On Wednesday TransUnion LLC released an alarming report confirming one of our greatest fears: one-third of all student loans are going to subprime borrowers, and many of these loans are beginning to go bad.The WSJ reports: The Chicago-based credit bureau found that 33% of the almost $900 billion in outstanding student loans was held by subprime, or […]

When Obamacare passed in 2010, it did so with substantial union support. But now that unions are learning what’s actually in the law, voter’s remorse is setting in. The WSJ has the story: Union leaders say many of the law’s requirements will drive up the costs for their health-care plans and make unionized workers less […]

After three lifeless years, the peace process looked to be momentarily gasping for air. That was yesterday; by this morning, it was pronounced dead on arrival.The cause of all the excitement was a report in the Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq that Hamas leader Khaled Meshal—a committed anti-Zionist—had decided to endorse a two-state solution based on the […]

The school lunchroom, with its cliquey social divisions, wet trays, and barely edible food, was a huge part of the educational experience for past generations, but for future ones that may be changing. Outside food prep companies are replacing school cafeterias, says the WSJ: Kid Chow, which husband-and-wife team Rob and Jamie Feuerman, both 48 […]

If you doubt the power of telecommuting, look to Thailand. The New York Times reports: For the past year and a half, by the [ruling] party’s own admission, the most important political decisions in this country of 65 million people have been made from abroad, by a former prime minister who has been in self-imposed exile […]

Illinois already has the highest unfunded pension liabilities of any U.S. state. This has forced the state to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from its education budget, lowered its credit rating, and given it the highest borrowing costs of any state in the nation.Now, the Wall Street Journal reports, the state has postponed an auction of $500 million […]

French forces stormed Kidal and seized the airport yesterday, felling the last of the urban Islamist strongholds in Mali. But it’s too soon to celebrate, as over the past few weeks hundreds and perhaps thousands of jihadists have fled to the deserts in northern Mali to regroup and presumably plan a counter attack.The Washington Post reports: New […]

Is Big Pharma pressuring states to grant drug companies an effective monopoly on their most popular drugs? According to the NYT, Amgen and Genentech are leading a charge in many U.S. state legislatures for bills that would prevent pharmacists from selling “biosimilars”—that is, generic versions of biological drugs—in place of their brand name parents. Eight states […]

Did the Syrian opposition just blink? Opposition leader Sheik Khatib, an important cleric from Damascus, posted on his Facebook page that he was willing to talk with the Assad regime. Other opposition figures quickly distanced themselves from the Sheik’s overture, causing him to qualify his statement as “just an opinion.” And Assad is unlikely to bite, […]

Just hours after Israeli jets attacked either a convoy of trucks carrying weapons to Hezbollah or a scientific research facility outside Damascus (depending on whom you ask), Iran’s foreign minister blasted Israel, saying “There is no doubt that this aggression is part of a Western and Zionist strategy to push aside the success of the […]