Word: ideas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Business leaders and other civic leaders, meanwhile, are rallying behind the idea of a constitutional convention. That, of course, could be a can of worms. Erwin Chemerinsky, a leading constitutional scholar and dean of the University of California Irvine Law School, argues that advocates for budget sanity should first try a ballot measure to change the two-thirds vote requirement on budget and tax measures. "If a statewide initiative to eliminate the two-thirds majority requirement can pass, that will solve a lot of the problem," Chemerinsky says. "And then it makes sense to move on to a constitutional convention...
...convention idea is already caught up in the politics of Proposition 13. A draft initiative for such a convention reads: "Delegates to the convention shall be prohibited from considering and proposing revisions to the Constitution that would affect (a) Property taxes associated with Proposition 13. (b) Any other direct increase in taxes." Yet for many liberals, modifying Proposition 13 would be one of the central reasons for holding a constitutional convention. Mark Paul, a scholar with the non-partisan New America Foundation, says, "It's silly to have a conversation about the future of California without talking about Proposition...
...McCain's plan. One of his ads noted that the GOP nominee advocated "taxing health benefits for the first time ever ... taxing health care instead of fixing it. We can't afford John McCain." But in recent days, Obama's top aides have signaled a new openness to the idea. "There are a number of formulations, and we'll wait and see. The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to keep the discussions going," his top strategist, David Axelrod, said last weekend on ABC. "We've gotten a long...
...year - would have some benefits in holding down costs overall. "If you get some Cadillac plan that costs $17,000, then what we're going to do [under this scenario] is you're going to have to pay taxes on that last $4,000," Obama said. "And the idea that is being debated in Congress right now is, Is that a good way to ensure that people don't have these big Cadillac plans but instead have more sensible plans?" (Read "The Year in Medicine 2008: From...
...average employer-provided plan for a family in New Hampshire cost $12,686; in Hawaii, the average was only $9,426, according to statistics compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation. So it is no surprise that lawmakers from states where health coverage is more expensive are wary of the idea. A way around that problem, says Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics professor Jonathan Gruber, would be to have the taxes kick in at different levels in different states. "Otherwise," he says, "you would be putting too much pressure on New York and not enough on Mississippi...