Michael Tanner

Michael Tanner

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Baby Budget Hawks of the GOP

By Michael Tanner (May 27, 2012)

The conventional wisdom, pushed for very different reasons by both Republicans and Democrats, is that Republicans in Congress, controlled by radical tea-partiers, have been... more

Europe's Failed 'Austerity'

By Michael Tanner (May 13, 2012)

In the wake of French and Greek elections last weekend, the backlash against European austerity is now in full swing. Meanwhile, in the U.S., advocates of big government... more

Still a Better Deal: Private Investment vs. Social Security

By Michael Tanner (Apr 30, 2012)

Critics of private investment of Social Security taxes have long pointed to the supposed dangers of an unstable market as creating conditions too risky to allow workers... more

Christie the Prophet

By Michael Tanner (Apr 21, 2012)

New Jersey governor Chris Christie recently warned that America is in danger of becoming a country of “people sitting on the couch waiting for their next government check.”... more

The American Welfare State: How We Spend Nearly $1 Trillion a Year Fighting Poverty--And Fail

By Michael Tanner (Apr 14, 2012)

On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered a State of the Union address to Congress in which he declared an "unconditional war on poverty in America." At the... more

President of the Twilight Zone

By Michael Tanner (Apr 12, 2012)

Deconstructing one of President Obama’s speeches can be a bit like taking a trip to an alternate universe. Take his remarks last week to the Associated Press, contrasting his... more

Conservatives And the Courts

By Michael Tanner (Apr 08, 2012)

Who says bipartisanship is dead? Left and Right have finally found something that they agree on. They are both unalterably opposed to judicial activism — except, of course,... more

Yes, We Can Wait

By Michael Tanner (Apr 07, 2012)

In pushing through parts of the New Deal, President Franklin Roosevelt reportedly told one wavering congressman, “I hope you will not permit doubts as to constitutionality,... more

NY, NJ: Just Hold Off

By Michael Tanner (Apr 01, 2012)

With the fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a k a ObamaCare, looking increasingly tenuous after yesterday’s Supreme Court session, officials in New York... more

Bankrupt: Entitlements and the Federal Budget

By Michael Tanner (Mar 26, 2012)

The U.S. government is about to exceed its statutory debt limit again before 2013. But that actually underestimates the size of the fiscal time bomb that this country is... more

The Supreme ObamaCare Question

By Michael Tanner (Mar 25, 2012)

Next week, the Supreme Court will devote six hours over three days to hearing challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a k a ObamaCare. The last time... more

Obamacare, Two Years Later

By Michael Tanner (Mar 24, 2012)

This week marks two years since of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and if the Obama administration has chosen to all but ignore the second... more

Don't Retreat GOP, Re-aim

By Michael Tanner (Mar 18, 2012)

Do you remember in the days leading up to the Republican electoral victory in 2010, how the Tea Party marched on Washington with signs saying “Birth Control Is Bad”? Neither... more

Social Security, Ponzi Schemes, and the Need for Reform

By Michael Tanner (Mar 12, 2012)

Recently there has been much debate over whether Social Security is or is not a Ponzi scheme. Clearly Social Security has many structural characteristics that resemble those... more

Hitting the Ceiling- Again

By Michael Tanner (Mar 10, 2012)

If you liked last year’s battle over raising the debt ceiling, just get ready for the fight to come. Last summer’s agreement, you will recall, raised the federal... more

Sickening Regulation

By Michael Tanner (Mar 04, 2012)

Never underestimate the brilliance of our federal bureaucracy. The Department of Health and Human Services has announced that it must delay implementation of new... more

Republicans Must Stop Fighting against Birth Control and Battle Government Control Instead

By Michael Tanner (Feb 26, 2012)

With his mandate that all employers, including religiously affiliated institutions such as Catholic hospitals and charities, provide workers with health insurance that covers... more

We're Already Europe

By Michael Tanner (Feb 25, 2012)

With seemingly every day bringing more bad news from Europe, many are beginning to ask how much longer the United States has before our welfare state follows the European... more

A Debate about Contraception Or Religious Freedom? No, a Debate about Economic Choice

By Michael Tanner (Feb 19, 2012)

Lost in the uproar over the Obama administration’s requirement that religiously affiliated organizations provide employees with insurance that covers contraceptives,... more

Obama's Busted Budget

By Michael Tanner (Feb 18, 2012)

In a town where bipartisan budget chicanery has been raised to an art form, President Obama's latest budget proposal should be hailed as the da Vinci of fiscal... more

Highway Robbery by Republicans

By Michael Tanner (Feb 12, 2012)

Anyone still wondering why there is a disconnect between grassroots limited-government conservatives and the Washington establishment need look no farther than the latest... more

We're Broke

By Michael Tanner (Feb 06, 2012)

Michael Tanner, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, evaluates the fiscal state of the Union. A Cato Institute senior fellow, Michael Tanner heads research into a variety of... more

Your Share: $189,000

By Michael Tanner (Feb 03, 2012)

The president devoted just 189 words to the deficit and our growing national debt, but the fact is that once again this year we will borrow 32 cents out of every dollar we... more

No More Bipartisan Bailouts

By Michael Tanner (Feb 02, 2012)

One of the few lines in President Obama’s State of the Union address that actually received bipartisan applause was his vow of “no bailouts, no handouts, and no cop outs.”... more

A Redistributive State of the Union

By Michael Tanner (Jan 30, 2012)

Shortly after President Obama was elected, NBC News interviewed a young woman from Detroit named Peggy Joseph. She explained that she was excited about Obama’s election... more

Obama Officials Say We Don't Trust the Government Enough. Why Would We?

By Michael Tanner (Jan 21, 2012)

With ObamaCare still as unpopular as ever — the latest Rassmussen poll shows Americans favoring repeal of the new health-care law by a 53-40 margin — the Obama... more

GOP Should Heed Ron Paul

By Michael Tanner (Jan 20, 2012)

The warnings are coming from the unlikeliest of places. First Sarah Palin tells Fox News that “the worst thing that the GOP establishment can do is marginalize Ron Paul and... more

The GOP's Struggle for Identity in 2012

By Michael Tanner (Jan 18, 2012)

The Cato Institute's John Samples and Michael D. Tanner evaluate the GOP's struggle for identity.... more

The Income Inequality Myth

By Michael Tanner (Jan 15, 2012)

As we listen to President Obama, Occupy Wall Street, and much of the mainstream media working themselves into a lather over inequality in America, one thinks of Harrison... more

Voters Like Paul's Honesty

By Michael Tanner (Jan 03, 2012)

Let us stipulate that Ron Paul is a highly imperfect messenger. He has all too frequently trafficked in conspiracy theories; his justifiable caution about government can veer... more