This past September, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, announced the central bank’s QE3 plan— a decision to buy more bonds with the hope that lower interest rates will goose domestic spending and kick start economic growth. However, it is unlikely that QE3 will have any palpable effect on the economy after QE1, QE2, and Operation Twist failed to.
The Manhattan Institute just released the latest in its Issues 2012 series of policy briefs, “Why Savings are Suffering: Fed QE3 Policy Costs Seniors.” Authored by MI senior fellow and former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor Diana Furchtgott-Roth, the report argues that while the Fed is hedging that people who have been saving during the economic downturn will start spending, the lower interest rates will hurt those who live on fixed incomes and rely heavily on their savings—most specifically, senior citizens.
“…When PolitiFact described a blatantly deceptive Obama campaign ad on Mitt Romney’s Medicare reform as “Mostly True.” The ad claimed that the Romney-Ryan plan “could raise future retirees’ costs more than $6,000,” when in fact the Romney-Ryan plan would increase future retiree’s costs by exactly zero, and in fact give them the opportunity to lower their out-of-pocket costs…”
Read the article on Forbes.com
“In Ohio, a study by the actuarial firm Milliman found that Obamacare will increase individual-market premiums by 55 to 85 percent in 2017, relative to what they would have been under prior law. A survey by the Physicians Foundation found that, if Medicare cuts physician fees by another 10 percent, as Obamacare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board effectively requires, 30 percent of doctors will place “new or additional limits on Medicare acceptance,” with 24 percent accepting no new Medicare patients altogether.”
- Avik Roy, NRO’s The Corner
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The White House has taken the unprecedented step of asking defense contractors to break the law by not sending required layoff notices to their employees just before Election Day.
Moreover, if defense contractors follow this illegal advice, the Obama administration is offering to pay the penalties and court costs they will incur — potentially $500 million or more — out of the Pentagon budget. This is all being done without congressional approval.
By asking companies to break the law, and promising to pay their penalties, the White House is giving a major gift to its current tenant.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Marketwatch.com
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Paul Howard
In a debate focused on jobs and the economy, Obamacare was a subheading. But it shouldn’t be. It is already causing small employers, and employers with many low-wage workers to put off hiring or shift more positions from full time to part time to avoid paying Obamacare’s employer tax penalty. It also effectively increases tax penalties for low-income workers, discouraging them from working and earning more. In an economy where health care costs continue to take a big bite out of Americans’ take home pay, Obamacare will become an increasing drain on innovation and job creation.
“When the latest TANF extension expires in late March of 2013, Congress should fully reauthorize the program, making necessary changes and maintaining the measurable focus on work. Returning to the old days of welfare—when virtually any assignment counted as work—is a step in the wrong direction and a truly bad idea.”
Russell Sykes in the latest Manhattan Institute Issues 2012 Report
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"The best hope for Medicaid reforms that can improve care for low-income enrollees, reduce fraud, and put the program on a sustainable trajectory is to cap federal spending to the states by using block grants. Block grants would offer states a predictable source of federal funding in return for broad state flexibility in Medicaid administration, benefits and copays …"
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The Wall Street Journal, Paul Howard and Russell Sykes
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Avik Roy on Forbes.com today:
The first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and President Obama was easily the wonkiest such debate I can recall in my lifetime. That’s great for the country. But even better was the fact Mitt Romney was able to correct a number of the misleading statements that President Obama has been making about Romney’s plans for health care and entitlement reform. Let’s review the details…
With less than two weeks to go until election day, energy production has emerged as a key issue in the presidential campaign for both President Obama and Governor Romney. 
The need for corporate tax reform is becoming urgent as high tax rates are increasingly driving American companies overseas. While both President Obama and Mitt Romney have vowed to overhaul the tax code, which has remained unchanged for 26 years, each has different plans on how their reforms will match the new realities of our 21st century economy.
