Recent Policy Studies

• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  President Obama Has a Full Plate in First Visit to China

  By Derek Scissors, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/12/2009
  

  During his imminent visit to Asia, President Obama will stop in both Shanghai and Beijing. In the past, the benefits of the Sino-American economic relationship acted as a check against political disagreements. Unfortunately, this trip will see substantial and possibly growing economic tension.

  
  
  
• Government Reform
  

  Better off Red?

  By Rich Noyes, Scott Whitlock, Media Research Center
  
  Special Report, 11/12/2009
  

  Twenty years ago this week, the Berlin Wall fell, tearing down the Iron Curtain that had sliced Europe in half since the end of World War II. Barely two years later, the Soviet Union itself disintegrated, ending the Cold War. Yet before, during and after those momentous events two decades ago, many in the liberal media continuously whitewashed the true nature of communism, or suggested free-market capitalism was somehow worse.

  
  
  
• Transportation/Infrastructure
  

  The Oberstar Transportation Plan: A Costly Exercise in Lifestyle Modification

  By Ronald D. Utt, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/12/2009
  

  In June, Congressman James Oberstar (D-MN), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, introduced a 775-page bill—the Surface Transportation Authorization Act—which would reauthorize the federal highway and transit programs that expired on September 30 for another six years. If enacted into law, Oberstar’s STAA would mark a dramatic, harmful change in federal transportation policy.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  A Meaningful Agenda for President Obama’s Meeting with Southeast Asian Leaders

  By Walter Lohman, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/12/2009
  

  No one expects President Obama to immediately produce a list of accomplishments like the one it took the previous Administration eight years to build. It is reasonable, however, to expect the President to use this week’s U.S.-ASEAN summit meeting in Singapore to lay down markers on the most important issues in Southeast Asia: free trade, Burma, and the rise of China.

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future

  By Matthew Spalding, Intercollegiate Studies Institute
  
  Book, 11/10/2009
  

  In the midst of frenzied efforts to remake our nation—of endless government initiatives involved in virtually every aspect of our daily lives—Americans are increasingly concerned: How did we get so far off track? And how can we get America back on course? This book explains and brings to life ten core principles that define us as a nation and inspire us as a people—liberty and equality, natural rights and the consent of the governed, private property and religious freedom, the rule of law and constitutionalism, all culminating in self-government at home and independence in the world.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  The U.N. Human Rights Council: No Better for Obama’s Engagement

  By Brett D. Schaefer, Steven Groves, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 11/10/2009
  

  The record of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights was a disgrace. Three years ago, the commission was replaced by the Human Rights Council, and its record has been equally dismal. The Obama Administration sought a seat at the council in an attempt to reform the council from within. Evidence from the first council sessions with the U.S. as a member demonstrates that the Obama Administration has failed to improve the human rights body. "Defamation of religions" resolutions continue to threaten free speech around the world. Brutal regimes continue to influence council deliberations. Israel remains unfairly targeted.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Dangerous Trajectories: Obama’s Approach to Arms Control Misreads Russian Nuclear Strategy

  By Ariel Cohen, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 11/10/2009
  

  Russia still considers the United States its “principal adversary.” Russia also relies on its nuclear weapons to compensate for its inferiority in conventional weapons relative to the U.S., NATO, and China. Russian political and military leaders are still captives of czarist and Soviet geopolitical thinking and military traditions. U.S. policymakers need to understand this background and Russia’s Soviet-style negotiating tactics when negotiating realistic and verifiable arms control agreements with Russia. The Obama Administration’s wishful thinking and unilateral concessions will not prevent a new arms race.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  Veterans’ Courts

  By Marc A. Levin, Texas Public Policy Foundation
  
  Policy Brief, 11/10/2009
  

  The rationale for veterans’ courts is based on the combat-related stress, financial instability, and other difficulties adjusting to life that confront many soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. A 2008 RAND Corporation study found that about one-fifth of all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans—or about 300,000 of the more than 1.6 million U.S. troops in the two wars—reported symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder or major depression. While most of these veterans are law-abiding, these problems contribute to criminal behavior among a substantial number of veterans.

