The Wall Street Journal

‘Build America Bonds’ Building Debt?

By Chris Andriesen
11/22/2010
by Ashley Muchow Steve Malanga’s article in the WSJ today covers a topic that is both timely and closely connected to Illinois’s deteriorating fiscal condition. One measure about to reach the lame-duck Congress floor is a call to extend Build America Bonds (BABs)–bonds used by states and municipalities to accrue nearly $160 billion in new debt...

WSJ Highlights Need for Health Care Transparency

10/26/2010
Today’s Wall Street Journal carried a special report on how Medicare claims data can be used to root out suspected waste, fraud and abuse (like the NYC family-medicine physician who was flagged for pocketing more than $2 million in 2008 from Medicare thanks in part to administering an odd battery of tests). Earlier this year, we testified in favor of creating...

Is Bill Gates Sr. smarter than a 5th Grader?

10/05/2010
Apparently Bill Gates, Sr. is not smarter than a 5th grader because he seems to think the correct answer is 74.  Mr. Gates is advocating for a progressive income tax increase in Washington state.  He has put $500,000 of his own money into the initiative campaign to impose this tax on the people of Washington. That data...

The Cost of Income Taxes

10/05/2010
by Ashley Muchow Arthur Laffer addressed a core issue regarding the economic impact of state income taxes in the WSJ today. Laffer addressed the often ignored negative impact income taxes have on state economies. Illinois’s personal income per capita decreased from 133 percent of the U.S. prior to its 1969 income tax levy,  to just 106 percent...

Quinn Fail

09/30/2010
by John Tillman Since the tax hike fight of 2009 (the picture on the left is from my debate on Fox 32 on the merits of a tax hike versus spending reforms – see it here) we have been saying some simple things at the Illinois Policy Institute.  First, our problems are rooted in structural overspending.  Second,...

Grading Governors

09/30/2010
by Kate Piercy Some Governors have adjusted to the economic realities of the last few years better than others. How has our Governor responded? According to the Cato Institute’s 10th biennial survey of the best and worst Governors on fiscal issues, not well. Who were the stars and who were the slackers? The Wall Street Journal reports: The Cato...

U.S. corporate tax rate pushes jobs overseas

09/27/2010
by Ashley Muchow Our current administration has another plan to bring jobs back the U.S.  Though the end goal is merited, the plan of action is grounded in poor economic reasoning. President Obama claimed last week that “for years, our tax code has actually given billions of dollars in tax breaks that encourage companies to...

What Does the Post Office Do in an Economic Downturn? Raise Prices!

09/27/2010
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Mail volume keeps dropping year after year, and yet the United State Postal Service would like to raise the price of a stamp from 44 cents to 46 cents. Why is the postal service losing money ($3.5 billion last quarter and $238 billion over the next decade) while private firms like UPS and...

Good and Bad Incentives

09/15/2010
by Ashley Muchow Robert Barro, in his most recent WSJ article, takes note of various logical shortcomings in the Obama administration’s economic agenda.  Rather than focus on the supply-side rationale of creating incentives that stimulate both supply and demand—thus yielding sustained economic growth—the Obama administration has ignored the breadth of supply-side manifestations in the policy measures it...

False Stats to Cause Misery for Small Businesses

09/04/2010
by Ashley Muchow The economy has proved to be the most important topic in politics today.  Rightfully so.  Come the end of last month, U.S. unemployment stood at 9.6%.  Economic activity left much to be desired as GDP rose 1.6% in the second quarter of 2010, compared to a 3.6% increase in the first. Naturally, Washington feels obliged...
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FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...

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Diana Graham

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