Book Description
Wouldn't you love to abolish the IRS ...
Keep all the money in your paycheck ...
Pay taxes on what you spend, not what you earn ...
And eliminate all the fraud, hassle, and waste of our current system?
Then the FairTax is for you. In the face of the outlandish American tax burden, talk-radio firebrand Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder are leading the charge to phase out our current, unfair system and enact the FairTax Plan, replacing the federal income tax and withholding system with a simple 23 percent retail sales tax on new goods and services. This dramatic revision of the current system, which would eliminate the reviled IRS, has already caught fire in the American heartland, with more than six hundred thousand taxpayers signing on in support of the plan.
As Boortz and Linder reveal in this first book on the FairTax, this radical but eminently sensible plan would end the annual national nightmare of filing income tax returns, while at the same time enlarging the federal tax base by collecting sales tax from every retail consumer in the country. The FairTax, they argue, would transform the fearsome bureaucracy of the IRS into a more transparent, accountable, and equitable tax collection system. Among other benefits, it will:
- Make America's tax code truly voluntary, without reducing revenue
- Replace today's indecipherable tax code with one simple sales tax
- Protect lower-income Americans by covering the tax on basic necessities
- Eliminate billions of dollars in embedded taxes we don't even know we're paying
- Bring offshore corporate dollars back into the U.S. economy
Endorsed by scores of leading economists and supported by a huge and growing grassroots movement, the FairTax Plan could revolutionize the way America pays for itself. In this straight-talking book, Neal Boortz and John Linder show you how it would work—and how you can help make it happen.
Download Description
"
Wouldn't you love to abolish the IRS ...
Keep all the money in your paycheck ...
Pay taxes on what you spend, not what you earn ...
And eliminate all the fraud, hassle, and waste of our current system?
Then the FairTax is for you. In the face of the outlandish American tax burden, talk-radio firebrand
Neal Boortz and Congressman
John Linder are leading the charge to phase out our current, unfair system and enact the FairTax Plan, replacing the federal income tax and withholding system with a simple 23 percent retail sales tax on new goods and services. This dramatic revision of the current system, which would eliminate the reviled IRS, has already caught fire in the American heartland, with more than six hundred thousand taxpayers signing on in support of the plan.
As Boortz and Linder reveal in this first book on the FairTax, this radical but eminently sensible plan would end the annual national nightmare of filing income tax returns, while at the same time enlarging the federal tax base by collecting sales tax from every retail consumer in the country. The FairTax, they argue, would transform the fearsome bureaucracy of the IRS into a more transparent, accountable, and equitable tax collection system. Among other benefits, it will:
- Make America's tax code truly voluntary, without reducing revenue
- Replace today's indecipherable tax code with one simple sales tax
- Protect lower-income Americans by covering the tax on basic necessities
- Eliminate billions of dollars in embedded taxes we don't even know we're paying
- Bring offshore corporate dollars back into the U.S. economy
Endorsed by scores of leading economists and supported by a huge and growing grassroots movement, the FairTax Plan could revolutionize the way America pays for itself. In this straight-talking book,
Neal Boortz and
John Linder show you how it would work -- and how you can help make it happen.
"
Customer Reviews:
For everyone.......2007-10-06
Yes, it's a book on economics and taxes, but Mr. Boortz helps to make it an entertaining and easily understood book. While it pretty much explains the theory of the fair tax in full and is a great place to start, it's a good idea to do your own research into the fair tax, studying the pros and cons. Just be sure that you understand the basics, or else you may get confused by anti-fair tax information that gets an idea wrong or blatantly lies...
The Cure for a Disease Known as Income Taxes.......2007-10-03
In this book, Boortz and Linder discuss the abolishment of the income tax. Under this system, wages would not be taxed at all. As an alternative to raise revenue for the government, they propose a national sales tax. The goal is revenue neutral so that same amount of revenue would be collected to run the government.
This would allow the individual to choose when they paid tax. So those who save and invest money rather than spending all of it, would come out much better.