  
  
  
• Information Technology
  

  Jurisdiction: The $64,000 Question

  By Barbara Esbin, Progress & Freedom Foundation
  
  Progress Snapshot, 11/10/2009
  

  The FCC is a creature of Congress. It has no “common law” ability to make law (or act in a legislative capacity), save for those powers expressly delegated to it by Congress in the Communications Act. There is no express delegation of regulatory authority over the Internet or Internet services in the Act. Unfortunately, the FCC has made clear its view that it may regulate the network management practices of broadband Internet service providers under its implied or “ancillary jurisdiction.”

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Environment, and Science
  

  Top Ten Energy Myths

  By Thomas Tanton, Pacific Research Institute
  
  PRI Study, 11/10/2009
  

  Using data from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Energy Information Administration, this report outlines the types of fuel most used in the U.S.—where they come from, the risks involved, and the potential for alternative technologies. Contrary to common belief, new technology has greatly reduced the environmental risk of oil extraction, and renewable energies such as solar and wind will not increase our energy security. There is a plethora of unexplored options for securing energy in America through domestic sources, but misled confidence in renewable technologies and increased efficiency are hampering common-sense energy policy.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  The Vices and Virtues of Limiting Executive Compensation

  By Russell Roberts, Mercatus Center
  
  Testimony, 11/10/2009
  

  The problem with executive compensation is that executives have not been subject to the profit and loss consequences of the free-market system. Profits encourage risk-taking, and the losses encourage prudence. If the government resists bailouts and allows these incentives to become fully operational, better outcomes will result as large institutions will no longer be reliant on tax payer funds.

  
  
  
• Labor
  

  Decreasing Union Transparency: A Step Backward for Workers

  By James Sherk, Ryan O'Donnell, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/10/2009
  

  President Obama campaigned on a platform of transparency and opposing special interest lobbyists. However, his Department of Labor has violated both of those principles by revoking the improvements in union financial transparency that Secretary Chao implemented. Union members deserve to know how their dues are spent because it protects them from corruption and allows them to hold their union accountable for bad decisions. Congress should act to protect workers if the President will not.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  Ownership Registration Proposal: What Benefits and at What Cost?

  By J.W. Verret, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Legal Backgrounder, 11/10/2009
  

  Each year, two million corporations and limited liability companies are established throughout the U.S. The process by which these entities are created has traditionally been governed under state law. On June 18, 2009, the Senate Homeland Security Committee considered a bill titled the “Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act.” Critics of the bill claim that it will not fulfill its goals of preventing money laundering or terrorist financing, but it will instead impose significant costs and unwarranted hurdles on the 5,000 legitimate businesses formed in the United States every day.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  U.S. Anti-Money Laundering Laws in the Wake of U.S. v. Santos

  By Carlos F. Gonzalez, Regan Kruse, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Legal Backgrounder, 11/10/2009
  

  Congress made money laundering a federal crime in 1986. Last year the Supreme Court’s decision in United State v. Santos, which attempted to clarify the scope of the federal money laundering statute, has since generated much confusion among the lower courts and has faced criticism for making money laundering crimes more difficult to prosecute. To close the loophole that Santos allegedly created for defendants, Congress amended the money laundering statute in May 2009.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  Investing in Lawsuits: “Litigation Financing” and the Consumer Protection Imperative

  By Damon R. Leichty, Eric R. Thomason, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Working Paper Series, 11/10/2009
  

  The growth of litigation financing in recent years has been extraordinary. What began as a small-scale entrepreneurial movement has now developed into transnational entities financing corporate lawsuits and managing hedge funds. From Las Vegas to London, the movement has burgeoned largely unchecked. That cannot continue.

