The Cato Institute: Speakers Bureau

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The Cato Institute Speakers Bureau

Speaker and Speeches:

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Michael D. Tanner

Director of Health and Welfare Studies

Some of Michael Tanner's most popular presentations include

Leviathan on the Right: The Alarming Rise of Big Government Conservatism

Big government conservatism is no longer an oxymoron. Despite a conservative Republican president and Republican control of Congress, government is bigger and more intrusive than ever. As Michael Tanner demonstrates in this compelling exploration of politics today, that is no accident. It is, instead, deliberate - the conscious aim of a new brand of conservatism that isn’t interested in reducing the size of government but is instead determined to use big government for conservative ends.

Tanner takes a hard look at big-government conservatism and exposes its roots, explaining how they stem from a confluence of five recent trends in conservative thought: neoconservativism, the religious right, supply-side economics, national greatness and conservatism, and Newt Gingrich–style technophiles. Further, Tanner separates fact from fiction in his analysis of Big-Government Conservatism’s Wrong Solutions, honing in on proposals for welfare reform (faith-based initiative, children’s allowances, marriage initiatives), health care (individual mandates, regulation, investment), entitlement policy (Medicare, Social Security), and the centralization of power (federalism, Congress vs. presidency, civil liberties).

Exploring these issues with a deliberate, sharp insight, Tanner concludes with an exploration of The Small-Government Solution, detailing how small-government conservatives would deal with the major issues of the day, outlining a small, highly successful, effective government based on individual liberty.

Will We Be Growing Old in the Dark? There Is Nothing Secure about Social Security

Social Security is in crisis. It will begin running a deficit in less than a dozen years, and the Social Security Trust Fund is simply an accounting mechanism that will do nothing to help pay promised benefits. How critical are things? Just consider: Social Security’s unfunded liabilities exceed $12.8 trillion.

As one of the country’s most knowledgeable and respected voices on Social Security reform, Mike Tanner discusses the critical problems and challenges facing the system and offers practical, reasoned answers. Starting with an incisive analysis of Social Security’s finances, he then moves to address the real issues of Social Security reform, with compelling discussion of the system’s poor rate of return for young people; how workers do not own their benefits; that Social Security benefits are not inheritable; and the lack of choice in the system. Tanner also discusses in depth the current unfairness of the Social Security system – how it penalizes African Americans and working women and prevents low-income workers from building real inheritable wealth.

Living up to Time magazine’s praise of him as “one of the architects of the private accounts movement,” Tanner addresses how personal accounts can be created and how they can successfully work, including solid insights on ways they can be financed to minimize their market vulnerability and risks.

American Health Care Today: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

America offers the highest quality health care in the world. If you are sick, this is the place you want to be. But there are problems – lots of them: millions of Americans lack health insurance; both patients and providers need better and more useful information; the system is riddled with waste; and the quality of care is exceptionally uneven.

A leading national figure in transforming health care financing, Mike Tanner provides unparalleled insight into the complexities of health care economics. Tanner’s presentation starts with a fascinating look at national health care and the dangers of socialized medicine, addressing, for example, how universal insurance coverage does not mean universal access to care; how health care rationing occurs directly or indirectly in every national health care system and how national health care systems are rarely less costly yet deliver poorer quality care. Tanner then focuses on consumer-directed health care and on how to increase quality while reducing cost. Key to this, Tanner outlines health savings accounts. One of the newest innovations in consumer-directed health care, they provide consumers greater control over how their health care dollars are spent and are now is use by more than three million Americans. Tanner details how they are setting the stage for transforming our health care system from a massive, convoluted, bloated process into an efficient, effective consumer-driven system.

To End or Mend? Welfare Reform 10 Years Later

In this enormously unique and insightful presentation, Tanner unravels the knotted issues that have plagued the welfare system for years and provides an in-depth analysis of where it has been, where it now stands, and where it must head. Tanner starts by taking audiences though pre-1996 welfare and the consensus that arose over not only its failure to reduce poverty but its role as a catalyst in generating increased out-of-wedlock births, diminished work ethics, and rises in crime. The 1996 welfare reform, Tanner demonstrates, succeeded in reducing welfare rolls without increasing poverty but was not truly successful in reducing dependence on government.

What are the next steps we must take? Tanner guides audiences through ways of extending the lessons of welfare reform to other government anti-poverty programs such as Medicaid, housing assistance, and more and discusses strengthening and expanding reforms that work, such as work requirements, family caps, and diversion programs. Tanner shows how welfare can ultimately be ended rather than continually mended, through effective anti-poverty policies for expanding school choice, reducing taxes, stimulating job growth, and making it easier to save and build wealth.