The White House and its congressional allies are trying to suggest that the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate proves that their health-care plan is fiscally responsible. But, in fact, the latest CBO projections confirm — again — that the President’s health plan would pile more another unfinanced entitlement program on top of the unaffordable ones already on the federal books. According to CBO, the new entitlement spending in the plan would cost $216 billion by 2019, and then increase by 8 percent every year thereafter. In other words, …
The public doesn’t trust Washington politicians—and those politicians don’t trust each other. Those two truths could doom President Obama’s health care bill even if it weren’t an unaffordable behemoth. The final health debate merges multiple story lines into one, just as March Madness does for an assortment of college basketball teams. Some of these themes are: –The Ugliness of Today’s Washington. Trust in elected leaders is collapsing into a hole deeper than Alice ever fell into. It deepens with every disclosure of the process. “Deeming” a bill to pass; avoiding …
A recent study by the Urban Institute, a prominent liberal think tank, lists “the biggest losers” should congressional health care legislation fail to become law. Interestingly enough, this is oddly similar to an earlier Heritage Foundation assessment of the “biggest losers”—if the liberal bills do become law. Here, we outline how Urban’s biggest losers would actually be worse off under Obamacare than under the current system:
The execution last week of a senior economics official in the North Korean government over a botched currency reform reminds us of that no parody of repressive government can fully capture the backwardness and evil of the North Korean regime. If any good can come of such a perversion of morality, it might be in a reminder to economists that their policy prescriptions can be matters of life or death, if not for themselves then most assuredly for the citizens of their countries. Recent calls by Paul Krugman and others …
It’s a common misconception that a tradeoff exists between economic growth and environmental cleanliness. For decades Gallup has been conducting a poll asking about this very tradeoff. According to its latest one, “53 percent said economic growth should be the nation’s top priority, even if the environment has to suffer. Just 38 percent put their priority on environmental protection, even if it limited growth. The share of Americans favoring the environment over growth is the lowest since 1984.” In 1990, the results were 71 percent preferred protection of the environment …
In a time when the usage of the word “bipartisan” spawns cynicism among taxpayers across the 50 states, a recent bipartisan Senate bill stands out as an exception. “The Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2010,” introduced by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Judd Gregg (R-NH), is a serious bipartisan effort to overhaul our current tax code that most economists and business people agree constitutes one of the most damaging drags on U.S. competitiveness and economic recovery. To succeed, Wyden and Gregg will need to swim against a tide …
After hearing ad nausea from the Administration that America is back in Asia after a presumed absence under eight years of the Bush Administration, now comes the caveat. President Obama will cancel his upcoming trip to Guam, Indonesia and Australia – in the interest of salvaging his near singular preoccupation – health care reform. That didn’t take long. (Now, the trip is officially “postponed”. But this being the third time it has happened, the hosts certainly shouldn’t count on rescheduling. If it were a dinner invitation, such a guest would certainly …
The United States has set itself on a path of unsustainable debt levels with little political prospect to implement the policy mix that will turn this tide. What America needs is a government committed to generating real and sustainable economic growth and a real lowering of the fiscal deficits through strong commitments to (1) permanently lower tax rates on households and businesses and (2) stricter responsibility and control on government spending. Recent research by two Harvard economists highlights the link between regaining a balanced budget by the federal government, lower …
Yesterday FOX News Special Report interviewed President Barack Obama about the process for passing the President’s controversial and unpopular health care proposal. Fox’s Bret Baier asked some pointed questions to see if the President supported or would even talk about the controversial “Slaughter Rule” being considered by the House to pass Obamacare. The President would not directly answer repeated questions about a potentially unconstitutional Deem and Pass rule, but he seemed to tacitly support the idea. There is no precedent for legislation of this scale to be jammed through Congress …
On the eve of the House of Representatives push to jam through the misguided and highly unpopular Senate health care bill, , the President continues to try and convince the American people that the health care bill would reduce cost while showing his commitment to creating jobs and improving the economy. The raw facts make it clear that he cannot keep either of these promises. For example: The President claims the health care proposals would reduce health care spending. The reality is health care spending would increase. According to the …