  
  
  
• Family, Culture & Community
  

  Revenge of the Dirty Dozen: 12 Policies that Undermine Civil Society

  By Katherine Bradley, Chuck Donovan, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/10/2009
  

  With a flurry of activity surrounding the agenda coming from the White House and Congress, it is easy to overlook the smaller pieces of legislation that would have a big impact on American families and society. Taken as a whole, the people and communities these policies claim to assist would rely less on strong neighborhood, faith-based, and private networks for support and more on costly and highly regulated federal projects, weakening the same virtues of civil society they purport to nurture.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  Taiwan’s Economy Needs More Than Cooperation with China

  By Derek Scissors, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/09/2009
  

  More open Taiwanese trade and investment with China fits the principles of American foreign policy. Diversification of economic efforts will result in a more vigorous Taiwan. And a more economically dynamic, secure Taiwan is good for peace, stability, and prosperity in the region. The U.S. should assist Taiwan in this effort, starting with U.S.-Taiwan trade and investment. A U.S.-Taiwan free trade agreement, for instance, would provide a powerful example for other potential partners.

  
  
  
• Labor
  

  TSA Nominee Erroll Southers’s Stand on Collective Bargaining Needs Clarity

  By James Sherk, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/09/2009
  

  President Obama has nominated Erroll Southers to serve as Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, which employs the airline security screeners charged with preventing terrorists from boarding American airplanes. As the head of the TSA, Southers would decide whether the organization collectively bargains over security procedures. Collective bargaining—currently forbidden for the TSA—would put American lives at risk by preventing the TSA from responding rapidly to new intelligence and by replacing merit promotions with seniority schedules. Southers has refused to state whether he would change TSA policy on collective bargaining.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Seven Reasons Why Congress Should Repeal, Not Fix, the Death Tax

  By William W. Beach, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/09/2009
  

  What should Congress do with the federal estate tax, also known as the death tax? Some members want to permanently “fix” the death tax by reducing the top rate to 35 percent, which some pro-death tax policymakers suggest is a rate wealthy taxpayers could “afford.” However, this would be the wrong move for Congress to make. Instead, policymakers should do what their voters want them to do, as revealed in poll after poll: They should repeal this tax and kill it, once and forever.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  PERA Falls Off a Cliff

  By Barry W. Poulson, Independence Institute
  
  Issue Paper, 11/09/2009
  

  The Public Employees Retirement System (PERA) in Colorado is experiencing a funding crisis. The recent collapse of financial markets has resulted in a significant decrease in the value of the PERA portfolio. But the funding crisis in PERA is not just the result of problems in financial markets. The problems in this defined benefit pension plan have emerged over several decades, and are symptomatic of the poor incentive structure guiding the governance of many defined benefit public pension plans. The financial market turmoil has exacerbated these problems, but PERA is facing a long-run deterioration in its funding status.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Will Federal Health Legislation Cause the Deficit to Soar?

  By Daniel J. Mitchell, Cato Institute
  
  Tax & Budget Bulletin, 11/09/2009
  

  Enacting a $1 trillion entitlement program would greatly increase the burden of government spending. In addition, promises of lower deficits are a triumph of hope over experience. Government forecasters have a very poor track record of predicting costs. More realistic assumptions suggest that health legislation could easily push up 10-year deficits by $600 billion.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  ObamaCare: A Bad Deal for Young Adults

  By Aaron Yelowitz, Cato Institute
  
  Briefing Paper, 11/09/2009
  

  One of the most interesting questions about the health care overhaul now moving through Congress is how it would affect young adults. The legislation would force most or all Americans to purchase health insurance and would impose price controls on health insurance that would limit insurers’ ability to offer lower premiums to low-risk enrollees. Those provisions would drive premiums down for 55-year-olds but would drive them up for 25-year-olds—who are then implicitly subsidizing older adults. In fact, many young people could see their premiums as much as double under ObamaCare.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  The Prognosis for National Health Insurance: A Virginia Perspective

  By Arthur B. Laffer, Donna Arduin, Wayne H. Winegarden, Virginia Institute for Public Policy
  
  Report, 11/09/2009
  

  President Obama’s principles to drastically alter U.S. health care policy—a public health insurance exchange, mandated minimum coverage, mandated coverage of preexisting conditions, required purchase of health insurance—do not address the fundamental driving forces behind rising health care costs. Conversely, 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 health outcomes, and improve the overall efficiency of the health care system.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Addicted to the Physician Payment “Fix”

