Congress Again Fails to Regulate Fannie and Freddie

Volcker and Derivatives – Review & Outlook, The Wall Street Journal
Once again Congress fails to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac even when TARP’s Congressional overseer, Elizabeth Warren reports that the 2008 seizure of AIG was the result of bad housing bets not credit default swaps. As long as these twin easy-mortgage-enablers exist, so will the systematic risk they pose. – E.J. Smith

A Nation of Trentons – The Editors, National Review
Just when you thought the unions had been beaten on card check, a new law is in the congressional pipeline, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act. Sounds nice right? Cooperation is in the title, it must be good. However, the bill forces the unionization of public safety workers in 21 states. Is there anything in the Constitution about forcing states to make contracts they don’t want to with unions that don’t even represent their safety workers? No. This is an unconstitutional abridgement of states’ rights and ought to be stopped dead in its tracks by the Senate. – Dick Young

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis Wants a Fair Wage for Illegal Immigrants
Is this the straw that will break the camel’s back? Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has put out an advertisement, paid for by your tax dollars, to remind illegal immigrants that they too are entitled to a fair wage. Here’s the video:

The Family Business Revenue Act – Review & Outlook, The Wall Street Journal
The Democrats in Congress, and their leader in the White House are preparing to whack family businesses again, this time with a carried interest tax. President Obama has a very interesting definition of not raising taxes on anyone making under $250,000. What he really means is that he won’t raise the income tax rate – but income taxes are not the only kind of taxes that the middle class pays! Mandates for health care insurance, a VAT on the way and new taxes on carried interest will all hit middle class Americans. – Dick Young

Amnesty by Fiat? – Mark Krikorian, National Review
The President is holding the security of America’s borders hostage. He told Senator John Kyl that until the GOP agreed to allowing amnesty for illegal immigrants currently in the U.S., that border security would not be enforced. How many terrorists and drug smugglers will cross the border in even the time it takes for amnesty laws to be written? Now, Mark Krikorian reports that the president could simply give amnesty to 5 million illegal immigrants who have willfully overstayed their visas or entered the country illegally and then applied for a green card, even though they aren’t qualified for one, to delay their deportation. This is a smack in the face of every immigrant who has come to the country legally and done things right, and to every American who expects to be protected by the federal government. There is a better immigration policy. – Timothy Jones