The proposed sales tax rate would be around 23%. While this may sound high, one should keep in mind that no tax would have been withheld from his or her paycheck. For example, say that the average household income for America which is approximately $40,000 a year were not taxed. This would mean the Joneses get to take home all $40,000 of that hard earned income. As it stands today, they are probably only taking home around $32,000 assuming a 20% income tax rate and not considering state, Social Security, or Medicare taxes.
As a component of the national sales tax, they propose that a certain poverty level determination of say $10,000 which would be considered the bare minimum for a person to survive on and each person would receive a "prebate" of $2,300 per year paid in monthly installments. This would significantly help those on the low end of the income spectrum and actually result in additional money to spend on essentials such as food, clothing, and housing. It would also avoid the potential disparities which could occur with a food exemption if the wealthy purchased steak and lobster or other such expensive food items.
Additionally, it would take many of the inefficiencies out of the current system in that each time there is a touch on producing a good or service, income tax is charged. For example, when you buy a loaf of bread, the business who produced the seeds, the farmer who grew the wheat, the mill, the bakery, the trucking company, and the grocery store all pay income tax on their portion of the bread production. By taking the income tax away, the loaf of bread would subsequently be much cheaper (estimated around 25%) from the reduction of built in income tax for a product. (This assumes that businesses will not pay income tax. There would be many rules set up to prevent people setting up "businesses" to evade taxes.)
The Fair Tax also has the benefit of helping prevent tax evasion. Under the current system, there are millions upon millions of dollars of unreported income every year which are not taxed. This could occur in anything from illegal trades such as selling drugs on the street to the legal trades of wait staff or any industry in which cash is used to pay for goods or services but not reported. Every time these dollars were spent by the individuals, however, they would be taxed so this revenue which is currently lost would be collected.
It would additionally get rid of the estimated $265 billion spent annually to comply with the tax code. This is not to mention the 100s of thousands of hours that would be freed up to engage in more productive and enjoyable pursuits.
Economists estimate that in the first year of its implementation the economy would grow by 10.5%. Foreign companies would also have incentive to build factories in the U.S. to take advantage of the eliminated inherent cost included as mentioned in the bread example.
I think that this is a really great idea and hope that it is implemented one day. To learn more about it and see if your congressperson supports it or not, go to FairTax.org.
Fair Tax.......2007-09-29
Excellent reading to get yourself ready to defend the concept when it is attacked by the tax and spend crowd in Washington. It is a quick read and makes a great deal of sense.
A plan for the rich (1.5 *s).......2007-09-23
If you want a fundamental principle of government/society discussed with right-wing, shock-radio bluster, this is your book. Though a congressman is the co-author, the book is simply a continuation of the rant that has been heard daily on a local radio station in Atlanta for over thirty years. We learn early in the book that the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 enabling the collection of income taxes is akin to the devastation of Pearl Harbor or the destruction of the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001. The IRS is no less than the enemy of the people, fulfilling a Marxian prophecy. You get the general idea.
One would like to think that anyone proposing a fundamental overhaul of our taxation system would first lay out a philosophy of taxation, which must be consistent with a broader philosophy of society and government. You won't find that in this book. The principal author has consistently exhibited a decided lack of social concern and understanding.
The so-called fair-tax is a twenty-three percent consumption tax in lieu of apparently all other federal level taxes: income, dividends, social security, Medicare, corporate, etc. [State taxes don't seem to be addressed.] It has long been held that the wealthy in a nation should pay taxes at a higher rate than ordinary citizens. The wealthy benefit far more than most from government. In fact they have a huge advantage over the rest of us by having an overwhelming say in the choice of those who occupy governmental offices and the consequent setting of policies and decisions. In essence, the rich get richer. They should pay for that largesse.
Consumption taxes are by far the most regressive of taxes that can be imposed. The median earner in this nation spends every dollar on necessary items. The rich do not. In fact a large portion of their income goes towards investments and wealth production. By exempting income, dividends, and interest from taxation, the so-called fair tax would simply exacerbate a tax scheme already weighted to the rich. The tax rate for the rich would plummet; for the poor suckers taken in by the fair-tax scheme, their tax rate would maximize.
