1 - 29 of 29
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
2. The American Welfare State: How We Spend Nearly $1 Trillion a Year Fighting Poverty—And Fail
- Author:
- Michael Tanner
- Publication Date:
- 04-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- News that the poverty rate has risen to 15.1 percent of Americans, the highest level in nearly a decade, has set off a predictable round of calls for increased government spending on social welfare programs. Yet this year the federal government will spend more than $668 billion on at least 126 different programs to fight poverty. And that does not even begin to count welfare spending by state and local governments, which adds $284 billion to that figure. In total, the United States spends nearly $1 trillion every year to fight poverty. That amounts to $20,610 for every poor person in America, or $61,830 per poor family of three.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
3. Social Security's Financial Outlook and Reforms: An Independent Evaluation
- Author:
- Jagadeesh Gokhale
- Publication Date:
- 10-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Social Security is often described as a "foundational" element of the nation's social safety net. Almost all Americans are directly affected by the program and many millions primarily depend on its benefits for supporting themselves during retirement. But the program's financial condition has worsened considerably since the last recession, which began in 2007. In that year, the Social Security trustees estimated that the program's trust fund would be exhausted by 2042. The trustees' annual report for 2011 brings the trust fund exhaustion date forward to 2038. Indeed, the programs revenues fell short of its benefit expenditures in 2010 and it appears unlikely that significant surpluses will emerge again under the program's current rules. If the program's finances continue to worsen at this rate, it won't be long before the debate on reforming the program assumes an urgency and intensity similar to that during 1982-83, when imminent insolvency forced lawmakers to implement payroll tax increases and scale back its benefits.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- America and Ethiopia
4. The Case for Gridlock
- Author:
- Marcus E. Ethridge
- Publication Date:
- 01-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- In the wake of the 2010 elections, President Obama declared that voters did not give a mandate to gridlock. His statement reflects over a century of Progressive hostility to the inefficient and slow system of government created by the American Framers. Convinced that the government created by the Constitution frustrates their goals, Progressives have long sought ways around its checks and balances. Perhaps the most important of their methods is delegating power to administrative agencies, an arrangement that greatly transformed U.S. government during and after the New Deal. For generations, Progressives have supported the false premise that administrative action in the hands of experts will realize the public interest more effectively than the constitutional system and its multiple vetoes over policy changes. The political effect of empowering the administrative state has been quite different: it fosters policies that reflect the interests of those with well organized power. A large and growing body of evidence makes it clear that the public interest is most secure when governmental institutions are inefficient decisionmakers. An arrangement that brings diverse interests into a complex, sluggish decisionmaking process is generally unattractive to special interests. Gridlock also neutralizes some political benefits that producer groups and other well-heeled interests inherently enjoy. By fostering gridlock, the U.S. Constitution increases the likelihood that policies will reflect broad, unorganized interests instead of the interests of narrow, organized groups.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Government, Politics, Power Politics, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
5. Behind the Curtain: Assessing the Case for National Curriculum Standards
- Author:
- Neal McCluskey
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The argument for national curriculum standards sounds simple: set high standards, make all schools meet them, and watch American students achieve at high levels. It is straightforward and compelling, and it is driving a sea change in American education policy.
- Topic:
- Development, Education, and Culture
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
6. Lawless Policy: TARP as Congressional Failure
- Author:
- John Samples
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The U.S. Constitution vests all the “legislative powers” it grants in Congress. The Supreme Court allows Congress to delegate some authority to executive officials provided an “intelligible principle” guides such transfers. Congress quickly wrote and enacted the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 in response to a financial crisis. The law authorized the secretary of the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion purchasing troubled mortgage assets or any financial instrument in order to attain 13 different goals. Most of these goals lacked any concrete meaning, and Congress did not establish any priorities among them. As a result, Congress lost control of the implementation of the law and unconstitutionally delegated its powers to the Treasury secretary. Congress also failed in the case of EESA to meet its constitutional obligations to deliberate, to check the other branches of government, or to be accountable to the American people. The implementation of EESA showed Congress to be largely irrelevant to policymaking by the Treasury secretary. These failures of Congress indicate that the current Supreme Court doctrine validating delegation of legislative powers should be revised to protect the rule of law and separation of powers.
- Topic:
- Economics, Monetary Policy, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
7. Defining Success: The Case against Rail Transit
- Author:
- Randal O'Toole
- Publication Date:
- 03-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Over the past four decades, American cities have spent close to $100 billion constructing rail transit systems, and many billions more operating those systems. The agencies that spend taxpayer dollars building these lines almost invariably call them successful even when they go an average of 40 percent over budget and, in many cases, carry an insignificant number of riders. The people who rarely or never ride these lines but still have to pay for them should ask, “How do you define success?"
