When Will Republicans Understand Free Market Healthcare?

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  April 18th at 04:47 PM  | 

Healthcare is one of the most complex policy issues.  The lack of free market healthcare, engendered by endless government interventions (and secondary interventions to fix the original interventions), has made policy solutions even more cumbersome.  But the overarching principle of any reform must begin with the understanding that federal intervention in the healthcare industry has inexorably driven up the cost of healthcare and health insurance.  | Read More »

The “Extreme” Ryan Budget

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  August 14th at 11:58 AM  | 

In the coming days, we will invariably be subjected to a barrage of lies about the “extreme” Ryan budget.  As such, it’s worthwhile to reexamine the latest version of his budget, and view it in its proper context.  Here are some talking points for Soledad O’Brien the next time she wants to grill a Democrat on the Ryan budget: The budget won’t balance until 2040, | Read More »

Paul Ryan: Risk and Opportunity

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  August 13th at 08:45 AM  | 

So, will Romney’s pick of Paul Ryan as VP help or hinder his chances to defeat Obama?  That is the million dollar question Republican pundits and grassroots activists are frantically asking this week. One serious flaw with much of the post-analysis of any VP selection during a presidential campaign is the singular focus on the pick himself without any regard for the top of the | Read More »

Obama: The Gold Medalist in Debt Race

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  August 7th at 06:55 PM  | 

Well, Obama is approaching another milestone.  In addition to breaching the $16 trillion debt mark, Obama will earn another gold medal in the Greek Olympics for fiscal insanity.  According to CBO, we will definitely incur another $1 trillion debt this year, ensuring that Obama will become not only the only president to rack up a trillion dollar debt, but the only one to ever do | Read More »

Ryan Budget: A Good Start, but will it Matter?

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  March 20th at 04:38 PM  | 

The much-anticipated Ryan budget for FY 2013, which also contains a blueprint for the next ten years, has been released.  The headline figures of the proposal include the following factoids: it will spend $5.3 trillion less than Obama’s plan and cut $2 trillion more in taxes over the next ten years; it will spend $4.15 less than CBO baseline; spending will be reduced from 24% | Read More »

Good News on Highway Bill Front; More Issues Elsewhere

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  February 15th at 11:29 AM  | 

Our voices are finally being heard – sort of.  When we started voicing opposition to the highway bill there were few conservatives speaking out against it, and even fewer members of the House who were willing to oppose it.  Now, there is so much opposition to the bill that John Boehner was forced to delay the vote on the highway bill, which was previously scheduled | Read More »

GOP Does the Right Thing With Payroll Tax

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  February 13th at 04:30 PM  | 

We all agree that a temporary payroll tax cut without permanently restructuring Social Security, along with its funding source, is a ludicrous idea.  Sadly, Democrats would rather play politics by introducing this inane stimulus measure, in an attempt to get Republicans to vote against a tax cut. For far too long, the extension of the payroll tax cut was coupled with more entitlement spending, in | Read More »

CBO’s Budget Report: Perennial Debt for Generations

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  January 31st at 12:23 PM  | 

“The rosy predictions for revenues and reduced healthcare spending can come to fruition, but not with the current socialist policies as the baseline.” The budget season has officially commenced today with CBO’s release of its annual budget and economic outlook.  Here are some of the major takeaways from the report: FY 2012 Budget The topline figure that the media will focus on is the projected | Read More »

Healthcare Doesn’t Need European Style Austerity Measures; It Needs Free-Market

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  January 17th at 04:07 PM  | 

“If our goal is to be shielded from any cost of healthcare, we will ultimately be exposed to all costs of healthcare.” Nothing typifies the inane cycle of government dependency and poverty more than the issue of healthcare.  Given that healthcare constitutes 18% of our economy and that millions of Americans are languishing under its crushing costs, it is important that we articulate healthcare reform | Read More »

Pass A Payroll Tax Cut Extension…and Only a Payroll Tax Cut Extension

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  December 21st at 11:30 AM  | 

