Julie Murphy is only seven years old, but she embodies the classic American zeal for entrepreneurship.

She learned about lemonade stands after seeing one in a cartoon.  She got excited and wanted to open one of her own.  And so Julie’s mother worked with her to get everything together and set up shop at a fair in Northeast Portland, Oregon.

20 minutes after opening, a government official approached and asked for their $120 occupational license.  Of course, they had no license.

And so 7-year-old Julie, the budding entrepreneur, was told to shut down her lemonade stand or face $500 in fines.

Julie and her mother were encouraged by others to keep the stand open and ask for donations instead.  Business picked up, and the regulators returned.  This time they made Julie cry.  They also got their wish:  Julie’s mom shut down the lemonade stand.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case of licensing gone wild.  Rather it is a classic example of a national problem that affects countless people in America every day.  Institute for Justice President Chip Mellor wrote this week in the Washington Times:

Mired in a nationwide jobless recovery, state and local governments have the power to create jobs and transform communities if they do one simple thing: Get out of the way of aspiring entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately for small businesses, however, laws restricting economic liberty are becoming more commonplace in America. Consider that since the 1950s, the percentage of occupations in the United States that require people to obtain permission from the government in the form of a license before they can pursue their chosen occupation has grown from a mere 5 percent to more than 30 percent.

Consider a few recent IJ cases:

(more…)

You had to live through it to recognize the metamorphosis. During those early days of June 2004, as the nation mourned the passing of Ronald Reagan, you would have never known he had been ridiculed and treated with disdain for most of his political career—not only by Democrats but by establishment Republicans. Frankly, I was stunned by the display of love and gratitude in 2004.

As the Reagan motorcade drove toward the Reagan Library for the final tribute, ordinary citizens along the route were paying their final tributes as well. It was an amazing moment.

But it was not always so.

When Reagan first ran for California governor in 1966, a lot of people, both Democrat and Republican, treated his candidacy as a joke. First, he had to get the nomination. Establishment Republican George Christopher, a former mayor of San Francisco, painted Reagan as a right-wing extremist and racial bigot. Having overcome that hurdle, he had to face governor Edmund “Pat” Brown, who was running for reelection and expected an easy triumph over the “B” actor.

One of Brown’s ploys was an infamous commercial he ran during the campaign in which he told a group of small children, “I’m running against an actor, and you know who killed Abe Lincoln, don’t you?” It didn’t work.

After two terms as California governor, Reagan took on Gerald Ford for the presidency in 1976. The entire Republican establishment opposed him. Ford was the sitting president, having achieved that position only by Senate appointment as vice president after Spiro Agnew resigned and then after Nixon was forced out of office by Watergate. He was not exactly the people’s choice. Again, the big guns came out to declare the challenger an extremist. It was an uphill battle, one that Reagan lost that year, only to claim the nomination four years later, this time defeating the establishment candidate George Bush.

Democrats in the 1980 campaign depicted Reagan as an idiot, a grade “B” movie actor who had starred with a chimpanzee, of all things.

(more…)

Today, in 1945, the United States used the first atomic bomb, dropping it on Hiroshima, Japan. In about a week, World War II would be over.

In a visit to Washington, D.C., yesterday, a group of about fifty energy industry workers and representatives from the Gulf of Mexico area told lawmakers, reporters and bloggers that if the Obama administration and Congress are serious about creating and saving jobs, they will lift the moratorium on energy exploration in the Gulf.

The workers were joined by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and former Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.), outspoken opponents of both the moratorium and tax changes proposed by Democrats that opponents charge would hammer the energy industry.

Thomas Pyle, President of the American Energy Alliance, a group focused on maintaining energy industry jobs in the Gulf area said in a statement, “In an economy like this, the President and Congress should be looking for ways to strengthen U.S. businesses, not weaken them.”

Several of those who traveled to the Hill for meetings with members of Congress say they are suffering financially in the wake of the moratorium’s imposition, and that layoffs and business closures will be unavoidable should it remain in effect.

“My job matters,” said Thomas Clements, co-owner of Oilfield CNC Machining in Broussard, Louisiana. “So I’ve come to Washington to find somebody to hear me, to see my hopelessness, my no-man’s-land that I’m in because of these proposed tax changes to the energy industry and the moratorium.”  Clements elaborated, saying that he had planned to hire more workers this year, but the six-month moratorium on drilling has halted those plans.  All orders for new metal parts used in drilling have been canceled and no new orders are anticipated, said the small businessman, who questioned how his business could survive for the full six months of the moratorium during a lunch attended by Washington, D.C.-based reporters and bloggers.