- Topic:
- Government, Markets, and Infrastructure
- Political Geography:
- America
8. Obama's Prescription for Low-Wage Workers: High Implicit Taxes, Higher Premiums
- Author:
- Michael F. Cannon
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- House and Senate Democrats have produced health care legislation whose mandates, subsidies, tax penalties, and health insurance regulations would penalize work and reward Americans who refuse to purchase health insurance. As a result, the legislation could trap many Americans in low-wage jobs and cause even higher health-insurance premiums, government spending, and taxes than are envisioned in the legislation.
- Topic:
- Government, Health, and Privatization
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
9. Budgetary Savings from Military Restraint
- Author:
- Benjamin H. Friedman and Christopher Preble
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The United States needs a defense budget worthy of its name, one that protects Americans rather than wasting vast sums embroiling us in controversies remote from our interests. This paper outlines such a defense strategy and the substantial cuts in military spending that it allows. That strategy discourages the occupation of failing states and indefinite commitments to defend healthy ones. With fewer missions, the military can shrink its force structure—reducing personnel, the weapons and vehicles procured for them, and operational costs. The resulting force would be more elite, less strained, and far less expensive. By avoiding needless military conflict and protecting our prosperity, these changes would make Americans more secure.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Debt
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
10. Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2010
- Author:
- Chris Edwards
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- State governments have had to make tough budget choices in recent years. Tax revenues have stagnated as a result of the poor economy, and that has prompted governors to take a variety of fiscal actions to close large budget gaps. Some governors have cut spending to balance their budgets, while others have pursued large tax increases.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, Markets, and Monetary Policy
- Political Geography:
- America
11. Halfway to Where? Answering the Key Questions of Health Care Reform
- Author:
- Michael Tanner
- Publication Date:
- 09-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Although neither the House nor the Senate passed a health care bill by President Obama's August deadline, various pieces of legislation have made it through committee, and they provide a concrete basis for analyzing what the proposed health care reform would and would not do. Looking at the various bills that are moving on Capitol Hill, we can determine the following: Contrary to the Obama administration's repeated assurances, millions of Americans who are happy with their current health insurance will not be able to keep it. As many as 89.5 million people may be dumped into a government-run plan. Some Americans may find themselves forced into a new insurance plan that no longer includes their current doctor. Americans will pay more than $820 billion in additional taxes over the next 10 years, and could see their insurance premiums rise as much as 95 percent. The current health care bills will increase the budget deficit by at least $239 billion over the next 10 years, and far more in the years beyond that. If the new health care entitlement were subject to the same 75-year actuarial standards as Social Security or Medicare, its unfunded liabilities would exceed $9.2 trillion. While the bills contain no direct provisions for rationing care, they nonetheless increase the likelihood of government rationing and interference with how doctors practice medicine. Contrary to assertions of some opponents, the bills contain no provision for euthanasia or mandatory end-of-life counseling. The bills' provisions on abortion coverage are far murkier.
- Topic:
- Government, Health, Human Welfare, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
12. Bending the Productivity Curve: Why America Leads the World in Medical Innovation
- Author:
- Glen Whitman and Raymond Raad
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The health care issues commonly considered most important today — controlling costs and covering the uninsured — arguably should be regarded as secondary to innovation, inasmuch as a medical treatment must first be invented before its costs can be reduced and its use extended to everyone. To date, however, none of the most influential international comparisons have examined the contributions of various countries to the many advances that have improved the productivity of medicine over time. We hope this paper can help fill that void.
- Topic:
- Health, Human Welfare, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- America
13. The Myth of the Compact City: Why Compact Development Is Not the Way to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions
- Author:
- Randal O'Toole
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Proponents of compact development argue that rebuilding American urban areas to higher densities is vital for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Compact city policies call for reducing driving by housing a higher percentage of people in multi-family and mixed-use developments, reducing the average lot sizes of single-family homes, redesigning streets and neighborhoods to be more pedestrian friendly, concentrating jobs in selected areas, and spending more on mass transit and less on highways.
