- John Goodman
- Larry Kotlikoff
- Jane Shaw Stroup
- Thomas Saving
- Devon Herrick
- Linda Gorman
- Pete Du Pont
- All Posts
Health Reforms for Voters
Chief among these is Obamacare reform to (1) let families have access to insurance that meets their medical and financial needs, instead of unaffordable deductibles and sky-high premiums; and (2) let families have access to the best doctors and the best hospitals, instead of narrow networks that deny them the care they need. More.
Medicare Prescription Drugs: A Case Study In Government Failure
Bernie Sanders and other socialists think health care should be provided by the state. Their latest version of that idea is “Medicare for all.” How does Medicare stand up against private, free-market provision of similar services? Since Congress just acted on Medicare prescription drugs, let’s examine drug coverage in answering that question. More.
Ideas for the Fall Election: Seniors
The election this fall was supposed to be a red wave. Now it looks like that may not happen.
The Republican problem today is no different than it was 50 years ago. Too many Republicans don’t believe in reforming institutions. They think their only role is to oppose whatever the Democrats are trying to do. Most conservative think tanks aren’t much better.
Yet in troubled times, voters want problems solved. Here are some suggestions for policy changes affecting seniors—the group of voters most likely to vote.
The IRA Bill: What’s Our Answer?
This may surprise some of you, but we have been unable to find a conservative/libertarian alternative to the Democrats’ proposals on Medicare prescription drugs. Yet, there are real problems that need solving. This morning at Forbes, John Goodman provides a first-of-its-kind analysis of why the Medicare prescription drug market doesn’t work as it should, and what can be done to correct those problems – with no new taxes, no new spending and no new impediments to the discovery of life saving drugs. More.
Here’s What’s Wrong With BBB Lite
Obamacare is a flawed program that has made health insurance unaffordable and unattractive for millions of people. Instead of fixing these flaws with sensible (bipartisan) reforms that need not cost the taxpayers an extra dime, the new proposal would double down on a colossal mistake.
The Marriage Tax
Young adults with low- or middle-income jobs pay a heavy price if they marry. When higher tax rates are combined with a reduction in welfare/entitlement benefits, the economic loss from marriage is equal to between one-and-a-half and two years of income, on average. More.
The Attack on America’s Best Health Plans
The Medicare Advantage program, by contrast, has enrolled nearly half of all eligible people and has satisfaction rates of 90 percent or higher. There are good reasons why the MA program works so well. More.
The American Thinker’s High Profile of John Goodman
John Dale Dunn is a retired emergency physician and inactive attorney in Brownwood, Texas. In this post he profiles John Goodman.
Health Reforms for Voters
Chief among these is Obamacare reform to (1) let families have access to insurance that meets their medical and financial needs, instead of unaffordable deductibles and sky-high premiums; and (2) let families have access to the best doctors and the best hospitals, instead of narrow networks that deny them the care they need. More.
Medicare Prescription Drugs: A Case Study In Government Failure
Bernie Sanders and other socialists think health care should be provided by the state. Their latest version of that idea is “Medicare for all.” How does Medicare stand up against private, free-market provision of similar services? Since Congress just acted on Medicare prescription drugs, let’s examine drug coverage in answering that question. More.
Health Reforms for Voters
Chief among these is Obamacare reform to (1) let families have access to insurance that meets their medical and financial needs, instead of unaffordable deductibles and sky-high premiums; and (2) let families have access to the best doctors and the best hospitals, instead of narrow networks that deny them the care they need. More.
The Republicans Need Their Own Student Loan Reform. Here It Is.
President Biden just canceled a mother-load of student debt. The income limit for the President's largess is $125,000 for individual borrowers and $250,000 for married and heads of households. Those below these limits received up to $10,000 in debt forgiveness. And...
Finally, A Safe Way To Play The Market — Upside Investing
Upside Investing represents a revolution in investment/spending strategy. It lets you set a living standard floor that only rises as a result of investing in stocks and other risky assets. The higher your floor, the lower your upside and vice versa.
Inequality has been Greatly Exaggerated
A new study by Goodman Institute Senior Fellow Laurence Kotlikoff and his colleagues says that middle-aged families in the top fifth of the income distribution have almost 200 times the wealth of families in the bottom fifth. But after taxes and entitlement transfers, the difference in lifetime spending power is only 7.5 to 1. Our fiscal system is far more progressive than critics like to admit. See the New York Times description and the technical paper.
