Peter Ferrara
Born
Peter Joseph Ferrara

April 26, 1955 (1955-04-26) (age 68)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationPolicy analyst

Peter Joseph Ferrara (born April 26, 1955)[1] is an American lawyer, policy analyst, and columnist who is an analyst for The Heartland Institute. He is former general counsel for the American Civil Rights Union. A libertarian scholar, he is known for supporting privatization of the Social Security program and climate change denialism.

Early life and education

Ferrara grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and graduated in 1976 from Harvard College with an A.B. in economics magna cum laude and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1979.[2][3][4] At Harvard, Ferrara wrote for The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper.[5] While in law school, he participated in the Harvard Libertarian Association.[6] Future Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts attended both Harvard College and Law School with Ferrara.[3]

A 2005 profile for the Harvard Law Bulletin reported that Ferrara recalled at age nine "being transfixed while watching television as Barry Goldwater stormed the 1964 Republican National Convention."[7]

Career

His senior law school thesis evolved into the debut hardcover publication by the libertarian Cato Institute in 1980, Social Security: The Inherent Contradiction.[7] From 1981 to 1983, Ferrara served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Ronald Reagan and was an associate deputy attorney general from 1991 to 1993.[2] Between those positions, Ferrara became a Heritage Foundation analyst specializing in Social Security issues.[8] He also became an insurance consultant[9] and provided expertise in Social Security to media.[10][11] In 1987, Ferrara joined the faculty of the George Mason University School of Law and directed its legal writing programs until 1991.[12] As late as 2003, Ferrara has taught there.[13]

In the early 2000s (decade), he founded the Virginia chapter of Club for Growth and directed the International Center for Law and Economics.[14][15]

As a writer, Ferrara's employers included erstwhile lobbyist and convicted felon, Jack Abramoff, who hired Ferrara to write op-ed pieces favorable to Abramoff clients. Ferrara doesn't disclose which pieces he is paid to write, but according to a Business Week article, the specific pieces may have been articles in The Washington Times about the Northern Marianas Islands and The Choctaw Indian tribe. Ferrara stated that those writings reflect his independently held views on the respective subjects. "I do that all the time. I've done that in the past, and I'll do it in the future."[16]

Ferrara was tied to Abramoff again in 2020 in connection with AML Bitcoin after the FBI charged Abramoff with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and violating the Lobbying Disclosure Act. Ferrara wrote op-eds in favor of AML Bitcoin that were placed in The American Spectator, Investor’s Business Daily, and The Washington Times.[17]

Ferrara was a senior policy adviser at the Institute for Policy Innovation.[18] In April 2011, Ferrara became senior fellow for entitlement and budget policy at The Heartland Institute. He served concurrently as general counsel for the American Civil Rights Union and policy director of the Carleson Center for Welfare Reform.[4][19] He was a member of the District of Columbia Bar but is now on inactive status.[20]

Ferrara's articles have been published in such outlets as National Review,[13][15] The Washington Times,[21] The American Spectator,[22] and FoxNews.com.[23] He is a regular guest on the Thom Hartmann radio program.[24]

Viewpoints

In 1987, The New York Times published an op-ed by Ferrara in which he advocated capping the Social Security payroll tax.[25] The newspaper also interviewed Ferrara that year about a proposal by Secretary of Health and Human Services Otis R. Bowen to expand Medicare; Ferrara criticized the program for "a lot of gaps in medical coverage for the elderly" and found "no basis for just expanding Medicare to take over coverage that private sector provides now."[26] The George W. Bush administration championed Ferrara's plan to privatize Social Security.[27]

National Review magazine published his essay "What Is An American?" in its September 25, 2001 issue, after the September 11 attacks.[13] In the essay, he claims that "there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan",[13] although census numbers show Afghanistan has roughly ten to fifteen times as many Muslims as the United States.[28] The essay was reproduced in a chain e-mail claiming that an Australian dentist wrote it.[29] Ferrara, reflecting on that essay in 2007, still stood by it and supported "more selective immigration so that the U.S. gets a 'better-educated class of Mexican immigrants.'"[30]

Ferrara has also written about climate change, asserting that human activity is not the cause of climate change, that "manmade global warming" is political science rather than natural science, and that actual scientific evidence proves the earth is in a cooling cycle.[31][32][33]

Bibliography

  • America's Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb (2011)
  • Stop the Raid: Social Security the Biggest Rip Off in History (with Denison Smith) (2008)
  • Common Cents, Common Dreams: A layman's guide to social security privatization, ISBN 1882577760, (1999)
  • The Choctaw Revolution: Lessons for Federal Indian Policy, ISBN 096658340X, (1998)
  • Religion and the Constitution: A reinterpretation (1983)
  • Social Security: The Inherent Contradiction (1980)