- Topic:
- Energy Policy and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
14. Parting with Illusions: Developing a Realistic Approach to Relations with Russia
- Author:
- Nikolas Gvosdev
- Publication Date:
- 02-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- A review of America's post-Soviet strategy toward Russia is long overdue. The illusions that once guided policy are now at an end. What is needed is a dispassionate approach to Russia, wherein Americans would neither magnify nor excuse the virtues and vices of the Russian Federation but would accept the following realities: Russia is unlikely to become integrated into the Euro-Atlantic community and is unwilling to adjust its foreign policy priorities accordingly; There is broad-based support within Russia for the direction in which Vladimir Putin has taken the country; Russia has undergone a genuine—if limited— recovery from the collapse of the 1990s; Washington lacks sufficient leverage to compel Russian acquiescence to its policy preferences; and On a number of critical foreign policy issues, there is no clear community of interests that allows for concepts of "selective partnership" to be effective.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Diplomacy
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, America, Europe, Asia, and Soviet Union
15. Suicide Terrorism and Democracy: What We've Learned Since 9/11
- Author:
- Robert A. Pape
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Over the past two decades, terrorist organizations have increasingly relied on suicide attacks to achieve political objectives. The specific goal sought in almost all suicide terrorist campaigns in modern history is the same: to compel a democratic state to withdraw combat forces from territory prized by the terrorists. This holds true for al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization of greatest concern to most Americans. Al-Qaeda's efforts to mobilize people to kill Americans are driven principally by a simple strategic goal: to drive the United States and its Western allies from the Arabian Peninsula and other Muslim countries.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, Arabia, and Arabian Peninsula
16. Iran's Nuclear Program: America's Policy Options
- Author:
- Ted Galen Carpenter
- Publication Date:
- 09-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Although it is possible that negotiations between the leading powers in the international community and Iran may produce a settlement to the vexing issue of Iran's nuclear program, it is more likely that those negotiations will fail. If that happens, U.S. policymakers face a set of highly imperfect options.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, and Nuclear Weapons
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, Iran, and Middle East
17. CATO Institute: Aging America's Achilles' Heel: Medicaid Long-Term Care
- Author:
- Stephen A. Moses
- Publication Date:
- 09-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Seventy-seven million aging baby boomers will sink America's retirement security system if we don't take action soon. A few years ago, the problem went unrecognized by most Americans. Today, the prospect of a fiscal crisis has forced policymakers to focus on solutions.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
18. CATO Institute: Uncompetitive Elections and the American Political System
- Author:
- Dennis Polhill and Patrick Basham
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- American representative government suffers from the handicap of a largely uncompetitive political system. American politics has fewer and fewer competitive elections. In arguing that political competition matters a great deal, this paper traces the increasing trend toward uncompetitiveness and details the role and nature of incumbency advantage in fostering an uncompetitive political system.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Political Economy, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
19. CATO Institute: Treating Doctors as Drug Dealers: The DEA's War on Prescription Painkillers
- Author:
- Ronald T. Libby
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The medical field of treating chronic pain is still in its infancy. It was only in the late 1980s that leading physicians trained in treating the chronic pain of terminally ill cancer patients began to recommend that the "opioid therapy" (treatment involving narcotics related to opium) used on their patients also be used for patients suffering from nonterminal conditions. The new therapies proved successful, and prescription pain medications saw a huge leap in sales throughout the 1990s. But opioid therapy has always been controversial. The habit-forming nature of some prescription pain medications made many physicians, medical boards, and law enforcement officials wary of their use in treating acute pain in nonterminal patients. Consequently, many physicians and pain specialists have shied away from opioid treatment, causing millions of Americans to suffer from chronic pain even as therapies were available to treat it.
- Topic:
- Crime, Human Welfare, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
20. Three Myths about Voter Turnout in the United States
- Author:
- John Samples
- Publication Date:
- 09-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Critics of American politics and elections often focus on low voter turnout in the United States. They argue that voter turnout is steadily declining largely because of voter cynicism caused by big money campaigns and negative political advertising. Voter turnout is lower than it was in the 1960s, but almost the entire decline happened between 1968 and 1974. Sophisticated and detailed studies of both public trust in government and the consequences of political advertising show that neither factor has a negative effect on voter turnout.
- Topic:
- Government, Human Rights, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
21. Drug Reimportation: The Free Market Solution
- Author:
- Roger Pilon
- Publication Date:
- 08-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- As modern "miracle drugs" play a growing role in medical practice, drug prices in America soar far beyond prices in the rest of the world. Yet our law prohibits Americans from buying American-made drugs abroad at those prices and "reimporting" them to the United States. That has led many Americans, and even some state and local officials, to ignore the law and go to Canada and Mexico for their drugs; to the passage in the House last year of a bill lifting the ban on reimportation; and to similar bills now in the Senate—legislation that Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson recently called "inevitable."
