With just a few weeks left in 2012, all eyes in Washington are on Capitol Hill and the “fiscal cliff” negotiations. As usual, Congress and the President are taking highly contentious issues down to the wire before cutting a deal—never a situation that ends well for taxpayers. Federal Reserve Chairman …
President Obama made his first offer to congressional Republicans yesterday in negotiations over the “fiscal cliff”—an economic catastrophe of tax hikes just a few weeks away. The White House’s proposal? $1.6 trillion in tax increases, $50 billion in new stimulus spending, and a change that would make it easier to …
The fiscal cliff debate has centered on talk of raising taxes on high-income Americans. The silence on spending cuts has been deafening. On Monday, as if on cue, came investor Warren Buffett’s rehashed—albeit flat-out wrong—proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy. Even though the Obama Administration has said both sides …
In a new video parodying Dr. Seuss’s whimsical style, the American Enterprise Institute puts the problem of growing entitlement program spending in a form elementary school kids can understand. It’s a good thing, too, because their generation will be burdened with paying for this skyrocketing spending if Congress and the …
Under current law, as amended by Obamacare, seniors enrolled in traditional Medicare can expect to face higher Part B and Part D premiums. Moreover, President Obama has planned in his 2013 budget proposal to increase income-related Part B and Part D premium coverage by 15 percent. As a result, out-of-pocket …
In recent weeks, liberal politicians, editorialists, and policy analysts have vigorously attacked reform of Medicare based on defined-contribution financing. In fact, this approach to reforming Medicare has a long bipartisan tradition going back to the 1980s and Representatives Richard Gephardt (D–MO) and David Stockman (R–MI). In fact, much of this …
What is President Obama’s plan for Medicare—Obamacare’s changes and beyond? Heritage has a new Issue Brief, “Obama’s Medicare Plan: Seniors Will Pay More,” that details the future increases in out-of-pocket costs for seniors under current law and President Obama’s 2013 budget proposal. Over the next five years, under current law, …
President Obama has a new booklet—a glossy, 20-page spread called “The New Economic Patriotism: A Plan for Jobs and Middle-Class Security.” The title is completely Orwellian, since the plan—which is nothing new—would actually kill jobs, harming the middle class. As expected, the “new patriotism” means paying more in taxes for …
Today, the threats to our national security are complex, fluid, and hard to fully comprehend. This requires a serious look at what the U.S. can do to affect events worldwide that would produce outcomes favorable to our interests, rather than allowing other nations to drive events, some of which are …
The third and final presidential debate between President Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney will feature several different questions on the role of America abroad and other aspects of foreign policy. Obama and Romney will likely address the nation’s impending spending crisis and automatic defense budget cuts, known as sequestration. …