The one thing that the book gets right is the necessity of changing the tax system. The loop holes for the rich are disgraceful. The idea that corporations don't really pay taxes is certainly a reality. The book complains about class warfare, not about the one that the powerful have been waging for decades. But the one where the ordinary citizen wants the powerful to get the boot off of his or her neck. But then that merely reflects where the hearts of the author are.
The fair-tax scheme proposed is utterly useless. It seems to assume that consumption is definitive of life - there is no larger context with greater significance and ramifications. For example, issues of power. Usually schemes such as this get a bit of a spike in public interest when first proposed, appealing to ideologues and the ignorant. Fortunately, there usually is no staying power. The length of the attention spans is commensurate with the depth of the knowledge of those jumping on the bandwagon.
The Fair Tax book.......2007-09-15
This book is an absolutely necessary read for any taxpayer in the country. We must get Congress to pass the Fair Tax and get rid of the incideous income tax and the IRS! This book explains in every detail how to do it by enacting the Fair Tax! The book answers all the questions I had!
Customer Reviews:
Great help!!!!.......2007-05-14
Very helpfull!!! made the assessment center understandable for fire officer testing as well. Thank you!!
Works.......2007-04-01
This book gives you what you need. I made the first spot on my assessment center after scoring mid range in two previous ones.
Study it and know it!!
An Assessor's Viewpoint: Excellent Information.......2007-02-20
I have had the opportunity to do a lot of assessing, and have also been a candidate for promotion. I think this book is the best I've seen for helping a candidate get inside the process, really understand it and prepare for it. It would also be useful for assessors and those who are developing an assessment center without professional help. I'm going to use it as a general reference.
This is not a book to skim, because it is jam-packed with information, without the excess white space and big margins so many of these kind of books seem to have. I would suggest reading it one time for an overview, then slowly re-reading it from the very beginning. You will miss out on a lot of good material if you skip chapters or don't read them in order.
One of the things that stands out about this book is that the author uses many footnotes, quotations, and real-life examples, which always increases the credibility of a book for me. Not only did I find useful information, I found the titles of many other books I can use. It was obviously well researched, which I thought was impressive considering that you're lucky if you find even one or two validating footnotes in most of the other books on the subject. And the behind-the-scenes stories were so true, there is no doubt she has been there and done that.
This book is not only interesting to read...it would be worth reading even if you aren't taking a test...but I thought it was inspirational. Most books on promotional processes only talk about how to get promoted. This one talks about how to be your best after you are promoted, or even if you don't make it to the top of a list. I would like to read more books by this author.
An Outsider's Perspective.......2007-02-19
First, let me give full disclosure. I have been friends with the author since High School and she dedicated this book to me. You may decide to stop reading this review now, but I think you want to hear what I say for reasons you may not suspect. If you are interested in this book there's a good chance you are in law enforcement. I'm not, but I want to offer an academic review as an outsider, and I think you just might find it helpful.
If you check my other reviews you'll see my interests lie in missiology and biblical exposition. There is no way I would have picked up a book like this off the shelf of a bookstore! But, what the heck, I felt obligated to look it over since my name was on the dedication page and Ms. Rowe had sent me a free copy. Even then, I wasn't sure I would be able to wade through such a technical topic in which I have no training. Instead, I found myself immediately absorbed. The excellent historical explanation of the assessment center concept drew me in, and then I saw how she made the history and concepts live in the context of contemporary law enforcement.
Even though I have no training in law enforcement, her writing style and logic are so clear I had no trouble following along. By the time I finished the book I was convinced that this concept has potentially powerful applications to missiology in the training and preparation of missionaries! In fact, other researchers have expressed interest in helping with this application.
Incidentally, my wife had a similar experience with Ms. Rowe's unique training style when she was invited to sit in on one of her training classes in preparation for assessment centers offered in our area. She came home absolutely enthralled with the experience. Thinking she would be completely out of place as the only non-law enforcement participant, the training style drew her in, engaged her in the role-playing, and she clearly understood both the content and the application. She not only enjoyed the experience, she found principles she could apply to her personal life and activities.
