Recent Policy Studies

• The Constitution/Civil Liberties
  

  50 Bright Stars: An Assessment of Each State’s Constitutional Commitment to Limited Government

  By Nicholas C. Dranias, Goldwater Institute
  
  Policy Report, 09/17/2009
  

  This report can help guide individuals and businesses to states where their liberty and property are likely most secure under state law. It also will help scholars, philanthropists, think tanks, and public interest law firms focus resources in states where the return on investment is likely to be greatest. However, this does not mean low ranking states should be written off. Instead, in states where an adverse political culture and decades of faithless judicial interpretation have weakened textually strong constitutions such as Washington, Georgia, Florida, and Missouri, citizens should focus resources on advocating the classical liberal vision of their state constitutions by supporting courageous members of the judiciary who are willing to enforce that vision.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  “Amazon Tax” Unconstitutional and Unwise

  By Joseph Henchman, Justin Burrows, Tax Foundation
  
  Amicus Brief, 09/17/2009
  

  The “Amazon tax” is just the latest in a series of efforts to eliminate the long-standing “physical presence” standard and replace it with a nebulous, arbitrary standard of “economic presence.” Businesses throughout our nation’s history could always ply their trade across state lines. Today, with new technologies, even the smallest businesses can more easily reach across geographical borders to sell their products and services in all fifty states. If such sales can now expose these businesses to tax compliance and liability risks in states where they merely have customers, they will be less likely to expand their reach into those states.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Inflation Adjustment of Tax Brackets Almost Zero for Next Year

  By Mark Robyn, Gerald Prante, Tax Foundation
  
  Fiscal Facts, 09/17/2009
  

  Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its August estimate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). That August figure is the final statistic used by the IRS in calculating important tax parameters for tax year 2010. Even though these tax returns won’t be filed until spring 2011, this information is necessary because employers will use these parameters to estimate withholding in 2010. The numbers released today indicate that this year will mark the smallest inflation adjustment on record (since the IRS began adjusting tax parameters for inflation on an annual basis in the mid-1980s). While last year saw some of the largest year-over-year increases in most inflation-adjusted tax parameters (4.26%), year-over-year inflation for the purposes of this year’s adjustment was less than 0.2 percent.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Strengthening the Resiliency of Money Market Mutual Funds

  By Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Working Paper, 09/17/2009
  

  The Committee believes that the federal safety net that was extended to money market mutual funds could be removed by marking their portfolios to market on a daily basis.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Regulatory Initiatives of the Securities and Exchange Commission

  By Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Working Paper, 09/17/2009
  

  The Committee strongly supports the SEC Chairman Schapiro’s commitment to base the agency’s regulatory reaction on its professional judgment underpinned with careful empirical studies and not on accommodating political pressure.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Reducing Interference with Accounting Standards and Devising Securities to Price Moral Hazard

  By Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Working Paper, 09/17/2009
  

  The Committee is concerned about increasing interference with independent accounting standard setting and recommends separating accounting standard setting and financial reporting from measuring regulatory capital for financial institutions.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  A New Consumer Financial Protection Agency

  By Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Working Paper, 09/17/2009
  

  The Committee believes that the primary function of the CFPA should be to simplify and make more informative current disclosure requirements to ensure that consumers receive sufficient information about financial products to make informed decisions.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Making Securitization Work for Financial Stability and Economic Growth

  By Joint Shadow Financial Regulatory Committees, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Working Paper, 09/17/2009
  

  This is the eighth joint statement of the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committees of Asia, Australia-New Zealand, Europe, Japan, Latin America, and the United States.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  The Deficit Endgame

  By Kevin A. Hassett, Desmond Lachman, Aparna Mathur, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Working Paper, 09/17/2009
  

  In 2009, the federal deficit will be 13 percent of GDP. This is the highest it has been since the four year period during World War II, when deficits averaged about 20 percent of GDP. The long-term budget outlook is equally troubling. The CBO projects that under the Obama Administration, the cumulative deficit for the period 2010-2019 will be approximately $9.1 trillion. In other words, the average deficit per year will approach $1 trillion. In adjusted estimates, we project the deficit under more realistic assumptions, and also factor in the possible costs of health care reform. Our adjustments add at least another trillion dollars to budgetary costs over the next ten years—a total deficit of nearly $10.2 trillion. Most successful policy responses to high deficits have mimicked that adopted by the U.S. following World War II, that is, successful consolidations have generally reduced spending. Failure to do so exposes the U.S. government to significant default risk that could, if history is a guide, emerge as a factor in financial markets without significant notice.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  The Economic Role of Government: Focus on Stability, Not Spending

