Category: Uncategorized
Category: Uncategorized (page 4)
-
Democracy’s Fragility Is Evident in Hungary
In September, the European Parliament voted to trigger Article 7 of the European Union (EU) Treaty against Hungary for breaching the EU’s fundamental values. Members of the EU Parliament based…
-
State Solutions to Make Health Care Affordable
A topic on the minds of many Iowans and Americans as a whole is the issue of health care. In Iowa, we spent a lot of time addressing many of…
-
Term Limits Appear to Strengthen Nascent Democracies in Africa
Around the world democratically elected leaders from Venezuela (read more here) to Turkey (read more here) are subverting rule of law to install themselves as “rulers for life.”…
-
Reining in the Federal Government
Over the last decade, you would be hard-pressed to find many Americans who are pleased with the United States Congress. While Republicans, Democrats, and Independents struggle to find consensus on…
-
New Resources on International Trade
Americans – whether they are consumers, manufacturers or farmers – benefit from robust international trade. The overwhelming majority of firms that export are small to medium-sized businesses and one-third of…
-
Liberia’s Path toward Democracy
On January 22, 2018, newly elected Liberian president, George Weah spoke to his people about a future of peace and democracy. Weah, a soccer legend, pledged to fight corruption winning…
-
German Investment in the U.S. Creates American Jobs
Much current U.S. trade policy misses the importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) in growing the American economy and creating American jobs. Foreign-owned businesses are responsible for more than 6…
-
Minimum Wage Levels — Let the States and Free Markets Decide
There is a wide variation in opinions on the minimum wage at both the national and state levels. Some would prefer minimum wages ranging from $15 to more than $20…
-
Converting from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution: The “Free” Money Pays Down Unfunded Liabilities and Pays Dividends to Taxpayers
Implementing a DC system delivers immediate payroll savings for the new plan’s participants. Using these savings to shore up the unfunded liabilities from the preexisting DB plans will ensure that past promises made are kept. At the same time, the new DC plan participants rest assured that each and every paycheck, funds are being deposited into an account belonging to them. Taxpayers win as the escalation in retirement overhead costs level off and eventually realize the full benefit of the savings.
-
A House Divided: A Revisiting the Arab Spring in Libya
After the hope and excitement for democracy in the Middle East in 2011, the only successful transfer of power from autocracy to democracy is in Tunisia. Its next door neighbor…
-
“Draining the Swamp” in States’ Backyards Starts with Grant Reform
The passage of the country’s second-largest spending bill promises a windfall of federal money to states and localities. In many cases, this money will enable the state to address pressing…
-
Sugar Subsidies: A Bitter Pill for the States to Swallow
America’s sugar policy is an 18th-century relic that, like many policies developed more than 200 years ago, is desperately in need of reform. The United States is one of the…
-
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Releases Governance Frameworks to Counter Illicit Trade – Another Important IP Resource
Enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, intellectual property rights (IPR) are part of America’s constitutional heritage. Millions of American jobs owe their existence to the innovation economy, and IP-intensive industries…
-
NAFTA Is All about the States
There is no better day to underscore the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement’s (NAFTA’s) importance to the nation and to the states than Wednesday, the misguided National Day of Action…
-
A Founding Father of Federalism: Professor Rob Natelson Profiles John Dickinson
On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, member of the ALEC Board of Scholars Professor Rob Natelson profiles their author, John Dickinson, one…
-
A Convention of States Explained
In Why the Constitution’s ‘Convention for Proposing Amendments’ Is a Convention of the States which can be accessed here, ALEC Board of Scholars member Professor Rob Natelson explains the…
-
President Trump Seeks to Jumpstart Construction of Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines
On Tuesday morning, President Donald J. Trump signed two memoranda seeking to jump start construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. This news should come as no surprise…
-
Best Practices for U.S. Immigration Reform from Canada and New Zealand
During his 2017 State of American Business address last week, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Donohue referenced fixing America’s “broken immigration system.” He challenged the incoming Administration…
-
President Elect Trump Should Allow Senate to Reject Paris Climate Agreement
When it’s all said and done, the lasting legacy of the Obama presidency may end up being a clearer understanding of the risks associated with implementing a policy agenda largely…
-
An Innovative Bipartisan Approach to Transfer of Public Lands
While leading on the topic of transferring select federal lands to state control for years, ALEC had not yet hosted a conference-wide event on the issue. That changed on Friday,…