As an academic, here's what I appreciated about this work: Ms. Rowe has done her homework, providing ample and appropriate documentation as well as a very useful bibliography. Her writing style is professional, yet personally engaging and even entertaining at times. She was a 33 year law enforcement veteran. Her personal experiences in both local law enforcement and as US Marshal for Colorado, responsible for the custody of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols during their federal trials, provide for interesting illustrative material that demonstrate her ability to live out the principles she teaches. Academically, this is sound research, well-written, well-reasoned, easily accessible and applicable.
So, if you are a new officer, thinking ahead--as you should be--about your career development, if you are preparing for your next assessment center, or if you were just promoted and want to continue your professional development in law enforcement, this book will provide you with what you need. After all, if I can understand this and find ways to apply it to my totally unrelated field, imagine what it can do for you!
Now this is a source you can use.......2007-02-03
Excellent book for preparation for an assessment center for a Captain's position. Well written with useful insights and information. Much better than a previous book I purchased. Pretty much had it all except it would have been helpful to have an exercise to practice on. Otherwise it was worth every penny I spent on it.
Book Description
Everyone wants to get the most out of their retirement benefits -- not to mention the best medical coverage.
Social Security, Medicare & Government Pensions clearly explains what the different benefits are, and shows you how to claim what you've earned, including:
* Social Security retirement and disability benefits
* Supplemental Security Income
* government penisons & 401(k)s
* Medicare and Medicaid
* new medical insurance options
* dependents and survivor benefits
* veterans benefits
* and more
Completely updated to provide the latest information and changes in benefits, this plain-English book is a must-have for anyone who is retired or about to be.
Customer Reviews:
Adequate & Annoying.......2004-03-03
The authors' explanation of the workings of the Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc systems is adequate but is not particularly well written and often lacks clarity. This is certainly not one of NOLO's best offerings.
Especially annoying was the authors' frequent and tedious editorializing. I suspect most readers of this book want the facts, not the authors' socialistic, simplistic opinions.
Significant error in VA section.......2002-08-17
page 10/7: "E. Medical Treatment....And dependents and survisors of a veteran who has a service connected disabilities, or who receives a veterans pension, are entitled to care in VA facilities if they are unable to afford private care."
I have been a VA employee for 16 years. The above is WRONG. There IS a pilot program in a handful of VA hospitals allowing dependents to use the VA hospital. Otherwise, this is NOT the case.
..."The VA can also pay for long-term care of an elderly or disabled veteran in a private nursing facility if there is no space in a VA facility."
This is also not entirely correct. The operative would is CAN. However, the VA is only obligated to pay for the care of veterans who have a certain percentage of Service-Connected Disability. If they pay at all for any others, most VA's only pay for care for a VERY limited period of time.
Could reading about federal regulations be entertaining?.......2001-05-04
The authors of this comprehensive guidebook come close to achieving this feat. As they point out, many Americans are not receiving all the benefits they deserve under our current system. By explaining the various benefit programs and laws in conversational English, they hope to help readers ensure they are getting everything to which they are entitled. It's also helpful that the text is presented in a visually interesting two-column format with plenty of headings, boxes, and even the occasional illustration.
Each chapter explains a different benefit program or set of laws designed to protect the rights of older Americans. Security and Medicare take up more than half the book. The discussions of Medicare claims and appeal procedures are particularly thorough, complete with samples of Medicare summary notices explaining what the sometimes confusing columns of numbers mean. There also are chapters on Medigap policies, Veterans benefits, private pensions and 401(k) plans, and federal civil service retirement benefits. However, if you're looking for in-depth information on Medicaid coverage of nursing home costs, this is not your best resource. While Medicaid's basic eligibility rules are briefly discussed, the complexities of transferring assets to qualify for Medicaid benefits are not.
The authors mainly stick to the facts, but every once in a while they reveal their view of our society's tattered safety net. For example, they call our failure to enact a comprehensive, universal health care plan a "national disgrace."
Great summary of the Social Security system!.......1999-08-04
This happens to be the best all-around book concerning the difficult subject of Social Security that I have read. Understandable and very well written. The sections regarding disability are filled with just the info I needed to know.
