"Uncontrolled health spending isn't simply crowding out other government programs; it's also dampening overall living standards. Health economists Michael Chernew, Richard Hirth and David Cutler recently reported that higher health costs consumed 35.7 percent of the increase in per capita income from 1999 to 2007. They also project, that under reasonable assumptions, it could absorb half or more of the gain between now and 2083. 

"Ryan proposes to change that. Beginning in 2022, new (not existing) Medicare beneficiaries would receive a voucher, valued initially at about $8,000. The theory is simple. Suddenly empowered, Medicare beneficiaries would shop for lowest-cost, highest-quality insurance plans providing a required package of benefits. The health-care delivery system would be forced to restructure by reducing costs and improving quality. Doctors, hospitals and clinics would form networks; there would be more 'coordination' of care, helped by more investment in information technology; better use of deductible and co-payments would reduce unnecessary trips to doctors' offices or clinics."

"To win the presidency in 2012, the Republican candidate will require certain strengths. Among them, a credible passion for ideas other than cost-cutting and small government. He or she will have to speak in the voice of Americans who know in their bones the extraordinary character of their democracy, and that voice will have to ring out steadily. That Republican candidate will need, no less, the ability to talk about matters like Medicare and Social Security without terrorizing the electorate." 

"The economy now looks like a Government Motors engine that's stalling out. Or perhaps, with energy and food inflation, and housing deflation at the same time, the economy is acting like a pinball machine on permanent tilt. 

"There's a key message here: Big-government stimulus never works."

"More than 150 economists back U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's call to match any increase in the debt limit with spending cuts of equal size, according to a letter released by the Republican leader's office Wednesday. ... 

"'An increase in the national debt limit that is not accompanied by significant spending cuts and budget reforms to address our government's spending addiction will harm private-sector job creation in America,' the letter said.

"Signatories include Nobel laureate Robert Mundell of Columbia University and economists from schools like New York University and Georgetown University, as well as conservative think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute."

"In the search for a 'new Reagan,' alas, even many Republicans enter primaries with a candidate they hope will be anointed without too much fuss. Many forget that Ronald Reagan was never anointed. In 1976, he challenged a sitting Republican president and lost, only to come back in 1980 and defeat a GOP party establishment that was still against him.  

"Come 2012, almost any Republican nominee will have the united support of a party determined to send Barack Obama back to Illinois. In the meantime, some of us would like to see them mix it up. So the next time one of these Republican candidates asks if he or she has your vote, the answer should be: 'I'm waiting for you to earn it.'"

"Wherever you are at 3:00 p.m. on Memorial Day ...
pause for a moment of reflection ...   
Live honoring America's fallen every day."

"Punishing enemies and rewarding friends — politics Chicago style — seems to be the unifying principle that helps explain the Obamacare waivers, the NLRB action against Boeing, and the IRS’s gift-tax assault on 501(c)(4) donors. 

"They look like examples of crony capitalism, bailout favoritism, and gangster government. 

"And they don’t look like the rule of law."

"When President Obama signed the trillion-dollar stimulus law in 2009, he proclaimed that he was 'keeping the American dream alive in our time.' The stimulator-in-chief failed to mention that billions would be spent keeping American tax scammers afloat on our dime. 

"At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, federal auditors reported on the latest porkulus spending gone wild. According to a new General Accounting Office audit conducted over the past year, nearly 4,000 stimulus recipients received $24 billion in Recovery Act funds -- while owing more than $750 million in unpaid corporate, payroll and other taxes. ..."

"How’s this for an impressive Republican lineup?

"A likable former governor and TV personality; a two-term governor with an unmatched fiscal record; another former governor with the best education-reform credentials in the country; a rising star in the House; and a photogenic senator from the heartland.

"They are Mike Huckabee, Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush, Mike Pence, and John Thune. The Republicans sitting out the 2012 nomination battle would themselves make a formidable field. Indeed, more formidable than the actual entrants. The hottest place to be in Republican politics right now is sitting on the sidelines."

"Dear President Obama:

"I am writing today with a somewhat unusual request. Actually, it is a series of requests. First and foremost, I will be asking that you return America to its August 20th, 1959 borders so that Hawaii is no longer a state and you are no longer a citizen. I make this request because I don’t like your policies and I don’t like you. If I sound like I’m asking for too much just be patient. I’m only getting started."