Free Republic

So says the Congressional Budget Office: In yet more disappointing news for Democrats pushing for health care reform, Douglas W. Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, offered a skeptical view Friday of the cost savings that could result from preventive care -- an area that President Obama and congressional Democrats repeatedly had emphasized as a way health care reform would be less expensive in the long term. The Dems are perturbed, and Pelosi whined: Before that, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that "it's always been a source, yes I will say frustration, for many of us in Congress...

Over the past five years, taxpayers have paid about $8 million to 117 administrators who either returned to the faculty or left the university. In 24 cases, the payouts were for $100,000 or more. A News & Observer review found that these agreements, along with other transitional payments, offered sizable sums of money with few or no strings attached, in at least three cases violated UNC system policies and in some cases rewarded administrators with as much as a year's salary for a job poorly done.

We're allowing is you standardize the system, you bring the pre--pre-market principles to the marketing of prescription drugs. It's the only product made in the world where there is actually prohibition from free trade. If you brought free trade and competition and choice, actually the market would work.

Americans are fairly evenly divided on the health care reform proposals working their way through Congress, but most remain convinced that the plans will raise costs and hurt the quality of the care they receive. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 47% are in favor of the reform effort proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats while 49% are opposed. Those figures include 25% who Strongly Favor the plans and 41% who are Strongly Opposed. The specifics of what will be in a health care reform plan remains hotly debated in Congress at the moment. When a...

Proponents of government-run health care like to point out that countries with such a system spend a smaller percentage of their gross domestic product on health care than the United States. What they don't like to mention is how those savings are achieved. For example:

There's potentially good news on the environmental front out of Washington D.C., but it's probably more than offset by a devastating announcement Friday. First, the good news. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the Environmental Protection Agency, when upgrading older power plants, may consider costs before demanding use of the most advanced technology, as required by law. The ruling was a defeat for environmentalists, who challenged the Bush administration's discretionary practice. Hans Bader, special projects counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute think tank, told us the ruling permits continued cost-benefit analysis as an option in upgrades .. The group...

We need to fix the problem of colleges sending graduates out into the world with mountains of debt and degrees that are increasingly deflated because everyone gets one. The sources of this problem are the three-fold: 1) college prices are high because everyone wants in (supply and demand), 2) degrees are worth less because universities grant them with increasing rapidity while holding students to increasingly low academic standards, and 3) government has the misplaced idea that it is somehow democratic to fund college education based on economic standards and not student merit. Government policy toward education should be to assist...

The removal of about 140,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 will be a "massive and expensive effort" that is likely to increase rather than lower Iraq-related expenditures during the withdrawal and for several years after its completion, government investigators said in a report released yesterday

Columbus questions whether it needs paramedics City panel suggests returning to cheaper basic emergency medical care Sunday, March 22, 2009 8:43 PM By Suzanne Hoholik THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH A committee charged with finding ways for Columbus to save money has recommended that the city return to a basic emergency medical system. The last time the Columbus Division of Fire provided only basic-level care was in 1968. Since then, Columbus has provided advanced life support to anyone who calls 911 for medical attention, whether a patient needs it or not. Basic care mostly involves stabilizing injuries before a patient is transported....

(IsraelNN.com) Ali Al-Kurd, a money-changer in eastern Jerusalem, promised his investors a 26 percent annual profit. He disappeared several weeks ago, and 100 million shekels – some say 200 million – are gone. The story, broken by Israel’s business weekly Globes, began seven years ago, according to some reports. Ali Al-Kurd, son of a wealthy businessman, began paying between 21 and 26 percent annual interest rates, in regular monthly payments, on investment sums that reached as high as $1.2 million. He held lavish meetings with potential investors, spoke vaguely of various opportunities in Israel and elsewhere, but “when you left...

Governor’s Staff Addresses Expenses Issues on News Media Coverage of Per Diem FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-35 Governor’s Staff Addresses Expenses Issues February 23, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Staff for Governor Sarah Palin today responded to persistent news media coverage of the per diem the governor has collected while working away from her official duty station of Juneau, while pointing out significant savings the governor has achieved in regard to the way she has discharged her official duties. “The news media have been focused on the $8,500 the governor has collected in per diem annually while working in Anchorage, almost...