Average customer rating:
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Eco-Efficiency, Regulation and Sustainable Business: Towards a Governance Structure for Sustainable Development (Esri Studies Series on the Environment)
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1843766876 |
Book Description
This book presents important new research on applied eco-efficiency concepts throughout Europe. The aim of eco-efficiency is to achieve market-based measures of environmental protection, in order to enhance the prospects for sustainable development and achieve positive economic and ecological benefits.
The distinguished authors discuss a number of themes surrounding eco-efficiency including the necessary conditions for technological dissemination and ecological modernization, and the role of government in enabling businesses and society to participate actively in this process. In particular, they highlight the application of existing European-based policies concerning material flows and energy. The authors also investigate some new concepts of sustainable development and provide a useful introduction to material flows analysis. In further chapters they study the emerging regulatory policies for eco-efficiency, and examine the issues of sustainable business and consumption strategies.
Environmental and ecological economists, policymakers and political scientists will welcome this original and insightful book which translates the theory of sustainable development into practical policy and business-related solutions.
Book Description
This widely used industry casebook offers the leading “real-world” survey of contemporary American industries. Providing a sound new treatment of the role of public policy in a free enterprise economy, the book illustrates the broadest possible range of American market structures through a series of carefully chosen and well-developed case studies of specific industries, all written by leading authorities in their field. Featured industries include accounting/auditing, agriculture, petroleum, automobiles, cigarettes, beer, commercial banking, music recording, health care; airlines; telecommunications; and college sports. For individuals interested in industrial organization, public policy toward business, trade regulation, and regulation of industry.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic Case Studies.......2005-11-08
The book provides great case studies about several American industries. It gives insights into how selected industries have evolved and how the major players interact. If you're interested in the topics presented in the book, you will not be disappointed. The analysis is accurate and very informative.
Book Description
This book tackles one of the most pressing public policy issues of our time: the reform of regulatory and enforcement practice. Malcolm K. Sparrow shows how prescriptions for reform that are centered on the concepts of customer service and process improvement fail to take account of the distinctive character of regulatory responsibilities—which involve the delivery of obligations rather than just services.
Sparrow identifies a central notion at the heart of a new regulatory craftsmanship: "pick important problems and fix them." This simple approach presents complex implementation challenges with profound consequences for the way regulators organize their work and report their performance. The author explores the underlying nature of the risk-control or problem-solving art, and specifies the organizational infrastructure and managerial practices required to place effective risk control at the heart of routine agency operations.
The Regulatory Craft will be especially valuable for regulatory and law-enforcement practitioners, as well as legislators, students, and others who care about the nature and quality of regulatory practice.
Customer Reviews:
Excelent book.......2006-03-25
A powerful and clear combination of theoretical and practical analysis of the regulatory work, with useful insights and tools to be used and developed.
re-thinking the role of government.......2000-07-14
Author Malcolm Sparrow suggests something so simple about the role of government that it's revolutionary -- agencies should be in the business of finding important problems and fixing them.
Simple -- but difficult.
Anyone who works in government would tell you they solve problems all the time. But most objective looks at government show that government's primary job is to "implement programs." Those programs often deftly solve problems. Yet they leave much undone. It is the undone problems that Sparrow's book deals with.
Sparrow is an old cop, turned top-level educator. He's got a doctorate and teaches at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He is a recognized expert in results-based reform of government. Personally, he is glib and practical.
His experience with policing seems to drive his philosophy. At the crux is this quote from his mentor, Herman Goldstein:
"...policing becomes more effective if police, rather than processing 911 calls one after another and in isolation, could learn to identify underlying patterns and then fashion tailor-made solutions that prevent recurrences." (page 72)
Sparrow shows how identifying patterns and fashioning tailor-made solutions is the crux for most government -- not just police. He ampley cites examples from environmental agencies, customs, OSHA and others to show this. He tells the real-life obstacles to achieving this, too (page 112). Overall, he tells how government could do better and who's doing it.
The book implies a unique slant on deterrence. While getting tough may achieve a deterrence effect, too often it happens after the evil deed. Sparrow suggests that government deter before the deed. How? Analyze patterns of unsolved problems, then tailor interventions to deter BEFORE the problem happens. This is not to rule out enforcement punch -- just to focus it on those against whom it's most effective. He shows that it can be done using case studies.