(more…)

In response the sharp rebuke of Obamacare sent by voters in Missouri, Senator Harry Reid says that voters in Missouri just don’t know enough about the new law yet and when they do, they will change their minds. Well Senator, Missouri is after all the Show Me State and apparently Missourians don’t like what they have seen so far.

The simple truth is: You can’t get something for nothing and someone has the pay the bill.  Nothing in Obamacare creates more health care. It is merely injects government into the equation in order to take what we have currently and redistribute it.  So naturally, the government will need to find ways to cut costs.

Soon to be former director of the OMB, Peter Orzag believes that we can save money “…if costly new medical services were adopted more selectively in the future than they have been in the past, and if the diffusion of existing costly services was slowed. “

Well, how does the government go about doing that? How do they tell people that a life saving or life extending treatment exists, but it just costs too much so patients can’t have it?

Well, they don’t. They utilize control over the system to manipulate the availability of the treatment and then lead people to believe that it just doesn’t work. Problem solved.

We’ve already begun to see this operation in action with the FDA’s recent attempts to de-label the cancer drug Avastin for use with Stage 4 breast cancer patients.

The FDA was created and designed to protect citizens from products that are inherently unsafe or that make claims of effectiveness that cannot be substantiated.  There is no authority to consider drug pricing when evaluating a drug.

(more…)

Earlier this week, we read an on-line column which provided one of the most thorough and well-researched examinations of the many controversies surrounding former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod. We asked the author of the column for permission to reprint his article. Since publishing the articles, we have been made aware of other writings from this author which do not reflect the principles and values of this site. Because of this, we have removed the articles from Big Government. While we stand by the information contained in the articles we published, we do not wish to see the underlying issue confused or diminished by other work the author has done. We regret the error.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate has confirmed Elena Kagan as the 112th justice and fourth woman to serve on the Supreme Court.The vote was 63-37 for President Barack Obama’s nominee to succeed retired Justice John Paul Stevens.

Five Republicans joined all but one Democrat and the Senate’s two independents to support Kagan. In a rarely practiced ritual reserved for the most historic votes, senators sat at their desks and stood to cast their votes with “ayes” and “nays.” (more…)

Speaker Pelosi is calling the 435 House members to DC next week for the purpose of spending another $26 billion we don’t have. We were on a six week hiatus, and members had scattered to the four corners of the Earth.

Speaker Pelosi and President Obama have already spent $3.6 trillion on “stimulus,” so for them, $26 billion doesn’t rise to the level of a day at the beach, so why bring us all back to DC?

Could it be because their most loyal constituency and political foot soldiers, many of whom could be facing the never before seen horror of a government employee let go due to lack of state and local tax receipts, need to be reminded whose hand quite literally feeds them?

Spending is the least popular item on the public’s mind right now, but it looks to me like this $26 billion has more to do with fully funding the union political action coffers and making sure the left’s political “volunteers” get the message to get out the Democrat vote.

(more…)

With great sadness, I convey the news I have just received that Manuel F. Ayau has died. Known to his friends as Muso, Ayau was one of the greatest persons I have had the privilege to know. I am not given to hero worship, but I do not hesitate to affirm that, to me, Muso was a hero.

Ayau was the principal founder of the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City. He was also a successful entrepreneur, an active participant in the public affairs of his country, and a dedicated champion of liberty there and throughout the wider world. The proud patriarch of a beautiful family, a warm friend to countless adherents of classical liberalism, and man of tremendous energy and striking courage, he exemplifies the realization of the finest potential that human beings can achieve.

(more…)

Rep. Tom Price has warned that card check could be one of a series of unpopular policies Democrats may try to ram through in a lame duck session this year. He’s right, and we should be worried. Cap and trade is still out there, regulatory authority can still be shifted to the massive bureaucracy, and union bosses can get card check to “influence” millions of workers and put their dues in Lefty Labor coffers.