LOS ANGELES – A big share of the financial burden of raising Nadya Suleman's 14 children could fall on the shoulders of California's taxpayers, compounding the public furor in a state already billions of dollars in the red. Even before the 33-year-old single, unemployed mother gave birth to octuplets last month, she had been caring for her six other children with the help of $490 a month in food stamps, plus Social Security disability payments for three of the youngsters. The public aid will almost certainly be increased with the new additions to her family. Also, the hospital where the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – How much does it cost to spend $350 billion? The U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday its administrative bill for the Troubled Asset Relief Program is expected to total $26.55 million through the end of January, mostly to pay for services such as accounting and custodial contracts. In a report to Congress, the Treasury said it incurred $5.58 million in expense obligations through December 31. Congress has released only the first half of the $700 billion bailout fund, which was approved in October 2008. The Treasury has allocated about $354 billion from the fund, but has released only...

LONDON (Reuters) - The cost of efforts to avoid dangerous global warming may be 170 percent higher than 2007 estimates, a report for the U.N.'s climate agency said on Thursday. The report comes four days before the U.N. leads a fresh round of talks in Poland to agree a successor to the Kyoto Protocol in ongoing negotiations marred by squabbles over who should bear the cost of fighting climate change. The U.N. report cited research by the International Energy Agency (IEA), energy adviser to 28 countries, and others which showed growing capital costs especially in the energy sector. "The increased...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2008 – Today’s increased price of oil is fueling Iraq’s ability to pay more for its reconstruction costs that up to now have been heavily funded by U.S. taxpayers, a senior U.S. official said at the White House yesterday. Since Saddam Hussein was deposed by U.S. and coalition forces in 2003 “a lot of the heavy lifting” in terms of cost in restoring Iraq’s worn out infrastructure has been accomplished with American tax dollars, said U.S. Treasury Department employee Ged Smith, who is the U.S. Treasury attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Smith, who has been...

Warning: Tuition Hike Ahead by: Jeff Waldmann, August 13, 2008 As Congress and the President continue to squabble over consolidating the federal budget, they pass bills that simultaneously undercut their efforts and expand government, says Brian M. Riedl, a Heritage Foundation fellow. Riedl gives a glaring example of one such bill that counteracts any comparatively minor budget cuts that have been made. He writes, “virtually unnoticed, the House of Representatives voted 354 to 58 on February 7 to add $169 billion in new higher-education spending and create at least 50 new federal programs. In other words, one step forward, ten...

5 foods it's cheaper to grow If grocery prices have you thinking about cutting costs with a garden, you may be on the right track. But be careful what you plant; a garden could raise your food costs. Whether you save by gardening depends largely on where you live, what you grow and how well you resist slick gadgets and miracle solutions. If you're looking to save money rather than to start a hobby, here are five garden crops likely to give you the best return: What about tomatoes? They require moderate care and vigilance, and in short-season climates, you...

American Degree Mills Exposed by: Deborah Lambert, May 27, 2008 If someone in your family is heading off to college shortly, here’s something you might want to think about. A new study by the non-profit Delta Cost Project found that although the cost of college tuition outpaces inflation by a country mile, it doesn’t necessarily translate into better results, according to USA Today. For example, this year “the sticker price increases ranged from 4.2% at community colleges to 6.6% at public four-year institutions.” Since a college degree is still the must-have “ticket” for every American student, steady tuition increases are...

Climate Change Bible by: Bethany Stotts, April 23, 2008 While some global warming skeptics may have accused climate change believers of placing undue “faith” in murky science, some professors have already elevated the cause to a Christian edict. In his recent column “The Ultimate Ethical Issue?,” Professor David P. Gushee casts combatting climate change as Christianity’s ultimate moral test—and dismisses family values and constitutionality in the process. “The data is in: Human beings are indeed culpable [for climate change],” comments the Mercer University Theology Professor. His article appears in PRISM, a publication of the progressive Evangelicals for Social Action (ESA)....

Soaring food costs risk 'starvation and unrest' By Alex Spillius in Washington Last Updated: 2:41am BST 14/04/2008 The world's poorest countries face starvation and civil unrest if global food prices keep rising, the head of the International Monetary Fund has said. There have been serious disturbances in more than a dozen developing countries, including Haiti [pictured] Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in Washington that "hundreds of thousands of people will be starving". "Children will be suffering from malnutrition, with consequences for all their lives," he said. He predicted that increasing food prices would push up the cost of imports for poor countries,...