Traditional defined benefit pension plans, which are managed by employers and which promise workers a specific monthly payment on retirement, are disappearing. Instead, more than 42 million workers now participate in defined contribution retirement plans, primarily 401(k) plans, which specify the annual contributions to an employee's pension fund.
Tomorrow is going to be a special day, but today let me say a word about these commentaries.
Cheers to cops and firemen, jeers to Philadelphia's mayor. And what a World Series!
I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. As I write this, I don't know who Time Magazine will pick as its man of the year. But I know who they should pick, and that's President George W. Bush.
I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis wishing you a Merry Christmas. I hope you're enjoying today at home, relaxing and celebrating the holiday. But I know some people aren't.
I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. The House Ways and Means Committee is trying to give laid off workers a Christmas present. Will the house play Santa, or Grinch?
The market has returned an inflation-adjusted 10.1 percent on investments over the last 75 years. So does that translate into an acceptable standard of living for a retiree? A recent NCPA study says it does.
There's been an interesting by-product of September 11, and the evidence is right here in my home state. Liberal Delaware has seen gun sales rise 32 percent. And it's a national phenomenon: jumps in gun sales and permit applications.
The conventional wisdom in Washington, D.C., is that Social Security reform is dead. The surplus is gone and our attention has turned toward terrorism and national defense. However, as we'll see, the Social Security reform debate is about to heat up and the outcome will affect you – big time.
The fight over Florida and the presidential election seems worlds away now, especially after news organizations found Bush won after all. But the American enterprise institute has turned up one final, ironic coda.
President Bush's Commission to Strengthen Social Security moved the Social Security reform discussion forward. However, despite the commission's hard work, its findings are not the final word in the debate. As Congress takes up the discussion, it should consider the "hybrid" reform plan proposed by the National Center for Policy Analysis. The NCPA plan combines the most attractive features of major plans developed by both Republicans and Democrats over the past several years. It includes no benefit cuts for those who contribute to a personal retirement account (PRA) and no tax increases.
Since 1996, the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program has provided tax-funded vouchers that allow children from low-income families to opt out of the city's failing public schools. Teachers' unions and the education establishment have challenged the program in court, arguing that it violates the First Amendment because many voucher students attend religious schools. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on the Cleveland case, a decision that is expected to clarify whether it is constitutional for children to use tax-funded vouchers to attend religious schools.
It's been just over a year since the Supreme Court brought finality to the strangest presidential election in living memory, and the world-shattering events of 2001 make the Florida fiasco of 2000 look like an innocent diversion. But it's as good a time as any to stop and ask how President Bush is doing so far.
Senator Patrick Leahy has made himself particularly obnoxious by having playing partisan politics with the president's security program.
The Clean Power Act of 2001 (S. 556) is sponsored by Sens. Jim Jeffords, Joseph Lieberman and John McCain. Its supporters say it will reduce emissions of air pollutants from the nation's power plants. However, the inclusion of carbon dioxide (CO2) as one of the "pollutants" to be reduced raises questions concerning the true goal of the bill. Regardless of any other merits of or problems with S. 556, many analysts view the inclusion of CO2 as a regulated pollutant as an attempt to placate environmental lobbyists and certain international allies and to embarrass the president by implementing the Kyoto Protocol without Senate ratification.
President Bush created the Commission to Strengthen Social Security in May 2001 to develop a plan to reform the nation's retirement system. The commission's final report to the White House includes three broad frameworks for reform and leaves it up to Congress and the administration to develop the details.
Despite a growing body of research that suggests expanded school choice may help student performance, choice is still not a meaningful option for low-income families.
According to an analysis released today by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), the inclusion of carbon dioxide as a covered pollutant, raises questions as to the true goal of the bill.
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the land, not a creature was stirring, not even Saddam. Special Forces were searching Tora Bora with care, in the hopes that Bin Ladin would soon be found there.
There are politicians and environmentalists who want to extend the corporate average fuel economy – or café – program, in which the government sets the minimum average mileage requirement for each car maker's fleet.
Michael L. Whalen, President & Chief Executive Officer, Heart of America Restaurants & Inns has been elected to the Board of Directors of National Center of Policy Analysis.
There is a little-known provision in the education bill Congress will soon pass that could have big effects at a school near you: "Supplemental Services." This limited, but significant, measure could actually pave the way for school choice that includes private schools.
President bush wants to get rid of the alternative minimum tax as part of his stimulus package. Democrats are stalling. They shouldn't, because it's a bad tax that ought to go.
A new book published from the National Center for Policy Analysis dispels 10 major myths about school choice-among them, that tax-funded school voucher programs weaken or destroy public schools.
As Congress prepares to vote on HR 1, recently approved by the Education Conference Committee, the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) will release its new book, "Ten Myths About School Choice: Answering the Campaign Against School Vouchers".