Bruce Bartlett is a former senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis of Dallas, Texas. Before joining the NCPA, he was deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the U.S. Treasury Department, where he served from September 1988 to January 1993. In 1987 and 1988, Bartlett was a senior policy analyst in the Office of Policy Development at the White House. From 1985 through 1987, he was a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Between 1976 and 1984, Bartlett held numerous positions on Capitol Hill. In 1976, he served on the staff of Rep. Ron Paul of Texas as a legislative assistant. In 1977, he joined the staff of Rep. Jack Kemp of New York as a special assistant and staff economist. While with Kemp, Bartlett helped draft the famous Kemp-Roth tax bill. Between 1979 and 1980, he worked for Sen. Roger Jepsen of Iowa as chief legislative assistant. In 1981, Bartlett joined the staff of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress as deputy director, becoming executive director in 1983. Bartlett is a prolific author, having published over 900 articles in national publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, as well as many prominent magazines such as Fortune. In 1996, one of his columns inspired Bob Dole's 15 percent tax reduction plan. Bartlett has also written for important academic journals and published four books, including Reaganomics: Supply-Side Economics in Action, published in 1981. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2009 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:01:00 GMT Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:01:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ About 12 years ago, I got a call from Tom Bray, then editorial page editor of the Detroit News. I had known him since the early 1980s, when he was an editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, where I had written... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/07/10/changing_world_of_commentary 8eba8354-0794-4451-b939-6fa6c40d2a2d Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:01:00 GMT One of the things that surprises me so far in the race for the White House is that none of the Republicans is positioning himself clearly as the anti-Bush. I think there is a yearning for such a candidate among the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/07/03/who_is_the_anti-bush aef04b55-b79e-45ff-9420-226cbc7a1435 Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:01:00 GMT Many people are worried about global warming today. They fear that the polar ice caps will melt, raising sea levels and creating environmental chaos. Such concerns are not new. The historical record tells us of many... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/06/27/climate_history 7cb5306c-b87d-44d7-a2ab-a7af6e68ba0c Wed, 27 Jun 2007 04:01:00 GMT Back during World War II, the Allies were successful in largely cutting off Germany's oil supply. To maintain their war effort, the Germans figured out how to make synthetic oil from coal. Later, the South Africans pe http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/06/19/synfuel_boondoggle 3da395dd-f6d3-448a-8801-15010e76ee82 Tue, 19 Jun 2007 04:00:01 GMT The immigration bill may be dead for now, but the political forces behind it have not gone away. Those will continue to impact both major political parties for many years to come. The basic force is that Hispanics... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/06/13/immigration_political_dynamics 85746a5e-42a4-4516-9c9a-fc4a18280120 Wed, 13 Jun 2007 04:01:00 GMT One of the things that bothers me about the immigration bill is the view held in the White House and Congress that "something" must be done; the option of doing nothing is not an option. It is my experience that when... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/06/06/immigration_frustration b134742b-9b2b-4284-95b4-3df5ee3350b0 Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:01:00 GMT As some readers of this column may know, the first "real" job I ever had was working for Congressman Ron Paul back in 1976. I went to visit him a few months ago and was pleased to see that he had not changed much at all... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/05/29/taking_ron_paul_seriously 44f64f73-e941-4bd5-93ee-67e28a7ee922 Tue, 29 May 2007 20:00:00 GMT As someone who has been highly critical of George W. Bush's repeated violations of conservative principles for some years, last week brought some vindication. His endorsement of an immigration reform bill that is widel http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/05/22/republican_euthanasia c28fc208-f639-42aa-93bd-f42c03bb69a8 Tue, 22 May 2007 04:01:00 GMT It now seems almost certain that Paul Wolfowitz will leave the presidency of the World Bank. It's only a matter of negotiating the terms of his resignation. For those who have not been following this issue,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/05/15/wolfowitz_endgame 0c2043ef-53de-49c3-bd8c-63b5f9084e48 