STATE OF THE NATION - CounterStrikeMedia

AMERIKA'S EXPLODING DEFICITS, RISING IDEOLOGICAL CIVIL WAR & MILTON FRIEDMAN ON SOCIAL SECURITY

5/29/2018

America's Exploding Budget Deficit
by Martin Feldstein via Project Syndicate
The federal government’s debt has risen from less than 40% of GDP a decade ago to 78% now, and the Congressional Budget Office predicts that the ratio will rise to 96% in 2028. While many blame the tax cuts enacted last year, the real reason lies elsewhere.

Fiddling While Rome Burns?
Dennis Jansen & Andrew Rettenmaier, E21
In January 2017, the 115th Congress of the United States convened for its 2-year term as we inaugurated our 45th President. That same month, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its analysis of the fiscal situation facing the United States over the coming ten years, “The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2017 to 2027.” The report describes the situation that Congress and the President inherited from their predecessors. This inheritance was a projected path of increasing deficits and growing government debt relative to national income as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Read more here....

Archives: Social Security: Universal or selective?
Miilton Friedman and Wilbur J. Cohen | American Enterprise Institute

THE POST WWII ERA IS OVER: VICTOR DAVIS HANSEN EXPLAINS HOW IT HAPPENED

5/29/2018

The Post-War Order Is Over
by Victor Davis Hanson via National Review
The 75-year-old post-war order crafted by the United States after World War II is falling apart. Almost every major foreign-policy initiative of the last 16 years seems to have gone haywire.

THE NEW DEAL VS. AMERICAN CONSERVATISM & HOW CONNECTICUT WANTS TO BEAT THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

5/21/2018

https://www.amazon.com/New-Deal-Modern-American-Conservatism/dp/0817916857/ref=sr11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526788554&sr=1-1&keywords=american+conservatism+davenport

Connecticut Joins The Quiet Campaign To Undermine Constitutional Presidential Elections
by David Davenport via Washington Examiner
Both houses of the Connecticut legislature recently passed the National Popular Vote Bill, which now sits on the desk of Gov. Dannel Malloy, who is expected to sign it. With his approval, Connecticut will join a quiet campaign to undo the Electoral College by means of a clever end run rather than a proper constitutional amendment.

THE END OF WORK & CIVILIZATION, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT!

5/11/2018

Civilization, If You Can Keep It
Jonah Goldberg delivers his magnum opus.

FIXING HEALTH CARE MARKETS & REFORMING MEDICARE ADVANTAGE

5/11/2018

Fixing Health Insurance Markets
Chris Pope, National Review

How to make health care prices transparent
James C. Capretta | Real Clear Policy
Alex Azar says he is willing to be as disruptive as necessary to bring more consumer-driven discipline to the provision of medical services. Nothing would be more disruptive to today’s inefficient market than meaningful and understandable price information that consumers — and private insurers — could use to find high-value, low-cost care.

The Effect of Raising the Threshold for Medicare Part D Catastrophic Coverage
Tara O’Neill Hayes, E21

A proposal to enhance competition and reform bidding in the Medicare Advantage program
Joseph Antos et al. | USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy

In their new report, Joseph Antos et al. propose two key changes to the MA bidding process to lower prices and enhance choice for consumers. The authors propose revising the current contracting process to focus on promoting price competition, as well as standardizing the benefits offered under MA plans to improve comparison shopping and provide a common basis for plan bids. The authors estimate their proposal would save the federal government $10 billion annually and reduce Medicare Part B premiums across both MA and traditional Medicare beneficiaries by approximately 2 percent a year.

The case for reforming competitive bidding in Medicare Advantage
Joseph Antos et al. | Health Affairs

Research suggests that the current MA bidding structure does not strongly promote competition, allowing plans to bid above their true costs and to retain rebate dollars instead of fully pass savings through to beneficiaries. To address these concerns, Joseph Antos and his coauthors propose to reform bidding in Medicare Advantage, replacing the current inefficient structure with one that standardizes most MA insurance products and revises the current contracting process to focus on promoting price competition.

MEET THE FRACKERS: U.S. PETROLEUM POWERHOUSE EMERGES GLOBALLY

5/8/2018

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FIW06QM/ref=dbsadefrwthschvapitaftp1i4

UNFUNDED SOCIAL SECURITY BY $10 TRILLION ANNUALLY & SKYROCKETING HEALTH CARE COSTS

5/7/2018

Blame our politicians for the retirement savings problem
Andrew G. Biggs | The Hill
Social Security is underfunded by more than $10 trillion, yet Congress has done nothing for 30 years. The United States needs to increase its retirement savings, but it’s not ordinary Americans who are at fault. It’s American politicians, who are better on promising benefits than funding them.

Obamacare Is Failing to Contain Healthcare Costs
Charles Blahous, E21
A primary argument made for passing the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or so-called “Obamacare”) was that only such an expansion of the federal role in healthcare could successfully slow the growth of national health costs and thereby avert fiscal disaster. During the first few years after the law’s enactment, many of its supporters contended it was already accomplishing this, which other analysts strongly disputed. But more recently a quiet consensus has overtaken the former controversy. Read more here....

HENRY LUCE & THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER; WHAT DRIVES POPULISM IN U.S.

5/2/2018

LANCE MORROW
Lost Souls
Reflections on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, by way of Henry Luce

Drivers of authoritarian populism in the United States: A primer
Dalibor Rohac, Liz Kennedy, and Vikram Singh | American Enterprise Institute and Center for American Progress

Debunking The Intellectual Lethargy Of Foreign Policy Elites
quoting Victor Davis Hanson via Eurasia Review
Palaver-filled torpor is an apt description for an article published by Foreign Affairs on April 30 titled, “Time for a New U.S. Foreign Policy Narrative: A Better Alternative to Trump’s ‘America First,” by Ian Bremmer and Joe Kennedy III. They begin the piece demonizing Trump’s understanding of the US’ role in the world.

Republicans And Democrats Need To Learn These Foreign Policy Lessons
quoting George P. Shultz via The Washington Post
Eliot Cohen, a former State Department official and a fierce critic of President Trump, warns that the president and his immediate predecessor both messed up when it comes to the Middle East: Trump unchecked is a man who believes in unpredictability, threats, and head-spinning policy pirouettes.

THE DEMISE OF U.S. UNIONS

5/2/2018

STEVEN MALANGA
Life After Janus
Public unions scramble to prepare for a world where they can no longer dun workers.

HISTORICAL SURVEY OF U.S. LED GROWTH

5/2/2018

The rise and fall (and rise?) of American growth
James Pethokoukis | AEIdeas