MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'debt'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:51:15 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5182381&cid=t_101485_180_f&fid=38612&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fpickthebrain%2FLYVv%2F%7E3%2FzSGAwa6Gwsw%2F It’s all over the news. You can’t avoid it. No matter how much we try to deny it… The world is coming to an end. (Play eerie music here) Just this year alone we have had a prediction about the end of the world or rapture. The U.S. Government has been downgraded by S&P. Greece and Spain are in utter disarray. People are being laid off, losing their homes and are quickly watching the balances of their retirement savings diminish. I mean with times like this what is the purpose of going on? We might as well give up now. It looks like all is lost, right? Wrong! The troubles and the issues we face rather personally or as a nation are here for a purpose. Challenges do not arise to kill us, they come into existence so that they can be overcome. I am not afraid of a debt ceil... PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5182381 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:20:08 +0100 5182381 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5158943&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FkYybUa_rHFo%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThe Congressional Budget Office has just released the update to its Economic and Budget Outlook. There are several things from this new report that probably deserve commentary, including a new estimate that unemployment will “remain above 8 percent until 2014.” This certainly doesn’t reflect well on the Obama White House, which claimed that flushing $800 billion down the Washington rathole would prevent the joblessness rate from ever climbing above 8 percent. Not that I have any faith in CBO estimates. After all, those bureaucrats still embrace Keynesian economics. But this post is not about the backwards economics at CBO. Instead, I want to look at the new budget forecast and see what degree of fiscal discipline is necessary to get rid of red ink. Th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5158943 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:34:41 +0100 5158943 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5158949&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F-rwtMJquWYA%2F By Daniel J. MitchellJust last week, I made fun of Paul Krugman after he publicly said that a fake threat from invading aliens would be good for the economy since the earth would waste a bunch of money on pointless defense outlays. Yesterday, there were rumors that Krugman stated that it would have been stimulative if the earthquake had been stronger and done more damage, but he exposed this as a prank (though it is understandable that many people — including me, I’m embarrassed to admit — initially assumed it was true since he did write that the 9-11 terrorist attacks boosted growth).  But while Krugman is owed an apology by whoever pulled that stunt, the real problem is that President Obama and his advisers actually take Keynesian alchemy seriously. And since Presid... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5158949 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:44:30 +0100 5158949 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139695&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOehssZVSty8%2F By Tad DeHavenThe Washington Post’s editorial board issued a challenge to the president and his Republican opponents: “show us your plans” for deficit reduction. In fact, the Post says it would be “delighted” to receive plans from its readers. However, the Post isn’t interested in “meaningless promises” to cut “waste, fraud, and abuse”—it wants specifics: Here’s what we’re not looking for: pablum about eliminating unnecessary spending without identifying where. Gauzy rhetoric about making hard choices without making them. Meaningless promises about eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Broad assertions about where to find the money — “Medicare savings,” “tax reform” — without specifics. Arbitrary spending caps without accompanying details about how those... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139695 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:16:31 +0100 5139695 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125720&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FPNFMyAbivyw%2F By Mark A. CalabriaIt’s a little too early to really tell what is going on here, but it certainly looks suspicious to me that a week after the rating agency Standard &Poor’s downgraded the U.S. government, we now have the Securities and Exchange Commission starting an insider-trading investigation of who inside S&P worked on the downgrade.  This comes on top of an announced Senate probe into S&P’s decision. I’ve long argued for reducing the role and influence of the rating agencies when it comes to financial regulation.  One of the few things the Dodd-Frank Act got correct was pushing for a reduction in regulators’ reliance on the rating agencies.  But still, it is nothing short of hypocritical for the same parties who complained that the agenci... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125720 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:53:37 +0100 5125720 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107490&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FsIIy7QIG65A%2F By Daniel J. MitchellPresident Obama just spoke about the downgrade and his remarks were very disappointing. He uttered some empty platitudes, offered no plan, (amazingly) called for more government spending, and continued his advocacy of class-warfare taxation. So what does this mean? Other than expecting volatility, I have no idea what will happen in financial markets over the next few days. But I can opine about the downgrade, Obama’s unserious response, and what it means in terms of public policy over the next few years and into the future. Notwithstanding the President’s cavalier attitude, America is in trouble. But while the crisis is severe, we have some breathing room. Our fiscal crisis is akin to a very dangerous, but slow-developing cancer. It is not a car wreck with ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107490 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:59:48 +0100 5107490 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5103326&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FuHWTMteFnt0%2F By Caleb O. Brown… which makes this video out of date by about 20 minutes, but it’s instructive nonetheless. U.S. Credit Rating Downgraded by S&P is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5103326 Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:36:50 +0100 5103326 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5103328&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F9Vuhjuw4Qh8%2F By Jim HarperThat was my inner conversation when I heard that the “Super Congress”* (or “Super Committee”) created by the debt ceiling deal might operate behind closed doors. Congress is free to create any committee it wants, of course. Congress determines the rules of its proceedings. But ordinary committees and subcommittees are too opaque. A “Super Committee” should lead—not lag—in transparent operations. In a forthcoming report on government transparency, we’ll be looking at the kinds of things committees should be publishing in computer-useable formats, and in real time or near-real-time: meeting notices, transcripts, written testimonies, live video, original bills, amendments to bills, motions, and votes. There are ways that many ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5103328 Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:39:23 +0100 5103328 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096686&cid=t_101485_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FFullosseousflapsDentalBlog%2F%7E3%2F2-4j9LKSDHU%2F These are my links for August 2nd through August 4th: Sarah Palin Hacker Moves to Halfway House – The man convicted of hacking Sarah Palin's e-mail account was released from federal prison and is now spending time in a halfway house. David Kernell left a fenceless minimum-security federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky, where inmates are put to work on landscaping and building maintenance for between $0.12 and $0.40 per hour for the halfway house, according to a Tennessee television station. Kernell was convicted last year of breaking into to Palin's Yahoo e-mail account during the 2008 presidential election. He outsmarted Yahoo's password reset system by correctly answering questions using information about Palin that was easily available on the Internet — a techn... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096686 Fri, 05 Aug 2011 02:02:52 +0100 5096686 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096164&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLrRlWVwpsXk%2F By Jim HarperData-transparent government is still a ways off, but some small steps forward are underway. To wit, my project WashingtonWatch.com, which is adding new data going to the costs of bills in Congress. As detailed in an announcement that went up this morning, many more bills on the site will have cost estimates associated with them, the product of research being done at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. Some bills spend pennies or less per U.S. family. Some spend $5,000 per family and more. Wouldn’t you like to know which are which? The site has also begun displaying national debt information on a per-family, per-person, and per-couple basis. Your individual (official) debt—just for being an American—is about $45,000 dollars, your real debt far higher. I&#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096164 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:38:12 +0100 5096164 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096169&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZOrZ812LqXk%2F By Benjamin H. FriedmanThe legislation signed by President Obama yesterday, as a solution to the debt ceiling debate, includes the possibility of cuts to military spending. But as Chris Preble points out, the legislation guarantees no defense cuts. Republicans will try to dump all the required cuts on non-defense areas. And the White House has already distanced itself from the prospect of any real defense budget cuts, as did Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. Both support only the first round of cuts, which will at best halt Pentagon growth at roughly inflation. On The Skeptics blog, I take a more detailed look at deal’s likely impact on military spending. I also examine its political effect, arguing that it will cause at least four political fights. The first concerns war fun... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096169 Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:29:42 +0100 5096169 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096172&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FtZIi4Y441gQ%2F By Chris EdwardsThe Washington Post reports that spending cuts in the budget deal threaten to slow the economy. The article quotes a number of economists who seem to harbor a rather extreme Keynesian bias in their thinking. The deal would cut discretionary spending by just $21 billion in 2012, or just 0.6 percent of total federal spending that year. And that’s after federal spending has risen 22 percent since 2008 ($2.98 trillion in 2008 to about $3.63 trillion this year). Even if you believe that government spending helps the economy, it seems rather bizarre to claim that a 0.6 percent retrenchment after a 22 percent increase would hurt. The other thing to note about these spending-cut worries is that, for Keynesians, it is the total amount of deficit spending that is the amount of econ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096172 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:01:31 +0100 5096172 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096173&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FF6-7Vn4OSSM%2F By John SamplesGreg Sargent cites a CNN poll question: As you may know, the agreement would cut about one trillion dollars in government spending over the next ten years with provisions to make additional spending cuts in the future. Regardless of how you feel about the overall agreement, do you approve or disapprove of the cuts in government spending included in the debt ceiling agreement? Approve 65 Disapprove 30 Sargent continues: Sixty five percent approve of deal’s spending cuts. But it gets worse. Of the 30 percent who disapprove, 13 percent think the cuts haven’t gotten far enough, and only 15 percent think the cuts go too far. One sixth of Americans agree with the liberal argument about the deal. About 20 percent of Americans self-identify as liberals. This would suggest that ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096173 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:18:10 +0100 5096173 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096175&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FijhtsfNNy8E%2F By Caleb O. Brown This week’s bipartisan deal to raise the debt limit will do little in the way of actual spending cuts, it defers all the tough decisions on spending and debt to a “SuperCongress” committee and the deal will do little to protect the United States credit rating. Cato’s Dan Mitchell, Jagadeesh Gokhale and Chris Edwards comment on the debt deal. On Debt Ceiling, Congress Kicks the Can is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096175 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:06:07 +0100 5096175 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086365&cid=t_101485_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FFullosseousflapsDentalBlog%2F%7E3%2FvNpmuGWnS7o%2F No American default now. The House has passed legislation designed to keep the government from defaulting on its debts. The measure also sets a course for reducing the federal deficit in the future.The Senate, where support is stronger, is expected to take up the bill on Tuesday, the deadline for Congress to act before the government loses its ability to pay all its bills. The 269-161 vote in the House came after Republican leaders spent the day urging recalcitrant conservatives to support the bill. The bill would raise the debt ceiling by more than $2 trillion and cut federal spending by a similar amount over the next decade. A special congressional committee would be set up to consider entitlement and tax changes. So, the long Washington drama is over and default has been averted. On a h... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086365 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:46:31 +0100 5086365 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086367&cid=t_101485_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FFullosseousflapsDentalBlog%2F%7E3%2FvMyQDWEZDHA%2F Good ol’ Slow Joe Biden put his foot in his mouth again. Vice President Joe Biden joined House Democrats in lashing tea party Republicans Monday, accusing them of having “acted like terrorists” in the fight over raising the nation’s debt limit. Biden was agreeing with a line of argument made by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) at a two-hour, closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting. “We have negotiated with terrorists,” an angry Doyle said, according to sources in the room. “This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.” Biden, driven by his Democratic allies’ misgivings about the debt-limit deal, responded: “They have acted like terrorists,” according to several sources in the room. Biden’s office declined to comment about what the vice preside... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086367 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:22:06 +0100 5086367 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086141&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXHhlVhgZfyk%2F By Neal McCluskeyWan to know a major reason Washington won’t make the cuts we need? Because winning elections is largely about getting “middle-class” votes, and just about any program can be spun as a savior for that big — but rarely defined by politicians — chunk of Americans. Case in point, an animosity-stoking assertion uttered last week by House education committee Ranking Member George Miller.  As reported by CNN, the subject was the possibility of a cut being made to the federal Pell Grant program: Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat, defended Pell Grant funding on Friday, calling it the “great equalizer” for millions of students. “Pell is the reason they are able to go to college and get ahead,” Miller sai... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086141 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 19:43:38 +0100 5086141 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086142&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fvob1l9ZUg34%2F By Christopher PrebleThe budget deal announced last night offers two sets of potential cuts in military spending. The first set of potential cuts, created by the budget caps, target “security” spending. That includes the Pentagon, State, foreign aid, the Department of Homeland Security and Veterans (the discretionary portion of Veterans spending, to be precise). The deal caps “security” spending at $684 billion for this fiscal year and $686 for the next. That requires little pain; the 2012 security cap is only $5 billion below what we’ll spend on those categories in fiscal 2011. The White House claims that the caps will generate $350 billion in savings from base defense spending for ten years. They get there, dubiously, by projecting security spending at the capped le... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086142 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:15:34 +0100 5086142 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086148&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FHxN0VDfJsuQ%2F By Daniel J. MitchellPoliticians last night announced the framework of a deal to increase the debt limit. In addition to authorizing about $900 billion more red ink right away, it would require immediate budget cuts of more than $900 billion, though “immediate” means over 10 years and “budget cuts” means spending still goes up (but not as fast as previously planned). But that’s the relatively uncontroversial part. The fighting we’re seeing today revolves around a “super-committee” that’s been created to find $1.5 trillion of additional “deficit reduction” over the next 10 years (based on Washington math, of course). And much of the squabbling deals with whether the super-committee is a vehicle for higher taxes. As with all k... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086148 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:27:49 +0100 5086148 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077656&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FuSU2KRKUUdU%2F By Roger PilonToday POLITICO Arena asks: Is it the Senate’s turn to take a crack at the debt ceiling? My response: Speaker Boehner has both the Constitution and convention on his side — “money bills” arise in the House. In fact, the Constitution is his strongest ally in his struggle to win the support of recalcitrant Tea Party members. They revere the document, after all, and no one has put the point better than Charles Krauthammer in this morning’s Washington Post. Boehner’s bill, just to be clear, is a far cry from what this debt-ridden nation needs. As my colleague Chris Edwards put it yesterday, even the revised plan “doesn’t cut spending at all.” It “cuts” only from the CBO baseline, which assumes constantly rising spendin... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077656 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:40:44 +0100 5077656 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077662&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOErsIXsuuXQ%2F By Neal McCluskeyA couple of days ago I blasted President Obama for, in repugnant tradition, using “education” as a political weapon, invoking it to scare Americans into demanding increased taxes for “the rich.” House Speaker John Boehner, thankfully, did not abuse education similarly in his rebuttal. But his proposal for raising the debt ceiling illustrates just how weak the GOP’s commitment is to returning the federal government to its constitutional — and affordable — size. And I say this not because of the relative puniness of his proposed cuts, but what the proposal would do in education, the only area it specifically targets: increase funding for Pell Grants. Now, I know what many people will say to this: Pell is a de facto ent... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077662 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:46:25 +0100 5077662 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069648&cid=t_101485_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FFullosseousflapsDentalBlog%2F%7E3%2Fx79_6I0Ggoc%2F These are my links for July 27th from 13:51 to 13:59: Carney makes an accusation – The Obama administration has never been backward about leaning forward on Fox News. The network has proven a durable, go-to villain to rally the base and stoke indignation against a perceived antagonist on the right. But White House press secretary Jay Carney, going after Ed Henry from Fox News on Wednesday, misfired all over the place by also insulting House Speaker John Boehner for being a "showboat" and exposing a level of secrecy and political calculation in the debt limit negotiations that runs counter to promises President Obama ran on. The day after the two tangled over Henry's request for specifics on Obama's plan, Carney and Henry were back at it again. Henry asked at the ... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069648 Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:00:10 +0100 5069648 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069652&cid=t_101485_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FFullosseousflapsDentalBlog%2F%7E3%2FPVBTwdCypS0%2F Day By Day by Chris Muir Chris, the best approach is probably to swallow hard, bend over and accept the Boehner Plan. It certainly is NOT perfect, but the GOP and people have won and should now consolidate the gains by beating Obama in the race for 2012. Then, it will be over to Harry Reid and Obama to decide whether they want to push America into default or not. I bet they cave. with Obama’s poor polling in key battleground states, the GOP can afford to sit back and wait while they select a nominee. The next four years are too important to be squandered over cuts that won’t be seen in 10 years. Declare victory and call it a day —> over to Obama. Previous:The Day By Day Archive (Source: FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog) FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069652 Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:16:15 +0100 5069652 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069441&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F-ptqhNzL54Q%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI testified before the House Ways & Means Committee yesterday. As always, my trip inside the belly of the beast was an interesting adventure. The tax-writing committee was holding a hearing on the value-added tax. I was on a panel with five other witnesses, and all of the other people testifying were sympathetic to a VAT. But since I had truth on my side, that made it a fair fight (though it did cross my mind that it’s not a good sign when a Republican-controlled committee stacks the witnesses in favor of a European-style tax system). I made two points. First, a VAT is less destructive than the current income tax. As such, if we somehow repealed the 16th Amendment and replaced it with something ironclad that would prevent the income tax from ever again haunti... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069441 Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:35:13 +0100 5069441 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069444&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FiwiXkM-Rmxs%2F By Tad DeHavenThese are the times that try budget analysts’ souls—especially budget analysts who’d like to see Washington dramatically cut spending. The debate over lifting the debt ceiling has produced a number of proposals from Capitol Hill—none of them have been worth celebrating. We can now add House Speaker John Boehner’s latest proposal to the pile. Boehner’s proposal boils down to the following: cap discretionary spending over 10 years to achieve $1.2 trillion in savings; have (another) bipartisan group of policymakers come up with $1.8 trillion in “deficit reductions” over ten years; and get a vote on a balanced budget amendment. In exchange, the president would get to increase the deficit by $900 billion this year and by another $1.6 trillion next year. Here are so... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069444 Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:11:29 +0100 5069444 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069447&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FtqQe3o3ngFU%2F By Chris EdwardsI testified to the Senate Finance Committee today regarding federal spending and debt. Here are some of the points I made: Last night, President Obama called for a “balanced solution” to our fiscal problems, including tax increases and spending cuts. However, CBO projections do not indicate that we face a “balanced” problem. Instead, projections show that the deficit problem is caused all on the spending side of the budget. The United States has sadly become a big-government country. Until recently, government spending in this country was about 10 percentage points less than the average of OECD countries. That smaller-government advantage has now shrunken to just 4 percentage points. In recent years, policymakers have given us the largest deficit... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069447 Tue, 26 Jul 2011 18:05:25 +0100 5069447 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069449&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FBjcOn1sbcrE%2F By Michael F. CannonI’m a few days behind on this, but over at The Corner Yuval Levin has written an important post about how health care entitlements are the real cause of the debt crisis facing the federal government. Using Congressional Budget Office projections, Levin creates this magnificent chart, which I plan to steal over and over again: If Republicans want to conquer the federal debt, they need to embrace health policy like they embrace tax cuts. Health Care Entitlements Are the Real Debt Bomb is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069449 Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:55:19 +0100 5069449 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062226&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FFGsoGrS2IEA%2F I’ve argued that the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill does not end “too-big-to-fail”, that is the belief that certain companies are implicitly backed by the government because policy-makers are unlikely to let said institutions actually fail. By naming some companies as ”systemically important” — as required by Dodd-Frank — the government is actually sending a signal as to who is likely to be bailed out. As evidenced by regulators’ behavior during the financial crisis, the prime beneficiaries would be the creditors of these companies, as even when shareholders and management suffered, creditors generally did not. This should allow such firms to borrow at a cost lower than firms not deemed systemically important. Given this funding... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062226 Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:53:37 +0100 5062226 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5062228&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F_DLOOm8e3pY%2F Lost in all the concerns over how Moody’s and S&P will view any deal to raise the debt ceiling and whether such a deal addresses our country’s long term budget imbalances is the fact that at least three rating agencies have already downgraded U.S. government debt.  One of these agencies, Weiss Ratings, treats U.S. government debt as barely better than “junk” or speculative grade. It would be easy to dismiss these agencies as irrelevant and attempting to simply grab attention, but at least one of these agencies, Egan-Jones, has a track record of correctly predicting problems at such companies as Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers that the major rating agencies missed until it was too late.  Egan-Jones also employs a business mode... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5062228 Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:49:04 +0100 5062228 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5057821&cid=t_101485_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FFullosseousflapsDentalBlog%2F%7E3%2F-BwTVHJROKY%2F These are my links for July 23rd from 18:59 to 19:25: How the White House killed the deal – In an aggressive move, the House speaker’s office has put out a blow-by-blow on how the debt talks collapsed: The White House is misleading reporters tonight by claiming that new revenue in the framework that was discussed would have been generated by letting the current tax rates expire. That is simply false. Under the framework, a CEILING was offered by the White House that would generate $800 billion in new revenue over ten years. This would be done through comprehensive tax reform that would clear out deductions, credits, and loopholes in the system – and spur economic growth. After the gang of six plan came out, the White House moved the goal posts and insisted on $400 billio... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5057821 Sun, 24 Jul 2011 03:00:03 +0100 5057821 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5057713&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fh5njg4-TRIw%2F If it is true that a failure to increase the debt limit on August 2nd has the potential to bring about economic Armageddon, shouldn’t we be asking ourselves if it’s a good idea to allow the political class in Washington to continue collectively play God with our lives? After all, these people are fallible human beings. In a similar vein, Sheldon Richman reminds us of what government really is in a new column on the issue of federal debt. I like Richman’s statement because one need not be a hardcore libertarian to appreciate the message: Government is not some higher super-competent entity like the man pretending to be the Wizard of Oz wanted the people to think he was. It’s a coercive organization of limited, flawed, and essentially ignorant men and women who, having been anointed ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5057713 Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:03:16 +0100 5057713 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050529&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F01Hsa0pm0OM%2F The “Gang of Six” senators has released an outline of budget reforms that would supposedly reduce deficits by $3.7 trillion over 10 years. Revenues would rise by at least $1 trillion, while spending would be theoretically trimmed by various procedural mechanisms. The plan promises to “strengthen the safety net,” “maintain investments,” and “maintain the basic structure” of Medicare and Medicaid, which doesn’t sound very reform-minded to me. The Gang of Six plan is a grander version of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s recent debt-limit proposal, which was aimed at putting off any spending cuts. The Gang outline has a few specific cuts, but the document mainly consists of promises to restrain spending and raise taxes in the future. I’m surprised that Sen. Tom Coburn supports the ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050529 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:24:21 +0100 5050529 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050583&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fwhy-doctors-should-participate-in-the-debt-ceiling-debate%2F2011.07.20 Joe Scarborough reminds us that the divisions in American government are hardly new, paraphrasing Benjamin Franklin’s observation that “When you assemble a number of men, to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble . . . all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?” (This comes from a September 17, 1787 speech by Mr. Franklin to urge ratification of the U.S. Constitution, read on his behalf because he was too ill to deliver it in person. The Constitution was ratified the same day.) I suppose we should be encouraged that Congress’s prejudices, passions, errors of opinion, local interests and selfish views are as American as apple pie,... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050583 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:00:00 +0100 5050583 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050534&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FzE5hTHeZnEM%2F The American welfare state has been in crisis for decades. Many of the problems faced in 1995 fight have become less tractable problems today. John Samples comments in yesterday’s Cato Daily Podcast. One notable difference between 1995 and today, Samples says, is that the GOP of 1995 kept Social Security off the chopping block for spending cuts. Subscribe to the podcast here (RSS) and here (iTunes). Parallels to 1995 in Spending Fight is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050534 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:44:31 +0100 5050534 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050537&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FtukJttLWUFI%2F The on-again, off-again “Gang of Six” has come back on the scene and is offering a “Bipartisan Plan to Reduce Our Nation’s Deficits.” The proposal is quite similar to the one put forth by the President’s Simpson-Bowles Commission, which isn’t too surprising since some of the same people are involved. At this stage, all I’ve seen is this summary (A BIPARTISAN PLAN TO REDUCE OUR NATIONS DEFICITS v7), so I reserve the right to modify my analysis as more details emerge (and since I fully expect the plan to look worse when additional information is available, the following is an optimistic assessment. The Good Unlike President Obama, the Gang of Six is not consumed by class-warfare resentment. The plan envisions that the top personal income tax rate will fall to no higher than ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050537 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:36:45 +0100 5050537 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5036424&cid=t_101485_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FFullosseousflapsDentalBlog%2F%7E3%2FnpMGeU8L_TY%2F Mark Steyn Another masterful piece from Mark Steyn. There is something surreal and unnerving about the so-called “debt ceiling” negotiations staggering on in Washington. In the real world, negotiations on an increase in one’s debt limit are conducted between the borrower and the lender. Only in Washington is a debt increase negotiated between two groups of borrowers. Actually, it’s more accurate to call them two groups of spenders. On the one side are Obama and the Democrats, who in a negotiation supposedly intended to reduce American indebtedness are (surprise!) proposing massive increasing in spending (an extra $33 billion for Pell Grants, for example). The Democrat position is: You guys always complain that we spend spend spend like there’s (what’s th... