Free Republic

...The Heritage Foundation — a conservative think tank known for its pro-business allegiances — released a report Tuesday written by Alexander Salter, an economist at Texas Tech University, flirting with whether the US government should protect workers from free markets. Conservatives have long argued that the government should not tax, regulate, or subsidize industry because consumers are better off when companies are forced to compete for their dollars. However, the consequences of globalization for American manufacturing have caused many conservatives to reconsider the need for government intervention. Heritage, once the center of free-market conservatism, is now at this very crossroads....

The timeline for the looming stagflationary recession continues to creep forward, with the Peterson Institute for International Economics warning that global growth is set to slow dramatically, and warning that “an even more abrupt tightening of monetary policy that causes asset prices to fall sharply and consumers to pull back, combined with a greater slowdown in China than currently expected, could push the economy into recession by the end of this year.“ Last week, Deutsche Bank spooked trading desks when it became the first major bank to predict a US recession would strike before the end of 2023, echoing a...

A year ago a respected Tokyo-based think tank, the Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER), alarmed observers in the West by forecasting that China’s economy will surpass that of the United States by 2029, or less than a decade out. But the same think tank this month issued greatly revised figures, saying this is now expected to happen later than previously thought – in 2033 and not 2029, according to the updated forecast. JCER concluded that China is damaging its growth potential in its recent clamp down on big tech and other major industries, including among other things its ambitious...

Some think tank or polling organization should ask 1,000 Americans: What is the best thing most Americans can do to make the country better? Presumably, those most influenced by their schooling and by the media would answer something along the lines of: "fight racism" or "work to reduce inequality." Whatever the specific answer, most young people -- and those older who lean left -- would most likely respond by citing some form of activism. Since the early 1960s and '70s, a moral life has been defined as engaging in activism. One improves America -- indeed, one becomes a good person...

Carson emphasized his Christian faith in the announcement Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson announced Wednesday that he is launching a conservative think tank to "engage with local governments and work with communities to find solutions to our nation's problems." "The American Cornerstone Institute will be dedicated to creating dialogue and smart discourse," Carson said in a RealClearPolitics op-ed announcing his project. "ACI will focus on promoting and preserving individual and religious liberty, helping our country's most vulnerable find new hope, and developing methods to maximize government's efficiency and effectiveness to best serve all our nation's citizens."

The German Marshall Fund (GMF), an influential globalist think tank founded by the state of Germany to promote deeper ties between America and Europe — and funded in part by the U.S. government — has branded Breitbart News, Fox News, the Blaze, and the Federalist as “deceptive” news outlets, urging social media platforms to suppress their engagement. The GMF, which claims to be a “non-partisan” organization, relies on the opinions of NewsGuard, an unaccountable Microsoft-linked establishment project that purports to “rate” the validity of news sites. The report divides so-called “deceptive” news outlets into two tiers. “Manipulators,” that the GMF...

Snip..... In what could be the biggest State Department scandal since State Department official and United Nations founder Alger Hiss was exposed as a Soviet spy, a top Clinton State Department official and former Time magazine journalist has been identified as having been a trusted contact of the Russian intelligence service. Snip... The sensational charge against Strobe Talbott is made in a new book based on interviews with a Russian defector. Snip... Talbott has been and continues to be a major foreign policy thinker. Back in 2000, when he was named head of the Yale Center for the Study of...

Just when it seemed as though the transgender movement was reaching a fever-pitch and it was becoming impossible to stand up to the zealous mob of trans-enthusiasts, it appears some celebrities may have found the secret to shutting them down and evading the dreaded “cancel culture” imposed on anyone who dares speak truth or reason. Perhaps this culture battle is not all but lost after all. Back in December, famed author J.K. Rowling tweeted her support for Maya Forstater, a former tax expert who lost her job at think tank Center for Global Development for declaring that men and women...

Calling it a “mistake,” Google has reversed its decision to not allow the Claremont Institute to advertise its 40th Anniversary Gala honoring Secretary of State Pompeo. Many nonprofits rely on selling tickets to galas honoring important public figures for the bulk of their fundraising, both from tickets, and from donations that come from people attracted to attend the gala. In other words, limiting Claremont’s ability to attract ticket buyers and donors to its important event was an attack on its financial survivability. If you do not know the Claremont Institute and do not read its superb Claremont Review of...

The “nonprofit” think tank founded by Bernie Sanders’ wife and son is closing after criticisms over its donations. The Vermont-based Institute is suspending all operations by May — “so there could not even be an appearance of impropriety his wife explained. “....the most important thing is to not accept donations. Nobody should think giving money gains access or favor to anybody running for office.” Jane and her son, David Driscoll, founded the Sanders Institute in 2017 claiming that it would "research and promote liberal policies." Instead, people have accused them of selling their loyalty to the rich and powerful. Bernie...