  By Bryan E. Dowd, American Enterprise Institute
  
  On the Issues, 11/09/2009
  

  Congressional mismanagement of Medicare is a bipartisan project in which Democrats and Republicans set aside the rancor of party politics and ideological differences and work hand in hand to run the program into the ground. Despite legislation mandating that Congress make cuts in Medicare’s physician payments if costs grow too rapidly, Congress has ignored or circumvented the rule every year except in 2002. The sustainable growth rate legislation should be replaced with sensible policies to reduce unnecessary spending and improve incentives for better health care.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Environment, and Science
  

  Researching Solar Radiation Management as a Climate Policy Option

  By Lee Lane, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Testimony, 11/09/2009
  

  Because of the institutional barriers to effective global climate-change agreements, climate policy should be diversified beyond those measures that seek only steep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Solar radiation management, a form of geoengineering that aims to offset global warming via a slight reduction in the amount of solar energy absorbed by the Earth, deserves consideration as part of a potential climate policy portfolio.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Improvement

  By Frederick M. Hess, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Papers and Studies, 11/09/2009
  

  America’s education system needs far-reaching innovation. It is archaic and broken, a relic of a time when high school graduates could expect to live prosperous lives, when steel and auto factories formed the backbone of the American economy, and when laptop computers and the Internet were the preserve of science fiction writers. And while the challenges are many—inflexible regulations, excessive bureaucracy, a dearth of fresh thinking—the bottom line is that most education institutions simply lack the tools, incentives, and opportunities to reinvent themselves in profoundly more effective ways.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Medicaid: The Forgotten Issue in Health Reform

  By Robert B. Helms, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Health Policy Outlook, 11/09/2009
  

  Current health reform legislation under consideration in Congress fails to adequately address fundamental flaws in the Medicaid program. Medicaid provides health care for the poorest and most severely disabled members of our society, and improving its quality should be a top priority. Instead of making simple reforms to the way federal funds are distributed for Medicaid, current health care legislation only seeks to expand the program despite the fact that the present growth of federal expenditures on Medicaid is not sustainable.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Government-Run Health Care Even Without the Public Option

  By Robert A. Book, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/09/2009
  

  One of the most-discussed issues in the health care reform debate is whether to include a government-run, “public option” health plan. But both sides seem to be ignoring a much larger issue: Regardless of whether a public option is included, the reforms under consideration in Congress would impose such rigid control on private health plans that it amounts to a government-run health care system—even if the insurance companies remain technically under private ownership.

  
  
  
• Information Technology
  

  The Faulty Berkman Report: “The Fallacy of Overlooking Secondary Consequences”

  By Seth L. Cooper, Free State Foundation
  
  Perspectives from FSF Scholars, 11/09/2009
  

  The Berkman Report is a misguided plea for drastically expanded government regulation of broadband networks in the United States. It urges a force-fit of the generally highly regulatory broadband regimes employed by several foreign social democracies on the American broadband marketplace. It also relies on a falsely optimistic picture of the ability of government regulators to direct investment on a nationwide basis for the deployment and operation of advanced technologies. These glaring weaknesses undermine the Report’s usefulness to American policymakers.

  
  
  
• The Constitution/Civil Liberties
  

  Property Rights or Property Permissions?

  By Timothy Sandefur, Liberty
  
  Liberty, 11/09/2009
  

  There is an increasingly common phenomenon in America: the abuse of permitting powers by local governments that want to force property owners to give up their rights—to money, to land, or to the ballot—in exchange for permission to use their own property as they wish. Indeed, many if not most judges and law professors today view property rights as no right at all, but rather as a permission given by the state to those citizens it deems worthy.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Japan’s Security Policy: Navigating the Troubled Waters Ahead

  By Bruce Klingner, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 11/09/2009
  

  The U.S. relationship with Japan has just become more complicated. The recent election victory of the Democratic Party of Japan has resulted in more resistance to a truly shared U.S.-Japanese mission. Refusing to provide troops to aid the coalition in Afghanistan, and generally uninterested in actively engaging in overseas security missions, the risk-averse DPJ is pulling back from its responsibilities in the U.S.-Japan alliance, as well as internationally. This leaves the U.S. in the position of responding to an ally who demands an equal role yet resists assuming equal responsibilities.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Pelosi Health Care Plan: Who Pays the Surtax?

  By Rea S. Hederman, Guinevere Nell, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/09/2009
  

  The House legislation to enact Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) health care plan relies on a large surtax to pay for it. The surtax is 5.4 percent on personal income of single filers with over $500,000 and joint filers with over $1 million in modified adjusted income. This surtax hammers successful small business owners who file as individuals and will gradually encompass all American taxpayers, much like the dreaded Alternative Minimum Tax does.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  The Pakistan-Britain Terror Connection: Lessons and Warnings for the United States

  By Ted R. Bromund, Lisa Curtis, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 11/09/2009
  

  The Pakistan-Britain terror connection poses a serious threat to Great Britain and its allies, including the United States. Breaking the personnel, financial, and ideological links will require fighting terrorism on three fronts: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Britain. In Afghanistan, the U.S., the U.K., and their allies need to continue to fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda. They should also hold Pakistan accountable for its failure to act decisively against terrorism. In Britain, the government needs to enforce the tightened immigration and asylum practices, refuse to cooperate with radical Islamism, and promote citizenship and economic opportunity to help immigrants assimilate into British society.

  
  
  
• Labor
  

  Heritage Employment Report: October Has Few Treats, Lots of Tricks

  By Rea S. Hederman, James Sherk, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/09/2009
  

  On November 6, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the unemployment rate had soared from 9.8 percent to 10.2 percent in October. Jobs losses in October—190,000—were higher than expected. As job losses mount, the monthly jobs report continues to demonstrate both the failure of the stimulus bill and the hollowness of the Administration’s claim that it created or saved 640,000 jobs. Congress and the Administration should encourage private-sector investment and entrepreneurship instead of attempting to plan a recovery from Washington.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  A Closer Look at the House Democrats’ Health Care Bill

  By Center for Health Policy, Center for Data Analysis, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/09/2009
  

  Congress should take a step-by-step approach to fix what is clearly broken in the health care sector of the economy. However, the new House bill is clearly just more of the same. Higher taxes and increased government intervention will not improve health care, and increasing enrollment in costly and troubled government programs will only add to the rising costs of care.

  
  
  
• Family, Culture & Community
  

  The National Endowment for the Arts: NEA Grants Shift from Censorship to Propaganda

  By Meghan Keane, Capital Research Center
  
  Organization Trends, 11/09/2009
  

  For decades the National Endowment for the Arts has been caught up in controversy over its mission and its grantees. But this year, for the first time, artists themselves are questioning whether they are being used by the agency to foster a political agenda.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Reform-Minded Money

  By RiShawn Biddle, Capital Research Center
  
  Foundation Watch, 11/09/2009
  

  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has become the most prominent advocate for changing how children are educated in America’s public schools. Its school reform agenda, the zeal of co-founders Bill and Melinda Gates, and a willingness to abandon ineffective strategies, has helped make the Gates Foundation a major foe of the teacher unions. But the Gates Foundation must take care to avoid the pitfalls that have befallen earlier generations of school reformers.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Comparing Financing of the House and Senate Health Care Reform Plans

  By Gerald Prante, Tax Foundation
  
  Fiscal Facts, 11/09/2009
  

  The two health care reform bills introduced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Max Baucus would impose a financial penalty on individuals if they do not buy health insurance, although the House penalty is higher. In both plans, employers would have to pay a penalty to either the government or to new “health exchanges” if they do not provide a government-approved health insurance plan to employees, and once again, the penalty is larger in the House bill. This report compares and contrasts these and other differences in the two bills.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  A Hard Pill to Swallow

  By Jacob Sullum, Reason Foundation
  
  Reason, 11/09/2009
  

  Obama administration officials say the $787 billion stimulus package is all about putting Americans back to work. When questioned about whether this is an efficient way to do that, they claim all the work needs to be done anyway. Conversely, when asked whether all the projects are really worth the money spent on them, they cite jobs "created or saved" as a backup justification.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  The Misuse of Economic History: Flawed Analogies with Japan’s “Liquidity Trap and the Great Depression

  By Alan Reynolds, Cato Institute
  
  Cato Journal, 11/09/2009
  

  Economists frequently use historical anecdotes to justify theories they prefer and policies they advocate. Unfortunately, policy-motivated history often depends on "stylized" facts and hazy metaphors—such as bubbles bursting, central banks pushing on strings, and budget deficits jump-starting the economy.

