Opponents of the Affordable Care Act predict the law will play out in four steps: Put government in charge of healthcare. Be shocked by rising costs. Begin micromanagement and cost controls. Endless pain. Massachusetts, the model for the federal law, seems to have moved to step three, with a vote set this week on measures […]

According to the Maryland Reporter, Maryland’s state pension system earned a blistering 0.36 percent over the past year. The numbers came in just a wee bit off their target of 7.75 percent: The results “look like a minor disaster for fiscal 2011,” said Jeff Hooke, an investment banker who is chairman of the Maryland Tax […]

One infected passenger on one international flight; that’s how far the world is from the biggest health scare ever.This is how bad science fiction movies start: An ebola outbreak has now spread to Uganda’s capital, Kampala.The outbreak, which began in the Kibaale District of Uganda three weeks ago, has claimed at least 14 lives, making it […]

The world is a couple of steps closer to a new Middle East war this morning. Even as the bloodshed in Syria gets worse and government gunships and artillery pound rebel controlled neighborhoods in the country’s largest city, Turkey is moving closer to striking Syria, and Iran is threatening to respond.Turkey has sent troops and […]

Today, 670 million people are without power in India, doubling the number affected by yesterday’s major blackout. Neighboring Pakistan is also having problems, the FT reports: Ramadan usually offers a respite from power cuts in Pakistan, but this year people have taken to the streets to protest against having had no electricity for up to […]

Last week, we learned that not only does the embattled Assad regime have ties to terrorist groups; it also has chemical weapons. Now The Washington Post reports that we owe Iran and, yes, the EU, a big thanks for the Syrian regime’s chemical stockpiles: “Iran would provide the construction design and equipment to annually produce tens […]

Earlier today northern India suffered a massive power outage, affecting 370 million people for more than 12 hours. That would make it the most widespread outage in world history. Authorities in India suggested the outage may have been caused by northern states drawing more than their allocated share of power, says the Financial Times.The outage […]

Ryan Crocker, one of America’s most impressive active diplomats, is retiring after decades of tireless service. His advice for American policymakers is outlined in this New York Times profile: Remember the law of unintended consequences.Recognize the limits of the United States’ actual capabilities.Understand that getting out of a conflict once you are in can often […]

Americans may be divided about their choice for President, but if the latest Gallup poll is any indication, they largely agree on what they want him to do.Leading the list is “creating good jobs”, which commands the support of 92 percent of Americans. This is closely followed by reducing corruption, reducing the deficit, dealing with terrorism, and […]

Officials at China’s state-owned oil conglomerates have recently decided to pull out of a venture into Iran’s South Pars gas field and strike deals with Canadian, British, and Dutch oil companies instead. Bloomberg Businessweek reports: “There’s a clear herd mentality among these Chinese state-owned entities,” says Derek Scissors, an Asia economic policy fellow at the Heritage […]