Signed boxing gloves from Muhammad Ali, documents from the Bill Clinton impeachment and 3,000 boxes of other papers and memorabilia from a 42-year career in Washington, D.C., will be part of a library and think tank being named for retiring U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch on Wednesday. […] “Presidents normally open entire libraries to house their papers, and those normally cover a period of just four or eight years,” Hatch said. “With 42 years of service, I have quite a bit of history that I’d like to share with my fellow Utahns and those who come here from out of state.”...

A top liberal think tank led by a Hillary Clinton ally has reportedly faced multiple internal allegations of sexual harassment, amid claims from former and current employees that top brass at the organization haven’t done enough to address it. BuzzFeed News reported Tuesday that the Center for American Progress, led by ex-Clinton adviser Neera Tanden and founded by former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, has a history of sexual harassment claims. BuzzFeed obtained documents from 2016 that reportedly suggested a “chaotic” internal culture and pointed to “several incidents of sexual harassment against several members.” One document was an exit memo...

As far as anybody knows, the November 4th revolution/tantrum/jamboree planned by Antifa and its associate organizations remains on schedule. The “Opposition” – Antifa, the John Brown Clubs, Refuse Fascism, and assorted other scraps have announced that on that date the revolution will begin with a mass nationwide uprising that will continue until the Trump/Pence regime is overcome. Dozens of hundreds of the people’s vanguard will hit the streets, squatting at intersections and holding their breaths until the fascists are exorcised and the new epoch of light is fully underway. (Further details can be found here.) Conservatives, as is all too...

The Nevada Policy Research Institute accused state Sen. Heidi Gansert of violating Nevada’s separation of powers clause in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The lawsuit claims on behalf of plaintiff Doug French that Gansert, R-Reno, violates the state constitution by serving as a senator and working in the state’s executive branch as executive director for external relations at the University of Nevada, Reno. “The bigger picture is that we need to put an end to this violation,” NPRI spokesman Michael Schaus said. “It’s happened in the past, and it seems to happen repeatedly, but it’s ignored by both parties. I don’t...

Renewable fuels developer Joule Unlimited Inc. said John Podesta, a veteran of two White House administrations, has joined its board of directors. Podesta was previously White House chief of staff under President Clinton, and more recently served as co-chair of President Obama’s transition. He is currently president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a think tank he founded in 2003. “I have seen and heard many proposals by renewable energy companies, and can unequivocally say that Joule has a technology and a system unlike any other, with industrial viability and a clear path to market within the next...

An influential political action group in Washington, Heritage Action for America, all but endorsed the presidential candidacy of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday, with the release of an analysis of the platforms of the top 12 candidates for the Republican nomination.Cruz has been consistently in the middle of the pack in early polling, typically gathering only a fraction of the support currently being lavished on frontrunners Donald Trump and Ben Carson. However, with backing from well-funded Super PACs, the Texas senator has the ability to assert himself in the race in the event that one or both of the...

"Matt Bruenig is researcher of poverty and welfare systems at the think tank Demos." By now, it is well established that capitalism is fundamentally built upon threats of force. As libertarian philosophers Robert Nozick and Matt Zwolinski have explained, the only way to turn unowned natural resources (such as land, minerals and other goods) into privately owned property is by violently preventing all others from using them. This one-sided exclusion destroys freedom of movement and cuts many people off from the things that they need to survive.

Ben Wattenberg died this week at the age of 81. He gave me my first job in Washington, as his research assistant at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. (I returned to AEI as a fellow a few years ago, my office just a few doors down from where Ben used to work.) Ben was one of the last star pundits of what might be called the Old Order, before cable news and the Internet transformed the landscape. When everyone was rushing to CNN to shout at each other on "Crossfire," he launched a PBS show called "Think...

A leaked memorandum from the RAND corporation think tank suggests that Kiev should engage in an all-out war in the eastern regions, including shutting down all communications, putting citizens in internment camps and killing all who resist. The RAND Corporation is non-profit global think tank which offers research and analysis to the US armed forces. In the shocking letter, which has been leaked by the media, the advice offers a step by step brutal guide in how to deal with the population in eastern Ukraine. ‘Military op’s advantages overweigh disadvantage’ In the first line the memorandum notes that the peace...

Twenty-five years ago the idea that the Mackinac Center might still be around today probably seemed about as far-fetched as predicting that the birthplace of the UAW, the cradle of organized labor and the stronghold of its national power would be a right-to-work state today. In four minutes I want to show you how our allies came together to make that victory possible. A video by Correy Burres helps tell this story. We are here in part to celebrate that success, but not as a stopping point. It’s only a milestone on the way to freedom across the board. No...