Media

The media may no longer be paying attention to gas prices, but the American people are fully aware that fuel costs are on the rise again. The $3.72 national average gas price recorded on August 20 was the highest ever observed on that date. Prices have risen 9 percent over the past few months, making 2012 the most expensive year ever for drivers. According to USA Today, industry experts predict average prices could rise as high as $3.90 and remain above $3.00 even into autumn.

You know election season must be in full swing when "Mediscare" accusations start flying. Unfortunately, the heated rhetoric obscures the most relevant and startling point of all: Medicare will go bankrupt by 2024. This is not speculation or a partisan claim; it is a fact documented in this year's annual report from the Medicare and Social Security Trustees.

Rather than confront this reality and communicate honestly with the American people about options to save the vital program, the Obama campaign has chosen the time-honored tradition of sowing fear and division.

One day after voting to prevent a massive tax hike from hitting small businesses and families, House Republicans also took action to reform the entire tax code. It's not just high tax rates that discourage businesses from growing. The very structure of the tax system is so complex, inefficient, and unfair that the United States is becoming one of the worst places to do business in the developed world.

I recently sat down in Norman with a group of small business owners to get their perspective on economic issues. While politicians in Washington argue over how to create jobs, these local employers are the ones responsible for making payroll each month and working to make their businesses grow in a challenging economy.

"It's now easier to start a business in Slovenia, Estonia and Hungary — three former Iron Curtain countries — than in America." That's the conclusion reached by the editors of Investors Business Daily in response to a study measuring the regulatory hurdles confronting entrepreneurs around the globe. According to statistics compiled by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), even liberal Canada requires fewer procedures to start a new business than American entrepreneurs face.