Robert Greenstein Quotations

The real danger is that the employers market erodes fast.

The plans are quite different. They're different in how much of the surplus they would use. They're different in where those surplus dollars would go. They're different in which groups of the population would get the principal benefits.

New York has been unusual in being one of the only cities in the country eligible for the waiver that has not had it.

It certainly sounds to me that they made a calculation to get Coleman's support. With Coleman, they no longer needed Smith. And if they no longer needed Smith, they could cut Medicaid recipients instead of the pharmaceutical companies and managed-care providers.

My worry is that in the absence of discipline, what we will see a month from now after the initial relief bills are passed, are efforts by policy-makers of both parties and a variety of interest groups to take advantage of the disaster by arguing that all sorts of expansions in tax cuts and certain spending ... are needed,

We need to figure out how to help more lower- and middle-income people save for retirement, ... not lose large amounts of money by giving people breaks at high-income levels, who already have substantial assets to fall back on.

We've had a stunning reversal in just a few weeks. We've gone from a situation in which we might have a long-overdue debate on deep poverty to the possibility, perhaps even the likelihood, that low-income people will be asked to bear the costs. I would find it unimaginable if it wasn't actually happening.

We've had a stunning reversal in just a few weeks,

Big changes were made behind closed doors in the final 24 to 48 hours ... overwhelmingly favoring special interests that make large campaign contributions at the expense of ordinary Americans and poor Americans.

The Texas Legislature should not have to go cut other programs for ongoing Texas residents to help the evacuees,

So there's actually big differences for low- and moderate-income families -- better under Gore. Big differences for very high-income families -- they get a lot more under Bush.

Although it contains the same themes as earlier administration budgets, it is somewhat harsher.

There is this double standard. The losses are larger in other areas of the tax code, but somehow a different standard gets applied to this.

It is particularly ironic that these two new tax cuts repeal provisions of the tax code that President Bush's father signed in 1990 to reduce deficits.

The Administration estimates that its HSA-related tax proposals would cost $156 billion over the next ten years, which would worsen the nation's fiscal problems. Professor Gruber's study raises very serious questions about the wisdom of these proposals.

It's certainly better that people falling into poverty can get Medicaid, but I'd prefer fewer poor people and employers not dropping medical coverage.

The new data are particularly troubling for working people, showing backward movement for most workers. In short, the census data provide new evidence that, as in 2002 and 2003, the recovery was neither robust nor broad-based.

In a nutshell, this budget clearly digs the hole deeper.

If you're young and healthy, this can work well. If you're not young and healthy, it can be a disaster, and you can end up much worse off than you currently are.

You can see the political clout of the moneyed interests.