We’re Not Saving Enough
Americans don’t save enough, either individually or collectively. Yet by looking at the wrong data, many journalists and even top economists are claiming we’re experiencing a “savings glut.” This is hogwash. It’s time to talk turkey about U.S. saving and for journalists and professionals to either do their homework or hold their pens. More
How Congress Can Help Protect Us from Inflation
The inflation rate is the highest it’s been in 40 years. Congress can’t change that. But there are six things it can do to help all of us weather inflation, beginning with full inflation indexing of the tax code.
Could We Talk Ourselves into A Recession?
Congress should take this opportunity to make the tax system fully inflation-neutral. But neither inflation nor the Fed’s minor rate hikes will kill the economy. Nor will Putin’s war, which is stimulating the defense industry. Nor will ongoing slowdowns in Chinese production, which is stimulating home production. What can kill the economy is enough people, who should know better, talking it down.
Is Social Security Sexist?
Theft is a strong word. So, take it from Social Security’s own Inspector General (IG), whose 2018 report estimates that Social Security wrongfully deprived over 13,000 widows and widowers of $132 million and counting! More
Protecting Seniors from Inflation
Congress should do three things: (1) index the Social Security benefits tax, (2) let inflation indexed government bonds also index against inflation-induced higher taxes, and (3) let people exchange their non-indexed pensions for an inflation-indexed alternatives. More.
The Republicans Need Their Own Student Loan Reform. Here It Is.
President Biden just canceled a mother-load of student debt. The income limit for the President's largess is $125,000 for individual borrowers and $250,000 for married and heads of households. Those below these limits received up to $10,000 in debt forgiveness. And...
Finally, A Safe Way To Play The Market — Upside Investing
Upside Investing represents a revolution in investment/spending strategy. It lets you set a living standard floor that only rises as a result of investing in stocks and other risky assets. The higher your floor, the lower your upside and vice versa.
The Republicans Need Their Own Student Loan Reform. Here It Is.
President Biden just canceled a mother-load of student debt. The income limit for the President's largess is $125,000 for individual borrowers and $250,000 for married and heads of households. Those below these limits received up to $10,000 in debt forgiveness. And...
Why California Needs Higher Prices for Water
California’s extreme drought will force rationing of water or higher prices, say John McKenzie and Richard McKenzie. Raising water prices has a great advantage: “Higher water prices can increase the state’s available water supply—without additional rainfall or...
Should We Even Try to Recycle Plastics?
Pressuring plastic producers to recycle their products has gone on for decades. But two writers at the Atlantic have now concluded, “Plastic recycling does not work and will never work.” In the U.S. in 2021 only 5 percent of all post-consumer plastic was recycled. Furthermore, they say that the plastic producers deny this and those denials are “reminiscent of” the tobacco companies in making false claims. (For years, many tobacco firms rejected the idea that cigarettes caused cancer.)
What’s Wrong with Planting More Trees?
Planting trees to sequester carbon and prevent carbon dioxide emissions has become very popular (whether it is accomplishing much or not). Now the New York Times reports that the effort to save the world is causing local ecological harm by bringing in non-native species.
Don’t Worry about Greenland’s Melting Ice
Greenland ‘s ice mass is melting—but more slowly than it did a decade ago, and its level right now is about the same as in the 1930s. But little of this information reaches the media or even the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)…
Laws, Sausages, and Land-Grants
The agricultural and technical university, which often has “state” in its name, is typically a land-grant university formed under the auspices of the Morrill Act of 1862. It was meant to be a practical, down-to-earth “people’s university,” and even today it is less prestigious than the state’s traditional university, usually founded much earlier. But the emphasis on technology has made some of the land-grant universities research powerhouses and often bigger than their in-state rivals.
The Case for Retirement Communities
A retirement home has some resemblance to a college dorm. But that’s a good thing. Unlike a typical apartment complex, where one rarely knows one’s neighbors, a retirement home allows meeting many people—at meals, exercise classes, lectures and clubs.
Student Loans: A ‘National Catastrophe’
Review of The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe, by Josh Mitchell (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2021) 261 pp.
Going Against the Grain
In 1973, John Baden and Richard Stroup proposed selling off the U. S. Forest Service to private owners, some nonprofit and some for-profit. In an article in the Journal of Law and Economics, they argued that commercial timber would be better managed by private companies, and non-profit organizations like the Sierra Club could protect the important environmental areas.
Why California Needs Higher Prices for Water
California’s extreme drought will force rationing of water or higher prices, say John McKenzie and Richard McKenzie. Raising water prices has a great advantage: “Higher water prices can increase the state’s available water supply—without additional rainfall or...
