PRESIDENT OBAMA wants to double U.S. exports between now and 2015, and it's a worthy goal. It won't be easy: Exports fell from $1.8 trillion in 2008 to $1.5 trillion in 2009, due to the global recession. But, as the president suggested in a speech Thursday, a big boost in sales of U.S. goods and services abroad would support 2 million American jobs. And some of his ideas could help that… Read more

    THEN   NOW   Obama on Timing of … Read more

Natural experiments are rare in politics, but few are as instructive as the prototype for ObamaCare that Massachusetts set in motion in 2006. The bills for "universal coverage" are now coming due, and it appears the state political class is prepared to do lasting damage to one of America's top-flight health-care systems. Last month, Democratic Governor Deval Patrick landed a neutron… Read more

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the $787 billion stimulus package being signed into law. Now is the time for Congress to take stock of what’s transpired this year. It’s time to evaluate why the stimulus has been ineffective in creating jobs and to refocus on proven, bipartisan measures to rejuvenate our economy. And it’s time to work toward the recovery the American people… Read more

Although Democrats think their health-care legislation faces smooth sailing to implementation, there is a rock dead ahead -- a constitutional challenge to the legislation's core. Democrats who assume it is constitutional to make it mandatory for Americans to purchase health insurance should answer some questions: Would it be constitutional for the government to legislate compulsory… Read more

PRESIDENT OBAMA is a great admirer of the Mayo Clinic. Time and again he has extolled it as an outstanding model of health care excellence and efficiency. “Look at what the Mayo Clinic is able to do,’’ the president proclaimed at a rally in September. “It’s got the best quality and the lowest cost of just about any system in the country. . . . We want to help the whole country learn from… Read more

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Some married couples would pay thousands of dollars more for the same health insurance coverage as unmarried people living together, under the health insurance overhaul plan pending in Congress. The built-in "marriage penalty" in both House and Senate healthcare bills has received scant attention. But for scores of low-income and middle-income couples, it could… Read more

C-SPAN Challenges Congress to Open Health Care Talks to TV Coverage The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves. C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open "all important… Read more

Barack Obama's quest for historic health-care legislation has turned into a parody of leadership. We usually associate presidential leadership with the pursuit of goals that, though initially unpopular, serve America's long-term interests. Obama has reversed this. He's championing increasingly unpopular legislation that threatens the country's long-term interests. "This isn't about me,"… Read more

With the White House on the attack today against the Congressional Budget Office and Medicare official's findings that Democratic reforms don't control health care costs, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, is not helping their cause. He said today: “Can I sit up here or stand here with a straight face and say, 'We have got strong… Read more