  By Karen Campbell, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 09/17/2009
  

  Is there a role for government in the economy? Yes, but the government must focus on maintaining economic stability. Fiscal responsibility is an important part of that stability. Government debt can quickly become a burden on the economy and weaken its foundations. Sound macroeconomic policies enhance the credibility of the government and strengthen the political institutions. This credibility is vital for economic stability and Americans’ long-term investment decisions that allow the U.S. economy to flourish.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  Deconstructing The Population Bomb

  By Pierre Desrochers, PERC – The Property and Environment Research Center
  
  PERC Reports, 09/17/2009
  

  Despite innumerable agricultural, environmental, and public health advances over the last few decades, the emotional tone and alarmist rhetoric of authors such as William Vogt and Paul Ehrlich remains pervasive among today's environmentalist writers. Some historical perspective on the history of eco-catastrophism, however, can provide a useful antidote to current doomsday rhetoric.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Obama Administration’s New Missile Defense Plan Is a Losing Proposition

  By Baker Spring, Mackenzie Eaglen, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/17/2009
  

  Today, President Obama reneged on a long-standing agreement with America’s allies and formally abandoned the “third site” missile defense plan. The U.S. will no longer be deploying 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic, a plan formerly regarded as necessary for defending America’s friends and allies as well as the homeland from intercontinental and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The decision runs contrary to U.S. strategic interests and will undermine security commitments to America’s allies.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  Will the Stimulus Bill Crowd Out Good Economics?

  By Veronique de Rugy, Garett Jones, Mercatus Center
  
  Mercatus on Policy, 09/17/2009
  

  On February 13, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), with the promise that this $787 billion stimulus would “create or save” 3.5 million jobs over the next two years, mostly in the private sector. The basis for the law was a study by Christina Romer, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, and Vice-President Biden’s chief economist Jared Bernstein, who warned that without an economic stimulus, unemployment would reach 9 percent by the end of 2010. But since the president signed the stimulus package into law, the U.S. economy has shed more than 2 million jobs and the unemployment rate has climbed to 9.7 percent, higher than the White House predicted it would have reached without the stimulus.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  The Baucus Health Bill: A First Look

  By The Heritage Foundation, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/17/2009
  

  Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has finally unveiled “America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009,” a major health care reform proposal. While the Baucus bill is an ambitious attempt to resolve the legislative logjam in Congress, it still contains the most objectionable features of the liberal health policy agenda that Heritage Foundation analysts, and many others, have detailed elsewhere..

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  The Mayo Clinic: High Quality Yes, But Low Cost?

  By Peter J. Nelson, Center of the American Experiment
  
  Policy in Detail, 09/17/2009
  

  President Obama regularly cites a handful of health care providers as examples of what a high-value American health care system could look like in the future. The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, is one. In a town hall meeting this summer, President Obama explained how “Mayo provides care much more cheaply than a lot of other health systems, even though it’s better care.” However, when it comes to understanding value—the intersection between cost and quality—the Dartmouth research is limited by the fact that it covers only Medicare patients. In Medicare, the government sets prices and, as a result, the prices in the Dartmouth data reflect national Medicare policies and do not reflect the price of health care services negotiated between private health plans and providers more generally.

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  Peter Bauer and the Economics of Prosperity

  By James A. Dorn, Barun S. Mitra, Cato Institute
  
  Book, 09/17/2009
  

  Peter Bauer was an unlikely revolutionary, yet he inspired a revolution in development economics. In an environment dominated by a poverty of clear economic thought, Bauer built his theories of economic prosperity. He fought to free the poor from the tyranny of poverty. With the recent spread of anti-market, anti-trade, and anti-migration movements in many parts of the world, it is important that we take a fresh look at the way Bauer exposed the fallacies behind these protest movements. He showed them to be anti-poor and anti-people, and to be exacerbating global poverty. This volume is an attempt towards helping in introducing the ideas of Peter Bauer to a new generation of readers.

