Two and a half trillion dollars: That’s the most recent estimate for US states’ total unfunded pension liabilities. Nathan Benefield at USA Today breaks down the painful consequences of letting a defined-benefit system run amok for decade after decade: One inescapable fact remains: Without meaningful reform, paying down these liabilities would cost the average American […]

The battle lines between friends and rivals are coming into sharper focus in Asia’s Game of Thrones.Chinese Premier Li Kequiang traveled straight to Pakistan following his trip to India. There, Li deftly avoided touching on sensitive subjects; in Pakistan, he praised the military, promised to strengthen the two countries’ economic links, and gushed that “the China-Pakistan friendship has […]

California’s high-speed rail project would be a bad idea in the best of times, but the state is handling it so poorly it almost seems like it’s trying to fail. The LA Times reports that Tutor Perini Corp. beat out five companies to build the train’s first 29 miles. Tutor Perini submitted the lowest bid, but it ranked lowest on design, safety and engineering […]

The upcoming summit between China’s new president Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama in California could be consequential, if stage-setting reports in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times are to be believed. Xi believes that relations between the two countries are at a “critical crossroads” and that it is time to explore “a new type of […]

…and it’s all thanks to fracking. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are meeting Friday to discuss cutting production in response to the new US addition to the global oil market. But delegates have already hinted that the asymmetric impact of the shale revolution on OPEC’s member countries has weakened the bloc’s resolve […]

Ron Radosh, writing for PJMedia, dug back into New Left history and political theory in coming up with an explanation for the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups. Radosh provided a telling quote from Herbert Marcuse’s theory of “repressive tolerance” article of 1965. I doubt whether it really applies to the IRS scandal, but it’s timely […]

Student debt has just hit a grim new milestone: the number of overdue student loans has reached an all-time high, as college students fall deeper into debt and their employment prospects dim. Bloomberg reports: Eleven percent of student loans were seriously delinquent — at least 90 days past due — in the third quarter of […]

A team of researchers at Bell Laboratories has reportedly developed a new technique for sending data farther and faster along fiber-optic lines, the physical infrastructure that forms the backbone of the internet. This is a big step. Researchers have long feared that there might be a limit to the speed and distance data can be […]

Last week, Obamacare supporters rejoiced over new estimates that California’s insurance premiums would be lower than expected under the ACA. But this week they’re being more cautious in their predictions.On Wonkblog, a pro-ACA outlet that cheered loudly when the California numbers came out, Sarah Kliff argues that success in the Golden State might not be replicable elsewhere. […]

A number of states with some extra money on hand are increasing funding for their public university systems. This is a significant reversal: With the exception of North Dakota and Wyoming, every state now spends less money per student on public education than it did at the beginning of the recession. Many public schools increased tuition to […]