Recent Policy Studies

• National Security
  

  Missile Defense and the Defense of Freedom

  By Jim DeMint, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Heritage Lecture, 09/23/2009
  

  In any situation, the friend of freedom is the friend of the United States, but it is becoming apparent that the current Administration does not seem to abide by this rule or the moral and strategic clarity it demands. In office only eight months, President Barack Obama and his foreign policy team seem uninterested in the true nature of American leadership in the world. If President Obama continues to insist on bargaining away U.S. and European security in order to obtain Russian help with Iran, then he jeopardizes the support necessary to ratify a new START treaty.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  Pittsburgh Should Be the Last G-20 Summit: Leaders Should Promote Free Economies Instead

  By James M. Roberts, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 09/23/2009
  

  In the past 10 months, the leaders of the G-8 and G-20 nations have met three times at elaborate and expensive summits to address the world’s financial woes. But far from providing remedies for ailing economies, the summits’ standard prescriptions for ever-more government intervention and regulations are likely only to impede economic recovery. This paper explains why free markets and limited government are the best responses to economic recession—and argues that the best thing for economies around the world would be for the fourth “G-Process” summit in Pittsburgh to be the last.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  2010 State Business Tax Climate Index

  By Kail M. Padgitt, Tax Foundation
  
  Background Paper, 09/23/2009
  

  Currently the economic conditions for many states are not good, with high unemployment and falling state GDP. This has led to revenue shortfalls for many states. Now is the time for states to undertake fundamental tax reform and rather than tax gimmicks. A tax system based on sound principles will be the best way for states to insure long-run, stable growth in the future.

  
  
  
• Elections, Transparency, & Accountability
  

  Do DHS Fire Grants Reduce Fire Casualties?

  By David B. Muhlhausen, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Center for Data Analysis Report, 09/23/2009
  

  From FY 2001 to FY 2009, Congress appropriated $5.7 billion in funding for fire grants. Using panel data from 1999 to 2006 for more than 10,000 fire departments, this evaluation uses fixed-effects regressions to estimate the impact of fire grants on four different measures of fire casualties: firefighter deaths, firefighter injuries, civilian deaths, and civilian injuries. While causal inference cannot be made by this analysis, it does empirically show that the fire grant did not further reduce the already declining death and injury rates.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Two Plus Two Equals Five: The Obama Administration’s Missile Defense Plans Do Not Add Up

  By Baker Spring, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/23/2009
  

  In defense policy, safety, not savings, should be policymakers’ ultimate goal. While overall government spending explodes, President Obama continues to target defense alone with budget cuts. Many painful lessons throughout history have shown that national security should not be shortchanged. There is scant evidence that ending third site missile defense and replacing it with an alternative system will be better, faster, or cheaper. Instead, this shift will weaken America’s missile defense capability against real and emerging threats, harm U.S. allies, and embolden its enemies.

  
  
  
• Immigration
  

  Congress Should Stop Playing Politics with E-Verify

  By Jena Baker McNeill, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/23/2009
  

  The federal government and its contractors must demonstrate a commitment to the laws they are tasked to enforce. Such a commitment is vital to the preservation of immigration laws in the United States. E-Verify is set to expire on September 30. Unless Congress renews this program, uncertainty over the future of E-Verify will only lead to confusion as the private sector attempts to understand its obligations.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  The Age Wave, the Ocean State, and Long-Term Care

  By Stephen A. Moses, Ocean State Policy Research Institute
  
  Report, 09/23/2009
  

  Rhode Island’s unique “global Medicaid waiver” pursues a potentially dangerous national policy trend: long-term care (LTC) rebalancing without strong eligibility controls. Given the state’s already grave budget crisis, potentially explosive increases in Medicaid costs incidental to the global waiver could seriously damage Rhode Island’s social safety net. Policy makers can maximize the global waiver’s opportunity, minimize its danger, and become a LTC financing model for the country. To do so, they will need to recognize the issues discussed in this report and pursue the recommended additional research and analysis.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  President Obama’s Agenda Would Bring $13 Trillion in Budget Deficits, Not $9 Trillion

  By Brian M. Riedl, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 09/23/2009
  