  
  
  
• Immigration
  

  A Shifting Tide: Recent Trends in the Illegal Immigrant Population

  By Steven A. Camarota, Karen Jensenius, Center for Immigration Studies
  
  Backgrounder, 09/17/2009
  

  Monthly Census Bureau data show that the number of less-educated young Hispanic immigrants in the country has declined significantly. The evidence indicates that the illegal population declined after July 2007 and then rebounded somewhat in the summer of 2008 before resuming its decline in the fall of 2008 and into the first quarter of 2009. Both increased immigration enforcement and the recession seem to explain this decline. There is evidence that the decline was caused by both fewer illegal immigrants coming and an increase in the number returning home. However, this pattern does not apply to the legal immigrant population, which has not fallen significantly.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Kentucky’s Opinion on K-12 Education and School Choice

  By Paul DiPerna, Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice
  
  School Choice Survey in the State, 09/17/2009
  

  There is a disconnect between parental schooling preferences (expressed in this survey) and actual school enrollments. Fifty percent of K-12 parents said they would like to send their child to a private school. In reality, however, approximately nine percent of Kentucky’s K-12 students attend private schools. Twelve percent of Kentucky parents said they would like to send their child to a charter school. The state of Kentucky does not have a charter school law. Thirteen percent of Kentucky parents said they would choose a regular public school for their child. Approximately ninety-one percent of Kentucky’s K-12 students attend regular public schools. Kentucky lacks a sufficient school choice system to match parents’ schooling preferences.

  
  
  
• Elections, Transparency, & Accountability
  

  Stopping the Revolving Door: Reform of Community Corrections in Wisconsin

  By Kate Mize, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute
  
  Report, 09/17/2009
  

  Like many states, Wisconsin is about to reduce its prison population through an early-release initiative as part of a strategy to address a state budget shortfall. While the details of the early-release plan are being finalized, it is expected that up to 3,000 inmates will be released from prison. Wisconsin currently houses 22,212 inmates in its state prisons. In addition, there are 71,407 offenders on either probation or parole. Unless changes are made in Wisconsin’s approach to probation and parole, it is likely that recidivism will offset any long-term savings.

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  Neoliberalism: The Genesis of a Political Swearword

  By Oliver Marc Hartwich, Centre for Independent Studies
  
  Occasional Paper, 09/17/2009
  

  If there is one lesson that we could draw from dealing with the early history of neoliberalism for our political debates today, it is this: Neoliberalism is a far richer, more thoughtful concept than it is mostly perceived today. First and foremost, it emphasized the importance of sound institutions such as property rights, freedom of contract, open markets, rules of liability, and monetary stability as prerequisites for markets to prosper and thrive. It seems that the global financial crisis has once again demonstrated how important these core insights of neoliberalism are. To those criticising neoliberalism today, the answer may well be just that: We need more of this kind of neoliberalism, not less. What we would need less of is only the rhetorical abuse of neoliberalism for political purposes.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Economic Contractions in the United States: A Failure of Government

  By Charles K. Rowley, Nathanael Smith, Institute of Economic Affairs
  
  Book, 09/17/2009
  

  Applying sound economic reasoning and cutting-edge public choice theory, Rowley and Smith show that both the Great Depression and the current economic contraction were caused by failures not of capitalism, but of government. While monetary policy was the primary culprit in the 1930s, the interventionist policies of the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations exacerbated the downturn and stifled recovery. Fortunately, the monetary policy of the independent Fed is much better now (though the Fed has unduly widened its role), but elected politicians are pursuing policies of intervention and re-regulation similar to those pursued in the 1930s. If these adverse trends are not reversed, the dynamic laissez-faire capitalism of the United States will be assimilated to the state capitalism and economic stagnation of Western Europe.

  
  
  
• The Constitution/Civil Liberties
  

  The Constitution and American Sovereignty

  By Jeremy Rabkin, Hillsdale College
  
  Imprimis, 09/17/2009
  

  People who expect to retain the benefits of sovereignty—benefits like defense and protection of rights—without constitutional discipline, or without retaining responsibility for their own legal system, are really putting all their faith in words or in the idea that as long as we say nice things about humanity, everyone will feel better and we’ll all be safe. At the end of The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton writes: “A nation, without a national government, is, in my view, an awful spectacle.” His point was that if you do not have a national government, you can’t expect to remain a nation. If we are really open to the idea of allowing more and more of our policy to be made for us at international gatherings, the U.S. government not only has less capacity, it has less moral authority.

  
  
  
• The Constitution/Civil Liberties
  

  The Meaning Of The Constitution

  By Edwin Meese III, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/17/2009
  

  The Constitution is our fundamental law because it represents the settled and deliberate will of the people, against which the actions of government officials must be squared. In the end, the continued success and viability of our democratic Republic depends on our fidelity to, and the faithful exposition and interpretation of, this Constitution, our great charter of liberty.