Should We Even Try to Recycle Plastics?
Pressuring plastic producers to recycle their products has gone on for decades. But two writers at the Atlantic have now concluded, “Plastic recycling does not work and will never work.” In the U.S. in 2021 only 5 percent of all post-consumer plastic was recycled. Furthermore, they say that the plastic producers deny this and those denials are “reminiscent of” the tobacco companies in making false claims. (For years, many tobacco firms rejected the idea that cigarettes caused cancer.)
Why California Needs Higher Prices for Water
California’s extreme drought will force rationing of water or higher prices, say John McKenzie and Richard McKenzie. Raising water prices has a great advantage: “Higher water prices can increase the state’s available water supply—without additional rainfall or...
Savings and Gramm: How the Fed is Slowing Monetary Growth
The Federal Reserve is buying Treasury bills and mortgage-backed securities at a rate of $120 billion a month. This is apparently being done to support large borrowing by the federal government. At the same time, the Fed has pulled almost a trillion dollars of liquidity out of the financial system by “reverse-repo borrowing.” This has reduced bank reserves and private sector lending. Not surprisingly, the growth of the M2 money stock fell from around 25% in 2020 to around 10% on an annualized basis in the first six months of 2021.
Gramm and Saving in the WSJ: The Fed has lost its ability to control interest rates
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, former Sen. Phil Gramm and Goodman institute Senior Fellow Thomas Saving write “Never in the Fed’s 105-year history has it had less control over market interest rates than it has today…. To expect the Fed to hold interest rates above or below the market rate under these circumstances is not only naive but dangerous.”
Tom Saving has a new book
Tom Saving has a new book called A Century of Federal Reserve Monetary Policy: Issues and Implications for the Future.
Saving and Gramm in the Wall Street Journal: The Fed’s Obama-Era Hangover
The Federal Reserve System is paying banks not to lend money under an Obama era policy.
Goodman and Saving: Budget Deal’s Trillion Dollar Surprise
The most significant federal entitlement reform in our lifetime was a little noticed provision that Democrats included in the Affordable Care Act. The provision was a cap on Medicare spending, similar to the cap Republicans proposed for Medicaid last summer.
Saving on CNBC: FED is holding 20% of federal debt
The Federal Reserve System is holding 20% of the federal government’s publicly held debt. It also is holding a lot of bank reserves. For every dollar of required reserves, banks have deposited $12 at the FED.
Gramm and Saving in the Wall Street Journal: Fed Task is Precarious
The Fed balance sheet contains 20% of all publicly held federal debt and 34% of the value of all outstanding government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities. As the economy returns to normal growth, getting rid of those assets risks runaway inflation or a crippled recovery or both.
Saving: Are Republicans Too Stingy with Medicaid?
Before the Senate voted on a “skinny” alternative to Obamacare, it was considering the House version of repeal and replace – called the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA).
Savings and Gramm: How the Fed is Slowing Monetary Growth
The Federal Reserve is buying Treasury bills and mortgage-backed securities at a rate of $120 billion a month. This is apparently being done to support large borrowing by the federal government. At the same time, the Fed has pulled almost a trillion dollars of liquidity out of the financial system by “reverse-repo borrowing.” This has reduced bank reserves and private sector lending. Not surprisingly, the growth of the M2 money stock fell from around 25% in 2020 to around 10% on an annualized basis in the first six months of 2021.
Gramm and Saving in the WSJ: The Fed has lost its ability to control interest rates
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, former Sen. Phil Gramm and Goodman institute Senior Fellow Thomas Saving write “Never in the Fed’s 105-year history has it had less control over market interest rates than it has today…. To expect the Fed to hold interest rates above or below the market rate under these circumstances is not only naive but dangerous.”
Savings and Gramm: How the Fed is Slowing Monetary Growth
The Federal Reserve is buying Treasury bills and mortgage-backed securities at a rate of $120 billion a month. This is apparently being done to support large borrowing by the federal government. At the same time, the Fed has pulled almost a trillion dollars of liquidity out of the financial system by “reverse-repo borrowing.” This has reduced bank reserves and private sector lending. Not surprisingly, the growth of the M2 money stock fell from around 25% in 2020 to around 10% on an annualized basis in the first six months of 2021.
The Perils of Trying to Become a Doctor
This week the National Resident Matching Program (Match) will inform between 45,000 to 50,000 medical graduates whether they have a career in medicine or should try for Plan B. Some of those who failed to match (about 20 percent) will spend the rest of their lives trying to pay down $300,000 in medical school debt without an income capable of servicing that debt.
