The U.S. Supreme Court has handed down two major decisions this week - one on the issue of whether Arizona's laws to deal with the inflow of illegal immigrants from Mexico and the other the Obamacare health-care law. Various reports state that Chief Justice Roberts switched his mind at the final minute in reaching his decision to side with the "liberal" rather than the conservative justices.
Both decisions leave somewhat troubling questions:
(i) The states are supposed to have police powers to ensure the safety of their residents. What can the state do (if anything) if the federal government fails to enforce its own federal law, such as immigration? At this point, it would appear that the Supreme Court decision has limited how much the state of Arizona can accomplish directly on its own.
(ii) Is the Obama Health Care Law simply a huge tax increase and how much does it solve the affordable health care problem?
It would seem that higher income individuals and corporations would bear the burden of this tax. But what about dealing with the underlying problems of the manner in which the health care system is run? When providing two tablets of Tylenol can be billed at an absurdly high markup, will a tax fix the system or redistribute money and provide mediocre or limited health care for those that have a basic plan?
Both decisions leave somewhat troubling questions:
(i) The states are supposed to have police powers to ensure the safety of their residents. What can the state do (if anything) if the federal government fails to enforce its own federal law, such as immigration? At this point, it would appear that the Supreme Court decision has limited how much the state of Arizona can accomplish directly on its own.
(ii) Is the Obama Health Care Law simply a huge tax increase and how much does it solve the affordable health care problem?
It would seem that higher income individuals and corporations would bear the burden of this tax. But what about dealing with the underlying problems of the manner in which the health care system is run? When providing two tablets of Tylenol can be billed at an absurdly high markup, will a tax fix the system or redistribute money and provide mediocre or limited health care for those that have a basic plan?
