Overview for entitlements

Will GOP Back Benefit Cuts on Military Retirees?

State governors are reacting to deficits by cutting public employee benefits. Now similar cutbacks are being proposed at the federal level for military retirees. The teachers must be wishing they wore uniforms. Governors across the country are reacting to deficits by cutting - or trying to cut …

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Written by David Frum on Tuesday March 15, 2011

Levin Wants a Shutdown: Real Americans Don't

Tuesday, Mark Levin upbraided the GOP leadership as cowardly for not shutting down government. But a new poll reveals why that could be a disaster. Tuesday, during the opening monologue on his radio show , Mark Levin upbraided the GOP leadership as cowardly for not shutting down government.  …

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Written by Jeb Golinkin on Wednesday March 9, 2011

The Bold Budget Cuts Congress Won't Touch

Tied up in Washington's budget cut fight, neither party is focusing on the real problem: the large percentage of the budget devoted to mandatory spending. As both parties engage in Kabuki theater over cuts to the 12 or so percent of the budget that consists of domestic, discretionary, …

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Written by Eli Lehrer on Wednesday March 9, 2011

The Elderly Say "No"

People on Medicare are often suspicious of expanded government involvement in healthcare, because they see it as competing with Medicare for scarce dollars. Tom Schaller asks : "Why are senior citizens crying "socialism" at town halls?" As we like to say in academia:  I don't know the answer, …

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Written by Andrew Gelman on Tuesday August 25, 2009