  President Obama’s budget will likely produce $13 trillion in deficit spending over the next 10 years—nearly $4 trillion more than forecast. The White House figures are based on unrealistic estimates of discretionary spending, interest payments, and interest rates. The White House also used budget gimmicks to hide the full cost of certain entitlements and failed to account for the full costs of cap-and-trade energy legislation and health care reform.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  President Obama at the United Nations: Sending the Wrong Message

  By Brett D. Schaefer, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/22/2009
  

  If the U.S. is to protect its interests, it must continue—as Kim R. Holmes argues in ConUNdrum, a new book on the U.N.—to take the lead in addressing the many problems plaguing the U.N. system and understand when to go to the U.N. and, even more critically, when not to. As long as the Obama Administration has its focus inverted, U.S. interests at the U.N. and elsewhere will suffer.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Stewardship in Iowa: Our Own Horatio Algers

  By Deborah D. Thornton, Public Interest Institute
  
  Policy Study, 09/22/2009
  

  Focused and driven leaders can accomplish wonderful things for the citizens of Iowa, and especially students, by good stewardship of the gifts of private philanthropists. It is not necessary to always look to government and tax money for new buildings and scholarships. As our state and our nation move forward in the next few years, we must keep in mind that the most “unlimited” resource we have is our people, our children, and our workers.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Consumer Welfare and the Regulation of Title Pledge Lending

  By Todd Zywicki, Mercatus Center
  
  Working Paper, 09/22/2009
  

  In recent years, there has been growth in nontraditional lending products such as payday lending and auto title lending, and a relative decline of others, such as finance companies and pawnbrokers. Meanwhile, the onset of the financial crisis has spurred renewed scrutiny of nontraditional lending products, even though there is no suggestion, much less evidence, that those products contributed to the crisis, and indeed, may be playing a positive role in mitigating the fallout from the crisis. This paper seeks to show that well-intentioned but fundamentally misguided regulations that deprived consumers of access to title loans would likely force many borrowers to turn to even more expensive lenders, illegal lenders or to do without emergency funds.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  The Housing Market Crash

  By Gabriel Okolski, Todd Zywicki, Mercatus Center
  
  Working Paper, 09/22/2009
  

  Widespread foreclosures and the collapse in home prices in many areas of the United States that began in 2007 and continued through 2008 and 2009, spawned an ongoing global financial crisis. As a result, the United States has engineered a series of unprecedented market interventions designed to stabilize the housing market and the financial markets dependent on mortgage-backed securities. However, standard economics provides a compelling explanation for much of the increase in household mortgage obligations. This working paper focuses on underlying questions related to consumer behavior and looks at the impact of these developments in the housing market on household financial condition.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Healthier Choice: An Examination of Market-Based Reforms for New York’s Uninsured

  By Stephen T. Parente, Tarren Bragdon, Manhattan Institute
  
  Report, 09/22/2009
  

  Although New York’s guaranteed-issue and community-rating laws were adopted with the best of intentions, they have not been effective in substantially reducing the size of the state’s uninsured population. In fact, as a result of a significant increase in the cost of private-insurance coverage for individuals, the market for individual health insurance in New York has nearly disappeared, declining by 96 percent since 1994. Uninsured New Yorkers of all income levels would benefit from access to a reasonably priced private-insurance market. The existence of such a market would ensure that scarce public dollars are reserved for government programs like Medicaid that protect New York’s poorest and sickest citizens.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  The Prognosis for National Health Insurance: A Pennsylvania Perspective

  By Arthur Laffer, Donna Arduin, Wayne Winegarden, Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives
  
  Policy Report, 09/22/2009
  

  By empowering patients and doctors to manage health care decisions, a patient-centered health care reform would directly address the distortions weakening our current health care system and would simultaneously control costs, increase heath outcomes, and improve the overall efficiency of the health care system. Conversely, any health care reform based on President Obama’s priorities would worsen the current inefficiencies in the health care system due to incorrect diagnosis of the problems with our health care system. If implemented, the President’s reforms would significantly harm the health care system, patient welfare, and the economy overall.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Crucial Issues in Health Care Reform

  By Michael F. Cannon, David A Hyman, Aaron Yelowitz, Michael D. Tanner, Cato Institute
  
  Cato Policy Report, 09/22/2009
  

  The calls for immediate and ill-considered health care legislation resound in Washington with hardly a pause for breath. On June 17, the Cato Institute, in an effort to provide reasoned perspective on this complex issue, held a Conference on Health Care Reform. Among numerous experts, Michael F. Cannon, Cato’s director of health policy studies, spoke about the need for competition in payment methods. David A. Hyman, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, critiqued the arguments for a public plan. Aaron Yelowitz, Cato adjunct scholar, explored the hidden costs of an employer mandate. And Michael D. Tanner, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, examined the repercussions of an individual mandate.

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  The New Deal Made Them “Right”

  By Damon W. Root, Cato Institute
  
  Cato Policy Report, 09/22/2009
  

  By the late 1930s, a handful of prominent liberals suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of the New Deal consensus. Much like Mencken, they joined the “right” almost by default. For the sin of holding fast to certain fundamental beliefs, including the quaint notion that big business and big government should be kept as far apart as possible, they were dubbed heartless reactionaries and “economic royalists.” Yet thanks to their principled opposition, some of the New Deal’s worst excesses were brought to light or kept at least partially in check.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Education Stimulus Watch: Special Report 2

  By Andy Smarick, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Papers and Studies, 09/22/2009
  

  The federal government’s limited ability to dictate education practices and outcomes on the ground may ultimately inhibit the impact of Reform-First Funds. Though the administration has sided with reformers in spirit, equally important questions remain: What will state applications look like? How faithfully will states implement reform plans? How much improvement will these reforms generate? The answers to these questions, which are out of the federal government’s control, will have an enormous bearing on whether the ARRA contributes to K–12 reform and improvement.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Nationalized Health Care: Cure Worse than the Disease

  By Elizabeth Young, Texas Public Policy Foundation
  
  Policy Perspective, 09/21/2009
  

  Government-controlled health care is neither the only, nor the best, solution to our present health care system insuffi ciencies. Rather, patient-centered reforms are the key to avoiding the inferior medical outcomes seen in countries with government-run health care. Policymakers must learn from others’ mistakes and not repeat history. Government-run health care has been tried before and has only led to poorer quality of care, decreased access to treatment, and increased costs.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  A Federal Leviathan: The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009

  By Kathleen Hartnett White, Texas Public Policy Foundation
  
  Policy Perspective, 09/21/2009
  

  On June 26, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 2454, the 1,480 page American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), by the slim margin of seven votes. The U.S. Senate plans to consider this bill as early as October. Policymakers need to review the full scope of this bill. The length and complexity of ACES, however, almost preclude a grasp of its full contents and the radical change it augurs. This paper attempts to provide meaningful access to ACES in its entirety.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  Global Push or “Plain Packaging” on Consumer Products Will Burn Intellectual Property Rights

  By Tracy-Gene G. Durkin, Jeremy M. Klass, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Legal Opinion Letter, 09/21/2009
  

  At what point does government implementation of an admirable idea (reducing the prevalence of tobacco-related illness) cross the line into unlawful action? Where should we draw the line? We suggest that the best way not to fall down slippery slopes is to stay off of them in the first place. Governments should find less restrictive methods of achieving the worthy goal of reducing tobacco-related illness. Certainly this can be achieved without destroying intellectual property rights, violating international trade agreements, making counterfeiting easier, and violating the Constitution.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  The Emerging Business Threat of Civil “Death Penalty” Sanctions

  By Sherman “Tiger” Joyce, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Legal Opinion Letter, 09/21/2009
  

  The civil justice system’s ultimate sanction is to strike a party’s pleadings, which nullifies any defense a party has to a lawsuit regardless of the merits of the underlying claims. We call this sanction the “civil death penalty” because it takes away the constitutional right to defend oneself. Traditionally, this “civil death penalty” has been the sanction of last resort, reserved only for the most egregious conduct, when no other sanction will work. Such a sanction may be merited, for instance, where key evidence is intentionally destroyed that deprives the other side’s right to a trial on the merits. But recently, personal injury attorneys have begun using this sanction as just another litigation tactic against civil defendants. These defendants have been threatened or hit with the “civil death penalty” sanction even when their alleged misconduct was not in bad faith and when the plaintiff was not prejudiced in any way.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  Federal Court Rulings Reflect Legal Risks of Worker Misclassification

