I have heard from countless Tennesseans who have said they simply can't keep up with the rising costs of health insurance. In Tennessee alone, insurance costs have risen 129% for small businesses since 2000, forcing many to cut benefits or stop offering coverage for employees.

Before Thanksgiving, H.R. 3200 and the Baucus Bill will reach the floor of the House and Senate, respectively, where they will be vigorously debated and are ultimately likely to pass.

TennCare recipient satisfaction survey reported that 92 percent of enrollees were either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their healthcare coverage.

The final version of the legislation should be posted on the Internet for at least 72 hours so that anybody who wants to can read the bill.

Single-payer healthcare would eliminate wasteful administrative costs (advertising, marketing, product development, redundant corporate bureaucracies, outrageous CEO salaries and bonuses, and the need for government programs such as SCHIP, Medicare, and Medicaid) because everyone would be covered.

The U.S. should not be in hock to another country, but we cannot entirely blame China, and in the short run there is no way out.

The employment effects of every dollar increase in the deficit will depend on whether it is spent on goods and services such as infrastructure or is the result of tax reduction or increases in government transfer outlays such as unemployment compensation.

There is plenty of room for empirical debate with respect to the efficacy of fiscal policy in general, whether monetary policy is a better tool, or what constitutes spending that will make us more productive in the future.

The government can redistribute income but cannot create it out of thin air.

I remember capitalism and free enterprise.