How a Questionable Drug Turned into a Goldmine at Taxpayers’ Expense
On June 7th the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug to treat early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Is this good news for patients suffering with Alzheimer’s disease? Probably not and certainly not for taxpayers. The clinical trial data found little evidence the drug works. One Phase 3 clinical trial showed a slight slowing in cognitive decline, while the second clinical trial failed to show any improvement.
What’s Behind the Vaccine Slowdown?
What’s behind the slowdown in vaccinations? The consensus among experts is those not yet vaccinated either 1) don’t want the vaccine 2) harbor some doubts about vaccine safety or efficacy, or 3) simply lack the motivation to find vaccine providers and make an appointment. Vaccine hesitancy accounts for about one-third of adults. For example, the Kaiser Family Foundation ran a survey in April that found 15 percent of respondents who had not received the vaccine plan to “wait and see.” Another 6 percent will get vaccinated “only if required,” and 13 percent refuse to get the vaccine.
Correcting Misconceptions of Health Care Reform
One reader posed the question, how does the tax break for employee health insurance harm our health care system? Short answer: over time the practice reduced competition, which weakened cost-control and resulted in health care inflation three times that of consumer inflation. Consider this: once covered by generous health plans, workers cared less about what medical care cost because their health plans paid most of the tab. Employers didn’t care what things cost because they were passing on the costs to workers (indirectly) in lieu of higher cash wages. Third party administrators (TPAs), who manage the benefits for employers, didn’t much care what things cost because they were passing on the costs to employers with a mark-up. The more money spent, the more TPAs earn.
Health Reform: There Is Something for Everyone to Love… and Hate
Why is it controversial to expand the physician supply, creating more competition? Doctors oppose it, just like they oppose expanding the scope of practice for nurse practitioners. Doctors don’t want me to be able to see a nurse practitioner or physician assistant for a wart on my toe unless that NP/PA works for them.
How did doctors get so powerful? In the first half of the 20th Century, the American Medical Association (AMA) waged a largely successful battle to close medical schools that trained competing physicians. …. More than half of American and Canadian medical schools were closed…. Thus, the job of a physician was yanked out of reach of all but the smartest, most disciplined, wealthy elites.
The 60 Percent Solution to Reforming Healthcare
Can we transform the entire health care system by empowering the roughly 60 percent of patients who are in private health plans? That’s the premise of a new book I just read by Todd Furniss (@TFurniss on Twitter). The author ofThe 60% Solution: Rethinking Healthcare, believes there are five major reforms necessary to empower patients and help them get better care at better prices. These include: (1) change governance, (2) modify health savings accounts (HSAs), (3) clear prices, (4) standardize accounting and information technology in the medical industry and (5) emphasize primary care.
Herrick: OBAMACARE RATIONS CARE FOR THE SICK AND OVERCHARGES THE HEALTHY
The health care reform debate that lead to Obamacare was initially about covering the uninsured, but in order to gain the support of ordinary people who already had coverage, proponents had to figure out a way to sway public opinion.
Herrick: States Should Ban These Lab Scams
There is a new health care scam spreading across rural America that could cost you plenty. Large commercial labs like Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp do not have locations in every small town. As a result, many rural hospitals perform lab work for both their inpatients and outpatients in the local community.
The Perils of Trying to Become a Doctor
This week the National Resident Matching Program (Match) will inform between 45,000 to 50,000 medical graduates whether they have a career in medicine or should try for Plan B. Some of those who failed to match (about 20 percent) will spend the rest of their lives trying to pay down $300,000 in medical school debt without an income capable of servicing that debt.
How a Questionable Drug Turned into a Goldmine at Taxpayers’ Expense
On June 7th the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug to treat early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Is this good news for patients suffering with Alzheimer’s disease? Probably not and certainly not for taxpayers. The clinical trial data found little evidence the drug works. One Phase 3 clinical trial showed a slight slowing in cognitive decline, while the second clinical trial failed to show any improvement.
The Perils of Trying to Become a Doctor
This week the National Resident Matching Program (Match) will inform between 45,000 to 50,000 medical graduates whether they have a career in medicine or should try for Plan B. Some of those who failed to match (about 20 percent) will spend the rest of their lives trying to pay down $300,000 in medical school debt without an income capable of servicing that debt.
