Government Spending
Agriculture
Gov. Brown exceeds his authority on greenhouse gas limits
When Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order last year mandating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, he said he did it for California’s future. But his motives were irrelevant. He broke the law, says the state’s legislative counsel. “We think the determination ...
Commentary
Obamacare Bloats U.S. Healthcare System
Last month, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a developed-country think tank, released its latest estimates of how much the rich world spends on health care. Yet again, the United States took the top spot. Our nation spends $8,713 per person on health care — more than double the ...
Business & Economics
Oct. 4 Pro-Con: Are tax cuts best for America?
PRO: The U.S. economy has been plagued with unacceptably slow growth since the 2007-09 recession — so slow that six years into our supposed recovery, policymakers still talk about the need for economic stimulus. It should not be this way. Spurring economic growth requires broad-based reforms that must include effective ...
Business & Economics
Tax cuts will revitalize growth: Opposing view
Governor Jeb Bush’s proposed pro-growth tax reform, mimicked by Donald Trump, is an important step forward. The U.S. economy has been plagued with unacceptably slow growth since the 2007-09 recession — so slow that six years into our supposed recovery, policymakers still talk about the need for economic stimulus. It ...
Business & Economics
California’s High-Tax, Big-Government Comedown
Anyone who has ever watched Animal Planet should be familiar with migrations. Geese do it, wildebeests and whales do it, turtles do it and, yes, people do it too. To migrate is a natural phenomenon. What’s interesting about most migrations is their purposes are generally positive: sex, food, sun and ...
Commentary
If no changes, no Medicare
Medicare has two more years to live than previously thought. The program’s trustees recently estimated that the “depletion date for the trust fund is 2026, two years later than was shown in last year’s report.” But that conclusion is less a vote of confidence than a two-year stay of execution. ...
Business & Economics
Corporate Laffer Curve: Column
A corporate tax cut would produce higher revenues for Dems and lower rates for GOP. Democrats and Republicans in Washington are at loggerheads over what to do about the deficit, the national debt, and the automatic spending cuts, which took effect last week. Those on the left seek a hike ...
Commentary
Congress should put Medicare out of its misery now
As Republican leaders in Congress prepare to negotiate over the federal budget with their Democratic counterparts in the aftermath of the election, its time for everyone to face a hard truth we must end Medicare as we know it. The entitlement is bleeding to death. Without major changes, it ...
Business & Economics
Economists argue about sequestration’s effect on jobs
As a prominent analyst of the local economy, Stephen S. Fuller of George Mason Universitys Center for Regional Analysis attracted plenty of attention when he estimated that the mandatory budget cuts coming in January could cost more than 2 million jobs nationwide, including nearly 450,000 in the District, Maryland and ...
Business & Economics
The Policy Value Gap, Part 1: A Fiscal Perspective
In the spirit of Jimmy Carter, an economic malaise plagues the country. Rather than being the product of a fundamental flaw in our economic system, though, the current stagnation is mainly the result of the nations misguided economic policies. The federal governments response to the financial crisis of 2008 was ...
Gov. Brown exceeds his authority on greenhouse gas limits
When Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order last year mandating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, he said he did it for California’s future. But his motives were irrelevant. He broke the law, says the state’s legislative counsel. “We think the determination ...
Obamacare Bloats U.S. Healthcare System
Last month, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a developed-country think tank, released its latest estimates of how much the rich world spends on health care. Yet again, the United States took the top spot. Our nation spends $8,713 per person on health care — more than double the ...
Oct. 4 Pro-Con: Are tax cuts best for America?
PRO: The U.S. economy has been plagued with unacceptably slow growth since the 2007-09 recession — so slow that six years into our supposed recovery, policymakers still talk about the need for economic stimulus. It should not be this way. Spurring economic growth requires broad-based reforms that must include effective ...
Tax cuts will revitalize growth: Opposing view
Governor Jeb Bush’s proposed pro-growth tax reform, mimicked by Donald Trump, is an important step forward. The U.S. economy has been plagued with unacceptably slow growth since the 2007-09 recession — so slow that six years into our supposed recovery, policymakers still talk about the need for economic stimulus. It ...
California’s High-Tax, Big-Government Comedown
Anyone who has ever watched Animal Planet should be familiar with migrations. Geese do it, wildebeests and whales do it, turtles do it and, yes, people do it too. To migrate is a natural phenomenon. What’s interesting about most migrations is their purposes are generally positive: sex, food, sun and ...
If no changes, no Medicare
Medicare has two more years to live than previously thought. The program’s trustees recently estimated that the “depletion date for the trust fund is 2026, two years later than was shown in last year’s report.” But that conclusion is less a vote of confidence than a two-year stay of execution. ...
Corporate Laffer Curve: Column
A corporate tax cut would produce higher revenues for Dems and lower rates for GOP. Democrats and Republicans in Washington are at loggerheads over what to do about the deficit, the national debt, and the automatic spending cuts, which took effect last week. Those on the left seek a hike ...
Congress should put Medicare out of its misery now
As Republican leaders in Congress prepare to negotiate over the federal budget with their Democratic counterparts in the aftermath of the election, its time for everyone to face a hard truth we must end Medicare as we know it. The entitlement is bleeding to death. Without major changes, it ...
Economists argue about sequestration’s effect on jobs
As a prominent analyst of the local economy, Stephen S. Fuller of George Mason Universitys Center for Regional Analysis attracted plenty of attention when he estimated that the mandatory budget cuts coming in January could cost more than 2 million jobs nationwide, including nearly 450,000 in the District, Maryland and ...
The Policy Value Gap, Part 1: A Fiscal Perspective
In the spirit of Jimmy Carter, an economic malaise plagues the country. Rather than being the product of a fundamental flaw in our economic system, though, the current stagnation is mainly the result of the nations misguided economic policies. The federal governments response to the financial crisis of 2008 was ...
