If the current bear market hurts, it should. It's the fourth-worst in modern market history. But here's balm for aching portfolios: The smart folks at Sanford Bernstein & Co., a value-oriented investment-management firm, tell us that "the key thing to remember is...
POLITICS
The War on Capital — Not Terrorism
Just as they’ve blurred the distinction between legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion, OECD officials have tried to blur the distinction between money-laundering and tax havens — even though the latter involves moving illegally-gained money above-ground, from the “underground economy” while tax avoidance involves legally moving legally-made money to jurisdictions with the lowest tax rates.
An Open Letter to CEOs: Defend the Profit-Motive–or Perish
As a grateful customer of America's productive businesses--as someone who knows that his well-being depends on yours--I implore you to stop apologizing to your attackers. Stop pledging to "reform," to become "better corporate citizens," to embrace crippling new...
The Homeland Security Bill’s Poison Pill
Criminal aliens and their lawyers are rooting mightily for the Senate's version of the Homeland Security bill now being debated in Washington. That's because buried in the legislation is a very dangerous proposal to grant unprecedented power to a secretive,...
Something Rotten in Denmark?
A Muslim group in Denmark announced last month that a $30,000 bounty would be paid for the murder of several prominent Danish Jews, a threat that garnered wide international notice. Less well known is that this is just one problem associated with Denmark's...
The Other Energy Scandal: Ethanol
Prosecutors snagged their first guilty plea in the Enron energy scandal last month. Former executive Michael Kopper admitted to money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He has promised to forfeit $12 million in illegal profits, which will be distributed...
America’s Real Robber Barons: The Congress of the United States
As we write, both Democrats and Republicans are introducing legislation to seek a moratorium on re-incorporations to tax havens -- and some of the bills include a retroactive repeal of the right of companies that have already accessed havens. But Congressional action...
America’s “Eternal Friendship” With Terrorist Supplier Saudi Arabia
If sucking up to the House of Saud were an Olympic event, George W. Bush would be a contender for the gold. He was at his fawning best last month, when he hosted the Saudi Arabian ambassador, Bandar bin Sultan, for lunch in Crawford, Texas. The ambassador, who showed...
“Sustainable” Development’s Unsustainable Contradictions
The U.N.'s "sustainable development" conference in South Africa has been characterized, so far, by what the press calls "divergent agendas," a confused contest of competing interests and an attitude of futility. One speaker summed up the expectations for the...
Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neil Confuses Tax Avoidance versus Tax Evasion
To his credit, in May 2001 Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill wrote an op-ed26 (and a private letter to the OECD) questioning some of its more punitive aims: I am troubled by the underlying premise that low tax rates are somehow suspect and by the notion that any...
The Purpose of the Draft is Not a Strong Military
Senior military officers are opposing bringing back the military draft. They point out that today's military is so high-tech and complex that an all-volunteer, trained force is superior. For years, in fact, many military leaders have observed that motivated recruits...
Saddam’s Rap Sheet
Consider the paradox: Almost every government agrees that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is an appalling monster and shudders at the prospect of his acquiring nuclear weapons. Yet those same governments are also furiously signaling their disapproval of an American-led...
Olympic Boondoggle: Careful What You Wish For
The U.S. Olympic Committee made grown men and women cry last month when it eliminated Houston and Washington, D.C., from the running to host the 2012 summer games. Texas-sized tears rolled in both towns. D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams looked more crushed than Charlie...
9/11: Surrending the Domestic Front
After Osama bin Laden's hijack squadrons invaded our skies a year ago, America's military responded. Operation Enduring Freedom launched on Oct. 7, 2001. President Bush deployed thousands of troops to combat terrorist forces in the Middle East. By Memorial Day, dozens...
Forgotten Heroes of 9/11
The American way of life is, fundamentally, a life of individual liberty.
The Betrayal of The Bush Doctrine
In the days following September 11, we feared for our future. Would terrorist attacks become a fixture of life? Would we have to live the rest of our days with the knowledge that our work, our dreams, our loved ones, our lives could be obliterated at any moment? Was...
What Have We Lost?
One year later, the hole in New York's skyline where the World Trade Center towers once stood is a visual reminder of something else that is missing: the ideas and attitudes that make a vigorous war in America's self-defense possible. For many of us, the immediate...
Censorship on Campus? Time to Privatize America’s Universities
The terrorist attacks of September 11, according to many college professors, have claimed another victim: free speech on campus. They contend that a chilling climate has arisen, in which they hesitate to voice ideas critical of America for fear of reprimand by...
The Chief Executive Officer That Got Away
It is a little ironic, in this recent era of intense focus on CEO accountability and corporate malfeasance, that possibly the single greatest default of responsibility by a Chief Executive Officer in our history is going on today virtually without mention. Ken Lay,...
Tax Competition: Enemy of the Welfare State
In addition to offering sanctuary to the world's tax-burdened, tax havens provide an indirect benefit to the tax-payers who remain pinned under welfare state tax burdens: they cause tax rates and tax burdens in those welfare states to be lower than they might be...
The Media and the Military
Vice President Dick Cheney's speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars on the need to end Saddam Hussein's terrorist regime in Iraq was a much-needed dose of cold, hard reality. Those who are wringing their hands over the possibility of a pre-emptive strike against Iraq...
“Death to America”
America's war on terrorism did not begin in September 2001. It began in November 1979. That was shortly after Ayatollah Khomeini had seized power in Iran, riding the slogan "Death to America" - and sure enough, the attacks on Americans soon began. In November 1979, a...
The Guilt of Defense Attorneys
Samantha Runnion was a victim of perverse ideas. Not just the ideas that drove Alejandro Avila to kidnap, sexually assault and strangulate her, but also those that lawyers use to get defendants off who they know are guilty. One such lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, who helped...
“Play Ball” …with Taxpayer Money
"Stop us before we spend again!" Baseball owners, in effect, took this position in the recent game of chicken between baseball players and owners, a showdown that resulted in a settlement on the eve of the strike deadline. Texas Ranger owner Tom Hicks, who paid Alex...
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