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<title>Michael D. Tanner (Author at The Cato Institute)</title>
<atom:link href="http://www.cato.org/rss/author.xml?auth_id=35/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
<link>http://www.cato.org/people/michael-tanner</link>
<managingEditor>amast@cato.org (Andrew Mast)</managingEditor>
<description>
The Cato Institute seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace. Toward that goal, the Institute strives to achieve greater involvement of the intelligent, concerned lay public in questions of policy and the proper role of government.
</description>
<language>en-us</language>

<image>
				<url>http://www.cato.org/people/images/lowres/tanner.jpg</url>
				<title>Michael D. Tanner (Cato Institute)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/people/michael-tanner</link>
				<description>Michael D. Tanner</description>
				<width>100</width>
				<height>151</height>
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				<title>Highway Robbery by Republicans (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14086</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Anyone still wondering why there is a disconnect between grassroots limited-government conservatives and the Washington establishment need look no farther than the latest highway bill currently making its way through Congress with support from Republican leaders in both houses.

The Senate version...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14086</guid>
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				<title>No More Bipartisan Bailouts (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14068</link>
				<description><![CDATA[One of the few lines in President Obama&#8217;s State of the Union address that actually received bipartisan applause was his vow of &#8220;no bailouts, no handouts, and no cop outs.&#8221; Of course the president then went on to claim credit for his bailout of the auto industry and promise addition...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14068</guid>
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			<item>
				<title>$189,000 (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14057</link>
				<description><![CDATA[The president devoted just 189 words to the deficit and our growing national debt, but the fact is that once again this year we will borrow 32 cents out of every dollar we spend. Overall, our national debt now tops $15.2 trillion (with Congress raising the debt ceiling to $16.4 trillion last week). ...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14057</guid>
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				<title>A Redistributive State of the Union (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14045</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Shortly after President Obama was elected, NBC News interviewed a young woman from Detroit named Peggy Joseph. She explained that she was excited about Obama&#8217;s election because &#8220;I won&#8217;t have to worry about putting the gas in my car. I won&#8217;t have to worry about paying my mortg...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14045</guid>
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				<title>GOP Should Heed Ron Paul (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14020</link>
				<description><![CDATA[The warnings are coming from the unlikeliest of places.

First Sarah Palin tells Fox News that &#8220;the worst thing that the GOP establishment can do is marginalize Ron Paul and his supporters.&#8221; Then that sentiment was echoed by Sen. Jim DeMint, speaking on The Laura Ingraham Show, when he...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14020</guid>
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				<title>The Income-Inequality Myth (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14003</link>
				<description><![CDATA[As we listen to President Obama, Occupy Wall Street, and much of the mainstream media working themselves into a lather over inequality in America, one thinks of Harrison Bergeron, the 1961 short story by Kurt Vonnegut that posited a society based on perfect equality, "not only equal before God and t...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14003</guid>
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				<title>Santorum's Big-Government Conservatism (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13978</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum&#8217;s surprisingly strong performance in last night&#8217;s Iowa caucus has thrust him into the spotlight as the latest potential conservative alternative to Mitt Romney.

But Santorum&#8217;s success has come largely under the radar &#8212; at least unt...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13978</guid>
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				<title>Voters Like Paul's Honesty (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13957</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Let us stipulate that Ron Paul is a highly imperfect messenger. He has all too frequently trafficked in conspiracy theories; his justifiable caution about government can veer uncomfortably close to paranoia. He has not had a truly convincing explanation for how his name ended up  attached to newslet...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13957</guid>
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				<title>Obama Officials Say We Don't Trust the Government Enough. Why Would We? (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13958</link>
				<description><![CDATA[With ObamaCare still as unpopular as ever &#8212; the latest Rassmussen poll shows Americans favoring repeal of the new health-care law by a 53-40 margin &#8212; the Obama administration has developed a new theory as to why. We simply don&#8217;t trust government enough.

