Billions for Health Care, Failing Detroit and a Supreme Court Review
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a leading Democratic health care proposal would cost $829 billion over ten years.
Residents and observers debate the reputation of Detroit, Michigan as a “failed city.”
The U.S. Supreme Court opens a new session.
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.
1. HEALTH
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a leading Democratic health care proposal would cost $829 billion over ten years.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on how government intervention created many of the health care problems we face today:
“Most Americans agree that our health care system is broken and must be fixed. But it is increasingly clear that what ails health care is not too little, but too much government intervention. Federal and state tax preferences for employer-sponsored health insurance distort the market in a way that limits choices for individuals, reduces competition among insurers, and artificially inflates costs for health care services. For most working Americans, switching jobs often entails switching health plans and doctors or losing coverage altogether, while many others find non-employer-sponsored insurance unaffordable or difficult to obtain.”
2. POLITICS
Residents and observers debate the reputation of Detroit as a “failed city.”
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on what the problem is with Detroit and the entire state of Michigan:
“So why is Michigan’s economy so bad? The answer may lie in a mania for big projects, big business, and central planning. In fact, if big projects made for a healthy economy, Michigan would be booming. Over the past three decades, Detroit has gained a Jetsons-like people mover in its downtown, three new sports stadiums, a Las Vegas-style casino district, and two huge new auto plants…While planners have been thinking big, the small stuff has been neglected. During its big-ticket building spree, Detroit lost all of its major chain grocery stores, all but one of its first-run movie theaters, and all of its department stores (discount or otherwise).”
3. LEGAL
The U.S. Supreme Court opens a new session.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Attorney Hans Bader on one of this session’s hot button issues:
“…left-wing lawyers and religious groups are also unjustifiably seeking to use fuzzy notions of ‘customary international law’ to override U.S. law, as the Cato Institute and others have pointed out in their court brief. ‘Customary international law’ threatens America’s security and civil liberties. Piracy flourished in the crucial shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia partly due to a treaty that the U.S. has not ratified yet — but which is often described as ‘customary international law’ binding on all nations. Partly as a result of the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), billions of dollars worth of cargo, and human lives, have been lost due to piracy. Harold Koh, appointed by Obama to be the State Department’s chief lawyer, argues that ‘customary international law’ like LOST is binding on the U.S., even when it is reflected in treaties that the U.S. has refused to sign.”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.