Sparrow's thinking should appeal to the pragmatist. This book is not pie-in-the-sky theory. It blends top-level thinking and on the ground experience. If you think government could be doing better, you could do worse than picking up a copy of "The Regulatory Craft."
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Governing Fortune: Casino Gambling in America
Ernest P. Goss , and
Edward A. Morse
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0472069659 |
Book Description
Governing Fortune: Casino Gambling in America provides the background needed for citizens and policymakers to make informed decisions about gambling in America.
Edward A. Morse and Ernest P. Goss draw on their legal and economic experience to offer important insights to those wrestling with the policy dilemmas presented by legalized gambling. Rather than a polemic against gambling or an apology for it, Governing Fortune is an acute analysis of the industry, designed to help policymakers and interested citizens make informed choices.
Distinguishing Features
- Evenhanded treatment of pro and con arguments for casino gambling.
- Lucid and understandable explanation of the legal framework for regulating gambling, including both state and federal sources.
- Comprehensive information on contemporary developments in gambling, including Internet gambling and problem gambling behaviors.
Governing Fortune is an essential guide, offering sound and reliable information on the complex of factors involved in any calculation of the social costs of legalized gambling.
Customer Reviews:
The Philosphy of Economics.......2003-06-06
The most basic idea, that one person's equality is another's inequality, is explored in detail. Sen illuminates many of the flaws in standard economic thinking, and how the philosophical underpinnings of economics guide and distort economic reasoning.
Fantastic- and I don't agree with a word of it, either!.......2001-08-01
I read this book in one sitting, and let me say it is a great book.
It is odd so few books are written on such a basic philosophical question as equality, and reading mister Sen is akin to drinking a cold glass of water for a man in a desert of political philosophy.
The prose is somewhat weak, the stye is stilted, and that oddly only seems to add to mister Sens' achievement: I never get the feeling that when I turn the next page I will be bored or watch him say something unnecessarily pedantic. The whole book is carried solely by the interesting subject at hand and mister Sens endlessly excellent commentary on it.
That having been said, I agree with none of it. I do not value equality in any way, and my politics are thoroughly aristocratic and Old Right. So perhaps the possible reader should take that into account: I have nothing but praise for mister Sens books, and this book in particular is an excellent dive. Perhaps praise from a trenchant enemy is worth more than praise from the ideologically like minded.
I will be reading it and making notes and attacks on it for a year to come, at the very least. No matter how you view equality, I advocate mister Sen without reservation. This is excellent. Please buy it.
An Excellent piece.......2000-05-03
Amartya Sen really questions the very foundations that determine of what is equality and development. It is indeed a marvellous piece of work.
Book Description
The problems of medical care confront us daily: a bureaucracy that makes a trip to the doctor worse than a trip to the dentist, doctors who can't practice medicine the way they choose, more than 40 million people without health insurance. "Medical care is in crisis," we are repeatedly told, and so it is. Barely one in five Americans thinks the medical system works well. Enter David M. Cutler, a Harvard economist who served on President Clinton's health care task force and later advised presidential candidate Bill Bradley. One of the nation's leading experts on the subject, Cutler argues in Your Money or Your Life that health care has in fact improved exponentially over the last fifty years, and that the successes of our system suggest ways in which we might improve care, make the system easier to deal with, and extend coverage to all Americans. Cutler applies an economic analysis to show that our spending on medicine is well worth it--and that we could do even better by spending more. Further, millions of people with easily manageable diseases, from hypertension to depression to diabetes, receive either too much or too little care because of inefficiencies in the way we reimburse care, resulting in poor health and in some cases premature death. The key to improving the system, Cutler argues, is to change the way we organize health care. Everyone must be insured for the medical system to perform well, and payments should be based on the quality of services provided not just on the amount of cutting and poking performed. Lively and compelling, Your Money or Your Life offers a realistic yet rigorous economic approach to reforming health care--one that promises to break through the stalemate of failed reform.