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-12-07. Retrieved 2015-11-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. 1 2 "ACRU Experts". American Civil Rights Union. Archived from the original on October 3, 2011. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  3. 1 2 Scott, Janny (August 21, 2005). "Roberts's Harvard Roots: A Movement Was Stirring". The New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Peter Ferrara Named Senior Fellow by The Heartland Institute". Heartland Institute. Retrieved September 4, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Peter J. Ferrara". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  6. ↑ Berry, William J.; Davis, Lisa E. (April 11, 1978). "Psychiatrist Szasz Contends Mental Illness Does not Exist". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  7. 1 2 Stern, Seth (Summer 2005). "26 Years Later". Harvard Law Bulletin. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Reagan criticized on Social Security". The New York Times. July 8, 1984. pp. A1. Retrieved July 15, 2011 – via LexisNexis Academic.
  9. ↑ "Agency asking U.S. care in 'catastrophic' ills". The New York Times. November 2, 1986. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  10. ↑ Pear, Robert (January 29, 1986). "Social Security to repay loan early". The New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  11. ↑ Pear, Robert (February 9, 1986). "Chipping Away at the Idea of 'Entitlement'". The New York Times. p. D4. Retrieved July 15, 2011 – via LexisNexis Academic.
  12. ↑ "Law Faculty Directory: Peter Ferrara". George Mason University School of Law. Archived from the original on December 12, 2000. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Peter Ferrara: What Is An American? National Review online, September 25, 2001.
  14. ↑ "Home – International Center for Law & Economics". laweconcenter.org.
  15. 1 2 Ferrara, Peter (May 20, 2003). "The Tax-Cut Critics". National Review. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  16. ↑ Javers, Eamon (December 16, 2005). "Op-Eds for Sale". Business Week. Archived from the original on December 18, 2005. Retrieved July 14, 2009. ...he doesn't see a conflict of interest in taking undisclosed money to write op-ed pieces because his columns never violated his ideological principles.
  17. ↑ "Feds Point to Daily Caller Writer as Part of Abramoff Payola Scheme". The Daily Beast. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Institute for Policy Innovation". www.ipi.org.
  19. ↑ "Home | the Carleson Center for Welfare Reform". Theccwr. Archived from the original on June 19, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  20. ↑ https://www.dcbar.org/membership/find-a-member-results.cfm Archived 2015-12-09 at the Wayback Machine D.C.
  21. ↑ Ferrara, Peter (November 4, 2003). "Unleash the new TV". The Washington Times. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  22. ↑ Ferrera, Peter: Contributors: Peter Ferrara Archived 2013-01-28 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed February 11, 2013.
  23. ↑ FoxNews.com: Peter Ferrara archive.
  24. ↑ Peter Ferrara search on the Thom Hartmann YouTube channel
  25. ↑ Ferrara, Peter J. (January 25, 1987). "Business Forum: Scaling back hikes in Social Security; Put a Permanent Lid on Payroll Taxes". The New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  26. ↑ Pear, Robert (February 1, 1987). "Health care debate: How to pay for extended coverage; Congress takes on catastrophic illness issue". The New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  27. ↑ Birnbaum, Jeffrey H. (February 22, 2005). "Private-Account Concept Grew From Obscure Roots". The Washington Post. p. A1. Retrieved May 7, 2006. Twenty-five years ago, Peter J. Ferrara was a Harvard Law School student with what he called "the craziest idea in the world." In a paper he wrote before graduating, he suggested converting the government-run Social Security program into a web of private investments...the proposal by the 24-year-old Ferrara began an improbable journey from the fringes of public policy into the mainstream. Ferrara graduated from the law school in 1979, according to his ACRU biography Archived 2011-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ↑ "Muslim Population by Country". The Future of the Global Muslim Population. Pew Research Center. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  29. ↑ "What Is An American?". snopes.com. 29 March 2002. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  30. ↑ Ramage, Stephanie (July 13, 2007). "What is an American? Immigration debate reveals patriotism—and nationalism". The Sunday Paper. Atlanta, Georgia. Archived from the original on January 9, 2009.
  31. ↑ Ferrara, Peter (December 1, 2011). "Salvaging The Mythology Of Man-Caused Global Warming" Forbes, Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  32. ↑ Ferrara, Peter (January 22, 2013). In this, he asserted "global temperatures will continue to decline for another two decades or more"; in fact, temperatures resumed rising within a decade to new record levels. "As The Economy Recesses, Obama's Global Warming Delusions Are Truly Cruel" Forbes, Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  33. ↑ Ferrara, Peter (May 26, 2013). "To The Horror Of Global Warming Alarmists, Global Cooling Is Here" Forbes, Retrieved November 26, 2014.
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