According to Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell, 3.5 million workers have permanently departed from the workforce. Of that number, 2 million have retired. Can’t retirees change their mind, and at least take a part-time job? In principle, yes. But the federal government does its mighty best to discourage them from doing that. More
90% of Americans are likely to benefit if they wait until age 70 to claim their Social Security benefits. Yet only 6% do so. If you add up the loss of benefits from these decisions over the remainder of a retiree’s lifetime, the typical retiree is leaving $182,370 (in present-value terms) on the table by claiming benefits too soon. More
The committee chair will be Bernie Sanders and Bill Cassidy will be the ranking member. Ironically, both believe in universal coverage that could be achieved with no increase in health care spending. Sanders will need help from Cassidy if anything is to be done in a closely divided Senate. The problem: their visions for health care are so different, there is almost no overlap. More.
Yes, data from the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy and the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Index send a resounding message: Economic freedom brings about environmental protection. Why? Because economic freedom leads to prosperity and only prosperous countries can truly protect their environment. Are you skeptical? More.
The words “progressive” and “Democrat” have become virtually synonymous in modern parlance. But did you know that the most important progressive reform ideas of the last half-century have not come from the left? They have come from Republican politicians and right-of-center intellectuals and think tanks. More.
In the near future, the elderly and the disabled will face a double whammy: higher premiums for Part D drug insurance and higher prices at the pharmacy. This is on top of negotiated prices (and the consequent drop in new drug production) which will kick in later in the decade.
John Goodman and Linda Gorman explain why this will happen in The Hill.