Media Hit

A monthlong investigation by Rio Rancho police working with investigators from the Recording Industry Association of America culminated in the arrest and seizures of thousands of pirated CDs. One study by the Institute for Policy Innovation showed that music theft translates into more than 70,000 lost music community jobs and more than $2 billion in lost wages to American workers.

Over the past few years, Americans have cut back on their lifestyles by far more than 1%, writes Tom Giovanetti, as quoted in Forbes. It will be hard to demagogue successfully against a 1% reduction in government spending.

The lack of spending cuts in legislation that averted the fiscal cliff will place enormous pressure on entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and even the president’s new heath insurance plan when negotiations begin in coming weeks to reduce the deficit, analysts said Wednesday.

President Obama’s claim that higher taxes are necessary for more revenue is a sham. He has refused to use two easy ways to get more money–big money.

During fiscal cliff talks, transparency advocacy groups including the Institute for Policy Innovation called on President Obama and congressional leaders to post bills online for 72 hours before a vote; release in real-time details on any lobbyist meetings; and disclose any "side deals" for future legislative consideration.

A Rio Rancho man faces charges of music piracy after investigators found more than 20,000 bootleg CDs in his possession. A study by the Institute for Policy Innovation indicated that music theft means more than 70,000 jobs lost in the music community and more than $2 billion in lost wages to American workers.

ALEC's Communications and Technology Task Force is examining "uber trends" affecting the telecom world, big changes that won't be easy to "crystallize into model legislation," as the heavyweight organization has often done in the past, said IPI's Bartlett Cleland, Private Chair.

NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner cites IPI's Dr. Merrill Matthews on why Medicaid needs a complete overhaul. "Although it's better than not having any insurance, it is bad insurance. And I argue that health care coverage for the poor shouldn't necessarily be poor coverage."

Stand fast, keep your promise, says a coalition of interest groups, including IPI, that implore lawmakers not to waver on the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, even as Democrats and select Republicans insist that the only alternative to the "fiscal cliff" is instant compromise. Not so, says the coalition.

The Orange County Register editorial board writes that vast welfare expansion adds to the looming fiscal catastrophe posed by general entitlement spending. According to IPI's Merrill Matthews and Mark E. Litow, chairman of the Social Insurance Public Finance Section of the Society of Actuaries, "the coming entitlements cliff" is substantially greater than the end-of-the-year fiscal cliff, a combination of expiring Bush-era tax cuts and automatic spending cuts.