Card check is like a zombie in a B Horror flick — it keeps droning on and making little noises just enough to keep everyone on the edge of their seats. So while it lives it’s important to remember that unions — like SEIU — are pushing card check to “help” workers avoid intimidation, this is how SEIU acts:

Call her a scab. Tell her to go back to the fields. Yell, shout. Tell SEIU staff to create World War II in California hospitals, according to the speaker, Dolores Huerta (who, according to fellow BG blogger Don Loos is a Socialist, which SEIU should love).

(more…)

From James Pethokoukis at Reuters:

Main Street may be about to get its own gigantic bailout. Rumors are running wild from Washington to Wall Street that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth. An estimated 15 million U.S. mortgages – one in five – are underwater with negative equity of some $800 billion. Recall that on Christmas Eve 2009, the Treasury Department waived a $400 billion limit on financial assistance to Fannie and Freddie, pledging unlimited help. The actual vehicle for the bailout could be the Bush-era Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, a sister program to Obama’s loan modification effort. HARP was just extended through June 30, 2011.

The move, if it happens, would be a stunning political and economic bombshell less than 100 days before a midterm election in which Democrats are currently expected to suffer massive, if not historic losses. The key date to watch is August 17 when the Treasury Department holds a much-hyped meeting on the future of Fannie and Freddie. A few key points:

1) Republican leaders believe this is going to happen since GOPers and Democratic moderates in the Senate are unwilling to spend more taxpayer money on more stimulus. But such a housing plan would allow the White House to sidestep congressional objections and show voters it is doing something tangible about an economy that seems to be weakening.

(more…)

Once again Democrats with the help of a few soft minded Republicans have passed a massive spending bill to help keep state and local governments from having to make the tough decisions it will take to balance their budgets.

According to the Associated Press:

The $26 billion measure would help states ease their severe budget problems and – advocates said – stop the layoffs of nearly 300,000 teachers, firefighters, police and other public employees.

Where have we seen this before? Oh yeah… the Stimulus Bill. Remember that massive spending program that was supposed to stimulate the economy and create jobs? But what it mostly did was plug holes in state and local government budgets.

For example, in California stimulus spending was reported to have saved around 100,000 jobs. But a closer analysis found that 90% of those were government jobs; this at a time when the Golden State has actually increased the number of government jobs.

The sad part is that because the funding was for only one year, many of those jobs are on the chopping block this year. Not so fast! Here come the liberals to the rescue.

(more…)

From The Hill:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw lawmakers’ summer plans into chaos Wednesday, announcing the House will interrupt its six-week recess and return to Washington next week to act on Medicaid and education funding for states.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the news via Twitter, saying, “I will be calling the House back into session early next week to save teachers’ jobs and help seniors & children.”

Pelosi made the decision in consultation with congressional leaders following the Senate’s morning vote to move forward on the $26.1 billion aid package. The Senate is expected to pass the bill Thursday.

A K Street lobbyist said the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) pushed Pelosi to call back the House for the vote. States would have to lay off thousands of teachers if Congress doesn’t approve the money by the end of August.

(more…)

In the wake of recent reports that Shorebank’s financial status worsened in the second quarter, some interesting new developments have surfaced.

Yesterday afternoon, Fox Business News reported that Shorebank will now be the target of a federal investigation, to look into whether political pressure was exerted on Wall Street banks to give money to help the troubled Chicago community lending bank reach the monetary threshold needed to allow the bank to qualify for federal TARP funds.

Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), has said that he will begin looking into whether or not top-level political operatives (e.g., Eugene Ludwig, former comptroller of the currency under President Bill Clinton) and FDIC chief Sheila Bair were involved in exerting direct pressure to force Wall Street banks such as JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and others to give money (which now totals more than $150 million) to the ailing bank.  Interestingly enough, Shorebank has been involved in raising private capital to qualify for TARP funds despite the fact that Shorebank senior vice president Michelle Collins emphatically stated just last year that Shorebank would take “no TARP money.”

Although the Obama administration has officially denied any involvement in helping to prop up Shorebank, the rush by other banks to come to its aid has been nothing short of remarkable.  More than a few eyebrows have been raised in response to the general flurry of activity shown by other, larger banks seeking to involve themselves in helping to rescue Shorebank.

For example, Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sach’s chief executive, was personally involved in making phone calls to encourage other Wall Street banks to inject capital into the the failing Shorebank.  This, in a stated effort to allow Goldman Sachs to fulfill its obligations under the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act.  (Interestingly, Ron Grzywinski, one of the founders of Shorebank, was the only banker to testify before Congress in favor of the Community Reinvestment Act.)

