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Pleased to announce that I will be joining @RominaBoccia's budget team at @CatoInstitute later this week!
I'm glad to be joining an outstanding organization that fights for American founding ideals such as limited government and free markets.
I'm glad to be joining an outstanding organization that fights for American founding ideals such as limited government and free markets.
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David Ditch retweeted
Great charts in this new @PostOpinions piece on the relationship between permitting, housing construction, and rents.
Tl;dr: the longer THEY take, the more YOU pay. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/…
Tl;dr: the longer THEY take, the more YOU pay. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/…
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OBBBA's Medicaid reforms were imminently reasonable and undoing them would be a huge blow to fiscal responsibility.
To meet those horrendous Medi-Cal work requirements being imposed by the "One Big Ugly Bill", beneficiaries will have to work no more than 34 hours in one month out of any six. They can also study, train, volunteer, or lie about doing so. californiapolicycenter.org/the-fuzzy-math…
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David Ditch retweeted
The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) has evolved from a tool to simply cut and track checks for farm bill programs to a source of nearly unrestrained administrative power. With more than $40 trillion in debt, taxpayers can no longer afford it. taxpayer.net/agriculture/th…
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I vividly recall criticism of the F-35 when I was a fresh-faced hill staffer in 2013. Some things never change.
With what’s happening in Ukraine, this 2016 (!) piece remains pertinent: cato.org/commentary/era…
With what’s happening in Ukraine, this 2016 (!) piece remains pertinent: cato.org/commentary/era…
Only 1 in 4 F-35s is fully operational at any given time. A 10-year contract can't fix a failed program, it can only lock in more waste. Instead, taxpayers could save $13 billion this year by cutting new F-35 procurement. washingtoninquisitor.com/2026/10/23/f-3…
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David Ditch retweeted
Switzerland succeeds despite its wealth tax, not because of it. Its government spends less, and low taxes on investment offset the wealth tax’s damage. The lesson for the United States is to spend and tax less, writes Cato’s @adamnmichel.
ow.ly/YTcR5100i4b
ow.ly/YTcR5100i4b
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David Ditch retweeted
New @UChicago study: a federal ultraprocessed food labeling mandate would cost more than $14B annually, which would largely be recovered through (surprise) higher grocery bills.
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David Ditch retweeted
Except it’s not.
Social Security is NOT mandatory retirement savings.
It’s a welfare program with expansive eligibility.
It has a progressive benefit calc and a means-testing tax part, and still transfers too much money from younger working families to wealthier retirees.
Social Security is NOT mandatory retirement savings.
It’s a welfare program with expansive eligibility.
It has a progressive benefit calc and a means-testing tax part, and still transfers too much money from younger working families to wealthier retirees.
Social Security is not a means-tested welfare program. It's a poorly operated mandatory retirement savings plan. The government confiscates part of every paycheck you get, but promises to deliver income once you retire. The government must absolutely keep that promise.
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First place AZ only scored 70.8%. Drops below 50% at 28th place (WY), plunges to 31.9% for NY and 29.2% for HI. Lots of room for improvement at the state level.
Blue states can be a lot more progressive FOR FREE by fixing this: cato.org/freedom-50-sta…
Blue states can be a lot more progressive FOR FREE by fixing this: cato.org/freedom-50-sta…
Where does your state rank? The 2026 edition of "Freedom in the 50 States" measures economic and personal freedom across all 50 states.
Check the rankings at the link: ow.ly/m13K51007Em
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It is worth noting that most of the changes enacted last year are not in effect. However, from the tone of reporting one would think that the program has been eviscerated rather than tweaked at the margins.
Federal Medicaid spending is up 8% from FY 2025 to FY 2026.
@MarcGoldwein, @mfcannon, @larry_levitt - where are the cuts?
issuesinsights.com/2026/10/20/dra…
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David Ditch retweeted
Social Security's financial problems are usually blamed on demographics: longer lives and fewer children.
But that overlooks another major culprit: unsustainable benefit design.
New piece for the Wharton Pension Research Council blog 🧵
But that overlooks another major culprit: unsustainable benefit design.
New piece for the Wharton Pension Research Council blog 🧵
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“I would almost compare it to economic bumper bowling,” said David Ditch, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute. “A favorable treatment that really no other industry is provided.”
"American farmers don’t need Washington to guarantee them a profit," the Editorial Board writes.
"They need Washington to stop making it harder for them to earn one." wapo.st/4hZGKkE
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David Ditch retweeted
Who could have possibly predicted this outcome?
Or, is it simply the unstated objective of the national conservatives.
There is an alternative: leave the private sphere of action -- including commerce -- to the private sector. That is what freedom conservatism is about. It is also common sense. #freecon
semafor.com/article/10/21/…
Or, is it simply the unstated objective of the national conservatives.