Customer Reviews:
useful book on current healthcare economics.......2004-08-25
This book is probably an important addition to the literature on healthcare economics. It offers a good corrective to the politics out there. It reminds us that healthcare spending is not wasted spending, in the sense that it almost always adds value. It also points out that in many ways the costs of healthcare are FALLING.
The real question is how can we continue to improve the value of our healthcare dollar? Cutler concurs with many conservative healthcare analysts that the real problem is that the incentives in the American healthcare system are wrong. The incentives are aligned in favor of healthcare interventions rather than health. He proposes to address this incentive problem by having the government intervene in the market by providing the right incentives. In essence, the government would post-hoc realign the incentives by rewarding quality after-the-fact and beyond fees for services. In addition, he would subsidize insurance to create universal coverage.
This is an interesting idea. At the very least, it makes the important observations that the current system is rife with market failures due to the government-imposed structure of the market.
He does not seriously investigate other options. Both single-payer and conservative proposals are rejected with a single paragraph each. This probably misses some significant arguments from each. My sense is that he only sees one kind of market failure when there are at least two. The first problem has to do with incentives, which he sees.
The second problem has to do with information that is not efficiently used. Many of the conservative thinkers on this have argued that IT ought to provide significant cost-savings. In essence, 13% of our economy is still operating without the information processing that has revolutionalized the information economy.
Tort Reform Ignored.......2004-08-03
While I found Dr Cutler's analysis penetrating, I was disappointed that he did not discuss in any detail the large impact on medical costs of medical malpractice lawsuits. Not only do these lawsuits increase malpractice insurance premiums of physicians and health insurance premiums of patients, they lead to wasteful defensive medicine, as physicians do unnecessary tests and procedures in order to reduce the risk of malpractice suits. Tort reform is essential to control rising medical costs.
compelling approach to fix the broken American health system.......2004-01-29
Forty million Americans lack health care insurance and costs leap three and four times the inflation rate yet few Americans feel the system provides adequate care. Harvard economics professor and health-care expert Dr. David M. Cutler believes that the problem lies with the inability for most people to understand opportunity costs based on choices that may not lead to an improved life quality. The government and medical leadership exacerbate the problem with saving money as their solution, ignoring effectiveness. He makes a strong case on how much health care has dramatically improved over the past five decades as dramatized by longer productive life spans. Dr. Cutler believes that more money should be spent on further medical advances and that universal coverage for all needs should be implemented so that the present day uninsured can afford care rather than drain at a more costly rate the system. The key is to change from a system that economically encourages doctors to choose techniques that are not always the best for the patient factoring in cost and life quality to a system that reimburses doctors for quality service (not as hard as it first sounds).
Though at times the medical supply and demand is difficult to grasp, YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE makes a powerful well written argument to reengineer a system in which political band aids fail everyone. The case for quality and the explanation of choices are well done and surprisingly easy to follow while offering a seemingly radical but compellingly logical approach to fixing the broken American health system.
Harriet Klausner
Book Description
In Confirmation Wars, Washington Post editorial writer Benjamin Wittes examines the degradation of the judicial nominations process over the past fifty years. Drawing on years of reporting on judicial nominations, including numerous interviews with nominees and sitting judges, he explains how the process has changed and how these changes threaten the independence of the courts. Getting beyond the partisan blame game that dominates most discussion of nominations, he argues that the process has changed as an institutional response by Congress to modern judicial power and urges basic reforms to better insulate the judiciary from the nastiness of contemporary politics.
Customer Reviews:
Confirmed - analysis of confirmation process.......2007-04-11
Excellent treatment, in the context of an historical narrative, of the controversial subject of the selection of Justices on the US Supreme Court. Book lays out the political priorities of key senators and the "mutual hypocrisy" of both Republicans andDemocrats.