  By Glenn G. Lammi, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Legal Opinion Letter, 09/21/2009
  

  Massive state and federal budget deficits will likely propel government enforcers to intensify efforts to seek what they see as uncollected tax revenue from employers who have misclassified their workers. Such actions will lead to further individual litigation. The independent contractor model plays an essential role in our free enterprise system, and businesses’ actual or perceived abuses of the system provide ammunition to those who want it eliminated as an option for companies large and small. If businesses wish to preserve this important employment option, they must take great care in navigating the murky legal framework that sets the parameters for employee classification.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  First in Time, Yet Last in Line: The Deterioration of Bankruptcy’s Absolute Priority Rule

  By Sara Ann Junkes, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Legal Opinion Letter, 09/21/2009
  

  Although the government attempted to save jobs and the economy by involving itself in the Chrysler bankruptcy, the long term effects may prove more harmful than helpful. The absolute priority rule, formerly clear in its statement that senior creditors have priority over junior creditors, has now lost meaning. Additionally, the continued approval of asset sales may also lead to less enforcement and use of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedures, thus allowing junior creditors to gain priority over senior creditors. The loss of clarity in the meaning of this rule may deter future investors and result in further economic distress.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Whither Creditors’ Rights?

  By Samuel Jordan, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Legal Opinion Letter, 09/21/2009
  

  Observers question the soundness of the absolute priority rule, which compensates secured creditors for lending money to a company at a rate lower than it could obtain in the credit markets by ensuring that the secured creditors are paid before any unsecured creditors. The secrecy surrounding GM’s bankruptcy reorganization plan is arousing the same concerns that were raised by the Chrysler bankruptcy. The secured creditor’s right to be paid first or to receive adequate protection may no longer be the inviolate rule of law that it has been.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Basic Facts on Redistribution and the Impact of Obama’s Policies

  By Scott A. Hodge, Tax Foundation
  
  Fiscal Facts, 09/21/2009
  

  Redistribution is ultimately at the heart of all tax and spending debates in Washington. But lawmakers are doing the public a great disservice if they fail to talk in honest terms about who currently pays for government programs and services, who benefits, and how new policies will change that balance. In 2012, after all of Obama's policies are in place, the amount redistributed from the top 5 percent of families will grow in real terms to $770 billion, a 34 percent increase over current levels. Every other income group will benefit from the increased amount taken from the top 5 percent of families and the group of families who, on average, get more back in spending than they pay in taxes will jump to 70 percent of all families.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Accounting for What Families Pay in Taxes and What They Receive in Government Spending

  By Scott A. Hodge, Tax Foundation
  
  Fiscal Facts, 09/21/2009
  

  Obama’s policies will, as promised, increase the load on the wealthiest families by an average of more than $127,000 in today’s dollars, while increasing the number of American families who are on average net receivers of government spending. Under Obama’s policies, most families up to the 70th percentile—those earning up to $109,000—will, on average, get more back from government than they pay in taxes. The decision for lawmakers and taxpayers alike is whether or not America can afford to have so many citizens benefiting at the expense of so few.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  How Much Does President Obama’s Budget Redistribute Income?

  By Gerald Prante, Patrick Fleenor, Tax Foundation
  
  Special Report, 09/21/2009
  

  For fiscal year 2012, the first full fiscal year in which President Obama’s full policy agenda would be in effect, we estimate that his policies would increase the amount of redistribution from those in the top five percent of the income spectrum to those outside the top five percent by $145 billion. The post-redistribution incomes of all other family income groups, including those in the top 20 percent yet outside the top five percent, would increase as a result of Obama’s proposed policies. We estimate that the greatest dollar amount increase per family would flow to families in the bottom 30 percent of the income spectrum.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Inflation’s Moral Hazard

  By Theodore Dalrymple, Manhattan Institute
  
  City Journal, 09/21/2009
  

  Inflation is not a bogey for everyone—not for those who wish to restructure society, for example, or for those who want government control of ever more aspects of people’s lives. But for the rest of us, the consequences of its full-blown return are not likely to be good: for inflation is not an economic problem only, or even mainly, but one that afflicts the human soul.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Assessing the Obama Administration’s Draft U.N. Security Council Resolution on Nonproliferation and Disarmament

