America stands on the precipice of sweeping liberal health care reform that will radically reshape one-sixth of the U.S. economy, and a 153-page House bill is all that stands between us and a fundamentally changed America. What will that change look like? Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” and President Barack Obama said, “By the time the vote has taken place, not only will I know what’s in it, you’ll know what’s in it.” In …
Congressional leaders are gleefully reporting that the Congressional Budget Office score of their health care proposal released yesterday shows that their legislation would reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion in the first ten years. Not so fast—consummate professionals though they are, CBO provides a projection based on assumptions about the future conduct of Congress that do not always represent reality. Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post, not exactly a supporter of the GOP, puts it this way: “…Democrats will be pointing to this preliminary CBO score as if it …
Senator Chris Dodd’s monstrous 1336-page financial reform draft includes a whopping 217 pages devoted to “improving” over-the-counter derivatives markets. Dodd the derivatives section may be replaced by a yet-to-be-released bipartisan compromise from Senators Jack Reed and Judd Gregg. But the Dodd draft suggests that legislators are focused on bureaucratic imperatives rather than improving markets. The biggest blind spot in Dodd’s draft is the assumption that only command and control regulation can improve markets. In fact, beginning even before the financial crisis, an international cooperative effort of derivatives market participants led …
President Obama has been quite adamant about his push to transition to a clean energy economy, most notably by subsidizing wind and solar energy sources. He argues we need the government to invest in renewable energy to strengthen our economy and reduce the earth’s fever before it’s too late. Despite the Congress’s attempt to address the nation’s economic concerns and the government’s climate concerns, Washington’s policy prescriptions may not be all they’re cracked up to be. Consider a new study from MIT on wind power says that large wind farms …
Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) published an op-ed featured in today’s Washington Post which outlines their plan for comprehensive immigration reform. The two Senators emphasized that their approach is “the right way to mend immigration.” This strategy comes as a result of President Obama’s campaign promise to pursue comprehensive immigration reform within his first year in office—a deadline that has since passed, leading to significant pressure to take up legislation.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Moscow to speed up the completion of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty follow-on agreement with Russia continues to highlight the difficulty of dealing with Moscow even when the two countries ostensibly share common interests. Although Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed an agreement would be reached before the end of the month, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin greeted Clinton with an announcement that the nuclear plant Russia is helping Iran build in Bushehr will begin operations this summer. Clinton called the decision “premature.” She …
This week, NBC News and The Wall Street Journal released poll results that are disturbing but by no means surprising. The March 11th – 14th poll of 1000 American adults showed that only 17% of respondents approve of the job Congress is doing in Washington. And as bad as that number is, the reason why Congress’ approval rating is so low is even more disturbing: a full 76% of Americans simply do not trust the U.S. Congress. This was the lowest level of trust for any representative entity tested by …
It takes investment to get sustainable economic growth. We can’t spend our way to growth. We have to save some of the stuff we make today and use it to create new, higher value, tomorrow. If we produce and consume it all, then our economy lives “hand-to-mouth” and we do not grow. Investing is risky. There is no guarantee that the investment will pay off. Investors weigh many possible scenarios when determining whether or not to make an investment. If the expected return on an investment does not meet an …
While the House reconciliation bill keeps many of the Senate provisions that will already slow economic growth, the reconciliation bill goes even farther in punishing employers who do not offer sufficient health care. These penalties will slow employment growth and given employers a disincentive to hire anyone who purchases subsidized health care. Punishing Businesses That Hire Low-Income Workers Businesses that already offer insurance can be affected by the reconciliation bill. Even if the employer does provide health insurance, if any employees qualify for, and accept, a premium subsidy on the …
In their feverish effort to enact the Senate health bill, the House leadership recently released their 153 page bill to fix the underlying 2,409 page Senate legislation through the budget reconciliation process. As a matter of health policy, there is little that is substantively different between the Senate bill and this “fix it” bill. A closer look at the fine print shows that the latest version would only make the massive and unpopular Senate health bill even worse. Based on a preliminary review of the key provisions, taxpayers should be …