Tue, 15 May 2007 04:01:00 GMT I hadn't planned on writing another column about Hillary Clinton, but the one I wrote last week has been so widely misunderstood that I feel compelled to do so. To recap, I said that no Republican http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/05/08/democrats_and_conservatives 9d1ab852-9a57-4a3e-bbd7-0877176907f7 Tue, 08 May 2007 04:01:00 GMT As each day passes, it becomes increasingly clear that the Democrats will win the White House next year. It's not quite 1932, but it's getting close to a sure thing. All the energy is on their side, they are raisi http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/05/01/conservatives_for_hillary 55b12706-8f61-4183-a8f1-42143b89f82f Tue, 01 May 2007 04:01:11 GMT As is the case every year, the deadline for paying one's federal income taxes on April 15 brought forth many news features on the burden of taxation. This year was no different, with one article by former White House... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/04/25/tax_winners_and_losers 9fce514a-fb31-432f-a8f4-2183d221e9f9 Wed, 25 Apr 2007 04:01:17 GMT On April 6, I had an article in The New York Times arguing the term "supply-side economics" (SSE) had outlived its usefulness. I wasn't criticizing SSE. On the contrary, I was celebrating its success because its central... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/04/17/blogging_benefits f4c4b7ce-1342-4743-9e85-955a702f4553 Tue, 17 Apr 2007 04:01:00 GMT Just in time for tax filing season, the Tax Foundation and Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation have compiled some useful facts about the federal tax system. Following are a few worth thinking about as taxpayers write... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/04/10/tax_facts 8ca429d0-edcb-43cc-8456-83d98483d155 Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:31:48 GMT I recently made a life-changing decision, which, to those under the age of 30, will probably sound ridiculous. I finally decided that I trust the Internet enough to stop subscribing to a number of publications that are... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/04/03/economics_on_the_internet b728a1d3-e249-405e-a612-d0f861c80201 Tue, 03 Apr 2007 04:01:00 GMT One of the reasons why I wish columnist Ann Coulter hadn't used the F-word in a recent speech-the one that is a derogatory term for being gay-is because it gave liberals yet another excuse to label all conservatives as... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/03/28/coulter_consequences eaca3160-b914-4bbe-ab2b-b7ce9951dedc Wed, 28 Mar 2007 04:01:00 GMT George W. Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales are taking a lot of heat from Democrats lately for allegedly discharging some U.S. attorneys for political reasons. Of course, the president has every right to fire... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/03/21/attorney_firing_precedent f877f38e-5191-419a-a716-6c7e29a835ba Wed, 21 Mar 2007 04:01:28 GMT For most of my lifetime, criticism of media bias was largely confined to those on the right side of the political spectrum. When I first moved to Washington in the mid-1970s, conservatives called the Washington Post " http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/03/13/partisan_press_parity 36f74eba-5511-47c7-a317-757ecfcae2f6 Tue, 13 Mar 2007 04:01:55 GMT For most of my lifetime, criticism of media bias was largely confined to those on the right side of the political spectrum. When I first moved to Washington in the mid-1970s, conservatives called The Washington Post... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/03/13/partisan_press_parity 3f7b3416-384a-47f3-b968-69d11ead79d8 Tue, 13 Mar 2007 04:01:00 GMT A few months ago, I caused a bit of a stir by suggesting that the best way for libertarian ideas to advance is by destroying the Libertarian Party. Since it cannot win, due to the nature of our political system, it is http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/03/06/political_reform da102640-7d36-482f-bf4c-2a5bf27a6932 Tue, 06 Mar 2007 05:01:00 GMT Although we are two years away from the first ballot being cast in the 2008 presidential election and don't even know who the candidates will be, we already know a great deal about how the race will turn out. Historical... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/02/27/presidential_predicting 2134d75b-f767-494a-8f5d-d49ebe7e29a0 Tue, 27 Feb 2007 05:00:00 GMT It is becoming increasingly clear that the Republican Party has a huge problem going into 2008. Usually, it has a clear frontrunner going into the process who is broadly acceptable to most Republicans. But in this... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/02/20/republicans_cheney_problem 180faa4a-1d68-4562-bfb0-264bbe3e293f Tue, 20 Feb 2007 05:00:00 GMT According to press reports, Democrats in Congress are planning a major effort to reduce the so-called tax gap. This consists of money owed to the federal government but not paid. According to the Internal Revenue Se http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/02/13/tax_gap_chimera 6e2d88c7-05c2-4f74-a701-23c3f298ec76 Tue, 13 Feb 2007 05:01:49 GMT Last week, President Bush took some long overdue action to constrain the growing burden of federal regulation on the economy. Predictably, Democrats howl that Republicans are endangering all Americans by leaving them... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2007/02/07/regulatory_respite 9639eb1d-6fb3-4001-9582-601fd62469bc Wed, 07 Feb 2007 05:00:00 GMT On Oct. 11, George W. Bush went before the television cameras to proudly announce that the budget deficit for fiscal year 2006, which ended on Sept. 30, was only $248 billion. This was a great success, he said, because... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/12/26/of_debts_and_deficits 9ee459ad-eb0b-48d5-8c70-6be313374e25 Tue, 26 Dec 2006 05:01:00 GMT In a recent column, I discussed the disaffection of libertarians within the conservative coalition, suggesting that many might be more at home on the political left. A number of readers wrote to say that they agreed... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/12/19/libertarian_or_libertarian fe823b0a-7944-40d9-a5ef-78af8e71ffdb Tue, 19 Dec 2006 05:01:00 GMT For many years, those who consider themselves to be libertarians have been fairly reliable members of the Republican coalition. Although no libertarian would consider himself or herself to be entirely in agreement with... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/12/12/libertarian_gop_defection 255b6fc0-af26-4968-a695-24ce5dac0e07 Tue, 12 Dec 2006 05:00:00 GMT In Sunday's Washington Post, a group of historians tried to predict what history will ultimately say about George W. Bush's presidency. One said that he is the worst president, ever; a second agreed that he was pretty... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/12/05/rating_the_presidents 1a16e6a6-2a44-49da-b6d7-68c14d59e667 Tue, 05 Dec 2006 05:01:00 GMT Leading up to the election, many conservatives were wailing about how the world was going to come to an end if Democrats won. Well, the world is still here, and we are even starting to see some good news for... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/11/28/democrat_victory,_conservative_gain 05d48cf9-3bd5-4d90-ae9c-d52e043763c2 Tue, 28 Nov 2006 05:01:00 GMT "And now this great master has left us. No one who has been close to him both professionally and scientifically would be able to describe the feeling that lies heavy on all of us. No words can express what he has been http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/11/16/death_of_the_master 033ffc8f-afd4-484f-8c3d-6fe2ca3b47d3 Thu, 16 Nov 2006 21:22:16 GMT Both Democrats and Republicans are still busy figuring out what happened in the Nov. 7 elections. The former are trying to understand why they won so that they can repeat their performance in 2008. The latter need to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/11/15/post-election_autopsy 43977214-8d1e-454b-8b0f-0d699f023819 Wed, 15 Nov 2006 05:01:00 GMT As this is written, we do not know the outcome of Tuesday's elections -- and may not for some days, due to recounts and court challenges. Nevertheless, we can safely predict certain things will occur on Wednesday.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/11/07/election_aftermath c638beda-0f5d-4916-a460-e942b60cb391 Tue, 07 Nov 2006 05:00:00 GMT As we move into the campaign homestretch, Republicans and their talk radio friends are doing everything they can to browbeat every last right-leaning voter into pulling the Republican lever one more time. Failure to do... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/10/31/a_vote_for_gridlock 7f424f2a-3ef7-4da8-8ed0-26ef2819efbe Tue, 31 Oct 2006 04:00:00 GMT Republican partisans are ratcheting up predictions of doom if Democrats get control of Congress on Nov. 7. They have also been laying a guilt trip on any Republican considering not voting. You'd think that we were in... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/10/24/pelosis_moment a3601f46-057d-499c-974c-2ef0966379bf Tue, 24 Oct 2006 04:01:00 GMT When future historians try to explain the presidency of George W. Bush, his religious fundamentalism unquestionably will be a central focus. It has made him certain about the correctness of his policies, especially the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/10/17/god_and_government 1134df3d-3d23-4a0b-9e95-8e3d745470cc Tue, 17 Oct 2006 04:01:00 GMT With victory in the November elections now in jeopardy, the Republican establishment has finally noticed the party's significant weakness at its base -- especially within the small-government or Reagan wing -- and... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/10/10/bush_agonistes b9e7b2b2-3410-4c0e-bcb7-7f344709f0ed Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:01:00 GMT When the Founding Fathers designed our system of government, one of their key ideas was that some of its components should be more accountable to public opinion and others less. At one extreme, Supreme Court justices... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/10/03/evolving_democracy 848abe96-e0f8-471e-bdf1-e2546c694b93 Tue, 03 Oct 2006 04:01:00 GMT Lately, there has been a big debate going on among Democrats about why workers aren't outraged by their economic condition, and therefore more hostile to Republican economic policies and more sympathetic to Democratic... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/09/26/wages_of_stagnation 6e8007a9-4fa6-4b2f-ab60-46efafadac61 Tue, 26 Sep 2006 04:01:00 GMT Although Republican fortunes seem to have picked up a bit from their mid-August lows, Democrats are still in a strong position to take control of the House of Representatives in the November elections. Both... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/09/12/democrats_in_power 0ac96433-5c04-47c8-8d39-c764cfdf37a7 Tue, 12 Sep 2006 04:01:00 GMT This week, New York Post columnist Ryan Sager, one of the most thoughtful young conservatives writing today, publishes an important new book, "The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians, and the Battle to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/09/06/is_the_reagan_coalition_breaking_up 1bc2f454-70c2-445c-86e4-3c34e5d16798 Wed, 06 Sep 2006 04:01:00 GMT Last week, a federal appeals court in Washington handed down an important decision relating to the definition of income for tax purposes. What is important about the decision is that it is the first one in decades... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/08/29/court_ruling_shakes_ground_under_irs 4e6bebf5-272d-4ad4-936c-dbacac078485 Tue, 29 Aug 2006 04:01:00 GMT Regular readers of this column know that earlier this year, I published a book highly critical of George W. Bush for his deviations from conservative principles, which got me fired from an intellectually bankrupt think... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/08/22/kind_words_for_bush 48200cc8-d344-4b52-99b9-fac8c65ea470 Tue, 22 Aug 2006 04:01:00 GMT Last week's defeat of Sen. Joe Lieberman in Connecticut's Democratic primary is being treated as a purge by both Democrats and Republicans. Those on the Democratic Party's left wing are hoping that it will send a signal... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/08/15/democratic_purges 25b1c006-d7f1-4034-8efc-0592b7af7966 Tue, 15 Aug 2006 04:01:00 GMT August 13 marks an important anniversary in American economic history. Twenty-five years ago that day, Ronald Reagan signed into law the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, which cut income tax rates by about 30 percent... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/08/08/tax_cut_anniversary d77b376c-4ff5-4e77-9dc3-93a488cb80e6 Tue, 08 Aug 2006 04:01:00 GMT Last week, the Doha Round of trade talks collapsed. Future historians may well conclude that of all the Bush administration's economic mistakes, this one was the biggest. That is because we may have just seen the end of... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/08/01/the_death_of_doha 741a0cfb-4d17-49f1-ad45-cc0c7f1fc446 Tue, 01 Aug 2006 04:01:00 GMT On July 19, President Bush issued the first veto of his presidency on a bill to provide federal funding of stem-cell research. It is a good example of why presidents were given veto power by the Constitution. I am... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/07/25/a_veto_at_last ab3275d8-b9b1-434e-9459-cb60b8e24137 Tue, 25 Jul 2006 04:01:00 GMT In a recent column, Michael Barone commented on the closeness of recent elections and wondered what may be behind it. He concludes that it is a trend resulting from technology, which has made it easier to target... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/07/18/the_cause_of_close_elections f963a36c-11fd-4ae8-b596-7d526607cde1 Tue, 18 Jul 2006 04:01:00 GMT On Monday, Wall Street financier Henry Paulson was sworn in as the new secretary of the treasury, replacing railroad executive John Snow, who stepped down. Paulson and Snow have very little in common except for one... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/07/11/paulsons_special_tax_deal 57b47d4f-adbb-42fd-a1a8-e243c8731711 Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:01:00 GMT The New York Times is very upset that it has been singled out for revealing a government program that tracks terrorists through financial transactions. The Times notes that the same story was simultaneously broken by... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/07/04/the_shame_of_the_times 257a2b7e-1af1-446d-a410-52f6f0408ff4 Tue, 04 Jul 2006 04:01:00 GMT From what I read on the blogs these days, most Democrats believe that their party's single biggest problem is that it is not tough enough. Their solution is to be ever more shrill and hysterical in attacking... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BruceBartlett/2006/06/27/the_democrats_problem 36447c50-dc25-4fa5-80eb-99c513636475 Tue, 27 Jun 2006 04:01:00 GMT