Tag Archives: CBO

Republicans Getting Deficit Reduction, But President Getting His Way

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The President and Speaker are headed for another budget confrontation. [Credit: Fox News]

The Pres­i­dent and Speak­er are head­ed for anoth­er bud­get con­fronta­tion. [Cred­it: Fox News]

Con­gress is on hol­i­day, rest­ing up for the next round of bud­get wars that will resume after Labor Day. The issues they will face when they return are famil­iar: the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment is about to lose author­i­ty to do what it does best (or, at least, most nat­u­ral­ly) – bor­row and spend. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

The Fed, the ECB and La Dolce Vita

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Fellini celebrated "La Dolce Vita" in his film classic. Today, Italians may feel as though they're living in a Fellini flick. [Credit: theworld.org]

Felli­ni cel­e­brat­ed “La Dolce Vita” in his film clas­sic.  But a strug­gling econ­o­my, wob­bly banks and frac­tious pol­i­tics threat­en to take the “dolce” out of their vita. [Cred­it: theworld.org]

Stran­gozzi is the char­ac­ter­is­tic pas­ta of Umbria, Tuscany’s hot sister.

Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Immigration Reform: Will It Boost The Economy Or Hurt It?

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Supporters of immigration reform say it will spur growth and raise living standards. Opponents disagree. Who's right? [Credit: ABCNews.go.com]

Sup­port­ers of immi­gra­tion reform say it will spur growth and raise liv­ing stan­dards. Oppo­nents dis­agree. Who’s right? [Cred­it: ABCNews.go.com]

“Immi­gra­tion Reform Would Boost Econ­o­my, CBO Report Finds,” ABC News report­ed last week.

Not exact­ly.

Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Health Insurers and Democrats: An Awkward Embrace

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W and O share an awkward embrace. (Credit: Life)

Pres­i­dent Bush and Oprah shared an awk­ward embrace — but not near­ly as awk­ward as the one between health insur­ers and the Admin­is­tra­tion.  (Cred­it: Life)

When it comes to health insur­ance com­pa­nies, the Demo­c­ra­t­ic par­ty is divid­ed between those that don’t like them and those that real­ly don’t like them.

The suc­cess of the new health law, how­ev­er, depends in large part on the will­ing­ness of insur­ers to par­tic­i­pate in its health insur­ance “exchanges.”

How’s that work­ing out? Con­tin­ue read­ing →

ObamaCare and the Arc of Conservative Wishful Thinking

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HHS simplified the application form, but is the health law still too complicated? [Credit: TakePart.com]

HHS sim­pli­fied the appli­ca­tion form, but is the health law still too com­pli­cat­ed? [Cred­it: TakePart.com]

“The Oba­maCare Blame Game” is the title of a piece by my friend and Hud­son Insti­tute fel­low Tevi Troy that will soon be pub­lished in the June 2013 Com­men­tary [no link avail­able]. Pars­ing the state­ments of Pres­i­dent Oba­ma and oth­er Demo­c­ra­t­ic lead­ers, Troy observes a curi­ous turn in how they talk about their new health care law: they have begun to admit that it might not work out as well as planned. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Budget Wars: Can They Bridge the Health Care Gap?

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Bud­get debates make good polit­i­cal the­ater. Each par­ty forces record­ed votes designed to score polit­i­cal points and embar­rass mem­bers of the oppos­ing par­ty. The House had fun yes­ter­day with some amend­ments before adopt­ing the Repub­li­can pro­pos­al writ­ten by Paul Ryan (R‑WI). The Sen­ate began debate on its pro­pos­al last evening and is brac­ing for Friday’s “vote-a-rama” – a day of record­ed votes on dozens of polit­i­cal­ly-barbed amend­ments advanced by mem­bers of both par­ties. Con­tin­ue read­ing →