Most Americans did not recognize that the United States had a financial problem until 2007. When people recognized the problem, it was seen as a subprime mortgage issue. In fact, on January 4, 2008, the American Dialect Society voted “subprime” as the word of the year for 2007. Evidence of the impending crisis, however, emerged years earlier.
One million Alabamans are enrolled in Medicaid, a joint federal-state program that provides medical care to nearly 70 million low-income individuals nationwide. Medicaid is one of the two primary expenditures in most state budgets, and Alabama is no exception. Medicaid consumes over one-third of the General Fund, and costs state and federal taxpayers nearly $6 billion annually — about one-tenth of which participants spend on drugs and drug therapies.
During a time when the labor force participation rate is at its lowest in decades, the NCPA believes it is important to get people back to work and implement policies to encourage long-term investments in jobs.
Income inequality is largely misunderstood and its importance is frequently overstated. Since the late 1970s, middle-class incomes and living standards have continued to improve.
During a time when people reflect on the struggles and accomplishments of African-Americans over many decades, many agree that “more can be done” to ensure economic opportunity for all Americans. But the demand that the “more” must be done by government through a stronger safety net, wealth redistribution and mandated equality measures overshadows the years of evidence that more often than not, government programs fail
Los Angeles and New York City elementary school teachers are some of the highest paid in the country according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data. It is no surprise that the country’s two largest cities would be atop this list, but what may be surprising is the city that beats New York and L.A.
On average, Wisconsin loses $136 million a year in adjusted gross income (AGI) from residents moving to other states. That is equal to nearly $2.5 billion over the past two decades. Money leaving the state means less investment in local businesses, less revenue for state and local governments and less being spent on Wisconsin goods and services.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) makes dramatic changes to the Medicare program in coming years. The provisions affecting Medicare are intended to slow the program’s spending. Lower future Medicare expenditures allows for higher federal spending on Medicaid and new spending on subsidies for individuals who purchase health insurance through the new insurance exchanges.
Congress is once again considering changes in Social Security in an attempt to “save” the program. Social Security benefit payments have exceeded tax revenues since 2010; the funding deficit is growing and, barring reform, will continue to grow indefinitely. Higher tax revenues are necessary to fund benefits as they are currently calculated.
We simulate corporate tax reform in a single good, five-region (U.S., Europe, Japan, China, India) model, featuring skilled and unskilled labor, detailed region-specific demographics and fiscal policies. Eliminating the model’s …
Arizona has responded to financial incentives in the Affordable Care Act by expanding Medicaid eligibility.
NCPA’s global warming primer presents a factual analysis of the state of the climate, the threats posed by global warming, and the implications and results of the possible responses to warming. Presented in a graphical format, the primer is useful for readers from middle school through adulthood who want to understand what scientists and economists know about the earth’s climate and what changes might mean.
Assuming that about 70 percent of the newly eligible sign up for Medicaid, the additional cost during the following decade would be $475 million to Michigan taxpayers and nearly $7 …
This report measures school performance based on state-of-the-art techniques for calculating the value each school adds to the test scores of its students. Read the full article here.
Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its economic engagement toward Cuba, Mexico or Venezuela.
Through the U.S. Department of Education, created in 1979, the federal government has incrementally increased its role in education over the last 30 years. Federal spending on public elementary and secondary education in fiscal year 2010 totaled $76 billion, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, accounting for 12.7 percent of current state expenditures.
This paper reviews the history of unmanned aerial systems development, considers the uses for unmanned aerial systems technology, examines the safety, insurance, security, privacy and regulatory issues associated with integration …
The following is a presentation provided by the research team at the Private Enterprise Research Center at Texas A&M University.
The main impact of the Fiscal Cliff was averted on January 1, 2013, by a last minute agreement by the Obama administration with the Senate and House of Representatives. Among other things, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 permanently extended most of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts for low- and middle-income taxpayers, which were set to expire.
Our current system for purchasing health insurance is arbitrary and unfair, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will only make things worse.
The following is a presentation provided by June O’Neill, Director of the Center for the Study of Business and Government at Baruch College in New York and former Director of the Congressional Budget Office.
Selected exceprts from John C. Goodman’s book, Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis
The anticipated growth in future federal expenditures relative to federal income is largely driven by elderly entitlement growth. Social Security and Medicare benefits account for the bulk of these entitlements and will grow as a share of the economy as baby boomers transition into retirement.
Business, education and elected officials came together at the National Center for Policy Analysis’ first Education Colloquium on February 23 to discuss challenges and reform opportunities for public education. Attendees were invited because they represent significant stakeholders in educational outcomes, and to provide perspectives on why there is so much dissatisfaction with the performance of the current system and what policies have the best chance of significantly improving academic outcomes. The future of our nation depends heavily on what is done to transform schooling in America.
The central question of government is defining its role. What should a government provide to its citizens, and why should it do so? In its inaugural year, the Young Patriots Essay Contest invited students to describe their vision for the world they will one day lead.