Full-time lifeguards in Newport Beach, Calif., make over $100,000 a year, with the highest paid earners topping over $200,000. And if you think that’s bad, wait till you hear this: Those same lifeguards can retire at age 50 in good health and receive a well stocked lifetime government pension and full government benefits until death, costing the city nearly $108,000 per healthy, retired lifeguard every single year. If a lifeguard lives until he’s 80, he costs the state $3 million – a huge sum of money that could be better …
States are facing a whopping $1.26 trillion shortfall in funds to pay pension and health-care benefits for public sector employees, according to a new study by the Pew Center on the States. Wisconsin and Ohio, both of which made headlines for working to get pension costs under control, aren’t the only ones taking action. According to The Washington Post, “Concern about underfunded pensions has prompted at least 29 states to either reduce pension promises to new employees or require workers to contribute more toward their retirement benefits.” And in California, where …
In May, Congress will begin debate on our nation’s debt limit. The debt limit is an alarm bell built into our nation’s laws, which forces members of Congress to confront out-of-control spending when our debt reaches a certain level. Five times in the last four years, we have ignored this alarm bell. This time must be different. It would irresponsible and reckless for them to even consider raising the limit without also enacting spending cuts and reform. The nation’s credit worthiness is directly tied to our fiscal stewardship, not our …
Today, April 15, is typically Tax Day. Taxpayers would usually be furiously figuring out how much they owe Uncle Sam right about now. In case you didn’t know it, taxpayers this year get a three-day reprieve because of a holiday in Washington, D.C., commemorating President Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation of slaves in the District. No matter what day Tax Day falls on in coming years, we’ll all be paying considerably higher taxes unless Washington’s reforms its reckless spending ways immediately. To make matters worse, Washington has been able to hide this enormous …
In a speech yesterday on America’s fiscal crisis, President Barack Obama invoked the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and said, “through government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves.” Yet since his presidency began, Barack Obama has proven that what he cannot do very well for himself or for the nation is provide even a modicum of leadership on out-of-control government spending. To fill that vacuum, Americans rose up in 2010 and elected new representatives to steer the nation toward fiscal sanity. Now, in the 9th inning, …
As Congress continues the struggle to tame federal deficit spending, some argue that tax hikes and defense cuts are necessary and inevitable. For example, a recent brief from the Concord Coalition on the prospects for the House Majority’s coming budget resolution for fiscal year 2012 makes the case that conservatives will be hard pressed to reduce the deficit without raising taxes or cutting national defense. The Concord Coalition looks at various deficit-cutting strategies that conservatives in the House might embrace and compares the results to those of the President’s own …
Last week, the Congressional Budget Office released its report on H.R. 2, the House-passed legislation that would fully repeal Obamacare. The takeaway message was that American taxpayers simply cannot afford Obamacare. CBO’s initial scoring of Obamacare analyzed its effects from 2010 to 2019, including only six years of full implementation, since main spending provisions do not go into effect until 2014. The new document reports on 2012 to 2021, including an additional two years of full implementation. This still fails to show the true 10-year cost of the law, but …
The U.S. Commerce Department today reported that the country’s 2010 trade deficit was $497.8 billion, an increase of $122.9 billion from 2009. Exports increased from $1.57 trillion to $1.83 trillion, and imports increased from $1.95 trillion to $2.33 trillion. Increased imports are often a sign that the U.S. economy is growing. Imports typically fall during recessions and increase during economic recoveries. Prospects for a strong economic recovery could be boosted by extending agreements like the Andean Trade Preference Act and implementing new trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. …
According to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathy Sebelius, the design of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) program has basic flaws, but the bureaucracy will fix those flaws with hard work and deep thinking. Sebelius spoke on the CLASS program on Monday at a Kaiser Family Foundation briefing, and she outlined the Obama Administration’s updated technocratic thinking on this new government-run, long-term care entitlement created under Obamacare. Sebelius was in part responding to the recent assault on CLASS from a wide breadth of experts. According to …
Last week served up another dose of reality for Obamacare supporters. In addition to House committee hearings that exposed the negative effects of the new law, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its new 10-year baseline, which unveils the “daunting economic and budgetary challenges” facing the United States. In 2011, the federal deficit will hit $1.5 trillion. Heritage budget expert Brian Riedl writes, “Historic increases in federal spending are set to create permanent trillion-dollar deficits, eventually pushing the national debt past 100 percent of the GDP. Without change, the nation …