Donald Berwick, who is le...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13958</guid>
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				<title>Do We Need Big Government? (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13935</link>
				<description><![CDATA[As Congress nears approval on a series of 2011 appropriations bills (only three months late, a near-record for recent history), Rep. Sander Levin (D., Mich.) told Fox News that he was encouraged by progress on the bills because &#8220;we&#8217;re dealing with the lives of people. Those appropriation...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13935</guid>
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				<title>Another Look for Huntsman (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13919</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Despite the supposed inevitability of Mitt Romney, many conservatives are clearly still looking for an alternative for the Republican nomination. Newt Gingrich has become the latest to hold that title, but, as Gingrich's liberal positions on everything from health care to TARP become better known, c...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13919</guid>
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				<title>Back to Bush's Big-Government Conservatism (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13896</link>
				<description><![CDATA[In the wake of the disastrous Bush presidency and the Republican defeats of 2006 and 2008, it was widely assumed that the GOP had repudiated the idea that big government could be harnessed for conservative ends. And, of course, in 2010, the Tea Party led a return to conservatism's traditional small-...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13896</guid>
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				<title>The Broccoli Test (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13882</link>
				<description><![CDATA[We should give it to the GOP presidential candidates.

Call it the broccoli test.

During oral arguments before the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on the constitutionality of Obamacare's health-insurance mandate, the Obama administration's lawyer, Beth Brinkmann, was asked...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13882</guid>
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				<title>Social Security, Ponzi Schemes, and the Need for Reform (Policy Analysis)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13864</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Recently there has been much debate over whether Social Security is or is not a Ponzi scheme.

[no_bio_box]

Clearly Social Security has many structural characteristics that resemble those of the classic Ponzi or pyramid scheme. For example, like a Ponzi scheme, Social Security does not actually...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13864</guid>
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				<title>Beware the Balanced Approach (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13867</link>
				<description><![CDATA[There is an old story of a man who offers a woman a million dollars to sleep with him. When she agrees, he offers her $20 for the same thing. "What do you think I am?" the woman asks indignantly.

"We've already established that," the man replies. "Now we are just haggling over price."

Republic...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13867</guid>
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				<title>Good Mitt vs. Bad Mitt (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13836</link>
				<description><![CDATA[The budget and spending proposals released last week by former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney offer a stark illustration of both the promise and peril associated with a Romney candidacy. It's almost as though there are two Romneys: Good Mitt, the smart, serious policy wonk, who &#8212; in contra...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13836</guid>
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				<title>The Real "1 Percent" (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13833</link>
				<description><![CDATA[So just who are those top 1 percent of Americans that we're all supposed to hate?

If you listen to President Obama, the protesters at Occupy Wall Street, and much of the media, it's obvious. They're either "trust-fund babies" who inherited their money, or greedy bankers and hedge-fund managers. C...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13833</guid>
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				<title>GOP Wastes Obamacare Opportunity (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13819</link>
				<description><![CDATA[A new poll released last week shows that support for Obamacare has reached an all-time low. According to the poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which has traditionally found more support for the health-care law than other groups, just 34 percent of Americans now support the law. In fact, barely h...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13819</guid>
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				<title>Equally Poorer (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13803</link>
				<description><![CDATA[As President Obama continues to base his reelection hopes on resentment toward the "1 percent" who are supposedly not "paying their fair share," the latest evidence suggests that his attacks are still off-target.

According to data just released by the Tax Foundation, the top 1 percent of the weal...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13803</guid>
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				<title>Math vs. Myth (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13779</link>
				<description><![CDATA[It   is a medical truism that if you get the diagnosis wrong, the treatment   will be wrong. The same holds true with Washington budgeting.   Unfortunately, as we prepare for yet more debates over budgeting,   spending, and stimulus, we can expect to once again enter a fact-free   debate.
Among the...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13779</guid>
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				<title>Despite Flaws, U.S. Health Care the Best (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13774</link>
				<description><![CDATA[When Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi needed heart surgery, he didn't go to an Italian hospital. He didn't go to Austria or the Netherlands. He had his surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Similarly, when Canadian Human Resources Minister Belinda Stronach needed treatment for breast c...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13774</guid>
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				<title>Higher Premiums for Everyone (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13770</link>
				<description><![CDATA[No one should deny that for those suffering from serious mental illness, the pain is as real as from physical injury or disease. But to mandate that insurers provide coverage for residential treatment for such conditions could create far more problems than it solves.