(more…)

American political history includes periods so distinctive that they came to be known as Eras.  They include The Jacksonian Era (1820s), The Gilded Age (1830s to 1890s) and The Progressive Era (1890s-1920s). There was also the Era of Good Feelings between 1816 and 1822.  It was dubbed that because partisan strife was said to be minimal.  How minimal?  In 1820, James Monroe was reelected without opposition.  Today is far removed from such a time and place.  Partisanship has been on the rise since the mid 1990s and has reached such heights, you could make the argument that we are living in The Divided Era of American Politics.

Long removed from the electoral landslides of Republican Ronald Reagan, his Reagan Democrats and his 3^rd term under Bush 41, we have had a succession of Presidents that have been besieged by partisan wrangling.  Democrat Bill Clinton never received the majority vote and lost the Congress in 1994.  Republican George W. Bush 43 lost the popular vote, went on to increase his party’s presence in Congress in 3 straight elections, but then lost the Congress and left with an approval rating below 40%.  Democrat Barack Obama’s approval ratings dropped at record pace during his first year and one half in office and the US Congress endures record low approval ratings in the low teens.

The nation’s big state Governors have also endured tough times.  California’s current Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is suffering from sub 40 approval ratings while his Democrat predecessor Gray Davis was recalled.  In New York, the incumbent Democrat Governor David Patterson’s ratings were so low he was chased from his reelection bid.  In neighboring New Jersey, the last election cycle saw an affluent incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine lose amidst low ratings.

Even our electoral map is divided.  So, if we consider that nearly 20 year bipartisan history, along with the scope of partisanship today and the prospects for division over the next two years, is it fair to say we entered The Divided Era of American Politics?  If so, what caused it?  Was it the fault of our leaders Presidential and Congressional?  Was it simply a matter of bad policies?  Does an electorate hooked on ever-increasing government programs now have expectations that simply cannot be met by a lumbering bureaucratic welfare state?  Or has the 24/7 Media Era made it impossible for Presidents and Congresses to succeed because of too much scrutiny?  After all, the media shielded FDR by not showing pictures of him in his wheelchair and today the list of candidates brought down for private matters grows with every cycle.

(more…)

Today, in 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired over 11,000 air-traffic controllers who refused a federal order to return to work. More leaders like that would be a start.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Black members of the tea party movement on Wednesday rejected charges that the group’s activists are racist, saying they oppose President Barack Obama because of his policies not his skin color.

The members gathered at a Washington news conference in the wake of allegations about its rank and file, heightened by the recent split with a Tea Party Express leader who had posted a letter on his blog written from “Colored People” to Abraham Lincoln. The post suggested that black people would choose slavery over having to do real work.

The black members said the racism that has been attributed to the tea party movement came from outsiders who infiltrated the groups to discredit their work and it should be rejected.

“These people do not oppose Barack Obama because of his skin color. They oppose him because of his policies,” said Lloyd Marcus, a spokesman for the group.

The NAACP last month approved a resolution condemning racism within the tea party movement and called on activists to “repudiate the racist element and activities” within the political movement. (more…)

There is a weird dichotomy in American education: many teachers across the country impress upon their students that they must succeed for our nation to remain competitive in a global economy.

But at the same time, teachers unions fear, and downright besmirch, competition.

Competition is what has made America the greatest country in the world.  Capitalist inventors have created new products to make money, not to mention improve society.  Investors have put their money behind products that have great potential.  It’s clear competition improves products and lowers cost.

So why do teachers unions fear competition?

Like the robber barons of the 20^th Century, unions oppose choice because it will likely impact its monopoly on the market.  About 85% of American kids go to traditional public schools – most of which are unionized.

Unions oppose competition among teachers and instead want the same rate of pay for employees, based on years of service, regardless of success or effectiveness.  So the best teacher in the building is paid exactly the same as the worst.  How does that foster improvement?

(more…)

From AFP:

A federal judge overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage US media reported Wednesday, the latest twist in a legal saga which could have nationwide implications for the divisive social issue.

In a written opinion, Judge Vaughn Walker found in favor of rights activists who argued that a November 2008 referendum which barred gays and lesbians from tying the knot was discriminatory and therefore violated the US Constitution.