Cato Daily Dispatch for December 23, 2003
Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch via email
Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch via PDA (AvantGo)
(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)
CBO: Rising Health-Care Costs Portend Budget WoesPakistan Questions Scientists Over Nuclear Leaks
Cato Informs Soldier Serving in Iraq
CBO: Rising Health-Care Costs Portend Budget Woes
"Rising health-care costs will force the government to raise taxes or make deep cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid entitlement spending -- or both, in coming years, congressional budget watchers warned Monday," CBS.Marketwatch.com reports.
"'Unless taxation reaches levels that are unprecedented in the United States, current spending policies will probably be financially unsustainable over the next 50 years,' the report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted."
In "War between the Generations: Federal Spending on the Elderly Set to Explode," Chris Edwards, director of fiscal policy studies and Research Assistant Tad DeHaven write: "A wide range of reforms is needed to deal with rising entitlement costs. Social Security and Medicare should be turned into savings-based systems with payroll contributions funding personal health care and retirement accounts. Taxes on saving should be sharply reduced so that Americans can put more money aside for their own future. Medicare reforms should reduce health care costs by increasing competition and relying more on out-of-pocket payments. Centralized redistribution systems for the elderly need to be replaced by personal savings and greater individual responsibility for retirement in the new century."
Pakistan Questions Scientists Over Nuclear Leaks
"Pakistan admitted on Tuesday that scientists involved in its atom bomb program may have been driven by 'personal ambition or greed' to export technology to Iran, but added the government had no part in any such deals," Reuters reports.
"Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said it began questioning scientists from a state-run laboratory set up by the father of its bomb program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, five to six weeks ago after approaches by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and information from the Iranian government that 'pointed to certain individuals.'"
In "Extremist, Nuclear Pakistan: An Emerging Threat?," Subodh Atal, an independent foreign affairs analyst warned of possible leaks of nuclear technology to other countries: "Pakistani nuclear experts are under investigation for links with al-Qaeda. There is legitimate concern that President Pervez Musharraf's regime does not have full control over Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Furthermore, Pakistan is reported to have shared its nuclear technology with North Korea, and possibly with Myanmar and Saudi Arabia, thus contributing to the problem of nuclear proliferation."
Cato Informs Soldier Serving in Iraq
When they're not out patrolling the street of Baghdad, at least one member of a platoon serving there, Sgt. Ronald Buxton, is keeping up with public policy issues with a little help from Cato, according to TIME magazine in its "Person of the Year" cover story.
"Buxton pulls out his Palm Pilot, which carries a photo album of his family and a glossary of 238 Arabic words and phrases. Slight and bespectacled, Buxton is the platoon's resident egghead. He downloads daily briefings on economics and politics from the Cato Institute and practices his Arabic with the dozen Iraqi interpreters who work at the palace."
In the spirit of the holiday season, the Cato Institute would like to extend its best wishes to the troops in Iraq -- and to offer a free Cato Audio subscription to Sgt. Buxton. If you're reading this, sergeant, send an e-mail to the address below and we'll be happy to start your subscription right away.
Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org
/div>