Featured Article
The Folly of Expanding Government Health Care
By Marc Kilmer
At both the state and federal
level, expanding government health care programs is in vogue. President
Obama is doing it and Governor Strickland is trying to do it. While
this government action may sound good and earn plaudits from the press,
in reality it is expensive and unnecessary. But when did those things
ever stop politicians from acting?
BuckeyeVoices
In
this week's BuckeyeVoices,
the Buckeye Institute's David Hansen and Marc Kilmer discuss a move in
the Ohio General Assembly that would change the term of current home
mortgages.
In the midst of increasing attention to how the home price bubble is contributing to our current economic woes, some in Ohio want to enact legislation that would change the terms of mortgage contracts. The key aspect of this proposal would give judges new power to change the terms of Ohioans' mortgage contracts and reduce the amount owed on the mortgage to the home's appraised value. Buckeye Institute analyst Marc Kilmer examines the problems this proposal would cause to Ohio's homeowners and the economy in his issue brief, "Meddling in the Mortgage Market: Harming Homeowners through Good Intentions."
Fixing the State's Employment Problem
The
Columbus
Dispatch reports,
"Ohio's unemployment line grew by a staggering 79,000 workers last
month and the jobless rate jumped to 8.8 percent, the state said
yesterday."
In
Thoughts on Ohio's Climb
to the Top,
Buckeye Institute President David Hansen writes,
"Jobs continue to leave the state yet the size and cost of government
continues to grow. Ohio can compete for new jobs and higher incomes
only if lawmakers follow the positive examples set by Florida,
Tennessee, and Texas and eliminate state and local income taxes.
Citizens in these states enjoy a higher level of economic prosperity
and freedom than do Ohioans. State and local income tax elimination
would take Ohio's tax burden down from 12.4 percent to 9.3 percent and
tie Texas for the eighth lowest tax burden in the nation. The move
would give our state's economy a much needed boost."
Trade Benefits Ohio's Economy
According to WKYC, "[Lt. Governor Lee] Fisher said in an interview with Channel 3 News that the federal government's version of 'free trade' has put Ohio manufacturers and workers at a severe disadvantage in the global economy."
In
Ohio and NAFTA Revisited,
Buckeye Institute advisor Joseph Zoric
writes, "Over twenty percent of the state's manufacturing workers
depend upon exports for their jobs. The state ranks eighth in exports
among the fifty states and exports to 205 countries around the world.
In 2006, $18.3 billion of goods were exported to Canada and $2.7
billion to Mexico. Exports to Canada increased by 8.7% and those to
Mexico increased by 13.3% from 2005 to 2006. The top five categories of
exports were machinery, vehicles, electrical machinery, plastics, and
optics. These are all industries that support high paying manufacturing
jobs which benefit from expanded trade."
Penalizing Responsible Homeowners
"...two Cleveland legislators -- State Rep. Mike Foley and State Sen. Dale Miller -- are ahead of the foreclosure-reform curve in Ohio, pushing for needed changes in the rights of renters to learn about pending foreclosures, bid on their homes and get more than just a three-day notice to vacate. These provisions should be enacted. Foley's far broader effort to impose a six-month foreclosure moratorium and to let judges modify loans should be narrowed, however, given its overlap with the federal program," editorializes the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
In Meddling
in the Mortgage Market: Harming Homeowners through Good Intentions,
Marc Kilmer writes,
"Changing the law governing mortgage contracts may help those
homeowners who are unable or unwilling to pay their mortgages but it
would only do so at the expense of those who are able to pay them.
Lawmakers who support this type of cramdown proposal are penalizing the
vast majority of Ohioans who are paying their mortgages on time and
those seeking to buy homes in the future."
Buckeye
Institute in the News
David Hansen was interviewed by 700 WLW's Mike McConnell on the Buckeye Institute's High Cost of Dropouts policy brief and by 610 WTVN's Bob Conners on the possible casino gambling ballot initiative.
The Hillsboro Times Gazette published Buckeye Institute advisor William Peirce's op-ed on U.S. industrial policy.
