Author: Norman Leahy

The Defense Department recently issued a report on its major suppliers – Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed-Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon – that reviewed a series of regulatory, legal, financial and other factors in order to “assess defense industry financial performance over a twenty-year timeframe.” Among the major findings: In aggregate, the defense industry is financially healthy, and its financial health has improved over time. Operating in the DoD environment has its advantages, especially with respect to cash flow through DoD’s contract financing policies, and this result is demonstrated by traditional major defense contractors out-performing commercial counterparts in many key financial…

National Public Radio left Twitter recently because it says the social media company’s decision to label it as “state-affiliated media” hurts its “credibility” and unfairly questions its editorial independence. As much as this appears to be a tempest in a social media teapot, the question about the state media label Elon Musk’s private company attached to NPR comes down to money: Twitter…revised its label on NPR’s account to “government-funded media.” The news organization says that is inaccurate and misleading, given that NPR is a private, nonprofit company with editorial independence. It receives less than 1 percent of its $300 million…

One of the many promises Donald Trump made during his term as president was to drain the D.C. swamp. It was a great term that was elastic enough to contain whatever hated item/person/institution/practice the crowd wanted, yet catchy enough to fit on a bumper sticker. It’s also turned out to be utterly meaningless, particularly when one considers just how little has changed in official Washington. And in many ways, how it’s gotten much worse. As Mario Loyola writes in RealClear Policy, among the most diehard defenders of the swamp are the Republicans who promised to drain it: Their fatal error…

There’s an uproar in the heartland about China buying American farmland, undoubtedly for nefarious purposes. To fight this alleged threat to our food supply, national security or whatever’s handy, state and local governments are lining up to limit or ban China and other foreign entities from purchasing U.S. farmland. China is the special target of the recent moral panic, which includes the bipartisan political obsession with TikTok, and the fallout (so to speak) of the Chinese spy balloon episode that riveted the nation for 15 minutes or so. But just how much land does China own in the U.S.? Turns…

I’ve written in this space before that a transportation transition from internal combustion engines to alternative fuels: electricity, hydrogen, and more, is inevitable. But unlike the promises of politicians, advocacy groups and fanboys, the transition would take longer and cost more than they are willing to admit. The Biden administration seems to know this is true and to get around it, they are looking at regulation as a way to speed up the process, no matter what. According to The New York Times, new EPA air pollution regulations are coming that will mandate a shift to electrics by 2032: Michael…

It’s no secret that politicians of both major parties dislike the initiative and referendum process. I&R has been used to do all sorts of things pols hate – cutting property taxes (like California’s Proposition 13), limiting taxes overall (Colorado’s TABOR Amendment) or, worst of all in politicians’ eyes, imposing term limits. Sometimes that great dislike for direct democracy manifests itself in new state laws intended to make it more difficult, if not impossible, for I&R backers to get measures on the ballot. Consider a new idea from the great minds in the California General Assembly to hobble voters’ ability to…

The media circus surrounding former President Donald Trump’s arraignment of 34 felony charges was every bit as tawdry, tiresome and predictable as every other media circus surrounding Trump. Regardless of how it plays out over the next few months, there are a few larger lessons to be learned from it all. Among the most important, according to the Cato Institute’s Clark Neily, is the enormous power prosecutors have, and the dangers such power poses to the rule of law. In part, it’s because the law itself has become a massive trap that makes – or provides creative prosecutors ample opportunity…

ProPublica’s investigation into years’ worth of expensive gifts, luxury travel and more from long-time GOP donor Harlan Crow to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni Thomas, should be a wake-up call on the need for stronger ethics rules on the nation’s highest court. What we got instead was the usual Team Red, Team Blue nonsense that only erodes everyone else’s faith in the political process. Perhaps that’s to be expected. Crow’s bankrolling of many of the right’s institutions and individuals built a constituency for him that has every incentive to defend his actions. As for Thomas, he’s…

The IRS recently issued a strategic plan that broadly describes how it intends to use the 10-year, $80 billion addition to its budget. Major items include helping taxpayers answer questions about their returns and, of course, increased audits for “the rich.” That the agency wants to “[d]ramatically improve services to help taxpayers meet their obligations and receive the tax incentives for which they are eligible” is a good thing. The Taxpayer Advocate’s office has flagged IRS customer service as a “serious problem” that predates the most recent excuse for bad service, the COVID-19 pandemic. Getting the taxman to answer his…

It’s no secret that governments are eager to follow the latest industrial policy fads and do so with all the tools they have available. The current craze for green energy production is one such example, where states are deploying tax incentives, handouts and more to battery producers in hopes those green jobs (and the ample opportunities for political glad-handing) will follow. But Tennessee is going a step further, using its power of eminent domain to seize property from a group of Black farmers who happen to stand in the way of all this green progress.  As the Tennessee Lookout’s Anita…