For all the serious disagreements I have with President Barack Obama over policy and philosophy, I have been pleased to hear him promote the idea of greater government transparency. That's something all citizens can rally behind, regardless of partisan affiliation. Only a few days into office, Obama sent out a memo to department heads about the Freedom of Information Act:A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency. As Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, "sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."... All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA, and to usher in a new era of open Government. The presumption of … [Read more...]
Debunking Medicaid Job Creation Myth
Linda Gorman from the Independence Institute (where I work), in a recent posting on John Goodman's Health Policy Blog, highlights a myth from the advocacy group Families USA being cited as facts in the current health care policy debate:Medicaid spending, the group says, creates jobs. By their reasoning, a law diverting the entire GDP of the United States to the Medicaid program would leave the U.S. awash in jobs. By contrast, the group claims the Bush administration's efforts to rein-in Medicaid spending will leave tens of thousands of people unemployed. Gorman quickly picks apart the assertion in four points, using a little fact-checking and basic economic analysis. First:Roughly speaking, for every four jobs created by spending, five … [Read more...]