http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/subsidies/ en-us Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:20:48 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2364263/posts Attempts to lift the prices of particular commodities permanently above their natural market levels have failed so often, so disastrously and so notoriously that sophisticated pressure groups, and the bureaucrats upon whom they apply the pressure, seldom openly avow that aim. Their stated aims, particularly when they are first proposing that the government intervene, are usually more modest, and more plausible. They have no wish, they declare, to raise the price of commodity X permanently above its natural level. That, they concede, would be unfair to consumers. But it is now obviously selling far below its natural level. The producers... jim.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2364263/posts#comment Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:20:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2361580/posts THE LOBBIES OF Congress are crowded with representatives of the X industry. The X industry is sick. The X industry is dying. It must be saved. It can be saved only by a tariff, by higher prices, or by a subsidy. If it is allowed to die, workers will be thrown on the streets. Their landlords, grocers, butchers, clothing stores and local motion pictures will lose business, and depression will spread in ever-widening circles. But if the X industry, by prompt action of Congress, is saved—ah then! It will buy equipment from other industries; more men will be employed; they... jum.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2361580/posts#comment Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:22:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2342913/posts Those ticket taxes you pay when you fly can really cause the price to jump, but now a new report reveals some of that money is going to airports that only service private planes. An investigation by USA Today reveals millions of dollars in taxes collected from commercial passengers are going to little used airports that only service private planes, including over 50 airports in Kansas.... KSN Wichita http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2342913/posts#comment Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:59:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2332418/posts BRUSSELS (AFP) – The World Trade Organisation has judged European subsidies paid to Airbus illegal, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing a source "familiar with the matter". But European sources who declined to be named told AFP that the interim ruling released by the WTO indicated that the US complaint was only partially upheld. The Journal reported from Brussels that the WTO concluded that every launch-aid package given to Airbus for the development of its A380 double-decker long-range airliner was an illegal subsidy. The conclusion was contained in a report of around 1,000 pages, with hard copies only... AFP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2332418/posts#comment Fri, 4 Sep 2009 21:18:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2324800/posts Many of the lenders eligible to receive billions of dollars from the government's massive foreclosure prevention program helped fuel the housing crisis by issuing risky subprime loans, according to a report to be issued Wednesday by the Center for Public Integrity. Under the $75 billion program, called Making Home Affordable, lenders are eligible for taxpayer subsidies to lower the mortgage payments of distressed borrowers. Of the top 25 participants in the program, at least 21 specialized in servicing or originating subprime loans, according to the center, a nonprofit investigative reporting group funded largely by charitable foundations. Much "of this money... Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2324800/posts#comment Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:16:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2322281/posts Farmers in Michigan and six other states are harvesting a bumper crop of tart cherries. But the bounty is turning out to be the pits for farmers whose fruit is rotting in orchards instead of bubbling in cherry pies. Under a Depression-era federal program designed to keep prices from plummeting, tart-cherry farmers are being told by fruit processors to leave up to 40% of their crop unharvested. "It's kind of heartbreaking," said Rob Manigold, a tart-cherry farmer near Traverse City, Mich. Michigan grows about 75% of all the tart cherries in the U.S. WSJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2322281/posts#comment Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:23:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2303396/posts OVER the last two years, it has looked like New York would have to adjust to living without so many golden eggs from the Wall Street goose. But now Wall Street profits are booming again -- so we can relax, right? Wrong. This is an empty boom that's based on government subsidy, not economic reality. Goldman Sachs and the rest are benefitting from conditions that can't last -- the two big ones being zero interest rates and the implicit backing of the federal government in the wake of last fall's bailouts. These conditions let Wall Street make big, speculative bets... NY Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2303396/posts#comment Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:47:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2298271/posts In many ways, our health care system is broken. Even people satisfied with their own care are nervous about losing it, concerned about rising costs, and frustrated by the failure of government to bring about genuine reform. But the reason Congress has so far been unable to fix our health care problems is that Congress is too busy creating the problems in the first place. ThatÂ’s why the current proposals emanating from the White House and congressional Democrats wonÂ’t work either. Those proposals would hand over the most personal, private undertaking of our lives — health care — to the... JimDeMint.