  
  
  
• The Constitution/Civil Liberties
  

  The Originalist Perspective

  By David F. Forte, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/17/2009
  

  Written constitutionalism implies that those who make, interpret, and enforce the law ought to be guided by the meaning of the United States Constitution—the supreme law of the land—as it was originally written. This view came to be seriously eroded over the course of the last century with the rise of the theory of the Constitution as a "living document" with no fixed meaning, subject to changing interpretations according to the spirit of the times.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Rein in Spending by Stopping the Stimulus and Ending the TARP

  By Stephen A. Keen, J.D. Foster, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/17/2009
  

  The federal budget deficit is already unsustainable and threatens to balloon further as Congress considers a multitude of new spending initiatives from health care reform to highway spending. This must stop. Congress should find the will to restrain the growth in spending, and the ideas contained in the Rebound Act would be an excellent place to start.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss: President Obama’s Best Health “Insurance” Reforms Were Passed In 1997

  By John R. Graham, Pacific Research Institute
  
  Health Policy Prescriptions, 09/16/2009
  

  The president’s goal of exerting control over Americans’ access to health care has been fighting serious headwinds. While insisting that the government would never get between “you and your doctor,” he also pointed out that the government would only pay for the “blue pill” if it had the same effect as the “red pill” but only cost half as much. And then Sarah Palin started talking about “death panels” and things started going off the rails. The media did its best to portray “death panelists” as kooks, but for those who read the bill, this extreme claim demonstrated the arrogance of the government’s grab for our health care. Former governor Palin was referring to a section in the bill that causes Medicare to pay doctors to counsel their senior patients on Advance Planning Directives every five years.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Not What They Had in Mind: A History of Policies that Produced the Financial Crisis of 2008

  By Arnold Kling, Mercatus Center
  
  Working Paper, 09/16/2009
  

  This paper looks at the roots of the current crisis through an analytical framework of bad bets, excessive leverage, domino effects, and 21st-century bank runs. The paper shows that broad policy areas—including housing policy, capital regulations for banks, industry structure and competition, autonomous financial innovation, and monetary policy—affected elements of this framework to varying, but important, degrees. While considering alternative points of view concerning the causes of the financial crisis, the paper concludes that bank capital regulations were the most important causal factor in the crisis and that the policy “solutions” to previous financial and economic crises sowed the seeds for this current crisis.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Student Lending and College Affordability: Alternative Approaches to Reform

  By Dan Lips, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/16/2009
  

  The House of Representatives will soon consider H.R. 3221, the “Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009,” legislation that will terminate the Federal Family Education Loan program, expand the Federal Direct Loan program, and increase spending on other post-secondary education programs. If enacted, the legislation will mark a dramatic shift in the federal government’s approach to student lending and result in a consolidation of federal power over education financing.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  How Not to Increase U.S. Tourism

  By Helle C. Dale, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/16/2009
  

  Last week, the U.S. Senate’s passed S. 1023, the “Travel Promotion Act of 2009” (TPA). This legislation, if it passes the House, could, ironically, make foreigners less inclined to visit the United States. By imposing fees on travelers applying for travel to the U.S. through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), the TPA will increase the cost of visiting America—hardly a sensible way to entice tourists, particularly in the current global economic downturn.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  Retiring Baby Boomers Will Not Cause an Asset Bust

  By Nicola Moore, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/16/2009
  

  Some have argued that baby boomers’ retirement poses a threat to working Americans’ savings. The value of workers’ saved assets, they say, could drop once retiring boomers stop buying new assets or sell off current assets in order to have more cash on hand. Such swings in supply or demand would have to be substantial to have a real impact on asset values, and the notion that 78 million baby boomers, who own 50 percent of all financial assets in the U.S., could create critical mass was a common refrain of those opposed to Social Security reform in 2005. However, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office has found that boomers are unlikely to dump assets or create a demand vacuum that would cause asset values to fall.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  President Obama’s Medical Liability Reform Proposal: No Silver Bullet

  By Randolph W. Pate, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/16/2009
  

  By proposing a nebulous, non-committal, no-strings-attached demonstration project on medical liability reform Wednesday night, President Obama has moved the ball forward little on his health care reform agenda. Perhaps demonstration projects can provide some information that will be useful in the future, but there is no indication that his proposal will have any impact on the health reform debate. While some Members of Congress may try to use the proposal as a fig leaf with their constituents in an effort to say they are doing something about runaway medical lawsuits, it is indeed the slimmest of olive branches for those who are deeply concerned about the direction of health care reform.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  The ICC Investigation in Afghanistan Vindicates U.S. Policy Toward the ICC

