Inflation
Government Spending
Medicare needs systemic remedies
President Barack Obama signed a bill to “fix” payments to doctors by Medicare — until November. Although costing taxpayers $6.5 billion, this short-term patch will just have to be “fixed” again right after the next election. Throwing more money at a broken Medicare reimbursement schedule is what passes for bipartisan ...
Health Care
The Federal Government Can Never “Fix” the “Doc Fix”
Key Points: Medicare Part B beneficiaries are facing a crisis of access to physicians, because the federal government sets fees at an inadequate level. The U.S. government has promised physicians that it will “fix” the fees for the long term, but has proven incompetent to do anything more than patch ...
Business & Economics
Artificially low interest rates bad for economy
Ultra-low interest rates fueled the housing bubble, thanks to former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan’s direction. And Americans should brace for another crash because that practice has continued. The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee recently announced it would maintain a target of zero to 0.25 percent for the federal funds rate ...
Business & Economics
A bone to pick with Bartlett on federal spending
Reps. Jeb Hensarling and Mike Pence recently called for a constitutional amendment limiting federal spending “to one-fifth of the economy.” Bruce Bartlett, a former official in the George H.W. Bush administration, promptly denounced the idea as “dopey,” one “terrible… on so many levels that it is hard to know where ...
Business & Economics
The $2 Trillion Hole
Promised pensions benefits for public-sector employees represent a massive overhang that threatens the financial future of many cities and states. LIKE A CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE, populist rage burns over bloated executive compensation and unrepentant avarice on Wall Street. Deserving as these targets may or may not be, most Americans have ignored ...
Climate Change
A changing political climate on climate change
Despite intense, sometimes contentious negotiations — most recently at a meeting of world leaders in Denmark — the likelihood of a binding deal on global carbon emissions appears remote. Virtually all nations agree about the potential severity of climate change, but tremendous apprehension remains about how best to fight global ...
Business & Economics
Setting the stage for stagflation
Prices rose 2.7 percent during 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ recent update of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This is a worrisome fact because last year’s unemployment rate averaged more than 9 percent. This trend may signal a return of “stagflation,” a merger of stagnation and inflation. ...
Commentary
Tax-credit scholarships could ease school funding burden
Gov. Chris Christie has proposed freezing $475 million in education spending to help shrink New Jersey’s $2.2 billion budget deficit, focusing on school districts with budget surpluses. (“Deep budget cuts carry economic risk for N.J.,” Feb. 14.) This plan raises concerns about punishing fiscally responsible school districts. It also raises ...
California
Deadly Irony: California’s New HMO Regulations Versus Single-Payer Health Care
California has the unique distinction of being the only state that deploys two regulators of health plans: the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) as well as the Department of Insurance. Unsurprisingly, these departments busy themselves issuing ever-growing and more detailed regulations. The DMHC has been developing these regulations since ...
Business & Economics
We asked, they answered
Washington should try being honest and sensible about health care legislation Will Barclay of Pulaski represents the 124th district in the New York State Assembly to which he was elected on the Republican, Conservative and Independence parties’ lines. By WILL BARCLAY Just four days after Bill Owens defeated Doug Hoffman ...
Medicare needs systemic remedies
President Barack Obama signed a bill to “fix” payments to doctors by Medicare — until November. Although costing taxpayers $6.5 billion, this short-term patch will just have to be “fixed” again right after the next election. Throwing more money at a broken Medicare reimbursement schedule is what passes for bipartisan ...
The Federal Government Can Never “Fix” the “Doc Fix”
Key Points: Medicare Part B beneficiaries are facing a crisis of access to physicians, because the federal government sets fees at an inadequate level. The U.S. government has promised physicians that it will “fix” the fees for the long term, but has proven incompetent to do anything more than patch ...
Artificially low interest rates bad for economy
Ultra-low interest rates fueled the housing bubble, thanks to former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan’s direction. And Americans should brace for another crash because that practice has continued. The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee recently announced it would maintain a target of zero to 0.25 percent for the federal funds rate ...
A bone to pick with Bartlett on federal spending
Reps. Jeb Hensarling and Mike Pence recently called for a constitutional amendment limiting federal spending “to one-fifth of the economy.” Bruce Bartlett, a former official in the George H.W. Bush administration, promptly denounced the idea as “dopey,” one “terrible… on so many levels that it is hard to know where ...
The $2 Trillion Hole
Promised pensions benefits for public-sector employees represent a massive overhang that threatens the financial future of many cities and states. LIKE A CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE, populist rage burns over bloated executive compensation and unrepentant avarice on Wall Street. Deserving as these targets may or may not be, most Americans have ignored ...
A changing political climate on climate change
Despite intense, sometimes contentious negotiations — most recently at a meeting of world leaders in Denmark — the likelihood of a binding deal on global carbon emissions appears remote. Virtually all nations agree about the potential severity of climate change, but tremendous apprehension remains about how best to fight global ...
Setting the stage for stagflation
Prices rose 2.7 percent during 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ recent update of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This is a worrisome fact because last year’s unemployment rate averaged more than 9 percent. This trend may signal a return of “stagflation,” a merger of stagnation and inflation. ...
Tax-credit scholarships could ease school funding burden
Gov. Chris Christie has proposed freezing $475 million in education spending to help shrink New Jersey’s $2.2 billion budget deficit, focusing on school districts with budget surpluses. (“Deep budget cuts carry economic risk for N.J.,” Feb. 14.) This plan raises concerns about punishing fiscally responsible school districts. It also raises ...
Deadly Irony: California’s New HMO Regulations Versus Single-Payer Health Care
California has the unique distinction of being the only state that deploys two regulators of health plans: the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) as well as the Department of Insurance. Unsurprisingly, these departments busy themselves issuing ever-growing and more detailed regulations. The DMHC has been developing these regulations since ...
We asked, they answered
Washington should try being honest and sensible about health care legislation Will Barclay of Pulaski represents the 124th district in the New York State Assembly to which he was elected on the Republican, Conservative and Independence parties’ lines. By WILL BARCLAY Just four days after Bill Owens defeated Doug Hoffman ...
