 EST While so much attention has been turned to Newt Gingrich’s catastrophically mistaken attack on Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital, free-market capitalism, investment, and profits, a potentially much more significant development occurred in the New Hampshire debate Saturday night. For the first time, Mitt Romney embraced a much bolder tax-reform plan. Under pressure from a number of supply-side conservatives (including me, and most especially the editorial-page folks at the Wall Street Journal), Mr... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/gop-beware-economy-is-moving-to-give-obama-a-leg/87639/ Fri, 6 Jan 2012 19:14:28 EST  Message to my fellow conservatives: Please don’t blame the mainstream press for the improvement in jobs, unemployment, and economic growth. Reporters are not making this up. The economy is better. It’s going to give President Obama a leg up on the election. GOP beware, and come to your senses. Take Friday’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nonfarm payrolls gained 200,000, and the unemployment rate slipped to 8.5% from 8.7%. It may well be that a seasonal quirk added 42,000... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/national/how-anton-chekhov-helped-set-grand-strategy/87623/ Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:12:25 EST Who knew Russian classics by Chekhov could be the source of grand strategic thinking? Careful study of this playwright and short story writer was but one of the many facets of Cold War polymath George Kennan, whose life and achievements were discussed in a recent lecture at the New-York Historical Society. In attendance were both Kennan’s son, Christopher, and eldest daughter, Grace Kennan Warnecke. Paul Kennedy took the podium to introduce his fellow Yale professor, John Lewis Gaddis, author... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/hard-hat-democrats-could-abandon-obama-as-jobs/87611/ Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:27:14 EST The payroll-tax-cut debate is not really about the payroll tax, which is a weak-kneed economic stimulant and a lackluster job creator because of its temporary nature. Without permanent incentives at lower tax rates, these rebates don’t do anything for growth and jobs. Instead, the key to understanding the payroll-tax debate is to grasp President Obama’s leftist vision of taxing successful earners (the millionaire surtax) and his obsession with clean energy at the expense of fossil fuels. These... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/mcconnell-warns-democratic-concessions-on-tax/87610/ Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:40:59 EST The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, is warning that a Democratic plan to concede on a "millionaires’ tax," in order to get Republicans to pass an extension of the payroll tax, likely won't be enough to get an agreement. “The tax they wanted to implement on business owners was something that couldn’t pass the House and couldn’t pass the Senate,” Mr. McConnell said on the Kudlow Report last night. “So if they are giving up on that, they are giving up on something that couldn’t have... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/automatic-spending-cut-looms-as-likely-best/87571/ Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:18:01 EST Instead of a super tax hike from the super-committee, a much better option for the economy and budget-cutting credibility would be to implement plan B, which is the automatic spending-cut trigger known as sequestration. The Wall Street Journal editorial on the sequester scenario shows a roughly $70 billion budget cut in 2013 and probably more in the future as the budget baseline is pulled down. A $70 billion cut would be one of the largest on record -- maybe the largest. It would show real... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/data-show-a-stronger-economy-than-the-stock/87570/ Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:08:32 EST You wouldn’t know it from today’s stock market, which as of this writing is off nearly 200 points. But the daily numbers continue to show an economy that is stronger than most folks think. Today initial jobless claims fell to 388,000 — the lowest level in seven months. The Philly Fed manufacturing index, which translates to 53 on an ISM basis, shows a strong employment component. Earlier in the week, the index of industrial production beat estimates with an especially strong reading on business... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/gop-in-danger-of-losing-narrative-on-taxes-as/87569/ Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:43:17 EST It would be a great tragedy if a super tax hike came out of a supercommittee compromise deal. It would do great harm to the economy — just as much harm as President Obama’s various tax-hike threats. On the Republican side, a super tax hike would irreparably split the GOP. Okay. Here’s the good news. In a CNBC interview this week, I asked supercommittee co-chair Jeb Hensarling about an idea of the Democrats to raise taxes by $600 billion to $800 billion. About $300 billion of that might be... