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Most Americans retire between the ages of 62 and 64.  And the average American is now expected to live to 79, meaning people who retire at 62 can receive 17 years or more of government benefits like Social Security.

But Americans’ practical ability to retire is in jeopardy, as The Heritage Foundation’s David John reported last fall:

Americans’ ability to build a secure retirement is increasingly in danger. In addition to Social Security’s rapidly approaching fiscal problems and underfunded traditional defined-benefit pensions, the retirement savings system is available to only about half of the workforce and needs other improvements before today’s workers can create sufficient retirement income.

One alternative would be for seniors to change when they retire, Heritage’s Romina Boccia suggests: Continue Reading »

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The federal budget for 2014 should accomplish six things, Heritage Foundation experts explain. These are laid out in our Saving the American Dream plan:

1. Balance the budget in less than 10 years, without raising taxes, and keep the budget in balance thereafter;
2. Swiftly overhaul entitlement programs, including Social Security, to guarantee economic security to seniors while making the programs affordable;
3. Repeal Obamacare in its entirety;
4. Fully fund defense;
5. Cut discretionary spending; and
6. Roll back recent tax increases with a sweeping, growth-oriented tax reform plan and caps taxes at the historical average of 18.5 percent.

So does Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) new budget proposal, released today, measure up? Continue Reading »

The sequestration cuts to the armed forces don’t really address the problem of wasteful Defense Department spending. In fact, The Heritage Foundation’s Baker Spring explains that the indiscriminate cuts “will result in the loss of military capabilities” while doing little to curb waste.

There is a lot of waste and inefficiency in the military, and Heritage recently outlined $70 billion in annual savings. But that’s not how the sequester or the Obama administration’s proposals work. Continue Reading »

Twenty-somethings in America–the “millennial” generation–by and large can be categorized as politically active, socially left-leaning, and entrepreneurial. Alarmingly for conservatives, they share a trust in the government’s ability to solve our nation’s problems. According to the Pew Research Center, they are “the only age group in which a majority said the government should do more to fix problems.”

Why do young people trust the government to fix problems? In part because of the unhealthy nexus between big government and big business, The Heritage Foundation’s Matt Grinney explains: Continue Reading »

February 4 has come and gone without a budget proposal from President Obama. This is the fourth time and the third straight year that the president has missed this legal deadline.

What’s the hold up? When asked, Press Secretary Jay Carney just shrugged his shoulders and said that the administration favors “substance over deadlines.”

The Heritage Foundation’s Emily Goff says there’s more to it:

Translation: There’s nothing to see here.

However, Obama’s budget request is something worth seeing, because it shows his priorities—namely how he proposes to solve our twin crises of spending and debt. Now Americans may have to wait until March to see the President’s plan.

Continue Reading »

The current issue of the policy journal National Affairs features two separate articles written by Heritage Foundation experts.

In the first article, Heritage expert Stuart Butler argues that economic mobility and the American Dream are best promoted not by an expanded welfare state but by empowering the poorest to benefit from the opportunities that our country offers.

The answer to our concerns about inequality and mobility is to foster a broad commitment to strengthening the institutions of civil society, particularly the family. It requires local and national leaders to call for a reaffirmation of the virtues of industriousness, honesty, marriage, and religiosity in the communities from which they have been disappearing. The best, and indeed the only fruitful, way for government to participate in this effort is to remove the obstacles and perverse incentives of its own making — and to foster an environment in which our charitable and social institutions are free to form citizens of the high character a great nation demands.

In a second article, Heritage’s Jennifer Marshall and Robert Rector paper explain why the Obama administration directive to remove the work requirement from welfare recipients must be reversed. Continue Reading »

Rep. Wally Herger (R–CA) has introduced an important Medicare reform proposal, one that’s very similar to The Heritage Foundation’s Medicare reform outlined in our Saving the American Dream plan.

Medicare reform is long overdue. It has been a decade since any major Medicare reform proposal was introduced to Congress, and Obamacare did little to fix it. And while Heritage continues to push for Obamacare repeal, we also continue to advocate for fixes to strengthen Medicare and other programs.

Heritage expert Rea Herderman explains how Herger’s proposal would work: Continue Reading »

To help educate citizens about issues like spending, taxes and debt during this critical election year, The Heritage Foundation launched a national bus tour.

Run in conjunction with the Family Research Council, the tour visited 117 cities and towns in 24 states, and included stops at tea party rallies, churches, schools and both the Democratic and Republican party conventions. We made contact with tens of thousands of Americans in swing states and drew attention to the challenges America faces–and solutions like our Saving the American Dream plan.

In 2013, we will continue working to educate the American people in communities around the country. The election may be over, but the fight for conservative ideas is not.

See a full list of stops after the jump. Continue Reading »

I write to tell you to take heart.

Yes, conservatives are disappointed that a President who recklessly spent trillions, expanded government and put many of our values and institutions at risk has won a second term. But many of us have been here before. In Washington, there are no permanent victories or permanent defeats, just permanent battles.

Now is the time to stand up and declare we will continue to fight against big government and for freedom.

We will see unfold over the next four years a crucial battle for the soul of America. This struggle requires committed warriors for the cause. The line must be held against bad policy while we continue advocating conservative solutions. We must fight against the efforts to divide the country through class warfare.

Rest assured this is what The Heritage Foundation is determined to do.

We know that the First Principles reflected in our Constitution made this country great. Those principles are alive and well in the hearts and minds of the American people. We will work harder than ever before to defend them and to see them translated into the right public policies.

President Obama may have won an Electoral College victory, but he knows that he lacks a mandate for changing our nation according to his progressive vision. He is the first re-elected president since World War II not to improve his margin of victory and to get fewer Electoral College votes in re-election.

Let me be clear: The President does not have a mandate.  Continue Reading »

The election, now less than two weeks away, is “one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime,” Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner said yesterday at Heritage’s President’s Club meeting in Washington.

He explained the three distinctly American qualities that are at stake in the upcoming election.

1. Rule of Law: This principle requires laws to be consistently applied and conform to the Constitution rather than to the whims of a king or dictator. Heritage is working to advance the rule of law through our Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies by exposing abuses and promoting common-sense legal analysis.
2. American Exceptionalism. Puritan minister John Winthrope first developed this concept in 1630 when he called America “a citty upon a hill.” Today, the very idea that America is special is threatened by progressives like President Obama who encourage a relativist view: every person believes in his country’s exceptionalism, and America is no different. In fact, America has a unique character, a unique set of ideas that define our government, and a unique dream.
3. The American Dream: “How many nations are known for a dream?” Feulner asked. The American Dream offers freedom and opportunity; no other country offers anything similar. The American Dream is especially at risk, however, because liberal policies have undermined opportunity and increased dependence at the expense of self-reliance. Meanwhile, the media keeps up a negative drumbeat suggesting America’s best days are behind her.

Do you think the core defining characteristics of America are at risk?