"The best service that can be rendered to a Country, next to that of giving it liberty, is in diffusing the mental improvement equally essential to the preservation, and the enjoyment of the blessing."
-James Madison, letter to Littleton Dennis Teackle, 1826
- High-tax, High-spend Model Still Does Not Work
- Critical Condition: Primary Care Physician Shortages
- Southern States Have Highest Percentages of "Nonpayers" of Taxes
- No, We Don't Need a Teacher Bailout
- CEI Sues NASA to Force Disclosure of Global Warming
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HIGH-TAX, HIGH-SPEND MODEL STILL DOES NOT WORK
State government finances are in bad shape because too many states went on spending binges in the early part of the decade when revenue was rolling in, according to a new report by Art Laffer (father of the "Laffer Curve"), Steve Moore (Wall Street Journal and FoxNews), and Jonathan Williams of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
In the latest edition of "Rich States, Poor States," published by ALEC, the authors found that states with a high and rising tax burden are more likely to drive away individuals and business, while those with lower and falling tax burdens are more likely to attract businesses and create jobs. "The correlation between poor policy and poor economic results is indisputable. Just look at California, New Jersey, and New York," say the authors, who then recommend what should be done by state legislatures, what should not be done, and the long-term damage of doing the wrong thing.
Mississippi scored low on current economic performance, but ranked 18th in the economic outlook index, due to our relatively low income tax rates and the fact that we are a right-to-work state, we don't have an estate tax, and we don't have a minimum wage higher than the national requirement.
Source: American Legislative Exchange Council report, "Rich States, Poor States"
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CRITICAL CONDITION: PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN SHORTAGES
Under the new health care law, most U.S. residents will be required to have health insurance by 2014. About 32 million additional people are expected to enroll in some type of health plan. Evidence suggests that insured people consume twice as much medical care as uninsured people, other things being equal. This means 32 million people will try to double their consumption of medical care. Yet, who will provide that care?
According to the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), the United States is already facing a severe shortage of primary care physicians, and that will only worsen in coming years. In response, many medical schools are expanding and four new schools have been created. Improving the efficiency of medical education could also increase the supply of primary care physicians. Still, it is unlikely there will be enough physicians to replace those who retire over the next 20 years.
Many physicians are concerned that the quality of care patients receive will suffer if patients are treated by less qualified personnel. However, when appropriate, some patients may prefer having the choice to receive treatment for minor conditions in a more convenient setting, such as a retail clinic with evening hours, even if it is by someone other than a traditional medical doctor, says Herrick. Using other medical personnel to free doctors from routine tasks might allow physicians to concentrate on those medical tasks for which they are uniquely qualified.
Source: Devon M. Herrick, "Critical Condition: Primary Care Physician Shortages," National Center for Policy Analysis, Brief Analysis No. 706
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SOUTHERN STATES HAVE HIGHEST PERCENTAGES OF "NONPAYERS" OF TAXES The Tax Foundation says new IRS data that shows that forty-five percent of tax filers in Mississippi had no federal income tax liability in 2008 -- the highest percentage among all states. Alaska had the lowest percentage of "nonpayers," 21 percent.
Nationally, the number of "nonpayers" reached a record high in 2008: roughly 52 million of the 143 million tax returns filed in 2008, or 36 percent had no federal income tax liability. This, of course, does not include the large number of Americans who paid no income taxes and did not file a tax return.
Source: Scott A. Hodge, "States Vary Widely in Number of Tax Filers with No Income Tax Liability", Tax Foundation
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NO, WE DON'T NEED A TEACHER BAILOUT
The Cato Institute says U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's estimations that, absent a federal windfall, budget cuts will force layoffs of 100,000 to 300,000 public-school staff and teachers. The American Association of School Administrators has also projected 275,000 layoffs under current conditions. However, the federal Digest of Education Statistics tells us that in the 2007-08 school year (the latest with available data), U.S. public schools employed more than 6.2 million teachers and other staff. Losing 300,000 of those jobs would only be a 4.8 percent cut -- unfortunate, perhaps, but hardly catastrophic.
According to the report by Cato, between the 1970-71 school year and 2006-07, inflation-adjusted U.S. public-school spending more than doubled, from $5,593 to $12,463 per pupil. The number of staff per pupil ballooned about 70 percent without resulting in anything approaching commensurate improvements in achievement. According to scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the so-called Nation's Report Card, test scores for 17-year-olds -- essentially, our schools' "final products" -- remained almost completely unchanged. So the supposedly huge cuts we're facing are actually pretty small, and we've been pouring money and people into schools for decades without producing any improvements. Those are reasons enough to say "no way" to any federal bailout.
Source: Neal McCluskey, "No, We Don’t Need a Teacher Bailout", The Cato Institute
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CEI SUES NASA TO FORCE DISCLOSURE OF GLOBAL WARMING
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has filed a lawsuit to force NASA to produce records related to last year's "ClimateGate" scandal -- records the agency has refused to produce for nearly three years. In its complaint CEI calls for government transparency "about climate science, particularly now, when debate about climate change and 'cap and trade' legislation has captured sustained national attention." CEI says, "NASA is accountable to the taxpayers and to the public" and "should not be free to treat its FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] obligations with contempt."
The FOIA requests by CEI, which have essentially been ignored by NASA, were initiated three years ago and originally sought documents about NASA's improperly boosting U.S. temperature data in this decade. CEI later sought documents concerning a taxpayer-funded NASA researcher who, among other NASA scientists, spends working hours writing for a third-party website (RealClimate.org) that was created to defend the now-debunked "Hockey Stick" temperature graph.
Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute
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Mississippi Center for Public Policy's mission is to advance the ideals of limited government, free markets, and strong traditional families by influencing public policy, informing the media, and equipping the public with information and perspective to help them understand and defend their liberty.
Mississippi Center for Public Policy's vision is for Mississippi to be a place where entrepreneurs are free to pursue their dreams, parents are free to direct the education and upbringing of their children, government functions according to the principles that enhance freedom, and all Mississippians are free from dependence on government for their daily needs. 
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