- Topic:
- Human Welfare, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, Canada, and Mexico
22. CATO Institute: A Lesson in Waste: Where Does All the Federal Education Money Go?
- Author:
- Neal McCluskey
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Since the 1965 passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which concentrated unprecedented authority over American education in the hands of the federal government, federal lawmakers have passed increasingly restrictive laws and drastically escalated education spending, which ballooned from around $25 billion in 1965 (adjusted for inflation) to more than $108 billion in 2002.
- Topic:
- Economics, Education, and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
23. European Union Defense Policy: An American Perspective
- Author:
- Leslie S. Lebl
- Publication Date:
- 06-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- For almost 50 years, proposals by the European Union to develop a common foreign and security policy for all member states failed. Since the late 1990s, however, the situation has changed. Despite, or perhaps because of, member states' disagreements over Iraq, the EU probably will continue to develop common foreign and security policies, and the European Commission may begin to play a role in developing new European military capabilities.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, America, Europe, and Middle East
24. Bush's National Security Strategy Is a Misnomer
- Author:
- Charles V. Peña
- Publication Date:
- 10-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The Constitution of the United States of America makes clear that one of the paramount responsibilities of the federal government is to "provide for the common defense." In the past, the primary threats to the United States and U.S. interests were hostile nation-states. Today, the real threat to America is terrorist groups, specifically the al Qaeda terrorist network. Therefore, al Qaeda, not rogue states, should be the primary focus of U.S. national security strategy.
- Topic:
- Terrorism and War
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
25. Casualties of War: Transatlantic Relations and the Future of NATO in the Wake of the Second Gulf War
- Author:
- Christopher Layne
- Publication Date:
- 08-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The Iraq War represents a turning point in transatlantic relations. Euro-American ties have been ruptured, and never again will be the same. But the growing estrangement between the European powers and the United States is tied primarily to the nature of power in the international system and to America's dominant role in the world today.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, NATO, and War
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, and America
26. A Grand Façade: How the Grand Jury Was Captured by Government
- Author:
- W. Thomas Dillard, Stephen R. Johnson, and Timothy Lynch
- Publication Date:
- 06-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The grand jury is perhaps the most mysterious institution in the American criminal justice system. While most people are generally familiar with the function of the police officer, the prosecutor, the defense lawyer, the judge, and the trial jury, few have any idea about what the grand jury is supposed to do and its day-to-day operation. That ignorance largely explains how some over-reaching prosecutors have been able to pervert the grand jury, whose original purpose was to check prosecutorial power, into an inquisitorial bulldozer that enhances the power of government and now runs roughshod over the constitutional rights of citizens.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, and Middle East
27. Bring the Troops Home: Ending the Obsolete Korean Commitment
- Author:
- Doug Bandow
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The U.S. alliance with the Republic of Korea has been America's most consistently dangerous commitment since the end of World War II. Yet South Korea is beginning to look away from the United States for its defense. Newly elected President Roh Moo-hyun campaigned on a plat-form of revisiting the security relationship, and he has attempted to adopt the role of mediator between America and North Korea.
- Topic:
- Security and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, Israel, East Asia, and Korea
28. Is America Exporting Misguided Telecommunications Policy?
- Author:
- Motohiro Tsuchiya and Adam Thierer
- Publication Date:
- 01-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Global telecommunications markets have traditionally been closed to foreign trade and investment. Recent World Trade Organization negotiations resulted in a Basic Telecommunications agreement that sought to construct a multilateral framework to reverse that trend and begin opening telecom markets worldwide. Regrettably, this new WTO framework is quite ambiguous and open to pro-regulatory interpretations by member states.
- Topic:
- International Trade and Finance, Science and Technology, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, and South Asia
29. The Anti-Terrorism Coalition: Don't Pay an Excessive Price
- Author:
- Charles V. Peña
- Publication Date:
- 12-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- To prosecute the war on terrorism, President Bush has assembled a diverse coalition of countries for political, diplomatic, and military support. Some of those countries are long-standing friends and allies of the United States. Others have new or changing relationships with the United States. Although there may be a price for their support, America should not pay an excessive price—one that could be detrimental to longer-term U.S. national security interests. And though it may be necessary to provide a certain amount of immediate aid (directly or indirectly) as a quid pro quo for the support of other nations in our war on terrorism, the United States needs to avoid longer-term entanglements, open-ended commitments, and the potential for an extreme anti-American backlash.
- Topic:
- Security, Religion, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia