Author Archives: Steve Buckstein

About Steve Buckstein

Senior Policy Analyst and founder.

Public School Bounty Hunters

How many of us remember the scenes of young East Germans risking their lives to escape under, over or around the Berlin Wall?  Happily, those memories are fading since the wall came down in 1989.  Unhappily, young people still have … Continue reading

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Cascade in the Capitol: Testimony Opposing an Oregon Single Payer Health Care System

Audio of the entire hearing is here.  Steve Buckstein’s oral testimony begins at the 36:37 mark. Testimony in Opposition to HB 2922 The “Affordable Health Care for All Oregon” Plan Before the House Committee on Health Care   By Steve … Continue reading

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Job Creation Shouldn’t Be Our Goal

The next time someone argues that we need government to “create jobs,” show him or her this three-minute video. Then show it to them again, and again, until they grasp the concept:

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The 2013 Film Awards you didn’t see on TV

Every now and then I decide to watch a TV program that has nothing to do with politics; nothing to do with public policy; nothing to do with government. I have enough of those things in my day job. Perhaps … Continue reading

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Debunking Tax Myths

Two of Oregon’s top private economists, and Cascade authors, have now produced a national publication which debunks seven popular tax myths commonly used by advocates of higher taxes. Dr. Randall Pozdena and Dr. Eric Fruits discuss the following seven myths … Continue reading

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Cascade in the Capitol: Opposition to more subsidies of student higher education costs

State Treasurer Ted Wheeler has proposed that the state obligate its citizens to repaying hundreds of millions of dollars in General Obligation bonds to subsidies student higher education costs. Below is the prepared testimony that I gave to a House … Continue reading

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Rest In Peace, Don McIntire

Don McIntire, best known as the father of Oregon’s property tax limitation Measure 5, died unexpectedly this week at his Gresham home. He was 74. I knew and worked with Don on various tax and government limitation efforts since the … Continue reading

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Should we make Government Better, or Smaller?

The concept of Reinventing Government, from the 1992 book by the same name, offers no clue about what government should or shouldn’t do. Should we try to make government better, or smaller? Should the state introduce more creative lottery games, … Continue reading

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New Drug Trafficking Report Casts More Doubt on the Effectiveness of Oregon’s Prescription-Only Pseudoephedrine Policy

Pseudoephedrine is used in allergy and cold medications, but it is also a precursor chemical used to make the illegal drug methamphetamine. Making pseudoephedrine a prescription-only drug was seen by some as a way to reduce the number of illegal … Continue reading

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“You Didn’t Build That”

“If you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”*         —President Barack Obama, July 13, 2012 Perhaps the President is angling for a cameo role in the upcoming movie Atlas Shrugged, Part II which debuts on October … Continue reading

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