Michael Tanner
The Archive
What's their plan?
Faced with a dismal political climate, Democrats appear ready to revive the hoary charge that Republicans seek to dismantle Social Security. But what's the Dems' answer? Senate Majority Leader Harry...
The ObamaCare lies are still coming
Does President Obama have any idea what's in his own health-care reform law? Since he signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act a bit more than 100 days ago,...
Three little pigs: How entitlements will destroy us
Our national debt recently topped the $13 trillion mark. That amounts to nearly 90% of this country’s GDP; $72,000 in debt for every household in America. And that’s the good...
Elena's nanny state
Suppose that the federal government, in its infinite wisdom, decided that it would deal with the obesity crisis and improve the health and welfare of the American people -- by...
$13,050,826,460,886.97
$13,050,826,460,886.97 That’s what the National Debt topped this week, a record. Go ahead, let it soak in: Thirteen trillion, fifty billion, eight hundred twenty-six million, four hundred sixty thousand, eight...
Obamacare: The new battles ahead
For better or worse (mostly worse), The Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act is now law. After 14 months of bitter, divisive and partisan debate, Democratic leaders in Congress scraped...
The Dems bring the pain
As the health care leviathan slouches toward a final vote in the House of Representatives — or at least a final “deeming” — it is worth taking one final look...
Final 'reform' push: twisting arms
President Obama's attempts to ram health- care reform through an increasingly reluctant Congress are starting to resemble a really eventful episode of "The Sopranos." Whether or not you believe former...
The same rotten Rx
If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try, try again. With Plans A, B and C hav ing failed miserably, President Obama yesterday unveiled his latest "new and improved"...
Price controls by any other name
In 301 AD, the Roman emperor Diocletian imposed price controls on most commodities and professions in the empire. The penalty for raising prices was death. Yet the controls failed utterly,...
It still won't work
In the wake of Scott Brown's as tounding win last week in Massachusetts, President Obama has been backpedaling faster than Darrelle Revis on health-care reform, telling reporters that Congress should...
No taxes, please, we're Democrats
Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, puts the quid pro quo in simple terms: “We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama — $60.7 million to be...
Dems' dirty deals
So, have you been following those health-care negotiations on C-SPAN? OK, that was below the belt. Maybe it's unfair to expect the negotiations to be televised just because President Obama...
Health Care: Now's the Hard Part
Harry Reid finally begged, cajoled and bribed enough votes to pass a health-care-reform bill through the Senate. But before Democrats break out the champagne, they should realize that the road...
Why the rush?
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced that he was working on yet another version of health reform, incorporating tweaks such as a huge expansion of Medicare, a...
Public option's rotten replacements
Searching for an ac ceptable alternative to the controversial "public option," Senate Democrats on Tuesday night adopted three bad ideas instead. Having tried and discarded the "robust" public option, the...
'Mod Squad' supporters sold out for pork & party
Sometimes, not even a politician can be all things to all people. With Saturday night's vote to bring Harry Reid's health-care bill to the floor, "moderate" Senate Democrats like Ben...
Truly a turkey
Just in time for Thanksgiv ing, Sen. Harry Reid has given us a giant turkey of a health-care bill. At 2,074 pages and more than 370,000 words, it's officially "scored"...
A fed takeover by any other name...
President Obama has gone to great pains to deny that his proposed health-care reform is a government takeover of the health-care system. "Nothing could be further from the truth," he...
Health reform: Dems' deep divisions
Weary of news stories that legislative support for health-care reform is all but dead, Democratic leaders have been seizing every handy podium to declare that "the votes are almost there,"...