“We need to stop forcing Republicans to face the grim choice between blocking a tax cut and fighting against more entitlement and deficit spending.” There are two inexorable political realities at this point: the payroll tax cut must be extended and those who block it will incur a needless political reprisal.  To that end, Republicans must outflank the Democrats on the payroll tax cut, while | Read More »

The GOP Payroll Tax Cut/UI Extension Proposal

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  December 9th at 12:04 PM  | 

“will they finally hold the line on their own promises this time, or will they pass all the extensions without the reforms, riders, and spending offsets? This package must be the final offer.” Earlier today, House Republican leaders unveiled their package deal to extend the payroll tax and unemployment benefits for another year and to continue Medicare ‘doc fix’ for another two years. While bipartisan | Read More »

Senator Coburn: The Agony of a Pragmatic Conservative Amidst Inflexible Liberals

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  November 15th at 08:00 AM  | 

Senator Tom Coburn released a report, Subsidies of the Rich and Famous, detailing a list of subsidies, transfers, and “tax breaks,” that are paid to individuals with Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of over $1 million.  The report found that millionaires have received at least $9.5 billion in “government payments” since 2003 and $113.7 billion in “tax breaks” since 2006.  Accordingly, Coburn concludes that many of | Read More »

Telling the Truth About Medicare

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  October 31st at 03:09 PM  | 

By far, our largest unfunded liabilities are Social Security and Medicare.  According to recent actuarial reports, Medicare faces a $25 trillion liability and Social Security has an unfunded liability of $21 trillion.  And those numbers are regarded as low-ball figures, due to their unrealistic accounting for cost-cutting measures.  They already represent the largest expenditures of the federal government, with Social Security and Medicare consuming 20.2% | Read More »

A Conservative Look at Perry’s Economic Plan

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  October 25th at 12:11 PM  | 

When Herman Cain proposed his 9-9-9 plan, many conservatives became energized, despite their misgivings with the fine print of the plan.  It wasn’t so much the details of the proposal that excited the base, as most conservatives intuitively recoiled from a consumption tax; it was the boldness of the plan that resonated with them.  Cain’s 9-9-9 brought some excitement to a race that was defined | Read More »

Romneycare: A Microcosm of Obamacare, According to Conservative Study

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  September 15th at 10:57 AM  | 

Does government have the right to take over the healthcare sector, thereby infringing on liberty, killing jobs, reducing income, destroying investment, and driving up costs to consumers?  Well, as long as it is promulgated by state government, Mitt Romney thinks there is nothing wrong. The conservative Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University has done a comprehensive study surveying the devastation of Romneycare – and it’s | Read More »

The Entitlement Leviathan in Numbers

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  August 22nd at 12:32 PM  | 

Immediately prior to breaking for the August recess, Congress passed a bipartisan agreement to cut spending.  Well, sort of. Leaders in both parties got together to do something evil and stupid; they agreed to the largest increase in the debt ceiling, without solving our debt problem.  They cut discretionary spending by $6.67 billion for FY 2012, from $1.0497 trillion to $1.043 trillion.  That’s a bit | Read More »

The Fuzzy Math from Gang of Six

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  July 19th at 07:33 PM  | 

As a rule of thumb, any idea coming from a gang is not a good one.  This holds true in the real world; it is certainly true in the gangster world of the U.S. Senate.  Members of the media are agog with glee over the supposed Gang of Six deal to cut the deficit by $3.7 trillion over 10 years.  There is much hype over | Read More »

Time to Opt Out of the Social Security Ponzi Scheme

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  June 16th at 02:30 PM  | 

The Social Security Ponzi scheme is perhaps the most consequential government infringement upon our lives.  Conservatives are justifiably outraged that Obama egregiously mandated that we purchase health insurance.  However, the individual mandate is not nearly as meddlesome and tyrannical as the government’s complete control over our retirement security.  The only reason why these two programs are regarded differently by the public, is because Social Security | Read More »