We’ve know for a while now that health care spending has been slowing down for several years, but the Obama administration is increasingly taking credit for this trend. On Tuesday the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing to discuss whether the Affordable Care Act was responsible for the slowdown, and whether we should expect spending growth […]

Dying doesn’t stop some farmers from receiving subsidies. That’s the word from the NYT, which reports that the Agriculture Department doesn’t have “the proper controls” to prevent millions of dollars every year from being paid to deceased farmers: The Natural Resources Conservation Service, which oversees the Agriculture Department’s conservation programs, sent out $10.6 million in […]

Obamacare just got $12 billion more expensive. When the decision to delay enforcement of the Obamacare employer mandate was announced, we noted that the delay would likely increase the cost of the law by shifting more people onto the taxpayer-subsidized exchanges. (This was arguably the Obama administration’s intention from the beginning.) Though the main driver of the cost […]

After billions of dollars in investment and years of construction, the Burma-China gas pipeline is finally open. The pipeline connects Kunming in southwestern China to the Burmese port of Kyaukphyu on the Indian Ocean. It will soon be transporting 12 billion cubic meters of gas (about 6 percent of China’s consumption)—all without going anywhere near the congested […]

It’s not often we find good news about pensions or about new types of government regulation. Here’s a story that has both: New York Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky has taken a look at Detroit and decided New York needs rigorous oversight of its public pension funds. The WSJ reports that Lawsky’s office will […]

Bradley Manning will soon find out if he will spend the rest of his life in prison. Yesterday he was convicted of espionage, theft, and computer fraud, charges carrying a potential sentence of up to 136 years. A military judge cleared him of the most serious crime, aiding the enemy. The sentencing phase of his […]

The Daily Beast is out with its version of the best American cities list that fits the pattern we’ve seen in the past couple of years: America’s great legacy cities like New York and Los Angeles are being trounced by up-and-coming cities in the South and Midwest.Taking into account economic, demographic, and quality of life factors (employment […]

Japan’s finance minister, Taro Aso, was roundly denounced today after he said that Japan should take a cue from the Nazis in changing the country’s constitution. His aides say the remarks were taken out of context and that he didn’t mean to praise Nazi Germany but, well, see for yourself:“Germany’s Weimar Constitution was changed before anyone […]

Pope Francis has been widely praised for his simple ways and modest demeanor. When he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he traveled by public transport. He is now living in a Vatican guest house instead of the lavish Papal Apartments. He also wears ordinary leather shoes, not the traditional velvet slippers. (As far as I […]

Thirty-seven percent of Midwestern families decided to use a retail clinic for minor pediatric health issues rather than a primary care physician, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Time has the story: In a corresponding editorial, Dr. Edward Schor of the Lucille Packard Foundation for Children’s Health in Palo Alto, California wrote that such […]