Focus Point – Summer Reading
It's time for an installment from my summer reading list, a book about sailing, though not one just for sailors.
Focus Point – Corporate Welfare
I lauded the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 as long overdue. But I found myself on the same side as some liberal critics of welfare reform. And I still do, because we've only gone halfway in reforming welfare.
MySocialSecurity.org
Social Security has emerged as a key election year issue. Proposals have been introduced in Congress to allow younger workers to save a portion of their payroll taxes in personal retirement accounts. To help you understand how such personal accounts could affect retirement benefits, the NCPA has developed a Social Security calculator that compares the return from the Social Security payroll tax with the return if the entire amount were invested in a personal retirement account. (The calculator is not based on any of the proposals, all of which call for investing only a portion of the total payroll tax.)
Focus Point – Al Gore's Social Security Plan
Al gore, after calling George W. Bush's Social Security Partial Privatization Plan "risky" — the same thing he calls all bush proposals — has offered his own plan.
Focus Point – Survivor
If it's summer, you know television is going to start dumbing down, and this year the dumbest is "Survivor." you know the drill: a bunch of losers get dumped on an island; they bicker, whine, eat rodents and the sole survivor wins a lot of money.
Focus Point – Bill of Wrongs
President Clinton's proposed "Patients' Bill Of Rights" is strangely named. According to a study by the Pacific Research Institute, it's really a lawyers' bill of rights — because of all the federal regulations that will be dumped on health care companies.
NCPA's Reynolds To Discuss Texas Death Penalty On CNN's "Both Sides With Jesse Jackson"
Rounding out a busy week, Dr. Morgan Reynolds, director of the National Center for Policy Analysis' (NCPASM) Criminal Justice Center will appear on CNN's Both Sides with Jesse Jackson this Sunday to discuss the controversy which surrounded the execution of convicted killer Gary Graham.
NCPA's Reynolds To Discuss Texas Death Penalty On The PBS' "Newshour With Jim Lehrer" & MSNBC/CNBC's "Hardball With Chris Matthews"
Dr. Morgan Reynolds, will appear on the PBS program, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and a special edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews this evening to discuss the controversy surrounding the pending execution of convicted killer Gary Graham.
"Is School Choice Constitutional?" NCPA Sponsored Episode of DebatesDebates to Air Nationally This Week!
The National Center for Policy Analysis announced today that a new episode of the nationally syndicated program DebatesDebates, a series of programs that are sponsored by the NCPA, will be made available to stations starting today for airing this weekend.
Health Insurance: Letting Employees Choose
While managed care was rather successful at holding down health care inflation in the 1990s, it did so at the price of growing dissatisfaction among workers, their doctors and ultimately politicians. The various proposals in Congress for a "Patient Bill of Rights" are an indication of this dissatisfaction. So too are the dozens of new "anti-managed care" state laws.
Real Defense Against Missile Attack
A central purpose of the Constitution of the United States of America was to "provide for the common defense" and American taxpayers annually cough up $300 billion in pursuit of such security. And what protection do these outlays provide against the most destructive weapon of all, the long-range ballistic missile? None.
Cleaning the Air About the Bush Environmental Record
Texas, like every state, has environmental problems. In response, Gov. Bush has pioneered an approach that enlists the private sector as an ally, rather than an adversary, in the effort to solve environmental problems.
Gore Plan No Substitute For Social Security Reform — Online Calculator Personalizes The Problems
Vice President Al Gore's proposal to set up private accounts completely independent from Social Security is not a legitimate substitute for comprehensive Social Security reform.
NCPA's Reynolds To Discuss Texas Death Penalty On CNBC's "Hardball With Chris Matthews"
Dr. Morgan Reynolds, director of the National Center for Policy Analysis' (NCPA SM) Criminal Justice Center will appear on CNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews this evening to discuss the controversy surrounding the pending execution of convicted killer Gary Graham.
NCPA's Burnett Available To Discuss New York's Suit Against Gun Manufacturers
New York City is just piling on in the hopes of either forcing gun manufacturers to the negotiating table or bankrupting them.
"Retirement Savings Plus" No Substitute For Reform
Vice President Al Gore is expected today to unveil his plan, "Retirement Savings Plus," to allow workers to invest money in a private retirement account similar to an IRA.
NCPA's Reynolds Available On Death Penalty
On Thursday, June 22, barring a last minute stay, convicted killer Gary Graham will be put to death.
NCPA Prescription Drug Expert Available To Add Balance On The Multi-State Drug Campaign
Led by big labor and liberal advocacy groups such as Families USA and the Center for Policy Alternatives, officials from 21 states will kickoff a nationwide campaign to artificially lower drug prices with group purchases and price controls.
MSAs Are Flourishing In South Africa, NCPA Study Says
Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) captured half the market for private insurance in South Africa during the regime of Nelson Mandela.
Focus Point – Flat tax reform at hand
At last! Eighty-five percent of those polled have revolted against the high level of taxation, and conservative politicians have rallied behind a flat rate tax plan!
School Choice in San Antonio
The Horizon Program, the most sweeping experiment in school choice ever attempted in the United States, began in 1998 in the Edgewood Independent School District (EISD) in San Antonio, Texas. The Children's Educational Opportunity (CEO) Foundation offered a privately funded full tuition scholarship to any low-income student in the district who wanted to attend another school, private or public. About 90 percent of the 13,500 students in the predominantly Hispanic district are considered economically disadvantaged.
Focus Point – Welfare Reform Successes
When the Welfare Reform Bill was passed, opponents predicted the end of the world? Well, the world's still here. And for lots of people in it, life's better.
Focus Point – Labor Self-Destructs
I had to laugh about big labor's snippy reaction to some House Democrats' vote for free trade with China.
Who Will the Economy Hurt or Help Come November?
The conventional wisdom is that a good economy helps Al Gore and a bad economy hurts him. Certainly Mr. Gore thinks so. Lately, he has been doing all he can to make it seem as if he had something to do with the strong growth, low inflation and unemployment we are experiencing.
Focus Point – Concealed Carry In The Mainstream
Al Gore has accused George W. Bush of being out of step by supporting a law granting Texans the right to carry concealed firearms. But on concealed carry, Bush, and Texas, are in the mainstream. Thirty other states have similar laws.