Obama's Imaginary Tax Cut

Claims that Americans who make less than $200,000 have not, and will not have, any of their taxes increased are not true. And unfortunately, it is likely to become a whole lot worse, says Richard W. Rahn, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth.

• The 111th Congress has already enacted $352 billion in net tax…

The Free Checking Restoration Act

There are two main culprits in free checking's demise: the Federal Reserve's new rules, in effect since July, that restrict banks from charging overdraft fees when customers overdraw their checking accounts; and the amendment from Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill that puts price controls on the interchange fees that merchants pay to banks and credit unions to process debit cards, says John…

Healthcare Reform and the Election: Money, Power, and Death

New York Times: Democrats Backing Fake Tea Party Candidates

More Lawyers, Fewer Doctors and Much Worse Health Care

Out-of-control medical liability lawsuits have triggered the closure of medical facilities and caused a mass exodus of high-risk specialists such as obstetricians and neurosurgeons from Pennsylvania and other overlawyered states. Patients ultimately suffer, as they face higher prices and fewer options for care, says Lawrence J. McQuillan, director of Business and Economic Studies at the Pacific Research…

The Texas Model

More than half of the net new jobs in the United States during the past 12 months were created in Texas, says Rich Lowry, editor of National Review.

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 214,000 net new jobs were created in the United States from August 2009 to August 2010.
• Texas created 119,000 jobs during the same period.
• If every state in the country had performed as well, we'd have created about 1.5 million jobs nationally…

Medicaid Expansion Will Bankrupt the States

According to various estimates, there are 10 million to 13 million uninsured people who are already eligible for Medicaid but not enrolled. When the individual mandate to obtain health coverage takes effect in 2014, many of the uninsured will be swept up in outreach efforts. Although the cost of enrolling newly eligible individuals will be paid by the federal government, the cost of covering those previously eligible…

The Not-So-Great Recession

In an economic climate that is characterized by recession, not depression, President Obama's aggregate-demand-driven approach to recovery is suspect. Recessions are typically caused by industrial restructuring or realigning supply and demand, not massive, across-the-board declines in output or income (as it was during the Great Depression), says Samuel R. Staley, the Robert W. Galvin Fellow and Director of Urban & Land Use Policy…

Right to Work = Economic Growth

California Congressman Brad Sherman (D) has introduced legislation to repeal right-to-work laws in the 22 states that have them. "Right-to-work" refers to the right of states to prohibit closed shops, a workplace that requires a worker to be a member of a labor union and to pay dues to that union, says Greg Schneider, a senior fellow with the Kansas Policy Institute and an associate professor of history at Emporia State…

Iceberg Ahead: The Hidden Cost of Public Sector Retiree Health Benefits in New York

New York taxpayers spend billions of dollars a year on health insurance coverage for retired state and local government employees, many of whom are too young to be eligible for Medicare. But the mounting "pay-as-you-go" bill for retiree health care is just the tip of a much larger iceberg, says E.J. McMahon, a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute for Policy…

Pension Insanity in France

Many people in France are waking up to the reality that they cannot sustain the welfare state indefinitely. Apparently, it isn't economically feasible to have citizens take five weeks of vacation, produce very little and then be guaranteed pension benefits at age 60. It just doesn't work, says Lee Doren, communications coordinator at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.…

With the balance of power in Congress at stake, many voters plan to register dissatisfaction with a Democratic-controlled White House – making the midterm elections a referendum on President Obama.

A Fox News poll released Thursday finds that 41 percent will use…

Hiding the Cost of Government Leads to Bigger Government

Congress hides from voters a huge part of the cost of government: the hidden costs of taxes, which include lost income and jobs. Failing to account for these costs creates a bias in favor of bigger government and a less efficient tax code, says Christopher J. Conover, a research scholar with the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research at Duke University.…

How to Reform ObamaCare Starting Now

Until at least 2012, President Obama will veto any law repealing his signature health care legislation. What, then, can be done in the next two years? Look to the states, say Scott Gottlieb and Tom Miller, resident fellows at the American Enterprise Institute.

The most promising option is for governors to offer their own market-friendly versions of exchanges, establishing an…

Keeping the Poor in Poverty

The Obama administration and congressional Democrats talk frequently about the poor. They lavish programs upon them. (Last year the Obama administration increased spending on means-tested and other antipoverty programs by $120 billion, to a total of just under $600 billion.) But they seem curiously indifferent -- if not actually hostile -- to proposals that might actually reduce poverty in America, says Michael Tanner, a senior…

Tyranny of the Unelected

Congress passed and the president signed 125 bills into law in 2009. Your tireless federal regulatory agencies were even busier: They issued 3,503 rules and regulations, says Wayne Crews, a vice president at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

• Regulations considered in recent years have included energy-efficiency standards for clothes washers and pool heaters, SUV emission rules and…

Health Law's Fate Tied to State Races

Republicans have made opposition to the Democrats' health care overhaul a central theme in their push to take back Congress. But the fate of the law may actually depend more on the outcome of dozens of state-level races across the country, says Politico.

Governors who oppose the legislation can refuse to set up pieces of the law, such as the state-based insurance exchanges…

The 2010 Spending Record

Late last week the Congressional Budget Office released its preliminary budget tallies for fiscal year 2010, and the news is that the U.S. government had another fabulous year -- in spending your money, says the Wall Street Journal.

• Spending rolled in for the year that ended September 30 at $3.45 trillion, second only to 2009's $3.52 trillion in the record…