There is an alternative: leave the private sphere of action -- including commerce -- to the private sector. That is what freedom conservatism is about. It is also common sense. #freecon
semafor.com/article/10/21/…
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David Ditch retweeted
California hasn't built its bullet train because the state has required 130,000 pages of environmental reports, making absurd demands like:
• counting bumblebees one by one
• rebuilding woodrat stick huts
• hiring specialized dogs to sniff lizard scat
• counting bumblebees one by one
• rebuilding woodrat stick huts
• hiring specialized dogs to sniff lizard scat
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ATTN Congress: lowering the FMAP rate would encourage states to keep an even sharper eye on fraud.
This is quite a press release.
State officials say they believe that *more than 100* social adult day care centers have been defrauding New York Medicaid -- and there are only 418 of these centers in the state.
That's one in four!
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From a policy perspective, this is some of the lowest hanging fruit available when it comes to deficit reduction. Medicare is heavily subsidized across the income scale, wealthy seniors clearly do not need subsidization, and costs are unfairly placed on current workers.
Last is my contribution, where I pitch a linear reduction in subsidies for high-income seniors on Medicare Part B through IRMAA payments.
hoover.org/research/reduc…
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David Ditch retweeted
What has $7.8 trillion in federally backed mortgages actually accomplished?
• US homeownership sits at ~65% – virtually what it was in the late 1960s.
• Home price and construction volatility remain among the highest in the developed world.
Federal intervention has boosted home mortgage debt, not homeownership.
Full report: cato.org/restoring-free…
• US homeownership sits at ~65% – virtually what it was in the late 1960s.
• Home price and construction volatility remain among the highest in the developed world.
Federal intervention has boosted home mortgage debt, not homeownership.
Full report: cato.org/restoring-free…
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David Ditch retweeted
🧵Congress adjusts tax brackets with a more accurate inflation measure than the one used for benefit programs like Social Security, SSI, SNAP, and Medicaid. That inconsistency will cost taxpayers more than $270 billion over the next decade.
👇
👇
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David Ditch retweeted
Story after story follows the same format.
Medicaid doesn’t pay doctors enough, so patients can’t find care. Large federal subsidy program is implemented. The large federal subsidy program sort of helps but is also inefficient, easily shunted to special interests, defrauded, and otherwise succumbs to the same things that many large federal subsidies do.
The individual state, which is actually responsible for setting medicaid rates, and is thus responsible for the problem in the first place, sees the large subsidy program and loses all incentive to fix the funding problem.
Then some politician comes along and sees the massive amount of waste in the federal program and tries to cut it back. Now everyone wails that they can’t possibly treat medicaid patients without the large federal subsidy program. New politician comes in and not only restores the program, expands it to include interest groups that just helped get him elected.
Rinse and repeat.
Medicaid doesn’t pay doctors enough, so patients can’t find care. Large federal subsidy program is implemented. The large federal subsidy program sort of helps but is also inefficient, easily shunted to special interests, defrauded, and otherwise succumbs to the same things that many large federal subsidies do.
The individual state, which is actually responsible for setting medicaid rates, and is thus responsible for the problem in the first place, sees the large subsidy program and loses all incentive to fix the funding problem.
Then some politician comes along and sees the massive amount of waste in the federal program and tries to cut it back. Now everyone wails that they can’t possibly treat medicaid patients without the large federal subsidy program. New politician comes in and not only restores the program, expands it to include interest groups that just helped get him elected.
Rinse and repeat.
CMS’s decision to no longer allow Medicaid 1115 waiver funding for workforce initiatives will challenge state efforts to recruit and retain safety-net clinicians. | Forefront
Yara A. Halasa-Rappel, et al. | @ForHealthCnsltg
healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/for…
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David Ditch retweeted
$43B to paper over your predictable policy mistakes, plus another $30B in "emergency" aid and tens of billions more from the "usual" farm subsidies.
Insanity.
Insanity.
"It was the second time in two years that the president authorized billions of dollars in bailout money for farmers harmed by his administration’s policies" nytimes.com/2026/10/20/bus…
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David Ditch retweeted
That will bring direct payments to farmers up to $55 billion this year.
For perspective, total value added for the entire farm industry was $204 billion last year.
So taxpayers are sending farmers about one-quarter of the value they add to the economy this year.
For perspective, total value added for the entire farm industry was $204 billion last year.
So taxpayers are sending farmers about one-quarter of the value they add to the economy this year.
Harvest relief for America’s farmers.
Today, @POTUS and @SecRollins announced the Harvest Fuel Relief Program — making $8 BILLION available for one-time payments to farmers facing higher costs and market disruptions.
Here’s what that means:
➡️ Payments to help cover a portion the 2026 crop year.
➡️ Payment amounts based on planted acres, production costs, crop yields, and prices.
➡️ Row crop payment rates announced in November, with details for other eligible commodities to follow.
➡️ Application will be available online using a Login.gov account that is connected to USDA.
🔗 usda.gov/about-usda/new…
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