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/big-question-now-is-whether-bernanke-will-follow/87550/ Thu, 3 Nov 2011 15:38:12 EST Will the Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke soon follow the European Central Bank’s Mario Draghi? In his first action as Jean-Claude Trichet’s replacement, Mr. Draghi cut the ECB target rate by a quarter% to 1.25% from 1.5%. It was a surprise. Given the hullabaloo over Greece’s bailout referendum, which is now dead in the water, and the likelihood of a new Greek government, Mr. Draghi’s liquidity addition is a modest but useful antidote to major financial stress and uncertainty in the Eurozone... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/national/america-will-have-to-take-stock-of-its-positon-as/87549/ Thu, 3 Nov 2011 10:14:13 EST At some point, unfashionable though it is to do so, the United States will have to take stock of its position as a great power. Despite the globalization of a great range of issues, from the environment to terrorism, the world is still substantially directed by the applied influence of its principal countries. And however down-at-the-heel and -mouth it may be, or at least feel sometimes, the U.S. is incomparably the world’s most important country. It has by far the largest economy and most... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/fed-set-to-meet-on-monetary-policy-as-case/87548/ Tue, 1 Nov 2011 03:32:38 EST The Fed is meeting Tuesday and Wednesday on monetary policy. The FOMC statement will be released at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, and then Chairman Bernanke will have a news conference at 2:15 p.m. With both real gross domestic product and inflation at 2.5%, there doesn’t seem to be much of a case for new Fed quantitative easing. While unemployment is high, that’s a function of regulatory and tax obstacles — certainly not tight money. Both QE1 and QE2 have failed to bring down unemployment. There’s... Special to the Sun http://www.nysun.com/national/dollar-emerges-as-an-issue-in-2012-campaign/87547/ Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:19:23 EST The collapse of the United States dollar is emerging as a central issue in the 2012 presidential campaign, the editor of The New York Sun says in a television interview. The director of the Foundation for Monetary Education, Larry Parks, in a local broadcast in New York, conducts a half hour of conversation on the dollar and the gold standard with Seth Lipsky. The occasion is the publication of “It Shines for All: The Gold Standard Editorials of The New York Sun.” The conversation ranges from... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/economic-armageddon-is-dodged-as-europe-forges/87541/ Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:41:06 EST The world economy has once again dodged Armageddon. The European Union finally forged a Greek bond deal, and a rescue fund big enough to ring-fence banks and sovereign debt, in order to avoid a catastrophic, Lehman-like contagion event. At the same time, the U.S. economy moved away from the threat of recession with a third-quarter real GDP report of 2.5%. In response, stocks are soaring. We’ll live to see another day. First the American economy. Led by surging business investment of highly... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/national/obama-is-played-for-a-fool-by-macarthur-genius/87537/ Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:11:42 EST The next battle over President Obama’s job-killing regulations may take place on the Atlantic Coast, where fishermen, and the senators and congressmen who represent them, are voicing mounting frustration at the Obama administration’s “catch-share” rules for the fishing industry. The Republican senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, on Saturday stood with fishermen in Gloucester and called on Mr. Obama to fire the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jane... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/gop-field-swings-to-pro-growth-platform/87534/ Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:43:06 EST The latest Gallup poll pegs President Obama’s approval at a new low of 41%. That adds to the thought that the winner of the GOP presidential-primary sweepstakes is going to be the next president. And inside that Republican contest, the policy pendulum is swinging toward pro-growth, flat-tax reform. A new agenda. With Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan and the announcement of a Steve Forbes-type flat tax from Governor Perry, the GOP flat-tax-reform competition is dominating the headline news. While Mr... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/economic-numbers-turn-better-albeit-only-sightly/87526/ Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:24:53 EST While investors wait to see if the Europeans will agree to a major boost in their rescue fund to backstop sovereign debt and the banks who own it, here at home the economic news has turned slightly more positive. A month ago, significant coincident economic indicators for August for nonfarm payrolls, retail sales, and industrial production all registered zero. It was a bizarre and pessimistic coincidence.  