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2298271/posts#comment Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:01:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1910887/posts Al Gore’s campaign against global warming is shifting into high gear. Reporters and commentators follow his every move and bombard the public with notice of his activities and opinions. But while the mainstream media promote his ideas about the state of planet Earth, they are mostly silent about the dramatic impact his economic proposals would have on America. And journalists routinely ignore evidence that he may personally benefit from his programs. Would the romance fizzle if Gore’s followers realized how much their man stands to gain? Earlier this year Gore experienced a notable public relations debacle. The Tennessee Center for... Human Events http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1910887/posts#comment Sat, 13 Oct 2007 23:35:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2281792/posts I heard about King Corn when Nora Gedgaudas interviewed Curt Ellis, one of the film’s creators. Ellis and his co-creator Ian Cheney decided to learn about the dominance of corn in our food supply by growing an acre of corn in Iowa, then following where corn goes after it’s harvested. The short answer is: it goes into pretty much everything. People like to blame the big, bad food industry for turning us into a nation of corn-eaters, but it was clear to me (and yes, this fits nicely with my own bias) that the problem is rooted in stupid government... Fat Head Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2281792/posts#comment Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:28:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2251971/posts “Voters want action on energy,” one congresswoman told The Washington Post. “They don’t really care how much it costs.” A Democratic president was on the verge of signing “the most important energy legislation in a decade,” with tens of billions of dollars dedicated to jump-starting a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels and helping the United States achieve “energy independence.” For too long, most analysts agreed, America had put off the hard choices necessary to prevent the next oil shock and wean the country from petrodictators in the Middle East. Now was the time for bold investment and leadership from Washington.The... Reason http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2251971/posts#comment Sat, 16 May 2009 00:40:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2249454/posts Repeating past mistakes has long been a part of Washington's energy policy, but Congress used to wait a while before making the same blunder again. Not anymore. New legislation requiring wind energy closely resembles the ethanol mandate that sparked a backlash just last year. For many years, wind has benefited from generous tax credits and subsidies, but it still provides less than 2 percent of the nation's electricity. By comparison, coal supplies around 50 percent (and with considerably fewer federal incentives). Natural gas and nuclear, meanwhile, account for about 20 percent each. No wonder wind supporters want a federal mandate... The Heritage Foundation via McClatchy http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2249454/posts#comment Tue, 12 May 2009 19:26:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2231549/posts Minnesota should get out of the business of subsidizing the state's ethanol industry, the Legislative Auditor's office said today. In a report on the sometimes-controversial program that pays producers of corn-based ethanol, the office found that the subsidy program fails to maximize the energy and environmental benefits of the fuel. The money, $93 million paid to producers over the past five years, could be better spent on other programs that do a better job of reaching those goals, it concluded. Plus, at a time of crushing state budget deficits, the $44 million expected to be spent on the program through... Minneapolis StarTribune (aka The Red Star) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2231549/posts#comment Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:17:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2162266/posts Ask most people in America today whether buying a home is better than renting one, and you’ll likely get a response that equates renting with stuffing money down a garbage disposal. The idea of homeownership today is not one that simply evokes the comfort or pride of living in a place of one’s own. Instead, it’s become part of a common investment philosophy. But if you ask Edmund Phelps, the Nobel Prize-winning economist from Columbia University, he’ll proudly declare that he doesn’t own a home. And to him, that’s not a bad thing. “It used to be that the business... Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2162266/posts#comment Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:19:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2157649/posts Ted Turner, Sam Donaldson, and David Rockefeller are among tens of thousands of Americans claiming to be farmers who are getting paid by the United States government for NOT growing certain crops. They DON’T grow corn soy, sugar, cotton peanuts and other crops. They don’t grow rice or tobacco and DON’T heard certain animals. Some of these “not growing” deals paid big money to people who are already very wealthy. I say great for them, this is America and we are capitalists! I want my payments too. I don’t own a farm so I can’t make much of a case... The Collins Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2157649/posts#comment Fri, 2 Jan 2009 16:40:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2149958/posts Energy Policy: Obama announces his energy team without mentioning a green source of renewable energy that could create jobs, reduce carbon emissions and reinvigorate a vital manufacturing sector — nuclear power.The domestic auto industry isn't the only uncompetitive industry that seems to require life-sustaining transfusions of government cash to stay in business. Alternative energy sources have relied on such subsidies, called "investments," for years. Yet in President-elect Obama's announcement of his energy team, we were told "the foundations of our energy independence" lie in "the power of wind and solar." Except that for these alternative sources there's been a severe... IBD Editorials http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2149958/posts#comment Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:23:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140981/posts The Greater Toronto Area needs a gazillion dollars to fund Metrolinx, a mega mega transportation system of light rail, commuter