After 10 years of managed care, no one likes the system. Patients think it saves them money…but at the expense of services they want and need. Physicians don't like it because they think it keeps them from providing the best care for their patients. And employers don't like it because it doesn't save them money. So what's the answer?
We've all heard of the generation gap… but generational warfare? Baby boomers will begin to retire soon and begin collecting Social Security and health care benefits rather than paying taxes into the system. If we don't do something now to reform Social Security…that could set off a conflict over resources that could result in generational warfare.
Tax revenues funding Social Security and Medicare entitlements are currently in surplus, but by the time the first baby boomers retire…both programs will pay out more in benefits than they collect. In a policy report issued today, N-C-P-A president John C. Goodman and policy analyst, Matt Moore, show that Social Security is not our biggest problem…Medicare is.
While you can argue that PRAs are not perfect, there is no question they are better than any other alternative for saving Social Security.
If the terrorist attack on the U.S. wasn't enough to slow air traffic to a crawl, the backlash that followed has left us with interminably long lines and patience-killing security countermeasures. Now the Democrats want government to solve the problem If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as the British say, then the answer to safer air travel can be found in Europe.
Osama bin Laden states the case for hatred of America and capitalism as a given. I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. bin Laden and his Al Qaeda minions think the case against the U.S. is obvious-we back the state of Israel…therefore, we must be the enemy of all Arabs.
The use of racial profiling in recent years has been controversial with ethnic and civil rights groups…especially African Americans, who felt profiling singled them out for suspicion. Nonetheless, some recent polls in the Wall Street Journal show that Blacks and even Arab-Americans are now more willing to support racial profiling than the general U.S. population.
Are the dot-coms gone for good? Is the "new" economy suddenly dated, despite the surging popularity of the Internet?
During times of war and worldwide calamity, governments are forced to reassess their security needs and new laws and regulations are enacted, usually in emergency legislative sessions.
There's a wonderful little book out from the Media Research Center edited by Stephen Moore and Richard Noyes. I hope you'll read it, but mainly I hope the real audience it's meant for will get a copy.
President Bush's first legislative proposal was his education bill. Alas, the education establishment gutted it. Vouchers to save poor kids from bad schools are gone. Annual testing's been diluted.
The Supreme Court has agreed to review the Cleveland school choice program. If the court rejects all uses of public money to help children attend religious schools, other school choice programs around the country will be in jeopardy.
I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis, and as of today, my job will be infinitely harder and my life considerably more disarranged. If I wind up in the wrong city, write the wrong column, give the wrong speech, or just forget what my name is, there'll be a reason.
become commonplace to suggest the Bush Presidency will be defined by the long term response to September 11. So far, I think he's headed for a good spot in the history books.
With all the grim realities we've had to deal with since September 11, it's been nice to have an escape. As Frank Deford noted in an essay on NPR, while certain songs were taken off the radio, and movies held back, nobody had to apologize for sports, and nowhere was it better than this year's baseball season.
There's more proof that privatizing social security works, and it comes in the latest numbers from Texas.
Historically, economists favored public spending on new programs for short-term stimulus. But it takes a long time to set up, and rarely is implemented in the same places where unemployment is high.
The leaders of the world are beginning to find out that President Bush means what he says. The first indication of this came when he announced that the Kyoto Protocol for the control of greenhouse gas emissions was "fundamentally flawed," and thus unacceptable to the United States.
The peace protests which followed U.S. and British air strikes in Afghanistan, were, alas, preditable. Muslim protests I'll set aside for, out of ignorance, even non-fanatics believe the offensive is an attack on their religion. One hopes they'll come to see otherwise.
With the terrorist war now escalated to a real war on both sides, we need to think about the possibility of our Middle Eastern oil supply being disrupted. One estimate, from Raymond James and Associates, put the chances at 80 percent in the next two years – and 20 to 30 percent in the short term.
I'm just now getting to a splendid piece of history and biography by Herbert Bix, "Hirohito and the Making Of Modern Japan."
A number of news reports have noted the sorriness of politics as usual when it comes to squeezing money out of the government. The squeeze being companies who don't need it, but figure they can grab some anyway.
There's a good chance the number of uninsured is going to grow because of layoffs and employers who are hard-pressed to continue offering medical insurance.
The world's been turned upside down since September 11, some for the good, some not.
I won't debate terminology. Our public discourse has deemed the September 11th terrorists cowards. The act — unprovoked, malicious — against innocent people has the flavor of cowardice. Then again, if you give your life for a cause, however demented, are you a coward? I'll let others sift through the fine points in the rubble.