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  The Undemanding Ethics of Capitalism

  By William A. Niskanen, Cato Institute
  
  Cato Journal, 11/09/2009
  

  The United States and many other countries are now experiencing the first major financial crisis in over 75 years, a condition that too many people have been quick to blame on an outbreak of greed that they claim is characteristic of capitalism. Blaming a financial crisis on greed, however, is like blaming airplane crashes on gravity.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  Trade Protectionism and Electoral Outcome

  By Miaojie Yu, Cato Institute
  
  Cato Journal, 11/09/2009
  

  In the 2004 U.S. elections, the dispute on trade policy was one of the important issues between the Democrats and the Republicans. The Democratic Party emphasized that the U.S. government should link multinational trade agreements to labor and environmental issues. Conversely, the Republican Party advocated free trade and pledged to make the expansion of trade a consistent priority. This dispute over trade policy raises an interesting question: Does a party’s tariff platform affect its electoral outcome?

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  The Pelosi Health Care Plan: Employer Mandate Penalties on Small Businesses

  By John L. Ligon, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/09/2009
  

  Recently unveiled health care reform legislation known as the "Pelosi plan" would impose new costs on small businesses. This legislation would create an employer penalty system that would apply to small firms—even those with 25 or fewer workers. Businesses expanding total annual payroll to $500,000 would face a $10,000 marginal penalty; this penalty rises to $19,200 for small firms expanding total wages to $750,000. This additional cost would create a strong disincentive for small firms to increase compensation or hire additional employees.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Doing Health Care Reform Right: The Empowering Patients First Act

  By Greg D'Angelo, Robert E. Moffit, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/09/2009
  

  President Obama has said that he is open to new and different ideas to reform health care and has properly said that no political party has a monopoly on wisdom or good ideas. Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) has offered a clear, conservative alternative to the health care bill proposed by Democrats in the House. The Price bill would achieve significant, positive health system change without expanding the size of the federal government or raising taxes as the Democratic leadership’s bills do. It should play a more prominent role in the health care discussion.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  Prisoner Reentry: A Limited Federal Government Role

  By David B. Muhlhausen, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Testimony, 11/09/2009
  

  Policymakers on the national, state, and local levels need to be concerned about prisoner reentry. Nevertheless, policymakers should acknowledge the crucial role that incarceration has played in the nation’s drop in crime and the continued comparatively low crime rates. Reentry programs need to be rigorously evaluated to determine their effectiveness at reducing recidivism. Congress needs to do more to ensure that the reentry programs it funds are rigorously evaluated.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Union Contracts of Health Care Workers Would Inflate Health Care Costs

  By James Sherk, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 11/09/2009
  

  Unions will make any health care reform that includes a government-run “public plan” more expensive than the CBO estimates. A public plan would turn health care workers into quasi-public employees, making them more likely to unionize. More unionized health care workers would translate into tens of billions of dollars in higher health care costs. These costs would either raise the cost of health insurance premiums or increase the deficit.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  New Keynesian Versus Old Keynesian

  By John F. Cogan, Tobias Cwik, John B. Taylor, Volker Wieland, Hoover Institution
  
  Defining Ideas, 11/09/2009
  

  Earlier this year, Obama administration economists estimated the impact of the recently enacted $787 billion economic stimulus bill on GDP and employment in the U.S. Using an "old Keynesian" economic model and making highly questionable monetary policy assumptions, these economists estimate that the stimulus package will raise GDP by 3.6 percent and increase employment by 3.6 million jobs. But a new Keynesian approach, which is taught in most graduate economic programs in the U.S. and abroad, reveals starkly different estimates.