Free Republic

Post-Obama tax reform for the 21st century. The Republican Party woke up new and fresh, and ahead of the curve, yesterday morning, leaving the Democrats stale and old back in the 20th century (Keynesian 1930s), if not the 19th (1870s, when Marx was new and cutting edge).History books will note the turning point of the 2016 election as the evening of October 28, 2015. At the Republican debate that night in Colorado, Texas Senator Ted Cruz emerged from the Republican Presidential field as the modern 2016 embodiment of Ronald Reagan.The tax reform plan he unveiled at that debate is as...

The new Hillary health-care plan is very different from the old 1993-1994 Hillary plan. It is far slyer, and far cleverer, far more well-packaged. The same arguments that applied to the old Hillary plan do not necessarily apply to the new plan. But the new health plan ends up in the same place as the old health plan — with the government running everything. Here are the primary problems with the new Hillary health plan: What Entitlement Crisis? As everyone should know by now, our nation faces a dramatic entitlements crisis that will play out over the next 30 years....

February 03, 2006, 9:00 a.m. The Virginia Miracle? Puh-lease! Presidential wannabe Mark Warner is a big-government, tax-and-spender — no matter what he says. By Peter Ferrara Tuesday night, in the Democrat response to President Bush’s State of the Union, we heard Gov. Tim Kaine talk about the great bipartisan collaboration in his state of Virginia. We were told that collaboration has served the people by focusing on delivering services, making record investments, and producing real results. Those are the new code words for what is really going on in Virginia, where historic runaway government spending is being fueled by...

To Kill an American You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is . So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!) "An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean,...

With no real issues to promote, Democrats are putting all their eggs into the basket of corruption to restore their political fortunes. They and their friends in the mainstream media are working overtime to connect everyone and everything on the right side of the political spectrum to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to multiple felonies. One channel that Democrats and liberals are working is tying conservative think tanks to the Abramoff scandal. They know that these think tanks have been one of the most effective forces in Washington over the last 30 years in advancing a...

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. So an Australian dentist wrote the following to let everyone know what an American is ... so they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!) An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani,...

No one anticipated that the aftermath of Katrina would include a false and ignorant tidal wave of calumny against President Bush. Conservatives beware, because the goal here is to politically disable the President, and the conservative agenda along with him. A few basic facts will help to detox the political environment. First, FEMA is not an agency of first responders. It is not the agency responsible for bringing people bottles of water and trays of fresh food, or transporting them out of harm’s way. It also has zero law enforcement authority, or personnel. These first responder jobs are the responsibility...

Republicans have introduced a new Social Security plan to use Social Security's surplus to start personal accounts. The surplus -- the amount of payroll tax revenue not needed to pay current benefits -- is not saved for future retirees, but rather spent every year by the government. According to Senior Research Fellow Peter Ferrara of the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), "The Republicans are to be commended for moving in the direction we at IPI have long proposed: moving away from tax increases and benefits cuts and focusing on personal accounts. The Republicans have effectively started personal accounts to the...

Here is the grand strategy at the White House on Social Security: Propose a cut in future promised Social Security benefits for the middle class as well as for upper income workers. That will lead enough Democrats to support personal accounts to enable the entire plan to pass. I know that sounds preposterous. That is because it is. But that has been the misbegotten "strategic thinking" at the White House for a long time now. So in his press conference last week the President proposed benefit cuts for middle-class and upper-income workers through "progressive price indexing," an idea suggested by...

Only this White House staff would send the president out to sell personal accounts for Social Security with the message they don't really solve the problem. Is it any wonder then that the more George W. Bush talks about personal accounts the lower they sink in the polls? Of course, this message is totally wrong. The chief actuary of Social Security has already scored four proposals for personal accounts alone, with no benefit cuts or tax increases, as achieving permanent solvency for Social Security. But the White House staff doesn't understand them, or how personal accounts can eliminate long-term Social...

What Is An American? A primer. By Peter Ferrara, an associate professor of law at the George Mason University School of Law. September 25, 2001 9:20 a.m. ou probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper there an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. So I just thought I would write to let them know what an American is, so they would know when they found one. An American is English…or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish,...

<p>You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper there an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.</p>

An extraordinary event in Virginia politics occurred Feb. 17 when Senate Majority Leader Walter Stosch, R-Glen Allen, and Republican Whip Ken Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, came to a meeting of the Republican state central committee- which I attended to explain why the entire Senate Republican leadership co-sponsored the largest tax increase in Virginia history. Their bill would raise taxes by $2.5 billion over the next two years, more than two times what Democrat Gov. Mark R. Warner has proposed. It would raise sales taxes 22 percent, general income tax rates by 10-to-15 percent, the gas tax 20 percent, and the cigarette...

This article also appears in the Washington Times today.President Bush last night put personal accounts for Social Security on the top shelf of the national agenda.  Few people now recognize how enormous this initiative can be, with powerfully beneficial effects reverberating throughout our economy and society. But the incredible historic opportunity now on the horizon is recognized by a new coalition of conservative and progressive leaders to be announced today. The President in his speech made clear that he believes the looming problems of Social Security must be addressed now, not put off to just get worse and worse.  Moreover, the President...

<p>President Bush last night put personal accounts for Social Security on the top shelf of the national agenda. Few people now recognize how enormous this initiative can be, with powerfully beneficial effects reverberating throughout our economy and society.</p> <p>But the incredible historic opportunity now on the horizon is recognized by a new coalition of conservative and progressive leaders to be announced today.</p>

<p>The Virginia legislature opens it 2004 session this week under the cloud of Gov. Mark Warner's proposal for the largest tax increase in the state's history.</p> <p>The proposal includes a 22 percent increase in the sales tax, from 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent. It includes a 10 percent increase in the top income tax rate in the state, from 5.75 percent to 6.25 percent.</p>

<p>With Medicare legislation out of the way, for better or probably worse, at least President Bush can now turn his political attention to fulfilling his promise to modernize Social Security. The scope of his opportunity will be evident with the release today of an official budget score of one of the more energetic reform proposals.</p>

<p>A long time ago, in a presidential campaign far, far away, George W. Bush put the idea of a personal account option for Social Security on the national agenda. It was and still is a good idea. Such reform would allow workers the freedom to choose to shift a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes into their own personal investment account, which would then finance a proportionate share of future Social Security retirement benefits. Get ready for the sequel: Bush administration officials have said such reform will be a focus of next year's campaign, and a second Bush term.</p>

<p>Still another out-of-control, dysfunctional institution recently joined the wolf pack seeking to devour MCI to advance their own narrow special interests. Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson announced criminal charges last month not only against six long-gone former company executives responsible for a massive accounting fraud at the company. He announced criminal charges against the company itself as well.</p>

<p>The Alabama establishment thought the fix was in for the largest tax increase in the state's history. All that was needed was approval by the voters to bypass constitutional limitations.</p> <p>The tax increase had the ardent support of the badly duped conservative Republican Gov. Bob Riley. Moreover, the state legislature had already approved the increase with bipartisan support.</p>