Government Spending

February 07, 2013 By Jim Gold

Why Are We Still Kicking the Can?

When the Obama Administration proposed a stopgap budget measure to avoid sequestration cuts, it did what it promised not to do:  kick the proverbial can further down towards the fiscal cliff.

Three years out from the official end of the last recession, the US economic growth and employment rates are virtually stagnant.  In fact, 4th quarter GDP actually declined, threatening us with the long-feared double-dip.

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November 02, 2012 By Chuck Kadlec

On November 6th, Let Liberty And Dignity Guide Your Vote

This article orginially appeared on Forbes.com on October 29, 2012

Those who would give up essential liberty for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. 
- Benjamin Franklin.

Next week, millions of Americans will go to the polls and vote for candidates for everything from city council to the President of the United States, and a wide variety of ballot initiatives and propositions.  As a guiding principle, I recommend liberty in deciding how to vote.

There are three key reasons to vote for liberty.

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September 24, 2012 By Deroy Murdock

Obama’s Robbery of Medicare to Fund Obamacare, in One Chart

This article orginally appeared on The National Review on September 21, 2012

“Both Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan attacked the president for allegedly robbing Medicare of $716 billion,” former president William Jefferson Clinton told the Democratic National Convention on September 5. “Here’s what really happened. There were no cuts to benefits. None . . . President Obama and the Democrats didn’t weaken Medicare. They strengthened it.”

If Clinton were under oath in Charlotte, this would be called perjury.

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August 30, 2012 By Guest Blogger

Melanie Sturm: Think Again

Right stuff needed for fiscal moonshot

By Melanie Sturm

This article orginally appeared on the Aspen Times on Thursday, August 30, 2012

On Saturday, as Americans debated whether Lance Armstrong was a genuine hero after dropping his fight with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, another Armstrong — an indisputable American hero — died. Were Webster's to pair Neil Armstrong with “hero” in its dictionary, one needn't Think Again to fathom the bravery, achievement and nobility implied by the word.

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August 24, 2012 By Charles Johnson

Medicare: No Easy Answers

The Medicare program, now almost half a century old and in big trouble because it costs too much, will play a central role in this year’s election. A recently released poll suggests, in fact, that it’s a larger concern to voters than the broader issue of semi-socialized medicine for Americans as a whole, Obamacare.

Seventy-three percent say Medicare is either “extremely” or “very” important in making their choice for president. That helps to explain why you’re hearing so much about it.

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August 20, 2012 By Charles Johnson

Weakening Welfare Reform

In recent weeks, commentators have debated the significance of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services memo that may encourage states to weaken work requirements in the welfare program.

The issue is especially significant because welfare reform, passed by a Republican Congress and signed by a reluctant President Clinton in 1996 as he faced re-election, is one of the main conservative policy achievements at the federal level.

Its success in moving people off dependency is not only good for welfare clients, their kids, and society as a whole, but an embarrassment to the statist philosophy and a blow to the culture of dependency this philosophy thrives on.

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August 08, 2012 By Deroy Murdock

Friedman: Call Them Government Schools

This article orginally appeared in the National Review on August 1st, 2012

The late Dr. Milton Friedman’s contributions to economics and political philosophy are monumental, as the entire free-market movement has paused to remember this week. Yesterday, July 31, marked the centennial of his birth. It also is worth appreciating a very small but significant bit of advice that he offered his allies when it came to advocating educational reform.

Quite simply, Dr. Friedman urged his supporters to drop the term “public schools” and, instead, say, “government schools.” As he told Reason magazine in December 2005: “I try to avoid calling government schools public schools because I think that’s a very misleading term.”

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August 03, 2012 By Guest Blogger

The welfare state — you didn’t build that

By Melanie Sturm

This Blogpost originally appeared in The Aspen Times on August 2^nd, 2012

Last week, amid the firestorm over the words “you didn't build that,” actor Sherman Hemsley passed away. Americans remember Hemsley for playing George Jefferson, TV's popular upwardly mobile black businessman. Known for “movin' on up to the East Side” out of Archie Bunker's neighborhood, we cheered George as he strutted triumphantly into his “deluxe apartment in the sky,” having “finally got a piece of the pie.”

Imagine George's reaction were anyone to tell him that government was integral to his success or that he didn't build his business on his own — he'd slam the door while hollering, “Think Again!”

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July 16, 2012 By Guest Blogger

Americans: Healthcare Law Helps Some, Hurts Others

By Frank Newport

This article originally appeared at Gallup.com on July 16^th, 2012

"Both sides of the heated and contentious debate over the Affordable Care Act of 2010 can learn something from a review of how the American people see the law's impact on various societal entities. Americans agree with the argument that the ACA will benefit those who don't have health insurance and those who get sick -- presumably because of Americans' recognition that millions of additional people will acquire health insurance when the ACA is fully implemented. On the other hand, the average American agrees with the argument that the ACA is going to cost money, and that taxpayers, businesses, and those who currently have insurance will end up being worse off -- at least financially -- as a result of the law.Americans: Healthcare Law Helps Some, Hurts Others

Of course, many government programs that are designed to benefit groups in society do so at a cost. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid all basically take money from large numbers of individuals and businesses in society and transfer it to the intended recipient groups. The ACA appears to be perceived in a similar way, but so far without the broad acceptance accorded to these long-standing programs."

Read the rest of the report on Gallup.com

July 13, 2012 By Tammy Frisby

Tax or penalty, does it matter for Romney and Obama?

This article originally appeared on CNN, July 6^th 2012

(CNN) -- For the past week, the political fireworks surrounding the landmark decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the Affordable Care Act rivaled the excitement of Independence Day pyrotechnics.

President Obama is facing heavy criticism from Republicans that he has raised taxes on working- and middle-class Americans because the court upheld the individual mandate based on Congress' power to tax. The president and the Democrats are arguing that the mandate is not a tax but rather a penalty, since those who do not buy health insurance are paying a penalty in the form of a tax.

Meanwhile, on Monday a top adviser to Mitt Romney raised consternation among Republicans by saying that the individual mandate is not a tax, countering the prevailing conservative view.

Soon after, Romney himself made his much anticipated statement on the issue on TV, saying that since the Supreme Court has declared that the individual mandate is a tax, then it must be a tax.

Tax? Not a tax? What's going on?

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