An Interesting Book With Good Information, But One Key Flaw.......2007-04-09
I liked this book. The detailed events, perspective, and clear thinking that it promotes on this topic are, in my view, pretty original. The author uses a great deal of scholarship by Stephen Carter and John Lott. He always notes where he does this though, expresses where he agrees and disagrees, and produces a thought-provoking bound essay which is appropriately and extensively footnoted. Ok, so I like the book and the information... why only 3 stars? We'll, as background, my first experience watching SCOTUS confirmation hearings was in 1987 during my last semester of college. I was taking only 3 or 4 classes and had time on my hands to watch Robert Bork's confirmation hearings. I was apolitical at the time and found the nominee had so clearly out performed his inquisitors that he had to get approved, right? Well, no. Chairman Biden (D-Delaware) had closing remarks that praised the brilliant nominee to such a degree that I thought it possible that Bork had convinced him to buck the pressure and vote to confirm him. Maybe in a perfect world, but not this one. As far as the 3 star rating goes, Biden and his ilk are the reason the central proposal of the book falls flat on its face; that is, the proposal to ban personal testimony of SCOTUS nominees as had been done more often than not in the past. In subsequent hearings for other nominees I've seen Biden and others so clearly in love with the sound of their own voice on television that he/they take up the majority of allotted time ASKING simple questions and apparently caring little what the nominee says. Too darn bad. TV sunk Nixon vs. JFK (not all bad) and in subsequent years has made the otherwise entirely reasonable thesis of this essay laughable in terms of practicality. Other than that, it was a great book with a lot of information and insight that I appreciated.
Finally a balanced discussion of the Judicial Confirmation Process.......2007-02-20
Published Sunday, January 28, 2007, in New York Post
DEMOCRATS now paint Republicans as evil for appointing reactionary judges and for trying to kill all Democratic nominees to the bench; Republicans pillory Democrats for acting similarly at the opposite extreme. In "Confirmation Wars," Benjamin Wittes shows that both sides have blood on their hands, though I don't think that his proposed cure will work.
Wittes offers a terrific history of Supreme Court nominations - showing convincingly that confirmations could be tough long before the modern battles over William Rehnquist and Robert Bork. For example, he cites Louis Brandeis and Thurgood Marshall, who both faced rough confirmations - as did several nominees after the court delivered its Brown v. Board of Education ruling. But in denying that something fundamental has changed since those battles, Wittes is simply wrong.
The confirmation process is getting more bitter and drawn out with every passing Congress, whether Republicans or Democrats control the White House or the Senate. Yes, Wittes rightly notes that confirmations were taking longer even before senators started threatening filibusters, indeed hearings have long been used to produce political attacks, rather than insights into a nominee's thinking.
But the trends are clear. Consider the 47 appointments to the Supreme Court from 1901 through 1977: 39 were confirmed in a month or less, and 20 within 10 days - nine of those within three days. Since 1986, however, bitterness has reached an historical high, with the average confirmation taking 79 days. . . .
I wish Wittes was right that this bitterness could be reined in by ending confirmation hearings. But I fear such hearings are more a symptom than a cause of the problem. Unless the role of the courts is reined in - something that liberals will not seriously discuss - neither side dares to disarm.
An Interesting Look at a Complicated Issue.......2006-12-19
Everybody acknowledges that the confirmation process for Supreme Court Justices (and increasingly Court of Appeals judges as well) has evolved into a large mess. Many books have been written on this topic in the last several years; this one is quite interesting and designed for the general reader, and even comes equipped with a fascinating proposed solution. The author is an editorial writer for the "Washington Post" here in town. And although the book is published in conjunction with the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford, it is fairly well balanced in casting brickbacks at both parties for their miserable conduct in connection with confirmation hearings. The author first sums up the various positions asserted in the debate about the current mess--i.e., who/what is responsible and why. Next he traces -- in probably the book's best chapter -- how the confirmation process has unfortunately evolved over time. How the present system might result in a threat to judicial independence is addressed in a separate chapter. The most fascinating element of the book is the author's proposal: let's just abolish confirmation hearings and work out some other alternative to assessing the qualifications and values of nominees. While this not likely to happen, and an argument can be made that the Senate is abdicating its responsibilities if it does not hold hearing to probe nominees, it is nonetheless a proposal deserving of serious consideration. The author's style is easy to read and the book moves along (it is only about 150 pages), supported by some good notes, but alas lacking a bibliography. It will be interesting to see if the book will spark a serious discussion about adopting his proposed solution.
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