trains, subways, highways, roads, and bicycle paths designed to reach every ward in an 8,000 square kilometre operating region approaching six million people. It will cost more than governments can afford, say its government backers. The answer, the backers say, is a toll road system that extends across the GTA and finances the transit megaproject. I have a better idea. Install the GTA-wide toll road system and scrap Metrolinx. Once roads are tolled, the population growth that is now projected... Financial Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140981/posts#comment Mon, 1 Dec 2008 20:15:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2094656/posts A MINORITY VIEW BY WALTER E. WILLIAMS RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2008, AND THEREAFTER Destroying Liberty Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis warned, "The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." The freedom of individuals from compulsion or coercion never was, and is not now, the normal state of human affairs. The normal state for the ordinary person is tyranny, arbitrary control and abuse mainly by their own government. While imperfect in its execution, the founders of our nation sought to make an exception to this ugly part of mankind's... Walter Williams Website - George Mason University http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2094656/posts#comment Wed, 1 Oct 2008 06:12:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2076163/posts WASILLA, Alaska -- The biggest project that Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters. The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla.... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2076163/posts#comment Sat, 6 Sep 2008 17:45:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055516/posts California's electrical utilities probably will miss the state's 2010 deadline for increasing their use of renewable power and could face a serious obstacle if Congress does not extend tax credits for wind farms and solar plants, according to a report issued Friday. By the end of 2010, the state's large, investor-owned utilities are supposed to ensure that 20 percent of the power they sell comes from such renewable sources as the sun and wind. Utilities such as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. have been frantically signing contracts with wind farm and solar power plant developers to meet that deadline. But... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055516/posts#comment Sat, 2 Aug 2008 21:40:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2052401/posts From Mexico to India to China, governments fearful of inflation and street protests are heavily subsidizing energy prices, particularly for diesel fuel. But the subsidies — estimated at $40 billion this year in China alone — are also removing much of the incentive to conserve fuel. The oil company BP, known for thorough statistical analysis of energy markets, estimates that countries with subsidies accounted for 96 percent of the world’s increase in oil use last year — growth that has helped drive prices to record levels. In most countries that do not subsidize fuel, high prices have caused oil demand... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2052401/posts#comment Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:02:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050865/posts - Jerry Taylor is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. Virtually every claim made by T. Boone Pickens to justify the lavish subsidies he is seeking for his wind energy investments is flat wrong. First, oil imports are not the cause of high gasoline prices. On the contrary, oil imports serve to keep gasoline prices down. After all, we import oil for a reason -- it's cheaper than the domestic alternative. If we were to restrict our energy diet to energy produced in the United States, it would make domestic energy producers (like Mr. Pickens) far richer and energy... Financial Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050865/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:50:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040066/posts Gasoline would be cheaper if countries ended their oil subsidies and let markets rule. In China, the government caps gas prices. Drivers there pay about half of what Americans pay. In many countries, oil prices are held artificially low, either by fiat or subsidy. The result? Consumption keeps rising, boosting global prices. About half of humanity, from India to Chile, now benefits from cut-rate petroleum prices. In 2008, these countries will account for all the growth in world oil demand, or an additional one million barrels a day, according to Deutsche Bank. Their consumption will be the highest in eight... The Christian Science Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040066/posts#comment Thu, 3 Jul 2008 02:21:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1992535/posts With grain prices soaring, farm income at record highs and the federal budget deficit widening, the subsidies and handouts given to American farmers would seem vulnerable to a serious pruning. But it appears that farmers, at least so far, have succeeded in stopping the strongest effort in years to shrink the government safety net that doles out billions of dollars to them each year. Influential interest groups -- which had toyed with supporting changes -- cut deals to get their own piece of the action. Lawmakers who supported an overhaul peeled off as the debate moved into the election year.... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1992535/posts#comment Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:52:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1988610/posts One of the many mandates of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 calls for oil companies to increase the amount of ethanol mixed with gasoline. During his 2006 State of the Union Address, President Bush said, “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.” Let’s look at some of the “wonders” of ethanol as a replacement for gasoline. Ethanol contains water that distillation cannot remove. As such, it can cause major damage to automobile engines not specifically designed to burn ethanol. The water content of ethanol also risks pipeline corrosion and thus must... HUMAN EVENTS http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1988610/posts#comment Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:16:36 GMT