  By Brett D. Schaefer, Steven Groves, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/16/2009
  

  On September 10, the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Argentinean Luis Moreno Ocampo, announced that ICC investigators had begun looking into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture, “massive attacks,” and collateral damage resulting from military action in Afghanistan. The allegations were made by human-rights groups and the Afghan government. The Obama Administration is reportedly close to announcing a change in U.S. policy toward the ICC, including affirming President Clinton’s 2000 signature on the Rome Statute and increasing U.S. cooperation with the court. Weakening protections against ICC prosecution of U.S. officials and service members would be a grave mistake, as illustrated by the ongoing investigation in Afghanistan.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  The Lehman Brothers Collapse: Financial Regulation One Year Later

  By David C. John, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/16/2009
  

  One year ago today Lehman Brothers collapsed, sending another 92 subsidiaries into bankruptcy. President Obama will mark the occasion with an address to Wall Street in which he will likely outline some broad principles for financial regulatory reform. Unfortunately, the blueprint for financial regulatory reform issued by his Administration thus far is a detailed mixture of overreaching policy mistakes, missed chances for real reform, blanks that will be filled in later after studies, and a few good ideas.

  
  
  
• Transportation/Infrastructure
  

  Getting What You Paid For – Paying For What You Get: Proposals for the Next Transportation Reauthorization

  By Randal O'Toole, Cato Institute
  
  Policy Analysis, 09/16/2009
  

  America’s surface transportation network would be extraordinarily improved if only transportation users were able to get what they pay for and asked to pay for what they get. Getting what you pay for ensures that scarce transportation dollars are not spent on facilities that people really do not need. Achieving these twin goals means making several major changes in the next reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs. One important change is to encourage states to focus on user fees rather than taxes to pay for transportation improvements. A second important change should be to promote the cost-efficient use of transportation resources. Finally, Congress should ensure that these changes are properly implemented by directing the Department of Transportation to create a citizens’ enforcement process.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  Burning Rubber: Proposed Duties on Chinese Tires Whiff of Senseless Protectionism

  By Daniel Ikenson, Cato Institute
  
  Free Trade Bulletin, 09/16/2009
  

  Through the first eight months of his tenure, the president has avoided making any decisions of consequence on matters of trade policy. While his actions have not been conclusively protectionist, his tepid rhetorical endorsements of trade and his conditional repudiations of protectionism have sown doubts at home and abroad about the direction of U.S. trade policy. A decision to reject trade restraints in the tires case would be reassuring to a world that is struggling to grow out of recession.

  
  
  
• The Constitution/Civil Liberties
  

  Universal Hemlock Care: America’s Suicide Lobby

  By Neil Maghami, Capital Research Center
  
  Organization Trends, 09/16/2009
  

  Dr. Jack Kevorkian is out of jail and is the subject of a forthcoming HBO movie starring Al Pacino and Susan Sarandon. In Oregon and in Washington state (as of last November) you have a legal right to kill yourself with assistance from a physician. Some U.S. appeals courts have ruled that you have a constitutional “right” to assisted suicide. They were overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1997. But the political and legal movement for assisted suicide is not giving up.

  
  
  
• Philanthropy
  

  Left-Wing Radicalism in the Church: The Catholic Campaign for Human Development

  By Matthew Vadum, Capital Research Center
  
  Foundation Watch, 09/16/2009
  

  Each November around Thanksgiving every Roman Catholic parish takes up a collection for the nonprofit Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), a program run under the auspices of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Last November, under intense pressure from Catholic parishioners, CCHD finally stopped collecting money for the fraud-ridden radical group ACORN. But the Bishops’ Conference continues to support other radical community activist groups with similar goals, such as the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) founded in Chicago by Saul Alinsky, the founding father of “community organizing.” President Obama, a self-professed community organizer, has ties to both ACORN and CCHD.

