Month: October 2003

With negotiations between House and Senate conferees winding down, the details of the new National Energy Policy are becoming clear. Among the points of negotiation was a crucial question, critical to continued U.S. economic progress. Where will the United States get future natural gas supplies?

Of all the tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration, none has been more controversial than repeal of the estate tax. Even though it represents only a very small part of the total revenue loss from the 2001 and 2003 tax bills – and isn't really repealed, anyway, since it comes back in 2011 after disappearing for just one year – left-wing activists have focused inordinate attention on the estate tax. They are still hoping to prevent its permanent repeal and are working overtime to fight the effort in Congress.

Despite improving economic and budgetary news, there is rising pressure to do something about the budget deficit. I expect this pressure to grow rapidly over the next year. By early 2005, I believe such pressure will be irresistible. It's not too soon to start thing about where this could lead.

To put it mildly, the current Medicare debate is not the conservative movement’s finest hour. Not only are a Republican president and Congress doing everything they can to create an explosive new entitlement, but key conservative groups are attacking one of few genuine free-market reforms before the House-Senate conference committee. These conservatives have managed a trifecta: a policy, tactical, and political blunder – all before the relevant negotiations have begun.

Oil, the dominant source of energy for transportation, is more than a fuel source, however. Petroleum is a feedstock for plastics, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, lubricants and construction materials. This means that if we wish to continue our standard of living, we will need oil well into this century.

Using a coal-fired power plant in Monroe , Mich. , as a backdrop, President Bush recently touted his plan to speed up the modernization of older utilities by replacing decaying and polluting equipment with newer, cleaner and more fuel-efficient technology.

Personal health accounts are the future of health insurance. Like other forms of employer-sponsored health coverage, employers make deposits into accounts for employees, but they also purchase a low-cost, catastrophic (major medical) health insurance with a high deductible for the employee.

One of the rare civil criticisms I got came from my friends at TAPPED, the Web log of the liberal American Prospect magazine. Their point is that Mr. Krugman was justified in his attack because supply-siders have no academic allies, despite a large number of conservative economics professors. "Supply-side ideas simply won't stand up under scrutiny," TAPPED wrote.