Mental health disorders diffe...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13770</guid>
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				<title>Occupy Wall Street vs. Jobs (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13763</link>
				<description><![CDATA[The last week brought us a striking contrast that tells us much about the current debate over the direction of this country.

On one hand were the perpetually aggrieved protestors of Occupy Wall Street. While much of the media, desperate to find a liberal counterpart to the Tea Party (remember cov...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13763</guid>
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				<title>Paternalism and Principle (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13741</link>
				<description><![CDATA[If you are looking for a single statement that defines the essence of the modern welfare state, look no further than Secretary of Energy Steven Chu's defense of the administration's efforts to ban incandescent light bulbs. "We are taking away a choice that continues to let people waste their own mon...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13741</guid>
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				<title>GOP Needs an Entitlement Plan (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13717</link>
				<description><![CDATA[There was telling moment during the CNN Republican presidential debate: Asked about the possibility of repealing George W. Bush's Medicare prescription-drug benefit, which is adding some $17 trillion to Medicare's unfunded liabilities, every one of the candidates pledged varying degrees of fealty to...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13717</guid>
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				<title>Still Spreading the Wealth (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13698</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Back when Barack Obama was running for president, he famously told Joe the Plumber that his goal was to "spread the wealth around." Judging from the deficit-reduction plan that the president introduced on Monday, he really meant it.

The president's plan barely makes a pretense of reducing spendin...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13698</guid>
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				<title>At Least Ponzi Didn't Force People to Enroll (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13675</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Imagine that someone comes to you with a new plan to save for your retirement. They take your money, but they spend it. Then, they find new investors. They take money from those new investors and give it to you, then go looking for still more investors so that they can give their money to the people...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13675</guid>
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				<title>Cut Defense before Raising Taxes (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13671</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Lost amid all the hoopla last week about President Obama's latest stimulus bill and the Republican primary dustup over whether Social Security is a Ponzi scheme was the news that the bipartisan "supercommittee" has begun its work trying to find at least $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. Anyone who...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13671</guid>
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				<title>Feeling Spent (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13661</link>
				<description><![CDATA[On Thursday night, the president laid out his plan for job creation, a $447 billion stimulus proposal, most of which we have seen before. After all, if Congress passes this new round of government spending, it would be the seventh such stimulus program since the recession began. George W. Bush pushe...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13661</guid>
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				<title>Manmade Disasters (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13641</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods &#8212; Paul Krugman should be ecstatic. Not about the suffering and loss of life, obviously, but because the cleanup and rebuilding should provide exactly the sort of Keynesian stimulus that Krugman believes this economy needs. There is now an increased demand for ho...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13641</guid>
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				<title>Yes, It Is a Ponzi Scheme (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13625</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Texas governor Rick Perry is being criticized for calling Social Security a "Ponzi scheme."  Even Mitt Romney is reportedly preparing to attack him for holding such a radical view. But if anything, Perry was being too kind.  

The original Ponzi scheme was the brainchild of Charles Ponzi. Starting...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13625</guid>
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				<title>Stay on Vacation (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13606</link>
				<description><![CDATA[As the economy continues to teeter on the precipice of a double-dip recession, there is a growing demand for the president and Congress to rush back from their vacations and do something. But why?

What is it that we really think the president can do?

While the president's latest economic plan ...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13606</guid>
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				<title>Now Answer Some Questions (Commentary)</title>
				<link>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13584</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Wth the Ames Straw Poll behind us, the race for the Republican presidential nomination is starting to pick up speed. That means it is more important than ever that we know just where the candidates stand.

Unfortunately, we can expect much of the media attention over the coming weeks to be focused...]]></description>
				<pubDate>Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>
				<guid>http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13584</guid>
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