  
  
  
• Welfare
  

  Obama to Spend $10.3 Trillion on Welfare: Uncovering the Full Cost of Means-Tested Welfare or Aid to the Poor

  By Robert Rector, Katherine Bradley, Rachel Sheffield, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Special Report, 09/16/2009
  

  Since the beginning of the War on Poverty, government has spent vast sums on welfare or aid to the poor; however, the aggregate cost of this assistance is largely unknown because the spending is fragmented into myriad programs. Over the next decade, federal spending will equal $7.5 trillion, while state spending will reach $2.8 trillion. These figures do not include any of the increases in health care expenditure currently being debated in Congress.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Getting the Story Right: The True Origin of the Financial Crisis

  By Peter J. Wallison, John H. Makin, Vincent R. Reinhart, American Enterprise Institute
  
  On the Issues, 09/16/2009
  

  One year ago, on September 14, Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. The next day the Dow fell five hundred points. Soon thereafter, the government essentially nationalized AIG, made Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley into bank-holding companies, and petitioned Congress for aid. In early September, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had been placed in government conservatorship. These events followed the bursting of the housing bubble. We present here three essays written by AEI scholars in the spring and summer of 2009 on the origins of the financial crisis whose reverberations we continue to feel today.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Rebuilding Wall Street: A Review of the White House Proposal for Reforming Financial Services Regulation

  By Anthony Randazzo, Reason Foundation
  
  Policy Study, 09/15/2009
  

  Getting regulation right is hard work. Unfortunately, the president’s plan does not succeed in adequately addressing the issue of private sector dependence on the government. The institutionalization of bailouts would put significant amounts of taxpayer money unnecessarily at risk and inappropriately influence the risk assessment process at financial institutions. The White House proposal depends too heavily on anticipating every future risk to the financial sector. The Administration is overly confident in the power of regulators to collect and analyze information from financial institutions. It simply is impossible for the government, or any private firm, to have complete knowledge of the currents of the financial markets.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Crisis of the Uninsured: 2009

  By Devon Herrick, National Center for Policy Analysis
  
  Brief Analysis, 09/14/2009
  

  One of the primary goals of health reform is to ensure that all Americans have health insurance. Yet it is generally overlooked that the proportion of Americans without health coverage has been relatively stable over time. According to the Census Bureau, in 2008 the number of individuals in the United States lacking health coverage rose from 45.7 million to 46.3 million. The proportion of uninsured Americans remained virtually unchanged, rising from 15.3 percent to 15.4 percent. In fact, the proportion of people with¬out health insurance in 2008 is virtually unchanged from a decade ear¬lier. The increase in the number of uninsured over the past decade is largely due to immigration and population growth–and to individual choice.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  Land Tenure Security and Agricultural Productivity

  By Karol Boudreaux, Daniel Sacks, Mercatus Center
  
  Mercatus on Policy, 09/11/2009
  

  Agricultural development is a major focus of the current administration’s efforts in Africa. Though improvements to technology and training are important components of any push to increase food supplies and agricultural productivity, land tenure reform is a necessary factor in any long-term agricultural development plan. Ignoring this issue will limit the effectiveness of current efforts to strengthen African agricultural production, while improvements to land tenure security will help increase agricultural productivity by providing farmers—men and women—with incentives to invest in land and capital by strengthening land markets and increasing the efficient use of land.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Political Malpractice: Health Insurance Misdiagnosis and the Destruction of Medical Wealth

  By Gregory Conko, Philip Klein, Competitive Enterprise Institute
  
  Issue Analysis, 09/11/2009
  

  Government tax policies, third-party purchase of insurance, a deep-rooted entitlement mentality, and the forced injection of technology into the government-dominated medical system help drive spiraling costs and uninsurability, and threaten further damage. Obviously, cases of fraud and abuse (as politicians often emphasize) exist as in any human endeavor. But, as a rule insurance companies, doctors, and employers are not to blame for the fact that some individuals are uninsurable, and punitively scapegoating those groups would only decrease the supply of insurance for everyone and expand the pool of uninsurable individuals. It is unfortunate that America’s employers, doctors, insurers, and medical products manufacturers, by creating an abundance of medical wealth, have something for politicians to exploit and therefore have become political targets. When political opportunists are openly hostile to the nation’s greatest benefactors, we have a serious problem that makes reform far more difficult.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  The Michigan Economic Development Corporation: A Review and Analysis

  By Michael LaFaive, James Hohman, Mackinac Center for Public Policy
  
  Report, 09/11/2009
  

  The state’s poor image among CEOs and its brutal economic decline have occurred despite the efforts of the MEDC’s economic development staff and growing list of programs. Clearly, the MEDC has failed in its mission to “create and retain good jobs and a high quality of life” for Michiganders, a conclusion reinforced by our findings on the performance of MEGA, the Michigan Broadband Development Authority and Michigan Film Incentive program. The earlier “Literature Review and Analysis” and our own research findings indicate that the MEDC’s problems are unlikely to go away. Moreover, the rationale for government economic development programs appears flawed.