Iowa needs to audit the Medicaid program to ensure that not only are the people who truly need the services are protected, but taxpayer dollars are not wasted. Amity Shlaes, an economic historian and author of the just-released Great Society: A New History, argues correctly that the “lesson of …
“When I started my business 40 years ago, the regulations I had to follow fit into a binder. Now, I can stack them from the floor to the ceiling.” A longtime business owner near Pella shared this thought recently and while we didn’t actually break out a measuring tape to …
Continue reading “Excessive Regulations Have Detrimental Effects”
Two states take a bite out of occupational licensing by allowing reciprocity. Arizona has led the way by granting reciprocity for out-of-state licenses. Arizona will grant a license “to new residents who were licensed for at least one year in another state, so long as their credentials haven’t been …
Continue reading “Occupational Licensing Made Easier for New Residents”
Taxpayers are being forced by the government to subsidize businesses. State and local governments utilize tax credits and incentives to create economic growth. The argument is made that governments need to utilize credits and incentives to not only attract new businesses, but also help existing businesses expand. Whether it …
Continue reading “Tax Credits Need Accountability and Transparency”
Five state policy organizations recently met to discuss principles that create opportunity and promote liberty. TEF Iowa recently hosted and sponsored the second meeting of the Midwest Policy Summit. Policy organizations from Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska met to discuss public policy issues confronting the Midwest. Some of …
We are in a Social Security danger zone of over-promised benefits. Will it still be around for younger generations? Anyone below the age of 52 today is on track to receive only a percentage of their scheduled benefits. In August 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the …
Continue reading “Can Younger Americans Rely on Social Security?”
It has been almost 100 years since government has shown spending restraint. What can be done to slow down our $22,000,000,000,000 national debt? The $22 trillion national debt symbolizes not only the broken budget process of today’s federal government, but decades of overspending by both Republicans and Democrats. MarketWatch …
Continue reading “The Forgotten Word in Politics: Restraint”
One state is trying to dig itself out of a hole… by digging deeper. Connecticut, just as with other progressive Blue States such as Illinois and California, is in a fiscal crisis. Policymakers in Connecticut have relied on increasing taxes and spending. “After eight years of uncontrolled spending and …
Religion and Morality: The Indispensable Supports of Political Prosperity The United States Supreme Court in a 7-2 ruling in American Legion v. American Humanist Association decided that a Bladensburg, Maryland memorial cross dedicated to 48 heroes from Prince George County who died in World War 1 does not violate …
A pander bear should be the official mascot of the Democratic presidential debates. Never have so many candidates proposed so much spending. They are clearly trying to bribe voters to support the one who offers the most “free” stuff. In 1935, Ohio’s Robert A. Taft described President Franklin D. …