Now, a month later, the September figures are coming in better. Not fabulous, but better... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/art-laffer-calls-cains-tax-plan-far-far-better/87524/ Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:21:06 EST Herman Cain is the only Republican presidential candidate who wants to kill the tax code. That’s right. Put a knife in it. Junk the entire system. And people are cheering as he rises in the polls in his quest for the nomination. Cain’s 9-9-9 plan is not perfect. But then again, the good should never the enemy of the perfect. Congressman Paul Ryan gives the plan a thumbs-up. Supply-side mentor Art Laffer tells me it would be “far, far better than the current system.” And Chris Chocola, president... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/new-model-to-save-european-banks-emerges/87518/ Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:17:18 EST  The 330-point stock market rally yesterday was generally linked to an expected Merkel-Sarkozy summit in a couple of weeks to nail down a new European rescue plan for bad government debt and troubled banks. But I think the more immediate cause of yesterday’s rally was the news that European leaders are rescuing the underwater bank Dexia. This bank-rescue mission looks to me like a new model to save all the European banks from the risk of catastrophic meltdown and contagion. There are some key... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/national/new-nobel-laureat-warned-against-stimulus-package/87512/ Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:20:12 EST No matter how skeptical one is of the authority of “experts,” it’s hard to avoid paying at least some attention to the people who award the Nobel prize — especially when they give one to someone who tends to support some things one tended to believe already. So it is in the case of Thomas Sargent, the New York University professor who was announced Monday as a winner of the Nobel in economics. An interview of Professor Sargent by the Minneapolis Fed in August 2010 summed up some of his... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/recession-is-the-outlook-despite-manufacturing/87506/ Mon, 3 Oct 2011 15:46:34 EST  The stronger-than-expected ISM manufacturing-index reading for September might normally suggest that the economy, at least for now, has dodged a recession bullet. After zero jobs and zero real consumer spending in August, which put the stalled economy on the front end of recession, the ISM number is the first major September reading. But economist Michael Darda says hold the applause: Inside the ISM, new orders and order backlogs either flat-lined or declined and remain below 50  —  the DMZ... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/christies-earned-american-exceptionalism-makes/87503/ Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:54:20 EST So just when everyone had concluded the Chris Christie matter — saying “Great speech at the Reagan Library, but he’s not gonna run for president” — the New York Post comes along with a story that says the New Jersey governor is seriously considering a 2012 run. Apparently the Reagan Library experience had a big impact on Mr. Christie, and others. He’s now being urged to go for it by Nancy Reagan, Henry Kissinger, President George W. Bush, and Barbara Bush. According to the Post story, even Mr... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/national/decline-of-europe-throws-vision-of-degaulle-into/87499/ Thu, 29 Sep 2011 07:52:20 EST The admirable Seth Lipsky of The New York Sun, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and the (English-language) Jewish Forward, seems to be the first American commentator since Walter Lippmann to recognize the prescience, in post–World War II matters, of Charles de Gaulle. He was referring especially to de Gaulle’s recommendation of a restored gold standard as de Gaulle and his chief economic adviser, Jacques Rueff, feared what would happen to the world’s currencies if they were valued only in... SETH LIPSKY http://www.nysun.com/national/plan-to-return-america-to-the-gold-standard-set/87495/ Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:53:57 EST NEW YORK — The next big step in the gold standard debate is going to be taken next month at Washington, when one of the original members of the Reagan-era United States Gold Commission offers a five-step plan to return America to sound money. The architect of the plan, Lewis Lehrman, a businessman and scholar, will present his program in an address October 5 at a conference in Washington on the how to return to a stable dollar. He will outline a five-step program to return America to a... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/warning-by-bernanke-of-downside-risk-turns-out/87492/ Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:07:54 EST Stocks collapsed roughly 700 points over two days after the Federal Reserve launched its “Operation Twist.” The market correctly perceives that the central bank’s plan to swap $400 billion of short-term notes for long-term bonds adds no new reserves to the financial system. So it wasn’t QE3, that’s for sure. No stimulus. In fact, with the Treasury yield curve flattening, the Fed’s sterilized asset swap actually tightened financial markets. The Fed should have listened to the GOP congressional... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/force-is-with-the-gop-as-stagflation-overcomes/87486/ Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:26:57 EST Is the economy standing on the front end of a new recession? As IMF executive director Christine Lagarde and World Bank president Robert Zoellick warn that the global economy is entering a new economic danger zone, there’s plenty to be worried about right here in the United States. The August batch of economic stats shows zero jobs and zero retail sales. Industrial production rose slightly to save us from a clean zero sweep, but it was only two-tenths of 1%. However, manufacturing registered by... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/national/how-israel-can-have-a-big-impact-via/87485/ Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:54:42 EST The victory of Robert “Bob” Turner in the race to replace Rep. Anthony Weiner in New York’s 9th Congressional District hands the Republicans a seat that the Democrats would, according to most polls, have held had Mr. Weiner stood for reelection. The 9th is a district with a three-to-one Democratic edge among registered voters and a heavy Jewish population that can be counted on to turn out in impressive numbers in most elections. Despite this, one Democrat, Mayor Koch, saw this as a unique... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/perry-romney-swinging-against-bernanke-emerge-as/87482/ Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:14:03 EST Watching the two GOP frontrunners in last night’s debate -- Mitt Romney and Rick Perry -- a couple of policy points jumped out at me. First, regarding the Fed, both candidates strongly supported King Dollar. This is interesting because monetary policy continues to be a GOP campaign issue. That is rare in politics, but it’s a good thing in the context of today’s sputtering economy and failed quantitative easing. For Governor Romney, who said he would not reappoint Bernanke in the last debate... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/300-point-plunge-signals-absence-of-confidence/87480/ Fri, 9 Sep 2011 18:26:43 EST Who would have really expected a 300-point stock market plunge on the day after President Obama’s so-called jobs speech? Yes, worries over new fears of a Greek default ripped through the markets on Friday. As did fears of an al-Qaeda bombing plot on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. But you can’t help but think that at least some of the stock plunge is a signal of no economic confidence in Mr. Obama’s plan. For that matter, who really expected an unbelievably large $450 billion plan? That’s way... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/how-bastiat-offers-a-clue-for-obama-gop-in-wake/87465/ Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:43:12 EST Get ready for a bunch of demand-side economists to tell you that the post-Hurricane Irene rebuilding phase is actually a good thing for future economic growth. But don’t believe it. Who has it right? Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR, Inc., delivered my favorite quote on the subject to the New York Times: “If you’re in the middle of recession, you just wander around blowing up buildings, and that would be your path to prosperity. And clearly that’s not the case. It’s not the case with... RICK RICHMAN http://www.nysun.com/national/jerusalem-case-at-supreme-court-may-pit-white/87446/ Thu, 4 Aug 2011 19:45:18 EST In a major constitutional case over whether Congress can require the State Department to put “Israel” as the country of birth on the passport of an American citizen born in Jerusalem, it is possible that pivotal evidence may lie in some pictures on the White House website. On the official website are a series of pictures from Vice President Biden’s trip last year to Israel, where he met in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israelis. In cutlines associated with the pictures the... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/editorials/pro-growth-strategy-emerges-in-plan-of-the-gang/87434/ Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:47:23 EST There are a lot of known unknowns about the new “Gang of Six” budget proposal. But conservatives should hold back from trashing it. Why? There’s a large, pro-growth tax-reform piece in the plan that would lower tax rates across-the-board. This is a stunning reversal of the Obama Democrats’ soak-the-rich, class-warfare campaign. The best part of the Gang of Six plan is a reduction in the top personal tax rate from 35% to a range of 23% to 29%. For businesses, the rate would drop in the same... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/house-senate-converging-on-deficit-plans/87436/ Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:36:46 EST What’s so bad about the Reid plan? The big sticking points between the House GOP leadership and Senator Reid’s latest plan are 1) the House wants two debt increases, one this year and one next year (Mr. Reid has just one increase) and 2) the House Republicans want a guaranteed balanced-budget-amendment vote. Regarding the Reid plan itself, it really looks like a Republican plan: A $2.7 trillion spending cut to raise the debt ceiling by something like $2.5 trillion, and no tax revenues. So... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/rubio-the-next-american-century-wll-be-greater/87409/ Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:02:37 EST Rising Senate star Marco Rubio of Florida put out a strong growth message in our interview last night. Shrink size of government, broad-based flat tax reform, roll back regulations. Balanced budget amendment, with tough spending caps. Best solution for an ailing middle class: Create jobs. He believes the 21st century can be an American century if we follow this path. There are few people more articulate than the gifted Mr. Rubio. * * * MR. KUDLOW: The debt talks are very hot. President Obama’s... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/wal-mart-effect-gives-lift-to-stock-market-after/87400/ Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:20:42 EST The Wal-Mart victory handed down by the Supremes today is a great win for all business, and a huge defeat for frivolous class-action lawsuits. This business victory by Wal-Mart is so bullish, I believe it drove up stocks today, with the Dow finishing 76 points higher. There was no new news from Greece. Today’s stock market rally was the Wal-Mart effect. By the way, the slam-down on class-action lawsuits is also a victory for individuals. If people have a beef, go ahead and sue. But the Supreme... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/new-data-suggest-a-second-recession-will-be-kept/87391/ Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:50:25 EST New economic stats today on retail sales from both China and America show there’s no double-dip recession out there — no matter what the bears-gone-viral may be telling you. No Armageddon. And no stock market crash either. Actually, today’s 123-point Dow gain to get back over 12,000 is a key sign that the stock correction may be over. Forward earnings at $96 a share on the S&P 500 (1,288) show a price-earnings multiple of about 13.4-times. Trailing earnings of $94 a share show a similar... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/pawlenty-emerges-from-gop-pack-with-a-plan-in/87387/ Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:20:01 EST The former governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, turned out a blockbuster economic-growth plan this past week, including deep cuts in taxes, spending, and regulations. It’s really the first Reaganesque supply-side growth plan from any of the GOP presidential contenders. And he caps it all off with a defense of optimism as he charges ahead with a national economic growth goal of 5%. That’s right: 5%. Mr. Pawlenty calls this target aspirational. Okay, fine. But deeper down, he’s basically saying... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/obama-moves-from-re-elect-to-big-trouble-as/87378/ Fri, 3 Jun 2011 18:43:58 EST  Political advantage can be fleeting. A couple of months ago, during the winter quarter, job gains looked to be picking up, unemployment was easing lower, and President Obama’s reelection hopes looked more secure. But things sure have changed. In recent weeks, a whole bunch of new economic stats have been pointing to a sputtering economy — maybe even an inflation-prone, less-than-2-percent-growth recession. Stocks have dropped five straight weeks, as they look toward slower growth, jobs, and... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/stock-market-emits-a-cry-for-help-but-is-anybody/87372/ Wed, 1 Jun 2011 19:23:25 EST With a flamboyant downgrade of the outlook for economic growth, jobs, and profits, Wednesday’s 280 point Dow plunge to launch the so-called June stock swoon is a warning shot across the bow. The Dow tanked alongside a batch of dismal economic data. The ISM manufacturing index, ADP employment, Case-Shiller home prices, and consumer confidence are all pointing to 2% growth or less, rather than the kind of 5% growth we ought to be getting coming out of a deep recession. The economy now looks like... Special to the Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-federalist-papers-for-a-gold-standard-is/87405/ Mon, 27 Jun 2011 06:42:22 EST NEW YORK — “This brilliant book is The Federalist Papers for a gold standard,” says Steve Forbes of the first anthology of editorials of The New York Sun. “It succinctly, dazzlingly — and convincingly — makes the irrefutable case for re-linking the battered dollar to gold.” The book — “It Shines for All: The Gold Standard Editorials of The New York Sun” — is edited by famed author David Pietrusza and contains a foreward by one of America’s most distinguished writers on markets and money, James...