Posted by Jagadeesh Gokhale on July 30, 2010
By Jagadeesh Gokhale
The annual bloviate-fest on Social Security has begun, even before the Social Security Trustees’ report has been released this year. Apparently the report is to be released next week — after a three-month delay from its statutory release deadline of April 1.
There’s concern from groups interested in preserving Social Security that President Obama’s National Commission on [...]
Categories: Politics |
Tags: Health, Welfare & Entitlements, social security | 
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Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell on July 29, 2010
By Daniel J. Mitchell
The “appearance of impropriety” is often considered the Washington standard for corruption and misbehavior. With that in mind, alarm bells began ringing in my head when I read this Washington Times report about Jacob Lew, Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget. A snippet:
President Obama’s choice to be the government’s chief budget officer [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: Beltway Elite, big government, corruption, Finance, Banking & Monetary Policy, Government and Politics, government intervention, government spending, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, lobbying, Political Philosophy, regulation, Regulatory Studies, Sleaze, taxation, Washington Insiders | No Comments »
Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell on July 28, 2010
By Daniel J. Mitchell
Free markets are characterized by voluntary exchange between buyers and sellers. Mapping that relationship is absurdly simply, as this image indicates.
Indeed, the only reason I even bothered to include that image was for purposes of comparison. Here is a new flowchart prepared for the Joint Economic Committee showing the healthcare system under Obamacare.
It’s worth noting, [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: free markets, Government and Politics, government intervention, Government-run healthcare, Health, health reform, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, Obamacare, Third-party payer, voluntary exchange, Welfare & Entitlements | No Comments »
Posted by Alan Reynolds on July 27, 2010
By Alan Reynolds
The Washington Post published “5 Myths about unemployment” by Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute. The article is indeed full of myths, though not in the intended sense.
“There are now roughly five unemployed people for every available job,” says Ms. Shierholz, adding “there literally aren’t jobs for four of every five unemployed workers.” That [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: Finance, Banking & Monetary Policy, General, Government and Politics, Health, Welfare & Entitlements | No Comments »
Posted by Michael F. Cannon on July 26, 2010
By Michael F. Cannon
For more on Sissel v. United States Department of Health & Human Services — and plaintiff Matt Sissel, a 29-year-old artist and former National Guardsman who earned a Bronze Star during his second tour as a medic in Iraq — see the Pacific Legal Foundation’s web site.
Categories: Politics |
Tags: Government and Politics, Health, Welfare & Entitlements | No Comments »
Posted by Michael F. Cannon on July 26, 2010
By Michael F. Cannon
Maggie Mahar responds to my response to her critique of Michael Tanner’s claim that ObamaCare is deeply unpopular. Mahar’s alternative narrative, espoused by many on the Left, is that “the more voters learn more about the reform legislation, the more they seem to like it.”
Mahar shows that her narrative works if you begin looking for [...]
Categories: Politics |
Tags: Ezra Klein, Gallup, gallup poll, Government and Politics, Health, health care reform, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, Kaiser Family Foundation, Maggie Mahar, Medicare, NBC/Wall Street Journal, Obamacare, rasmussen, universal health care, Welfare & Entitlements | No Comments »
Posted by Michael F. Cannon on July 23, 2010
By Michael F. Cannon
Ezra Klein writes:
So long as the political system is working reasonably well, we can get out from even quite a lot of debt. But the more it breaks down — the more the market sees things like the deficit commission rejected by its Republican sponsors in Congress, the more it hears threats to repeal the [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: Cato Publications, deficit, Ezra Klein, Government and Politics, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, Obamacare | No Comments »
Posted by Michael F. Cannon on July 22, 2010
By Michael F. Cannon
That didn’t take long at all. Left-wing congresscritters have (re-)introduced legislation to create a “public option” in ObamaCare’s health insurance exchanges.
The Congressional Budget Office scores the bill as reducing federal deficits by $53 billion by 2019. How? Paying doctors and hospitals less! Put that on a bumper sticker! The public option would use Medicare’s price [...]
Categories: Congress, Politics |
Tags: cost containment, Government and Politics, government health care, Health, health bill, health insurance, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, Medicare, Obamacare, prescription drugs, public option, spending | No Comments »