The $3.5T Spending Mistake
Congressional Democrats are proposing to spend an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars on what the New York Times calls a “cradle to the grave” addition to U.S. social welfare. When budgeting shenanigans are ignored, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the full cost is not the $3.5 trillion that has been widely advertised, but at least $5.0 trillion and possibly as much as $5.5 trillion.
Gorman: US Hospitals are Safer
A frequent criticism of US hospitals is the charge of excessive adverse medical events, sometimes leading to avoidable deaths. How do our hospitals compare to hospitals in national health care systems? Quite well. The percent of patients who experience an adverse event is twice as high in Canada, three times as high in Britain and four times as high in New Zealand.
If The Court Strikes Down Obamacare, How Bad Would That Be?
This article was coauthored by Linda Gorman, director of health care at the Independence Institute in Denver, Colorado.
Gorman in The Hill: Trump’s Drug Plan Wrong Rx
The Trump administration wants to use an average of the drug prices paid by other countries to limit what Medicare Part B pays for some drugs. This is a bad idea.
Linda Gorman Study: Obamacare Dollars Wasted
The percent of the population with private health insurance actually declined during the eight years of the Obama presidency, according to a study by health economist Linda Gorman.
Gorman: Obamacare has been extremely wasteful
The federal government spent $341 billion from 2014 through 2016 on subsidizing individual coverage so that people would buy it (Not counting the money spent on state and federal exchanges).
Gorman in The Hill: Doctor Incentives Rx is Failing
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has voted to recommend scrapping the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System because it “cannot succeed.”
Gorman in Forbes: Will Tax Reform Kill People?
You know you are in the silly season when the charges against sensible tax reform become more and more outrageous. The silliest and most outrageous is based on this causal reasoning: The Republican tax measure repeals the Obamacare mandate, requiring people to purchase health insurance; without the mandate, fewer people will insure; and without insurance, more people will die.
The $3.5T Spending Mistake
Congressional Democrats are proposing to spend an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars on what the New York Times calls a “cradle to the grave” addition to U.S. social welfare. When budgeting shenanigans are ignored, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the full cost is not the $3.5 trillion that has been widely advertised, but at least $5.0 trillion and possibly as much as $5.5 trillion.
Gorman: US Hospitals are Safer
A frequent criticism of US hospitals is the charge of excessive adverse medical events, sometimes leading to avoidable deaths. How do our hospitals compare to hospitals in national health care systems? Quite well. The percent of patients who experience an adverse event is twice as high in Canada, three times as high in Britain and four times as high in New Zealand.
The $3.5T Spending Mistake
Congressional Democrats are proposing to spend an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars on what the New York Times calls a “cradle to the grave” addition to U.S. social welfare. When budgeting shenanigans are ignored, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the full cost is not the $3.5 trillion that has been widely advertised, but at least $5.0 trillion and possibly as much as $5.5 trillion.
Farewell
Some thoughts on the views that have animated this column. By Pete du Pont May 27, 2014 Source: The Wall Street Journal This will be the last of my columns for this publication, so I thought it fitting to note the views that have most influenced these writings....
The Real Inequality Problem
It isn’t that some people are wealthy but that others are struggling. Commentary by Pete du Pont April 28, 2014 Source: The Wall Street Journal Among the too numerous frustrations of the political process is that a lot of smart and talented people spend their time and...
The Left’s “Wars”
The Left’s “Wars” Commentary by Pete du Pont March 28, 2014 Source: The Wall Street Journal The midterm elections are just over seven months away and the left has unleashed its usual rhetoric about the Republican "war on women." It's baseless political pandering of...
Global Warming Heats Up
The public could use an honest debate. Commentary by Pete du Pont February 27, 2014 Source: The Wall Street Journal Global warming is back. Not actual global warming, as the decadelong trend of little to no increase in temperatures continues. But the topic of global...
Our Gravest Peril
ObamaCare? Stagnant economy? Crushing debt? Foreign policy fecklessness may trump them all. Commentary by Pete du Pont January 21, 2014 Source: Wall Street Journal America's most worrisome problem may not be the failed takeover of our healthcare system. It may not be...
The Great Destroyer
ObamaCare wreaks havoc on health care, the economy, American freedom and Obama's presidency. Commentary by Pete du Pont November 25, 2013 Source:The Wall Street Journal Polls show an increasing majority of Americans dislike President Obama's healthcare law and...
Hillary Will Run
How could she not? Commentary by Pete du Pont October 29, 2013 Source: Wall Street Journal Hillary Clinton is going to run for president in 2016. Granted, she is exhibiting even more coyness than most presidential prospects, and yes, the media are filled with those...
The Beltway Stalemate
Democrats and Republicans have never had such a conflict of visions. Commentary by Pete du Pont September 26, 2013 Source: The Wall Street Journal The debate about military action in Syria seems over for now, and Washington is back in campaign mode. We have a...
Farewell
Some thoughts on the views that have animated this column. By Pete du Pont May 27, 2014 Source: The Wall Street Journal This will be the last of my columns for this publication, so I thought it fitting to note the views that have most influenced these writings....
The Real Inequality Problem
It isn’t that some people are wealthy but that others are struggling. Commentary by Pete du Pont April 28, 2014 Source: The Wall Street Journal Among the too numerous frustrations of the political process is that a lot of smart and talented people spend their time and...
Farewell
Some thoughts on the views that have animated this column. By Pete du Pont May 27, 2014 Source: The Wall Street Journal This will be the last of my columns for this publication, so I thought it fitting to note the views that have most influenced these writings....
Health Reforms for Voters
Chief among these is Obamacare reform to (1) let families have access to insurance that meets their medical and financial needs, instead of unaffordable deductibles and sky-high premiums; and (2) let families have access to the best doctors and the best hospitals, instead of narrow networks that deny them the care they need. More.
Medicare Prescription Drugs: A Case Study In Government Failure
Bernie Sanders and other socialists think health care should be provided by the state. Their latest version of that idea is “Medicare for all.” How does Medicare stand up against private, free-market provision of similar services? Since Congress just acted on Medicare prescription drugs, let’s examine drug coverage in answering that question. More.
The Republicans Need Their Own Student Loan Reform. Here It Is.
President Biden just canceled a mother-load of student debt. The income limit for the President's largess is $125,000 for individual borrowers and $250,000 for married and heads of households. Those below these limits received up to $10,000 in debt forgiveness. And...
Ideas for the Fall Election: Seniors
The election this fall was supposed to be a red wave. Now it looks like that may not happen.
The Republican problem today is no different than it was 50 years ago. Too many Republicans don’t believe in reforming institutions. They think their only role is to oppose whatever the Democrats are trying to do. Most conservative think tanks aren’t much better.
Yet in troubled times, voters want problems solved. Here are some suggestions for policy changes affecting seniors—the group of voters most likely to vote.
The IRA Bill: What’s Our Answer?
This may surprise some of you, but we have been unable to find a conservative/libertarian alternative to the Democrats’ proposals on Medicare prescription drugs. Yet, there are real problems that need solving. This morning at Forbes, John Goodman provides a first-of-its-kind analysis of why the Medicare prescription drug market doesn’t work as it should, and what can be done to correct those problems – with no new taxes, no new spending and no new impediments to the discovery of life saving drugs. More.
Why California Needs Higher Prices for Water
California’s extreme drought will force rationing of water or higher prices, say John McKenzie and Richard McKenzie. Raising water prices has a great advantage: “Higher water prices can increase the state’s available water supply—without additional rainfall or...
Finally, A Safe Way To Play The Market — Upside Investing
Upside Investing represents a revolution in investment/spending strategy. It lets you set a living standard floor that only rises as a result of investing in stocks and other risky assets. The higher your floor, the lower your upside and vice versa.
Inequality has been Greatly Exaggerated
A new study by Goodman Institute Senior Fellow Laurence Kotlikoff and his colleagues says that middle-aged families in the top fifth of the income distribution have almost 200 times the wealth of families in the bottom fifth. But after taxes and entitlement transfers, the difference in lifetime spending power is only 7.5 to 1. Our fiscal system is far more progressive than critics like to admit. See the New York Times description and the technical paper.
Health Reforms for Voters
Chief among these is Obamacare reform to (1) let families have access to insurance that meets their medical and financial needs, instead of unaffordable deductibles and sky-high premiums; and (2) let families have access to the best doctors and the best hospitals, instead of narrow networks that deny them the care they need. More.
Medicare Prescription Drugs: A Case Study In Government Failure
Bernie Sanders and other socialists think health care should be provided by the state. Their latest version of that idea is “Medicare for all.” How does Medicare stand up against private, free-market provision of similar services? Since Congress just acted on Medicare prescription drugs, let’s examine drug coverage in answering that question. More.
Health Reforms for Voters
Chief among these is Obamacare reform to (1) let families have access to insurance that meets their medical and financial needs, instead of unaffordable deductibles and sky-high premiums; and (2) let families have access to the best doctors and the best hospitals, instead of narrow networks that deny them the care they need. More.