  By Christopher A. Ford, Hudson Institute
  
  Paper, 09/21/2009
  

  The press yesterday began circulating leaked copies of a draft U.N. Security Council Resolution said to have been proposed by the new U.S. administration in preparation for President Barack Obama’s much-anticipated chairmanship of a special Council meeting on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. No one knows at this point, of course, how the draft will change on its way to adoption, but the U.S. text provides a fascinating window upon the Obama Administration’s approach to arms control and nonproliferation issues.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Citizens’ Guide to Initiative 1033

  By Jason Mercier, Washington Policy Center
  
  Policy Brief, 09/21/2009
  

  In November the people of Washington will vote on Initiative 1033. The measure is sponsored by Tim Eyman and would create a new revenue limit for the state, counties and cities with the goal of annually reducing property taxes. Eyman calls Initiative 1033 the “Lower Property Tax Act of 2009.” Initiative 1033 is the latest in a series of initiatives considered by voters which seek to control the growth of state government, though it is the first to include local governments under its requirements, and it is the first to focus primarily on providing ongoing tax rebates to property owners.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Sound Health Care Reform for a Sound Economy: A Response to the CEA Report

  By Robert A. Book, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 09/21/2009
  

  The President’s Council of Economic Advisers correctly notes that fixing several problems with the American health care system would produce substantial economic benefits. However, the current health care reform proposals from the Democrats would address none of these serious problems. In fact, their proposals would exacerbate some of the problems, without producing any of the economic benefits described in the CEA report.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  White House Fact Sheet on Missile Defense Raises More Questions than Answers

  By Baker Spring, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 09/21/2009
  

  The White House has released a fact sheet in support of its decision not to field missile defense interceptors in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic. The questionable validity of the fact sheet’s assertions, however, serves only to highlight the shortcomings of the Obama Administration’s decision.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Reconciliation 101: A “Nuclear” Abuse of Power

  By The Heritage Foundation, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Fact Sheet, 09/21/2009
  

  Reconciliation was created to streamline Senate rules to make it easier for lawmakers to achieve the spending and tax levels in the budget resolution. It was not created to circumvent the Senate’s traditional role as the “world’s greatest deliberative body” and its 60-vote requirements in order to ram through what may be the most significant domestic legislation in our history. The health care bill’s impact goes well beyond the budget.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  Kill Oil with Natural Gas and Electricity: A Carbon Strategy the World Can Afford

  By Peter W. Huber, Manhattan Institute
  
  Center for Energy Policy and the Environment, 09/21/2009
  

  It’s often suggested that if America just sets the right carbon example, the rest of the world will follow. But most of the rest of the world is still far more interested in saving money. Most of the planet’s grids will be lit mostly by coal for most of this century because coal is so abundant and cheap. More uranium—the example that the rest of the world is setting and we are largely ignoring—is the one proven, cost-competitive way to boot a lot of coal, and thus carbon, off the grid. Using gas to beat oil is the best carbon strategy because it costs less, not more, so the 80 percent of the planet that emits more than half of the greenhouse gas can embrace it, too.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  The Max Tax: Baucus Health Bill Is More of the Same

  By The Heritage Foundation, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Fact Sheet, 09/21/2009
  

  A public plan disguised as a co-op, individual and employer mandates, massive federal regulation over insurance and benefits, and massive Medicaid expansion—the Baucus bill has them all. These are the same features plaguing the other bills in Congress and that Americans have routinely dismissed for months.

  
  
  
• Family, Culture & Community
  

  ENDA and the Path to Same-Sex Marriage

  By Thomas M. Messner, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 09/21/2009
  

  A significant body of evidence suggests that sexual orientation nondiscrimination laws like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) can function as important incremental steps toward same-sex marriage. This evidence, which shows how effective a step-by-step strategy can be for redefining marriage, provides substantial cause for individuals who support marriage as the union of husband and wife to be concerned about local, state, and federal nondiscrimination laws like ENDA.

  
  
  
• 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.