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5036424 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 12:19:55 +0100 5036424 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5036221&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyrSfYHrRWHI%2F By Chris EdwardsCharles Krauthammer is absolutely right that Republicans must call President Obama’s bluff on the debt-limit vote. I suggested that the House GOP pass $2 trillion in cuts tied to a $2 trillion debt increase, thus handing the matter over to the Senate and the president and refusing to budge. Krauthammer has the same idea, but with $500 billion in cuts and a $500 billion debt increase. That would certainly be better than Senator McConnell’s chicken-out plan, and it would have the advantage of being so modest in size that I think it would ultimately get large support in the Senate from moderates. The cuts–small “trims” really–could be taken right from Obama’s own Fiscal Commission report. The table below illustrates how modest and ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5036221 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:34:46 +0100 5036221 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028718&cid=t_101485_125_f&fid=34819&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FFullosseousflapsDentalBlog%2F%7E3%2FKRryEun0bKc%2F Day By Day by Chris Muir The whole idea of the President of the United States having to walk out of a debt ceiling meeting leaves everyone suspecting that their judgment of Obama is correct. He is an ego-centric, immature POL who will FLEE when the going gets tough. Remember when the McCain campaign nicknamed Obama “The One.” Not a good character trait for someone who is the leader of the “free world.” Now, a President who has not lead on deficit reducation and not produced a budget in the last two years, is giving the Congress and Republican Leaders a 36 hour deadline. How quaint. Obama has been AWOL and now expects immediate action – HIS WAY. What will POTUS do next = leave for Europe and declare he won’t be back until the Republicans do THEIR job? Pre... FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028718 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:33:55 +0100 5028718 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028148&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fz1Zx0QAvbHM%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThere are three reasons why I’m not very hopeful about the outcome of the debt-limit battle. 1. There is no unity in the GOP camp. Republicans have been all over the map during this fight. Some of them want a balanced budget amendment. Some want a one-for-one deal of $2 trillion of spending cuts in exchange for a $2 trillion increase in the debt limit. Others want some sort of spending cap, akin to Senator Corker’s CAP Act. Some want to mix all these ideas together in a cut-cap-balance package. Others want Obamacare repeal.  And the latest proposal is Sen. McConnell’s proposal to let Obama unilaterally raise the debt limit. These are mostly good ideas, but the failure to coalesce around one proposal – preferably one that is easy to understand – has made the ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028148 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:00:25 +0100 5028148 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028153&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F2BZuoMHpplg%2F By Chris EdwardsSenate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has offered the president a way to raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion without having to cut spending. The WaPo reports that “McConnell’s strategy makes no provision for spending cuts to be enacted.” This appears to be an epic cave-in and completely at odds with McConnell’s own pronouncements in recent months that major budget reforms must be tied to any debt-limit increase. House Republicans should obviously reject McConnell’s surrender, and they should do what they should have done months ago. They should put together a package of $2 trillion in real spending cuts taken straight from the Obama fiscal commission report and pass it through the House tied to a debt-limit increase of $2 trillion. Then they shouldn’t budge... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028153 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:37:47 +0100 5028153 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008147&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FFLm7kkThP6Y%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThe President has issued an ultimatum that more tax revenue must be part of budget negotiations. Indeed, he endlessly repeats his desire for a “balanced approach,” implying that as much as 50 percent of the deficit reduction in any agreement should come from higher revenues. Because I am a thoughtful, middle-of-the-road, pragmatic guy, I’m willing to accept the President’s ultimatum. I do have one tiny request, however, and that is for any such deal to be based on honest math. What I mean by this is that I don’t want politicians to approve a budget that results in more spending, but then claim that they “cut spending” because the budget didn’t grow even faster. I want a spending cut to mean less spending (gee, what a novel idea). And when they talk abou... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008147 Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:57:21 +0100 5008147 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008155&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZM20phiwWic%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI’m not a big fan of the rating agencies. I’ve warned in TV interviews that they generally wait too long before downgrading profligate governments. So when the rating agencies finally catch up to everyone else and lower their outlook for failing welfare states such as Greece and Portugal, one would think that this would be seen as a useful – albeit late – warning sign. But European politicians are not very happy about this development. At the risk of mixing metaphors, they want everyone to keep their heads buried in the sand and to continue complimenting the emperor on his new clothes. Here are some excerpts from a BBC report. The European Commission has strongly criticised international credit ratings agencies following the downgrade of Portugal by Moody�... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008155 Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:29:15 +0100 5008155 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4992654&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F2f2OvaNvszk%2F By David BoazOur friend Alberto Mingardi of the Bruno Leoni Institute in Italy writes about the Greek crisis: In a way, the most surprising element of the Greek disaster is that taxpayers in other European countries aren’t outraged at being called to rescue an economy that has been marching towards disaster for so long. The legitimate fear of contagion affecting other European countries is now being used to persuade the electorates outside Greece that: first, Greece has not manufactured its own fate, but is rather the victim of “locust-like” speculators and, second, a Greek bailout would be an indictment of the European social model, that is, the welfare state. Where European public opinion is collapsing under its contradictions is in the attempt to reconcile the idea of the EU as th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4992654 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:53:28 +0100 4992654 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4984422&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FgrDzfzJqs_M%2F By Tad DeHavenCongressional Republicans have said that spending cuts must be at least as large as an increase in the debt ceiling. Negotiations over lifting the debt ceiling are ongoing, but the “magic number,” so-to-speak, would be around $2 trillion in spending cuts. Cutting $2 trillion in federal spending sounds like a lot, but it’s actually relatively small because the cuts would likely occur over ten years. According to the Congressional Budget Office’s most recent budget baseline, the federal government will spend almost $46 trillion over the next ten years. The following chart shows what $2 trillion in spending cuts over the next ten years looks like when measured against the CBO’s baseline. Even with the cuts, federal spending would still increase by $1.8 trillion: Rathe... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4984422 Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:23:20 +0100 4984422 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975826&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F5lkzgVd7Tog%2F By Chris EdwardsAs we close in on congressional votes to increase the federal debt limit, negotiators are coming up with all kinds of ideas to hike taxes. (Suspiciously, they haven’t revealed very many spending cut ideas so far). One idea being discussed is to raise revenue by reducing the indexing of parameters in the income tax code. Currently, tax brackets and other features of the tax code are indexed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). It is widely recognized that the CPI overestimates inflation for various reasons, as discussed here. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has developed a more accurate (and lower) measure of inflation, called chained CPI. If the tax code was indexed to chained CPI instead of CPI, the government would receive an automatic tax increase relative to cu... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975826 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:35:34 +0100 4975826 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975846&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FI7c-rTbplTw%2F By Chris EdwardsIn the Washington Post Friday, Ezra Klein partly confirmed what I fear the Republican strategy is for the debt-limit bill—get to the $2 trillion in cuts promised through accounting gimmicks. As I have also noted, Klein says that there is about $1 trillion in budget “savings” ($1.4 trillion with interest) to be found simply in the inflated Congressional Budget Office baseline for Iraq and Afghanistan. Klein says, “I’m told that a big chunk of these savings were included in the debt-ceiling deal” that Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Sen. Jon Kyl (D-AZ) are negotiating with the Democrats. Republican leaders have promised that spending cuts in the debt-limit deal must be at least as large as the debt-limit increase, which means $2 trillion if the debt-limit is extended ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975846 Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:52:43 +0100 4975846 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952793&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FDGqSypCChvo%2F By Mark A. CalabriaI almost hesitate to suggest that anyone actually read Alan Blinder’s defense of Keynesian economics in today’s Wall Street Journal, except that the piece lays out clearly in my mind why Blinder is so wrong.  The only part you really need to read is: In sum, you may view any particular public-spending program as wasteful, inefficient, leading to “big government” or objectionable on some other grounds. But if it’s not financed with higher taxes, and if it doesn’t drive up interest rates, it’s hard to see how it can destroy jobs. So in Blinder’s world, deficits are explicitly not future taxes, despite what I believe is a fairly strong consensus among economists that some form of Ricardian equivalence holds (see John Seater&#... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952793 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:40:22 +0100 4952793 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952801&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FQwv2iThY9Gw%2F By Michael F. CannonIn press release, a new video, and an elusive new report, the Obama administration is boasting about the “free” preventive services that ObamaCare provides to Medicare enrollees. Here we go again. First, these preventive-care subsidies are not “free.” They are costing taxpayers dearly by adding to America’s $14 trillion national debt.  There is no such thing as a free lunch.  And there is nothing “free” about ObamaCare. Second, ObamaCare supporters have claimed that more preventive care would reduce health care spending, but research shows that it will not. Third, I hope someone is keeping track of all the taxpayer dollars this administration has wasted trying to convince the American people that they’re wrong to dislike O... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952801 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:55:46 +0100 4952801 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934121&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fpw9c0aAgXos%2F By Daniel GriswoldWith trillion dollar deficits and mounting federal debt, will Congress finally get serious about cutting farm subsidies? We’ve been disappointed before, but there are a few hopeful signs—like the front-page story in this morning’s Washington Post—that this Congress may be serious about cutting billions in payments to farmers. As the Post reports: In their recent budget proposals, House Republicans and House Democrats targeted farm subsidies, a program long protected by members of both parties. The GOP plan includes a $30 billion cut to direct payments over 10 years, which would slash them by more than half. Those terms are being considered in the debt-reduction talks led by Vice President Biden, according to people familiar with the discussions. The Post story pro... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934121 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:20:42 +0100 4934121 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934336&cid=t_101485_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F14%2Fbest-of-our-blogs-june-14-2011%2F I have a “friend” who spent their entire 2010 stuck in what-ifs. What if I lose my job? What if I never feel better? What if my dreams don’t come true? Do you have a friend like that? Do you have a friend who attacks your self-esteem by laughing at your mistakes, criticizes your weaknesses and points a finger at your flaws. Worse yet, does she ever say, “You won’t ever be successful in life” because all your efforts are “just not good enough.” Some kind of friend right? But what if I told you that friend was not a friend at all, but your thoughts. Closer to you than any friend would ever be, this inner self-critic sits on your shoulders and constantly berates you. That type of constant negative feedback will wear on a person’s soul and ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934336 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:17:46 +0100 4934336 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921392&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMFX0MWafTOw%2F By Neal McCluskeyThe following is cross-posted from the National Journal’s Education Experts blog. This week’s topic: Whether new ”gainful employment” regulations for higher education are too little, too much, or just right: I agree largely with Steve Peha — our policies and mindsets have made “college” synonymous with “job training,” and that has led to huge inefficiencies. But there is an even deeper problem: government aid, both to students and schools. The most aggressive opponents of for-profit schooling to have posted thus far appear to agree that taxpayer-funded student aid is what for-profit institutions are after. No doubt the critics are, for the most part, right. But there is another side to this equation: The aid also enables stu... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921392 Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:21:39 +0100 4921392 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883555&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FKW1EQMnEyew%2F By Daniel J. MitchellWay back in February of 2010, I wrote that a Greek bailout would be a failure. Not surprisingly, the bureaucrats at the International Monetary Fund and the political elite from other European nations ignored my advice and gave tens of billions of dollars to Greece’s corrupt politicians. The bailout happened in part because politicians and international bureaucrats (when they’re not getting arrested for molesting hotel maids) have a compulsion to squander other people’s money. But it also should be noted that the Greek bailout was a way of indirectly bailing out the big European banks that recklessly lent money to a profligate government (as explained here). At the risk of sounding smug, let’s look at my four predictions from February 2010 and se... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883555 Tue, 31 May 2011 20:19:10 +0100 4883555 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883556&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F4gQD5uysK4k%2F By Tad DeHavenLast week, a motion to proceed on a budget resolution introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was decisively defeated in the Senate (7 in favor, 90 opposed). Paul’s proposal would have balanced the budget in five years (fiscal year 2016) through spending cuts and no tax increases. Social Security and Medicare would not have been altered. Instead, the proposal merely instructed relevant congressional committees to enact reforms that would achieve “solvency” over a 75-year window. That’s hardly radical. Paul’s proposed spending cuts were certainly bold by Washington’s standards, but they weren’t radical either. For example, military spending would have been cut, in part, by reducing the government’s bootprint abroad. From the Paul proposal: The ability to ut... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883556 Tue, 31 May 2011 19:14:12 +0100 4883556 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841437&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLrWEFtQ-Q3Q%2F By George Scoville Next up for marriage equality: Perry v. Schwarzenegger. Please join us at 12:00 p.m. Eastern today as co-counsels for the plaintiffs Theodore Olson and John Boies join Center for American Progress president John Podesta and Cato chairman Robert A. Levy for a panel discussion on marriage equality, exploring legal and moral questions dating back to the landmark 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision that ended state bans on interracial marriage. If you cannot join us here at Cato, please tune in to watch a live stream of the event. “Republicans have an opportunity for a much more important debate, which will frame the election campaign next year.” In President Obama’s next speech, Cato director of foreign policy studies Christopher Preble hopes “that the ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841437 Wed, 18 May 2011 14:29:53 +0100 4841437 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4828859&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FO3uaghfl2zE%2F By George Scoville It is false to assume that GM’s earnings report means the auto bailout was a success. It is false that, among other things, failing to raise the debt limit means defaulting on our obligations. It is false that Osama bin Laden’s death means torture is a good idea. It is false that international institutions can deliver what they say they can deliver. It is false that oil speculators are to blame for fluctuating oil prices: Monday Links is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4828859 Mon, 16 May 2011 14:01:40 +0100 4828859 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4828862&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FIwlo5uy3QJk%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThere’s a lot of buzz about a Wall Street Journal interview with Stanley Druckenmiller, in which he argues that a temporary delay in making payments on U.S. government debt (which technically would be a default) would be a small price to pay if it resulted in the long-term spending reforms that are needed to save America from becoming another Greece. One of the world’s most successful money managers, the lanky, sandy-haired Mr. Druckenmiller is so concerned about the government’s ability to pay for its future obligations that he’s willing to accept a temporary delay in the interest payments he’s owed on his U.S. Treasury bonds—if the result is a Washington deal to restrain runaway entitlement costs. “I think technical default would... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4828862 Mon, 16 May 2011 13:48:30 +0100 4828862 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4820811&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FHTcYGvzkSP4%2F By Jagadeesh GokhaleThe just-released 2011 annual report of the Social Security Trustees shows a significant worsening of the program’s finances. Last year we were told that we would see payroll tax surpluses over benefit expenditures for a few more years — until 2015. That won’t happen according to the 2011 report; the program will now add to federal deficits in every future year — and increasingly so, which will ramp-up financial pressure to downsize other federal programs, increase taxes, or create yet more debt. Note that both Republicans and Democrats negotiating over how to reduce federal deficits and the national debt have resolved to leave Social Security untouched for now.  That leaves the program’s finances to fester and worsen — increasing the costs of f... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4820811 Fri, 13 May 2011 18:58:18 +0100 4820811 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4820813&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FLKDab3HSOFg%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI got a few cranky emails after my post suggesting the United States should copy the Baltic nations and implement genuine spending cuts. These emailers were upset that I favorably commented on the fiscal discipline of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia while failing to reveal that these nations were suffering from high unemployment. From the tone of this correspondence, my new friends obviously think this is a “gotcha” moment. The gist of their messages is that the economic downturn that hit the Baltic nations is proof that the free-market model has failed, and that I somehow was guilty of a cover-up. That’s certainly a strange interpretation, especially since I specifically noted that the three nations had suffered from an economic downturn. There’... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4820813 Fri, 13 May 2011 18:10:47 +0100 4820813 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4820822&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJVTIs8aBKcc%2F By William A. NiskanenHouse Speaker John Boehner, in his speech to the Economic Club of New York on Monday night, was very clear about the conditions for which he would support an increase in the federal debt limit: … Without significant spending cuts and reforms to reduce our debt, there will be no debt limit increase.  And the cuts should be greater than the accompanying increase in debt authority the president is given. We should be talking about cuts of trillions, not just billions. They should be actual cuts and program reforms, not broad deficit or debt targets that punt the tough questions to the future. And with the exception of tax hikes — which will destroy jobs — everything is on the table. Congress is institutionally incapable of formulating and approving a large... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4820822 Thu, 12 May 2011 20:35:40 +0100 4820822 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813252&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fsz2DdYdus4o%2F By Chris EdwardsHouse Speaker John Boehner has promised to tie substantial spending cuts to upcoming debt-limit legislation. He said spending cuts will have to be at least as large as the dollar value of the allowed debt increase. Thus, if the legislation increased the legal debt limit by $2 trillion, then Congress would have to cut spending over time by at least $2 trillion. How can we be sure that spending cuts are real? There are only two types of solid and tough-to-reverse spending cuts—legislated changes to reduce entitlement benefit levels and complete termination of discretionary programs. Republicans will have to define what time period they are talking about, but let’s assume it’s the standard 10-year budget window. Entitlements: The legislation, for example, could change t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813252 Wed, 11 May 2011 14:38:49 +0100 4813252 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813257&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FDshkMs2NBsU%2F By Daniel J. MitchellAll the talk of spending cuts in Washington is fictitious. Even the House Republican Study Committee budget allows spending to increase, on average, by 1.7 percent each year for the next decade. The Ryan budget, which critics deride for its “savage” cuts, allows spending to rise by an average of 2.8 percent each year. And Obama’s budget allows spending to climb, on average, by 4.7 percent each year—which is more than twice the projected rate of inflation. Too bad American policymakers can’t copy the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Like the United States, these nations got in fiscal trouble, thanks to the combination of excessive spending and an economic downturn triggered by falling real estate prices. But unlike the United S... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813257 Tue, 10 May 2011 21:24:46 +0100 4813257 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4872483&cid=t_101485_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FRecoveryIsSexycom%2F%7E3%2FHpjG0gbvcCY%2F Why Do I Keep Doing That? A recovery book that builds on overcoming the insanity of doing the same thing and expecting different results.Why We Do What We Don’t Want to Do–and How to StopWhy Do I Keep Doing That? Why Do I Keep Doing That? explains why we all experience the “compulsion to repeat” and discover the most successful ways to stop doing what we don’t want to do . . . whether we drink it, smoke it, snort it, pop it, spend it, gamble it, eat it, work it, feel it, or have sex or a relationship with it.As a recovering alcoholic, Dennis Wholey knows firsthand what it takes to break an addiction. In his New York Times bestseller The Courage to Change, Wholey brilliantly changed the way people viewed the negative pattern of substance addiction. Now, in this highly anticip... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4872483 Sun, 08 May 2011 14:55:00 +0100 4872483 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789224&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F_T6uSP5kDhU%2F By Daniel J. MitchellAs I have explained elsewhere, tax increases are a bad idea – unless you favor bigger government. And I’ve already added my two cents to the tax debate between Senator Coburn and Grover Norquist regarding the desirability of higher taxes. So it won’t surprise anyone to know that I fully agree with this new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, which offers seven reasons why higher taxes are a bad idea. The video is narrated by Piyali Bhattacharya of Young Americans for Liberty, and here are her seven reasons. Tax increases are not needed Tax increases encourage more spending Tax increases harm economic performance Tax increases foment social discord Tax increases almost never raise as much revenue as projected Tax increases encourage mor... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789224 Wed, 04 May 2011 13:58:53 +0100 4789224 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4775606&cid=t_101485_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fgamblers-anonymous-and-the-12-steps%2F How an informal society has altered a recovery process in accordance with the special needs of problem gamblersThis paper discusses how Gamblers Anonymous (GA) members approach the 12 Steps of recovery, originally advanced by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) as a spiritual solution to alcoholism.GA’s approach finds unique expression in its fourth step, which in AA involves a written "moral inventory."In GA, members are expected to make a financial inventory alongside the moral one. Pecuniary matters are important to gamblers given the debt loads many of them carry.Debt, which is technically a Step 4 and Step 9 (making amends) issue, in practice is typically addressed early in the program, with preceding steps addressed later.The spiritual process central to 12 Step programs will n... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4775606 Mon, 02 May 2011 16:15:00 +0100 4775606 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4767993&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fis-national-debt-as-bad-as-paul-ryan-says-it-is-lessons-from-the-past%2F2011.04.30 The last two weeks have made clear that the debate over our national debt will play a major role in the next election cycle. On one side, many Republicans, lead by Representative Ryan, insist that the rate of growth of our national debt – especially the massive projected growth of Medicare and Medicaid – promises to destroy our society within a generation or two; and that the only way to avert that catastrophe is to make substantial structural changes to our entitlement programs. The subtext of their message is: Federal debt is bad, and debt of this magnitude will be fatal. On the other side, most Democrats, led by President Obama, stress that our entitlement programs are promises that simply can’t be changed in any substantial way, insist that such entitlements are “investments in... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4767993 Sat, 30 Apr 2011 14:00:10 +0100 4767993 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4767979&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FqXPVz_SB4fA%2F By Tad DeHavenBack in January I noted that some analysts believe that the statutory debt ceiling should be eliminated. They view the potential for political brinksmanship as creating an unnecessary risk that financial markets will get rattled if there’s a chance the government won’t make good on its debt obligations in a timely manner. I argued that “forcing policymakers to spar publicly over fiscal policy is healthy, especially at a time when analysts generally agree that the country is headed toward an economic catastrophe if Washington’s mounting debt isn’t brought under control.” I maintain that view four months later, but an article in Politico illustrates the absurd political shenanigans that accompany debt ceiling deliberations. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is building biparti... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4767979 Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:20:41 +0100 4767979 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4747599&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fhwji2Oqv4oo%2F By George Scoville “Sadly, in Egypt’s case, a freely elected civilian government may prove powerless in the face of the deeply entrenched and well-organized military.” “Washington politicians from both parties, and bureaucrats, have for decades successfully decreased our freedom and liberties as they have regulated more and more of our lives, including our retirement.” “The Ryan proposal correctly focuses on achieving debt reduction through spending cuts, but this very gradual debt reduction schedule is a weakness that could lead to its downfall.” “Nearly two years ago Sen. McCain, along with Senators Graham and Lieberman, was supping with Qaddafi in Tripoli, discussing the possibility of Washington providing military aid.” Cato media fello... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4747599 Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:03:50 +0100 4747599 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4742370&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FDyUGDvchcKI%2F By Daniel J. MitchellUnder current law, Social Security is supposed to be an “earned benefit,” where taxes are akin to insurance premiums that finance retirement benefits for workers. And because there is a cap on retirement benefits, this means there also is a “wage-base cap” on the amount of income that is hit by the payroll tax. For 2011, the maximum annual retirement benefit is about $28,400 and the maximum amount of income subject to the payroll tax is about $107,000. It appears that President Obama wants to radically change this system so that it is based on a class-warfare model. During the 2008 campaign, for instance, then-Senator Obama suggested that the program’s giant long-run deficit could be addressed by busting the wage-base cap and imposing the ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4742370 Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:43:46 +0100 4742370 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734049&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FtbMh_wWOXwA%2F By Daniel J. MitchellAmerica is in fiscal peril in the short run because of a 10-year spending binge by Bush and Obama and in the long run because of a toxic combination of entitlement programs and demographics. Congressman Paul Ryan has introduced a budget plan to address America’s fiscal crisis, but Senator Reid and President Obama have summarily rejected his proposal, so it appears the United States will continue to drift in the wrong direction. Something is needed to compel action. One might think that such an impetus would have been provided by the recent decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the fiscal outlook for the United States. But this development hasn’t affected the spending culture in Washington. But there is hope. Senator Corker has legislation tha... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734049 Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:51:29 +0100 4734049 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734055&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fmk_JJ-d9Xfs%2F By Jagadeesh GokhaleYesterday I had an op-ed in Politico suggesting that U.S. lawmakers should consider not raising the federal debt limit (at least for now). I argued that freezing the ceiling would assure investors that the United States is serious about reducing its debt, and that it would serve as a commitment device for lawmakers and President Obama to forge and follow a serious debt-reduction strategy. A financial website writer named Joe Weisenthal strongly disagreed with my column. He seems to misunderstand several of the points that I was making, and so I offer the following response to his comments: From Weisenthal’s post: Another day, another economist advocating that the US default on its debt. The latest is Jagadeesh Gokhale of the Cato Institute, who has a big piece advo... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734055 Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:31:10 +0100 4734055 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734058&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOTvW8AKCpvs%2F By George Scoville “Collective bargaining gives unions the exclusive right to speak for covered workers, many of whom may disagree with the views of the monopoly union.” “Which two have done more to improve your life — Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs, or Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi?” “A temporarily frozen debt limit could instead signal U.S. lawmakers’ resolve to get our fiscal house in order. It may even reassure investors about long-term U.S. economic prospects.” “What makes Americans exceptional is our ornery resistance to being bossed around.” Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) spoke recently at a Cato forum on fiscal policy about the CAP Act–here’s an excerpt of his remarks: Wednesday Links is a post from Cato @ Liberty -... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734058 Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:16:36 +0100 4734058 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734614&cid=t_101485_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fthe-power-of-focus%2F A recovery book for people who have attained good sobriety time and are looking to expand their horizons. Whether they are corporate professionals, budding entrepreneurs, or they own a home business, most people are looking to achieve more in less time, while earning enough money to live comfortably. This book reveals the proven techniques thousands of people have used to attain all of the money they wanted while living healthy, happy and balanced lives. The Power of Focus, the new blockbuster from the co-authors of the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul, is a practical no-nonsense guide that shows readers how to reach their business, personal and financial goals without getting burned out in the process.Canfield, Hansen, and Hewitt have taken the best ideas from their own successful c... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734614 Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:41:00 +0100 4734614 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4719883&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F34bI-IHWah4%2F By Daniel J. MitchellBy taking advantage of  “must-pass” pieces of legislation, Republicans have three chances this year to restrain the burden of government.  They didn’t do very well with the “CR fight” over appropriated spending for the rest of FY2011, which was their first opportunity. I was hoping for an extra-base hit off the fence, but the GOP was afraid of a government shutdown and negotiated from a position of weakness. As such, the best interpretation is that they eked out an infield single. The next chance to impose fiscal discipline will be the debt limit. Currently, the federal government “only” has the authority to borrow $14.3 trillion (including bookkeeping entries such as the IOUs in the Social Security Trust Fund). This is a ver... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4719883 Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:57:04 +0100 4719883 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4709193&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FWnFchbuPUyw%2F By Daniel J. MitchellIn his speech this afternoon, President Obama is expected to call for, among other things,  an increase in taxes on investors, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and other “rich” people who make over $250,000 a year.  The goal, the President claims, is to reduce deficits. America has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, as the Congressional Budget Office chart below shows. The federal budget has ballooned nearly $2 trillion in the past 10 years and that increased burden of spending is undermining growth. And if left on autopilot, the spending crisis will get worse in coming decades. Rather than trying to keep up with that growing burden of government — an impossible task —  by raising taxes, our leaders should be looking at ways to... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4709193 Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:19:10 +0100 4709193 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4704626&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FCDMCl8OnIqI%2F By Roger PilonToday POLITICO Arena asks: Do the cuts (and increases) contained in the six-month spending bill House Republicans posted overnight make sense, and do they go far enough in attacking the deficit and national debt? My response: Today’s Arena question captures perfectly what’s missing from our current budget debate. In listing a few of the compromises contained in the six-month spending bill House Republicans posted overnight, and asking whether those cuts (and increases) go far enough in attacking the deficit and national debt, it invites us to imagine that America is one big family, arguing over how “we” should spend “our” money. We’re not. As I wrote in last Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, we’re a constitutional republic, populated by discrete individual... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4704626 Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:33:23 +0100 4704626 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4696611&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FIEBJ9rrQycA%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThere were reports about 10 days ago that the crowd in Washington reached a budget deal, for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year, with $33 billion of cuts. That number was disappointingly low. I wrote at the time that if this was a kiss-your-sister deal, we didn’t have any siblings that looked like Claudia Schiffer. I knew it was unrealistic to expect the full $61 billion, but I explained that $45 billion was a realistic target. We now have a new agreement, which supposedly is final, and the amount of budget cuts has climbed to $38 billion. So our sister is getting prettier, but she still isn’t close to being a supermodel. Here are the highlights (or lowlights) from the New York Times story. Congressional leaders and President Obama headed off a shutdown ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4696611 Sat, 09 Apr 2011 22:40:05 +0100 4696611 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684261&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FtbAiJU8RsZk%2F By Daniel J. MitchellJust days after the introduction of a very good plan by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, leaders from the Republican Study Committee in the House of Representatives have introduced an even better plan. In a previous post, I compared spending levels from the Obama budget and the Ryan budget and showed that the burden of federal spending would rise much faster if the White House plan was adopted. If the goal is to restrain government, the RSC blueprint is the best of all worlds. As the chart illustrates, government only grows by an average of 1.7 percent annually with that plan, compared to an average of 2.8 percent growth under Ryan's good budget and 4.7 percent average growth with Obama's head-in-the-sand proposal. According to the numbers released by the R... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684261 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:03:14 +0100 4684261 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684269&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FqvHpL0CFepQ%2F By Daniel J. MitchellWashington is filled with groups that piously express their devotion to balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility, so it is rather revealing that some of these groups have less-than-friendly responses to Congressman Ryan's budget plan. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, for instance, portrays itself as a bunch of deficit hawks. So you would think they would be doing cartwheels to celebrate a lawmaker who makes a real proposal that would control red ink. Yet Maya MacGuineas, president of the CRFB, basically rejects Ryan's plan because it fails to increase the tax burden. ...while the proposal deserves praise for being bold, the national discussion has moved beyond just finding a plan with sufficient savings to finding one that can generate enough support t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684269 Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:59:07 +0100 4684269 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684278&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FM-AHhGfm6-Y%2F By George Scoville Republicans have a big opportunity to undo Obamacare and reform Medicaid and Medicare all at once. It's a good thing, too, because we're facing a big debt crisis and if we don't change course, federal spending will crest 42% of GDP by 2050. There's also a big elephant in the room in an excessively complicated tax code. One has to wonder if the Republicans intend to put the big sacred cow of defense spending on the table. Unrelated to the budget, education choice proponents scored a big victory in the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday in ACSTO v. Winn, a decision that upheld education tax credits: Tuesday Links is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684278 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 14:13:52 +0100 4684278 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684279&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0m5Iu1txGN0%2F By Roger PilonToday POLITICO Arena asks: Paul Ryan's budget -- hard-headed fiscal sanity or inhumane? My response: Either we discipline ourselves, painfully, or soon enough the Chinese and other lenders will do it for us, more painfully still, by refusing to loan to us any longer at currently low interest rates. And in that event, the debt service will be all consuming. Neither individuals nor nations can go down the road we're on without paying the price. Margaret Thatcher put it plainly: "The trouble with socialism" -- let's be honest, we're socializing the costs of our appetites by imposing them on our children and grandchildren -- "is that eventually you run out of other people's money." Inhumane? The inhumanity is among those demagogues who put us on this path, promising something ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684279 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:16:17 +0100 4684279 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676752&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F2dyd59SbZYU%2F By Mark A. CalabriaOne of the rationales commonly given for massively subsidizing our mortgage market is that without such homeownership would be out of reach for many households.  Such a rationale implies that more debt should be associated with more homeownership.   (Let's set aside the obvious, how are you actually an owner without any equity?) But is that the case.  The chart below compares the homeownership rate with the average debt-to-value ratio of U.S. households.  (Data on debt-to-value is from the Fed's Flow of Funds and homeownership is from the Census Bureau). By 1960, the homeownership rate was already over 60%, yet debt-to-value was less than 30%, half of the current value.  Even in 1990, when homeownership reached over 64%, debt-to-value was still under 40%.  From... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676752 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:24:55 +0100 4676752 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676756&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fs0h5QDv2r10%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThe chairman of the House Budget Committee, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, will unveil his FY2012 budget tomorrow. Not all the details are public yet, but what we do know is very encouraging. Ryan's plan is a broad reform package, including limits on so-called discretionary spending, limits on excessive pay for federal bureaucrats, and steep reductions in corporate welfare. But the two most exciting parts are entitlement reform and tax reform. Ryan's proposals would simultaneously address the long-run threat of bloated government and put in place tax policies that will boost growth and improve competitiveness. The long-run fiscal threat to America is entitlement spending. Ryan's plan will address this crisis by block-granting Medicaid to the states (repeating the succe... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676756 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:18:57 +0100 4676756 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676763&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTUO4cBW_7tQ%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThis Thursday, April 7, Senator Corker of Tennessee will be the opening speaker at the Cato Institute's conference on "The Economic Impact of Government Spending" (an event that is free and open to the public, so register here if you want to attend). The Senator will be discussing his proposal to cap and then gradually reduce the burden of government spending, measured as a share of gross domestic product. With federal outlays currently consuming about 25 percent of economic output, excessive federal spending is America's main fiscal problem. Corker's proposal would put federal spending on a 10-year glide path so that it eventually shrinks to 20.6 percent of GDP. This chart, from the Senator's upcoming presentation, shows that government will grow at a much slower pace... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676763 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:37:10 +0100 4676763 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4670092&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F4FnzF_Gc8-c%2F By Daniel J. MitchellLondon was just hit by heavy riots as part of a protest against the "deep" and "savage" budget cuts of the Cameron government. This is not the first time the UK has endured riots. The welfare lobby, bureaucrats, and other recipients of taxpayer largesse are becoming increasingly agitated that their gravy train may be derailed. The vast majority of protesters have been peaceful, but some hooligans took the opportunity to wreak havoc. These nihilists apparently call themselves anarchists, but are too ignorant to understand the giant disconnect of adopting that title while at the same time rioting for bigger government and more redistribution. My anarcho-capitalist friends must be embarrassed by the potential linkage with these hooligans. Speaking of rage, Paul Krugman is... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4670092 Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:20:09 +0100 4670092 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653305&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fckf64u9fopA%2F By Daniel J. MitchellAccording to news reports, Democrats and Republicans are unlikely to reach any sort of budget agreement before April 8, when a short-term spending bill for the current fiscal year expires. Barring some new development, this could mean a shutdown of the non-essential parts of the government. This makes both sides very nervous. Democrats don't want the spending spigot turned off and are worried that voters might conclude that there's no reason to ever re-open departments such as Housing and Urban Development. Republicans, meanwhile, mostly worry that they might look unreasonable and get blamed if certain parts of the government are mothballed and voters can't get passports or visit national parks. Given this state of play, what's the best strategy for fiscal conservative... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653305 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:25:44 +0100 4653305 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4643018&cid=t_101485_175_f&fid=39258&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FInsidePaTraining%2F%7E3%2Fh1TpB_r-IcA%2Fpaying-for-pa-school-student-loans Paying for PA School Part 3 – Student LoansIn Part 1 of this series, we talked about the costs of PA school, and in Part 2 we covered grants and scholarships.  Today, in the final installment, we cover student loans.  Short of borrowing a stack of Benjamins from your “friend” Sal who works in “sanitation management,” or the concrete business, this means taking [...]Visit us at Inside PA Training - Becoming A Physician Assistant (Source: Inside PA Training) Inside PA Training blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4643018 Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:35:09 +0100 4643018 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4642577&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FDUAjXcfKZ1Y%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI posted recently at International Liberty about the stunning political incompetence of Republican Senators, who reportedly are willing to give Obama an increase in the debt limit in exchange for a vote (yes, just a vote) on a balanced budget amendment. As I explained, there is no way they can get the necessary two-thirds support to approve an amendment, so why trade a meaningless and symbolic vote on a BBA for meaningful and real approval of more borrowing authority for Obama? My analogy yesterday was that this was like trading an all-star baseball player for a utility infielder in the minor leagues. I did acknowledge that forcing a vote on a BBA was a worthwhile endeavor, but said that the GOP has that power anyhow, so why trade away something valuable to get somethi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4642577 Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:29:38 +0100 4642577 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4622225&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FWEHRDrj1FVE%2F By Tad DeHavenLast year I noted that the White House Office of Management and Budget homepage featured a call from the president to “invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt.” Yet, the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of his then-current budget proposal showed that publicly held debt as a share of GDP would rise like the steep slope of a mountain under his policies. The president’s latest budget proposal was released in February, and according to the CBO’s preliminary analysis, Obama would once again leave “our people” with a mountain of debt: Given that the quote is clearly embarrassing, one would think that the White House would have taken it down by now. But it’s still there. Return to Debt Mountain is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institut... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4622225 Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:01:29 +0100 4622225 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4600800&cid=t_101485_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fwhat-aa-is-not%2F AA is not an institutional clearing program. It does not promise that we will receive suspended sentences, probations, or paroles. AA does not promise conditional releases, stays of proceedings, or the early releases from prisons or hospitals.AA is not a "dating game" nor is it a lonely hearts club or a place to find a temporary or permanent lover.AA is not an employment agency or manpower training program. It does not promise that we’ll all find jobs, get rich, or even become financially solvent.AA is not a charitable organization like the welfare system or the Salvation Army. It doesn’t promise that we’ll be loaned money or given cigarettes. AA is not a bank or a credit union, and is not set up to provide funds for anyone.AA is not a church program or a religi... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4600800 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:18:00 +0100 4600800 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4560235&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FdixlovUbwG0%2F By Chris EdwardsThe federal government is approaching its legal borrowing limit, and fiscal conservatives in Congress are wondering what spending reforms they can extract in return for supporting a debt-limit increase. Various sorts of balanced budget amendments and debt limits relative to GDP are being kicked around. I support those ideas, but I fear that they may be too complicated to gain traction right now. A simpler idea would be to impose a statutory limit on annual spending growth of 3 percent. If total federal outlays in a year were $4 trillion, the government couldn’t spend more than $4.12 trillion the next year. It would be that simple. Such a limit would be easy for policymakers and the public to understand and enforce. It would put ongoing pressure on Congress to cut discreti... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4560235 Tue, 08 Mar 2011 21:16:35 +0100 4560235 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4540559&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJqdfGOdXcp8%2F By Daniel J. MitchellA large number of Democrats voted with Republicans in the House yesterday to pass a two-week spending bill that includes $4 billion in cuts compared to what Obama requested. This is a modest victory for the GOP since they can truthfully claim that they are on target to impose the equivalent of $100 billion of cuts over a full fiscal year. And it appears the Senate will go along with the House proposal, as reported in today's Washington Post: The deal, which eliminates dozens of earmarks and a handful of little-known programs that President Obama has identified as unnecessary, sailed through the House on a 335 to 91 vote. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who initially resisted including any cuts in a short-term funding extension, predicted that it will pas... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4540559 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:37:42 +0100 4540559 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4525168&cid=t_101485_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Flifes-lessons%2F To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the list once more:1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.5. Pay off your credit cards every month.6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.1... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4525168 Sat, 26 Feb 2011 16:45:00 +0100 4525168 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4522086&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FzN9pJ3TR6_Q%2F By Tad DeHavenOver at Downsizing Government, we focused on the following issues this week: On getting out of Afghanistan. $61 billion in spending cuts amounts to less than a third of what taxpayers will pay in interest on the debt alone this year. The political stakes in the latest debt ceiling game are high. The consequences of failing to use it as an opportunity to start reining in the federal government are even higher. The IRS is handing out "free" candy. New data from the Federal Aviation Administration shows that reported air traffic control errors have increased by 81 percent since 2007. This Week in Government Failure is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4522086 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:26:28 +0100 4522086 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4507262&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FA4YRqrIWVIY%2F By Daniel J. MitchellAmerica faces a fiscal crisis. The burden of federal spending has doubled during the Bush-Obama years, a $2 trillion increase in just 10 years. But that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Because of demographic changes and poorly designed entitlement programs, the federal budget is going to consume larger and larger shares of America's economic output in coming decades. For all intents and purposes, the United States appears doomed to become a bankrupt welfare state like Greece. But we can save ourselves. A previous video showed how both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton achieved positive fiscal changes by limiting the growth of federal spending, with particular emphasis on reductions in the burden of domestic spending. This new video from the Center for Freedom an... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4507262 Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:16:41 +0100 4507262 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4501576&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FcVbgzYorgg0%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThere will be several pivotal fiscal policy battles this year and the fight over the debt limit may be the most crucial. This is a "must-pass" piece of legislation, so it will be a rare opportunity for fiscal conservatives in the House to impose some much-needed spending restraint. But it's also a high-stakes game. If Obama (or Reid) refuses to accept the fiscal reforms approved by the House and there is a stalemate, the federal government ultimately would lose its ability to borrow from private credit markets. And while that notion has some appeal for many of us, it almost certainly would require more fiscal discipline than the political system is willing to accept (i.e., actual deep cuts rather than just restraining the growth of spending). In a bit of reckless demag... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4501576 Sun, 20 Feb 2011 16:08:49 +0100 4501576 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4482738&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FMv71wpKQzWM%2F By Daniel J. MitchellFiscal policy wonks (like me, I'm forced to admit) sometimes miss the forest because we focus too much on individual trees. So while I think my posts on the spending and revenue sides of Obama's new budget contained lots of useful information, I didn't pay any attention to the elephant in the room (I'm really going overboard with metaphors, huh?). The most important number in Obama's budget is that he is proposing $5.7 trillion of spending in 2021, about $2 trillion more than is being spent this year, according to table S-1 of the budget. Here's everything you need to know about Obama's budget, in one chart. It's important to make three additional observations. First, Obama's budget is based on all sorts of optimistic assumptions and rosy scenarios, as explained by Br... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4482738 Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:40:05 +0100 4482738 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4477697&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FP-8z4iHe-mk%2F By Chris EdwardsDespite the record $1.6 trillion deficit this year, and the consensus that exploding spending and debt is pushing the nation toward catastrophe, the Obama administration has completely chickened out on spending reforms in its new budget. The president took a “shellacking” in the November elections as a result of his big-government policies. Does his new budget reflect any movement to the fiscal center? Not at all — spending levels in his new budget are virtually the same as in last year’s budget. Read my post at NRO for full details. Federal Budget: Obama Chickens Out is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4477697 Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:16:02 +0100 4477697 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4477698&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOKdeJvN1w8A%2F By Daniel J. MitchellPresident Obama's proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 has been released and there is lots of rhetoric in Washington about "budget cuts." At first glance, this seems warranted. According to the just-released fiscal blueprint, the federal government is spending about $3.8 trillion this year and the President is proposing to spending a bit more than $3.7 trillion next year. In other words, the White House is going beyond a budget freeze and is actually proposing to spend $90 billion less next year than is being spent this year. That certainly seems consistent with my proposal to solve America's fiscal problems by restraining the growth of spending. But you won't find a smile on my face. This new budget may be better than Obama's first two fiscal blueprints, but that's da... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4477698 Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:47:45 +0100 4477698 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4477705&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FwJFsb7B85WQ%2F By Daniel J. MitchellPresident Obama unveiled his fiscal year 2012 budget today, and there's good news and bad news. The good news is that there's no major initiative such as the so-called stimulus scheme or the government-run healthcare proposal. The bad news, though, is that government is far too big and Obama's budget does nothing to address this problem. But perhaps the folks on Capitol Hill will be more responsible and actually try to save America from becoming a big-government, European-style welfare state. The solution may not be easy, but it is simple. Lawmakers merely need to restrain the growth of government spending so that it grows slower than the private economy. Actual spending cuts would be the best option, of course, but limiting the growth of spending is all that's needed ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4477705 Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:17:13 +0100 4477705 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4472946&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FqBapCXmGzEg%2F By Daniel J. MitchellChalk up another victory -- at least on the rhetorical level -- for the Tea Party. President Obama will release his fiscal year 2012 budget tomorrow and he's apparently become a born-again fiscal conservative. Here are some excerpts from a Washington Post story: President Obama will respond to a Republican push for a drastic reduction in government spending by proposing sharp cuts of his own in a fiscal 2012 budget blueprint that aims to trim record federal deficits by $1.1 trillion over the next decade. ...two-thirds of the savings would come from spending cuts that are draconian by Democratic standards... When it lands Monday on Capitol Hill, Obama's plan will launch a bidding war with Republicans over how deeply and swiftly to cut, as the two parties seek a path to ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4472946 Sun, 13 Feb 2011 17:48:07 +0100 4472946 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4445777&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FF-J4qTLWp2Y%2F By Daniel J. MitchellA new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity gives four reasons why big government is bad fiscal policy. I particularly like the explanation of how government spending undermines growth by diverting labor and capital from the productive sector of the economy. Some cynics, though, say that it is futile to make arguments for good policy. They claim that politicians make bad fiscal decisions because of short-term considerations such as vote buying and raising campaign cash and that they don't care about the consequences. There's a lot of truth to this "public choice" analysis, but I don't think it explains everything. Maybe I'm an optimist, but I think we would have better fiscal policy if more lawmakers, journalists, academics, and others grasped the common-se... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4445777 Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:44:10 +0100 4445777 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4405756&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fi_fqsUVGRmQ%2F By Daniel J. MitchellMany of the politicians in Washington, including President Obama during his State of the Union address, piously tell us that there is no way to balance the budget without tax increases. Trying to get rid of red ink without higher taxes, they tell us, would require “savage” and “draconian” budget cuts. I would like to slash the budget and free up resources for private-sector growth, so that sounds good to me. But what’s the truth? The Congressional Budget Office has just released its 10-year projections for the budget, so I crunched the numbers to determine what it would take to balance the budget without tax hikes. Much to nobody’s surprise, the politicians are not telling the truth. The chart below shows that revenues are expected t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4405756 Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:00:32 +0100 4405756 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4399773&cid=t_101485_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2011%2F01%2F25%2Fchina-and-america-of-yuan-and-yangsters%2F New cartoon by Trussell & Trussell on Politics Daily. China and America: Of Yuan and Yangsters. In Chinese, “crisis” is composed of two characters: “best friends forever” and “executioner.” Filed under: Politics Tagged: china, debt, economy, robert donna trussell, unemployment (Source: Donna Trussell) Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4399773 Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:16:08 +0100 4399773 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4399512&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FWtG_pnnH5gU%2F By David BoazThe national debt has just passed $14 trillion. It’s approaching the so-called “debt limit” of $14.3 trillion, and members of Congress face a vote on raising the limit that doesn’t limit. President Obama will no doubt stress his commitment to reducing deficits in his speech tonight, but it’s unlikely that he will propose any actual budget cuts or any serious entitlement reforms. And we’re told that he will propose new spending on infrastructure, education, and research in the face of trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see. We’ve become so used to these stunning, incomprehensible, unfathomable levels of deficits and debt — and to the once-rare concept of trillions of dollars — that we forget how new all this debt... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4399512 Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:07:05 +0100 4399512 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4382749&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FvbTJ4BCKkfc%2F By Christopher PrebleThe calls for cutting the federal budget continue to build in Congress as the new GOP members try to make good on their promise to rein in the deficit.  And, right on time, the latest issue of the Weekly Standard features an article by Robert Kagan critiquing the chorus of calls for cuts to military spending.  I think Kagan’s critique is reasonably fair, certainly more so than others of the recent past.  But his basic premise, that national security spending is unrelated to the national debt, simply is not true.  At the The Skeptics, I address this: It is of course true that entitlements and mandatory spending pose the greatest threat to the nation’s fiscal health, but $700+ billion [in defense spending] isn’t chump change. The question of what we should spe... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4382749 Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:48:42 +0100 4382749 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4382755&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FSamESHnA_8M%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI’m not a big fan of central banks, and I definitely don’t like multilateral bureaucracies, so I almost feel guilty about publicizing two recent studies published by the European Central Bank. But when such an institution puts out research that unambiguously makes the case for smaller government, it’s time to sit up and take notice. And since these studies largely echo the findings of recent research by the International Monetary Fund, we may have reached a point where even the establishment finally understands that government is too big. The first study looks at real-world examples of debt reduction in 15 European nations and investigates the fiscal policies that worked and didn’t work. Entitled “Major Public Debt Reductions: Lessons From... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4382755 Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:37:43 +0100 4382755 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4372251&cid=t_101485_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fabusive-relationships%2F Image via WikipediaAn alcoholic or addictive relationship may be marred by abuse. This symptom list may raise ones awareness of the problem.There are many signs of an abusive relationship. The primary sign is fear of your partner. Other signs include a partner who belittles you or tries to control you, and feelings of self-loathing, numbness, helplessness, and desperation.To determine whether or not you’re in an abusive relationship, answer the questions in the table below. The more questions to which you answer “yes,” the more likely your relationship is abusive.Signs of an Abusive RelationshipYour Inner Feelings and ThoughtsDo you :fear your partner a large percentage of the time?avoid certain topics out of fear of angering your partner?feel that you can’t do anything right for y... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4372251 Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:01:00 +0100 4372251 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4360956&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fx4-cyYCDNMc%2F By Chris EdwardsGross federal debt just hit $14 trillion and will soon reach the legal limit of $14.3 trillion. House Republicans are wondering what spending reforms they can extract from the Democrats for their support of a debt-limit increase. I propose a “Cut and Cap” strategy. The GOP should insist on the $100 billion in initial cuts they promised, and also demand passage of a legal cap on overall federal spending. A simple form of such a cap would specify that total federal outlays cannot rise more than inflation plus population growth each year. If it did, the law would require that the president sequester, or cut, spending across-the board to meet the limit. The chart illustrates the power of such a cap. The top line shows total spending as projected under President Obama’s b... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4360956 Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:45:28 +0100 4360956 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4343202&cid=t_101485_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2F13%2F5-ideas-for-cultivating-a-sense-of-wonder%2F Reverb 10 is an annual end-of-year project that helps readers reflect on the old year via a series of prompts. One of 2010′s prompts was “How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?” This question made me think about cultivating wonder in our lives all the time, from the old year into the new. Wonder is a magical word, I think. And it’s a word that needs more exploration. We need to explore wonder more often, because as adults, many of us lose our sense of wonder in life. It gets buried under piles of bills, deadlines, responsibilities and housework. Maybe you think you’re too old, too mature or too sensible to have a sense of wonder. According to Dictionary.com, wonder means to admire, to be amazed, to be in awe, to marvel. It means something strange or s... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4343202 Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:28:08 +0100 4343202 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4337919&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FkHbk2m319fQ%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThanks to decades of reckless spending by European welfare states, the newspapers are filled with headlines about debt, default, contagion, and bankruptcy. We know that Greece and Ireland already have received direct bailouts, and other European welfare states are getting indirect bailouts from the European Central Bank, which is vying with the Federal Reserve in a contest to see which central bank can win the “Most Likely to Appease the Political Class” Award. But which nation will be the next domino to fall? Who will get the next direct bailout? Some people think total government debt is the key variable, and there’s been a lot of talk that debt levels of 90 percent of GDP represent some sort of fiscal Maginot Line. Once nations get above that level... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4337919 Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:53:45 +0100 4337919 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4331015&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Frepealing-healthcare-reform-to-gain-campaign-ammunition%2F2011.01.10 Repealing healthcare reform has become a way of stockpiling ammunition for the campaign trail. The Republican-led House has scheduled a repeal of healthcare reform for Wednesday, Jan. 12, and they’d garner as allies some but not all 13 Democrats that voted against healthcare reform to begin with. The House’s quixotic vote would then promptly die in the Democrat-held Senate. But recording votes on repeal would put pressure on already vulnerable lawmakers, as well as give a quick boost to incoming ones. A Gallup poll shows 46 percent of Americans want healthcare reform to be repealed, 40 percent don’t want repeal. Unfortunately, not only can’t the law be passed, it would add $230 billion to the federal debt by 2021, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Hous... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4331015 Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0100 4331015 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4322495&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FcbkbS0HjCM4%2F By Tad DeHavenThe origins of the federal government’s statutory debt limit can be traced back to 1917, when the country was borrowing money to finance the Great War. Congress has voted to increase the limit numerous times over the decades, including 10 times since 2001. The present debt limit is $14.3 trillion, and total outstanding debt subject to the limit currently stands at just under $14 trillion. Given that policymakers don’t have the will to cut spending immediately in order to keep the debt from hitting the limit, a political battle over raising it is unfolding. The Obama administration is basically warning that congressional (i.e., Republican) intransigence over raising the limit could potentially lead to the federal government defaulting on its debt, because it needs to borr... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4322495 Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:06:20 +0100 4322495 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4309594&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fni34kGjT7tk%2F By Gerald P. O'DriscollThe New Year is likely to bring renewal of financial problems in the European Union. In Greece, the crisis was fiscal in origin and spread to Greek banks and banks in other countries that had lent to Greek banks and the Greek government. In Ireland, the crisis began with problem real-estate loans at Irish banks. That spread to European banks, mainly British, that had lent to Irish banks. In its year-end issue, the Economist reminds us of the 2008 banking crisis in Iceland.  The Icelandic government responded much differently in that crisis than did the Irish government to its banking crisis. Iceland let its banks go under and to some extent stiffed their creditors. It did so out of necessity. Banking assets there were 10 times the country’s GDP, while they ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4309594 Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:46:26 +0100 4309594 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4277820&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FlzMi7K3F1hg%2F By Chris EdwardsFormer President George W. Bush’s book Decision Points is apparently selling quite well. The book includes a defense of the president’s fiscal record, and a table on page 447 compares Bush to prior presidents on spending and debt (you can see the table on Amazon’s search inside feature). One problem with the table is that Bush claims credit for the low spending and debt of President Clinton’s last year, fiscal 2001. The first budget Bush crafted was for fiscal 2002. Here are the data reported by Bush, and data recalculated to better reflect the budgets that each president had some control over. Figures are averages over the fiscal year periods, measured as a share of GDP: Decision Points Comparison: Clinton (1993-2000) 19.8%, Bush (2001-2008) 19.6%... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4277820 Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:03:18 +0100 4277820 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4253118&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F9jHx1bT-QCg%2F By Daniel J. MitchellWhen big-spending politicians in Washington pontificate about “deficit reduction,” taxpayers should be very wary. Crocodile tears about red ink almost always are a tactic that the political class uses to make tax increases more palatable. The way it works is that the crowd in DC increases spending, which leads to more red ink, which allows them to say we have a deficit crisis, which gives them an excuse to raise taxes, which then gives them more money to spend. This additional spending then leads to more debt, which provides a rationale for higher taxes, and the pattern continues — sort of a lather-rinse-repeat cycle of big government. Fortunately, it looks like the American people have figured out this scam. By a 57-34 margin, they say that reducing ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4253118 Sun, 12 Dec 2010 20:06:59 +0100 4253118 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4237875&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FpS8DMyu2IFQ%2F By Daniel J. MitchellCompared to ideal policy, the deal announced last night between congressional Republicans and President Obama is terrible. Compared to what I expected to happen, the deal announced last night is pretty good. In other words, grading this package depends on your benchmark. This is why reaction has been all over the map, featuring dour assessments from people like Pejman Yousefzadeh and cheerful analysis from folks such as Jennifer Rubin. With apologies to Clint Eastwood, let’s review the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Good The good parts of the agreement is the avoidance of bad things, sort of the political version of the Hippocratic oath — do no harm. Tax rates next year are not going to increase. The main provisions of the 2001 and 2003 tax acts are exte... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4237875 Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:35:01 +0100 4237875 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4219726&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fb4TWb67KkNU%2F By Roger PilonToday POLITICO Arena asks Will implementing President Obama’s Fiscal Commission recommendations require that everyone take a hit? My response (with tax insights from Jagadeesh Gokhale): President Obama’s Fiscal Commission Report offers a useful start in reducing our budget deficits and national debt, but it hardly goes far enough. As several of my Cato colleagues have just noted here, here, here, and here, the report recognizes, to its credit, that our corporate income tax structure puts U.S. corporations at a considerable competitive disadvantage against their foreign competitors. And the report keeps military spending cuts on the table, even if there is much more to be cut. Yet by proposing a reduction in government spending from 24.3 percent of GDP to... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4219726 Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:21:46 +0100 4219726 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4219730&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F3BFss3qvpBg%2F By Christopher PreblePresident Obama’s Fiscal Commission’s report is out and they have wisely kept military spending on the table. Having not seen the accompanying list of specific cuts, it seems that rather than micromanage DoD’s decisions with respect to which weapons systems to cut or keep, the commissioners have laid down a different marker: find the cuts that make sense, but understand that the business-as-usual of the past decade is over. The report fixes on a number of spending cuts and reforms that Benjamin Friedman and I call for in the Cato Policy Analysis “Budgetary Savings from Military Restraint” including cuts to the civilian workforce (see recommendation 1.10.4). They also hold fast to the proposition that all spending must be on the table, and reject out of ha... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4219730 Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:46:27 +0100 4219730 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4219731&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F8QBjyJOWmSE%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThe Chairmen of President Obama’s Fiscal Commission have a new draft proposal that is filled, according to Reuters, with “sharp spending and benefit cuts.” That’s music to my ears, so I quickly flipped to the back of the report in hopes of finding hard numbers showing that the federal government will be smaller in future years. Much to my chagrin, it turns out that the federal government will increase by about $1.5 trillion between 2010 and 2020 according to the Commission’s numbers. Here’s a chart based on the data from page 57. As I explain in the video below, this disconnect between supposed spending cuts and actual spending increases is the result of politicians creating a system where a spending increase can be called a “... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4219731 Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:44:17 +0100 4219731 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4200736&cid=t_101485_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fgamblers-play-suicide-odds%2F Dealt a bad hand: Pathological gamblers are also at risk for mental health disorders.Pathological gamblers are risking more than their money, they are also three times more likely to commit suicide than non-betters. A  new Montreal inter-university study has shown these gamblers are also plagued by personality disorders. These findings, published in a recent issue of the Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, may have implications for developing improved targeted suicide prevention programs.“The World Health Organization estimates that suicide is one of the top ten causes of death in the Western world,” says study co-author, Richard Boyer. “In addition, pathological gamblers account for five percent of all suicides. These staggering statistics motivated us to study the difference betwee... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4200736 Thu, 25 Nov 2010 15:06:00 +0100 4200736 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4197316&cid=t_101485_136_f&fid=39025&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Feverythingchangesbook%2F%7E3%2FCJbwNkT3T28%2Freduce-medical-bills The first step to reducing your medical debt is asking your doc or hospital to reduce your bill. This takes time, chutzpah, and smarts and is worth the work. Asking for a discounted bill can sound impossible but it’s not.  Here’s why:  The cost of medical procedures, doctor’s time, and hospital services are not set in stone. In fact, different patients are even billed different prices for the same services. Walking into a doc’s office or hospital is not like walking into McDonald’s where a Big Mac costs the same for everyone in line.  With medical care, different people get charged different rates and your rates can be negotiated.  After all, negotiating rates is exactly what insurance companies do and you can do it for yourself too! The National Endowment... Everything Changes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4197316 Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:04:28 +0100 4197316 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4190133&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FeySvl4dbBoQ%2F By Caleb O. BrownJerry L. Jordan, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, delivered the keynote address at the Cato Institute 28th Annual Monetary Conference held last week. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Jerry L. Jordan: We Have Replaced Household Debt with Government Debt is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4190133 Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:39:07 +0100 4190133 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4179304&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FgzQCugAF_pg%2F By Daniel J. MitchellIreland is in deep fiscal trouble and the Germans and the French apparently want the politicians in Dublin to increase the nation’s 12.5 percent corporate tax rate as the price for being bailed out. This is almost certainly the cause of considerable smugness and joy in Europe’s high-tax nations, many of which have been very resentful of Ireland for enjoying so much prosperity in recent decades in part because of a low corporate tax burden. But is there any reason to think Ireland’s competitive corporate tax regime is responsible for the nation’s economic crisis? The answer, not surprisingly, is no. Here’s a chart from one of Ireland’s top economists, looking at taxes and spending for past 27 years. You can see that revenues grew rapi... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4179304 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:42:11 +0100 4179304 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4179474&cid=t_101485_136_f&fid=39025&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Feverythingchangesbook%2F%7E3%2FCJbwNkT3T28%2Freduce-medical-bills The first step to reducing your medical debt is asking your doc or hospital to reduce your bill. This takes time, chutzpah, and smarts and is worth the work. Asking for a discounted bill can sound impossible, but did you know the cost of medical procedures, doctor’s time, and hospital stays are not set in stone?  In fact, different patients are billed different prices for the same services. It’s not like walking into McDonald’s where a Big Mac costs the same for everyone in line. (For example, hospitals often charge much less to insured patients because there’s a higher guarantee the bill will be paid.) Unfair?  Yes.  But use to your advantage the fact that hospitals can and do charge many different rates: Get them to lower your bill! The National Endowment for F... Everything Changes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4179474 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:04:28 +0100 4179474 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4175671&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fsg6VpRicAgY%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI’ve already commented on the proposal from the Chairmen of President Obama’s Fiscal Commission (including a very clever cartoon, if it’s okay to pat myself on the back). Now we have a similar proposal from the so-called Debt Reduction Task Force. Chaired by former Senator Pete Domenici and Clinton Administration Budget Director Alice Rivlin, the Task Force proposed a series of big tax increases to finance bigger government. I have five observations. 1. Notwithstanding a claim of $2.68 trillion of “spending cuts” during the 2012-2020 period, government gets a lot bigger during the decade. All of the supposed “cuts” are measured against an artificial baseline that assumes bigger government. In other words, the report is compl... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4175671 Wed, 17 Nov 2010 21:51:16 +0100 4175671 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4159214&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FhNVhgmgURhU%2F By Jagadeesh GokhaleIt’s kudos to President Obama’s Debt Commission co-chairs for clearly outlining the gargantuan size of the fiscal problem facing the United States.  The reforms will re-direct the exploding debt trajectory downward by reforming taxes and cutting spending – reminiscent of recent fiscal reforms in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, history is likely to repeat itself: Even if they are enacted soon — which seems unlikely — chances are bleak that we’ll stick with them for long enough to achieve their stated goals. The Debt Commission co-chairs have done a stellar job in framing the nation’s fiscal challenge and placing it squarely before the American public. The contrast between the current trajectory that increases the national debt beyond 80 percent ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4159214 Thu, 11 Nov 2010 19:44:12 +0100 4159214 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4159219&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FujSpzFqXP-E%2F By Michael F. CannonFollowing up on what Dan and Chris have said … If the co-chairs of President Obama’s fiscal commission were serious about reducing federal spending and deficits, they would have proposed eliminating the federal deficit, rather than “reduc[ing] it to 2.2 percent of GDP by 2015.”  Yawn. They would have proposed cutting federal spending (currently, 24 percent of GDP and rising) to match federal tax revenue (currently at 15 percent of GDP).  But the co-chairs proposed only to “bring spending down to 22 percent and eventually 21 percent of GDP.”  Not only does that elicit another yawn, but since the co-chairs only asked for half a loaf, they won’t even get that much. If the co-chairs were serious about reducing federal spending ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4159219 Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:55:59 +0100 4159219 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4159222&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fzs-AIlTX99k%2F By Daniel J. MitchellI have many pet peeves, but one that causes me endless frustration is the Washington “spending cut” scam. This happens when politicians increase spending, but claim that they’re cutting spending because they previously had planned to make government even bigger. The proposal unveiled yesterday by the Co-Chairman of President Obama’s Fiscal Commission is a good example. If you read through their report, it sounds like there are lots of spending cuts. But they never explain that these supposed cuts are really just reductions in previously-planned increases. Here’s the bottom line. As shown in the graph, it is quite simple to balance the budget (and permanently extend all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts) if politicians simply limit spending gro... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4159222 Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:02:04 +0100 4159222 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4151750&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FJzZhhZ7EcRY%2F By Daniel J. MitchellEarly in the Obama Administration, there was an amusing/embarrassing incident when Chinese students laughed at Treasury Secretary Geithner when he claimed the United States had a strong-dollar policy. I suspect that even Geithner would be smart enough to avoid such a claim today, not after the Fed’s announcement (with the full support of the White House and Treasury) that it would flood the economy with $600 billion of hot money. Here’s what my colleague Alan Reynolds wrote in the Wall Street Journal about Bernanke’s policy. Mr. Bernanke…believes (contrary to our past experience with stagflation) that inflation is no danger thanks to economic slack (high unemployment). He reasons that if people can nonetheless be persuaded to expect higher infl... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4151750 Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:01:13 +0100 4151750 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133663&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FOtN5N5n25OI%2F By David BoazSome 75 new Republican members of Congress got there by promising to stop the federal government’s massive overspending. And as Chris Edwards noted, there have been a number of lists of budget cuts proposed recently. Saturday Night Live did a sketch back in 2007 that might be useful to Tea Partiers and new members of Congress. It’s about a self-help plan called “Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford.” Since the federal government is running deficits well over a trillion dollars a year, I’d say this plan would be good advice: Hat tip to Jonathan Witt at the Acton Institute’s PowerBlog, who points out that if this were a perfect analogy, the book author would be more agitated because “the couple has been spending the author’s money ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133663 Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:13:11 +0100 4133663 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4097902&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FvGeylL-OA40%2F By Jim HarperThe Federal Communications Commission has established a new advisory group called the “Technological Advisory Council.” Among other things, it will advise the agency on “how broadband communications can be part of the solution for the delivery and cost containment of health care, for energy and environmental conservation, for education innovation and in the creation of jobs.” This is an agency that is radically overspilling its bounds. It has established goals that it has no proper role in fulfilling and that it has no idea how to fulfill. As we look for cost-cutting measures at the federal level, we could end the pretense that the communications industry should be regulated as a public utility. Shuttering the FCC would free up funds for better purposes... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4097902 Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:37:38 +0100 4097902 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4082069&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FKaLOrrGZzO4%2F By Tad DeHavenThe New York Times took a look at people who voluntarily send money to Washington in order to help pay down the federal debt. Last year, the Bureau of the Public Debt received $3.1 million in such donations. Looking at the federal budget, I found a total of $241 million in “gifts and contributions” for fiscal year 2010. Charitable donations to the federal government are insignificant when compared to donations made to private charities. A Cato essay on welfare spending points out that Americans contribute more than $300 billion a year to organized private charities and volunteer more than 8 billion hours a year to charitable activities, which can be valued at about $158 billion. Thus when given the choice, people overwhelmingly entrust their donations to private charities... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4082069 Tue, 19 Oct 2010 11:09:33 +0100 4082069 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4055704&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FB2auZHKwH6A%2F By Daniel J. MitchellThe Economist has a fascinating webpage that allows readers to look at all the world’s nations and compare them based on various measures of government debt (and for various years). The most economically relevant measure is public debt as a share of GDP, and you can see that the United States is not in great shape, though many nations have more accumulated red ink (especially Japan, where debt is much higher than it is even in Greece).  As faithful readers of this blog already understand, the real issue is the size of government, but this site is a good indicator of nations that finance their spending in a risky fashion. By the way, keep in mind that these figures do not include unfunded liabilities. For those who worry about debt, those are the truly shocking ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4055704 Mon, 11 Oct 2010 11:13:32 +0100 4055704 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045073&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Faf_jCffPcN0%2F By Daniel J. MitchellHere’s a chart from Veronique de Rugy’s new article on federal revenues vs. spending in The American. Amazing how the problem becomes obvious when you look at real numbers and don’t get trapped into using “baseline” math (as I explain in my latest video). By the way, find out when John Stossel’s program on Fox Business News airs in your area. Veronique is a guest this week talking about these issues. Do We Have a Problem of Too Much Spending or Too Little Revenue? is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog (Source: Cato-at-liberty) Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045073 Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:50:08 +0100 4045073 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4036622&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FtH6P4GPzYM0%2F By Neal McCluskeyYesterday, President Obama hosted the White House Summit on Community Colleges, and in-your-face love was in the air. President Obama and Second Lady Jill Biden, a community college professor, couldn’t keep their hands off their signficant other, lavishing all sorts of praise on their favorite little schools. Swooned Dr. Biden about the dreamy things community colleges do for their students: They are students like the mother who shared her experience with us on the White House website of working towards a degree while raising three children and straddling financial challenges.  Now employed and the holder of a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree, she wrote, “Community colleges didn’t just change my life, they gave me my life.” Community colleges do that e... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4036622 Wed, 06 Oct 2010 20:57:54 +0100 4036622 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4036625&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F-IAePP9TisM%2F By Daniel J. MitchellKeynesian economic theory is the social science version of a perpetual motion machine. It assumes that you can increase your prosperity by taking money out of your left pocket and putting it in your right pocket. Not surprisingly, nations that adopt this approach do not succeed. Deficit spending did not work for Hoover and Roosevelt is the 1930s. It did not work for Japan in the 1990s. And it hasn’t worked for Bush or Obama. The Keynesians invariably respond by arguing that these failures simply show that politicians didn’t spend enough money. I don’t know whether to be amused or horrified, but some Keynesians even say that a war would be the best way of boosting economic growth. Here’s a blurb from a story in National Journal. America’s... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4036625 Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:38:35 +0100 4036625 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4031220&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FcnNZY-c7_eA%2F By Daniel J. MitchellOur fiscal policy goal should be smaller government, but here’s a video for folks who think that balancing the budget should be the main objective. The main message is that restraining the growth of government is the right way to get rid of red ink, so there is no conflict between advocates of limited government and serious supporters of fiscal balance. More specifically, the video shows that it is possible to quickly balance the budget while also making all the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent and protecting taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax. All these good things can happen if politicians simply limit annual spending growth to 2 percent each year. And they’ll happen even faster if spending grows at an even slower rate. This debunks the statist a... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4031220 Mon, 04 Oct 2010 18:29:20 +0100 4031220 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4027153&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTK1h1wqy7Z8%2F By Daniel J. MitchellEli Lehrer has an article on the FrumForum entitled “Five Revenue Raisers the GOP Should Back.” He argues it would be good to get rid of preferences such as the state and local tax deduction and the mortgage interest deduction, and he also asserts that there should be “user fees” for things such as transportation. As an avid supporter of a flat tax and market pricing, I have no objection to these policies. Indeed, I would love to get rid of the state and local tax deduction so that taxpayers in Texas and Florida no longer have to subsidize the fiscal profligacy of politicians in California and New York. But there is a giant difference between getting rid of certain tax preferences as part of revenue-neutral (or even better, tax-cutting) tax refo... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4027153 Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:01:57 +0100 4027153 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4018161&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FwUHSuC1bydo%2F By Daniel J. MitchellWhile I’m glad Republicans are finally talking about smaller government, I’ve expressed some disappointment with the GOP Pledge to America. Why “reform” Fannie and Freddie, I asked, when the right approach is to get the government completely out of the housing sector. Jacob Sullum of Reason is similarly underwhelmed. He writes: In the “Pledge to America” they unveiled last week, House Republicans promise they will “launch a sustained effort to stem the relentless growth in government that has occurred over the past decade.” Who better for the job than the folks who ran the government for most of that time? …Republicans, you may recall, had a spending spree of their own during George W. Bush’s recently conclude... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4018161 Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:15:16 +0100 4018161 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4003239&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FWAlBPvZa85s%2F By Tad DeHavenThe House Republicans’ release of its “Pledge to America” has been met with criticism from across the ideological spectrum. While excoriation from the left was inevitable, those who were hoping that the GOP would set out a detailed agenda for limiting government were also not satisfied. The 48-page document contains more pictures of Republican members of Congress than it does evidence that the GOP is seriously prepared to cut spending. While the introductory commentary is designed to appeal to the tea party movement, the actual “plan” to return budgetary sanity to Washington is both timid and incomplete. The following are some thoughts on the pledge’s “plan to stop out of control spending and reduce the size of government”: The document immediately notes th... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4003239 Mon, 27 Sep 2010 20:06:55 +0100 4003239 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3993877&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FEXtRwURzsag%2F By Daniel J. MitchellJohn Podesta of the Center for American Progress had a column in Politico yesterday asserting that “closing the budget gap entirely on the spending side would require draconian programmatic cuts.” He went on to complain that there are some people who “refuse to look at the revenue side of the ledger – while insisting that we dig the hole $830 billion deeper over the next decade by extending the Bush tax cuts.”   Not surprisingly, Mr. Podesta is totally wrong. It’s actually not that challenging to balance the budget. And it doesn’t even require any spending cuts, though it would be a very good idea to dramatically downsize the federal government. Here’s a chart showing this year’s spending and revenue totals. It then sh... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3993877 Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:02:58 +0100 3993877 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3972917&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fpractice-medicine-for-a-year-rack-up-a-half-million-in-overhead%2F2010.09.15 Newly minted MDs face student loans the sizes of mortgages and might go 18 months without an income if they try to start up their own practice. And although in the words of one student, “Medicine shouldn’t be treated like a business,” physicians still have to operate their practices like one. That’s resulted in one doctor facing a half-million in operating expenses every year in Manhattan. A half-dozen other new physicians describe their first years in practice in these two profiles, while a third details how Leslie Saltzman, ACP Member, took advantage of some resources on hand and guidance from ACP’s “Running a Practice” section to quickly grow her solo practice into a full-service resource for women’s health. (New York Post, Kaiser Health News, ACP... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3972917 Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:00:00 +0100 3972917 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3958063&cid=t_101485_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fpredators-in-12-step-fellowships%2F Sexual, spiritual, and financial predators in 12 Step Fellowships. Predators are members who take advantage of other members in various ways, such as: sexual harassment sexual attack stalking (physical, phone or cyberstalking) pressuring members to join a particular religious group borrowing money selling goods for personal gain offering investment schemes theft of group funds. While they are not common, the damage they do can be enormous. The saddest thing about this type of activity is that it is often practised on vulnerable new members who are least able to use their judgement and defend themselves. Predation is different to occasional or mutually agreed upon action between members – that sometimes go’s wrong. Predation is an extremely important matter. The best way to... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3958063 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:00:00 +0100 3958063 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3935923&cid=t_101485_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fsome-gifts-of-sobriety%2F Yes we will! If we work hard at the 12 Steps suggested to us; We’ll be amazed at and proud of changes in our lives We’ll be freer and happier than we could imagine Our mistakes won’t haunt us We’ll feel calmer and more confident What we’ve been through will help us help others We’ll stop feeling stupid and sorry for ourselves We’ll be more considerate of our friends and family members We’ll lighten up We won’t be so afraid of people and situations We’ll stop worrying about money and how much we’ve got and haven’t got We’ll be able to trust our gut instincts when times get tough We’ll feel loved and cared for. See also Attitudes Spiritual Health Blockages Alcoholics Anonymous – the Big Book – an Audible MP3 book Affirmations HALT being Hungry, Angr... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3935923 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:22:20 +0100 3935923 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3920827&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FmipidtQECHg%2F By Jim HarperH.R. 3421, the “Medical Debt Relief Act of 2009,” has nothing to do with relieving people of medical debts. It adds to the list of information credit reporting agencies may not communicate to their clients. Current law bars credit bureaus from sharing truthful information about bankruptcies occuring more than ten years in the past, and lawsuits, judgments, tax liens, accounts placed in collection, or other adverse information more than seven years old, except in certain high-dollar credit transactions. This bill would add a new item to the list of officially banned information: medical debts that have been paid more than thirty days before a credit report is issued. There are many cases, of course, where people who incur medical debts deserve our sympathy. But do ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3920827 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:43:59 +0100 3920827 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3895870&cid=t_101485_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FRl1g5JzgfnQ%2F I hope the title of this post is an exaggeration, but it’s certainly a logical conclusion based on what is written in the Congressional Budget Office’s updated Economic and Budget Outlook. The Capitol Hill bureaucracy basically has a deficit-über-alles view of fiscal policy. CBO’s long-run perspective, as shown by this excerpt, is that deficits reduce output by “crowding out” private capital and that anything that results in lower deficits (or larger surpluses) will improve economic performance — even if this means big increases in tax rates. CBO has also examined an alternative fiscal scenario reflecting several changes to current law that are widely expected to occur or that would modify some provisions of law that might be difficult to sustain for a ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3895870 Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:00:18 +0100 3895870