Lawmakers Override "Frankenstein Veto" in State Budget | Scott Walker for Wisconsin Governor

Lawmakers Override "Frankenstein Veto" in State Budget | Scott Walker for Wisconsin Governor: "Governor Doyle acknowledged the veto was in error. He blamed it on employees in his budget office working too fast."

Maybe he and his staff just aren't competent enough or government is too big to manage.

Editorial: Balanced budget requirement being bypassed | Scott Walker for Wisconsin Governor

Editorial: Balanced budget requirement being bypassed | Scott Walker for Wisconsin Governor: "That said, a budget with a $200 million hole is not balanced. According to the WTA, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau covered the budget shortfall by simply adding a line that says $100 million in 'other' revenues will flow into the state during each of the next two years. How?

The WTA poses several questions in response to this maneuver.

'First, what prevents any legislature or governor from developing a budget deficit and then, to balance it, 'plugging' into the budget an unspecified promise of future cuts or transfers sufficient to produce an ending surplus?

'And, if the governor can promise $200 million in future lapses this year, why can't a future chief executive or legislature promise $500 million to cover a $500 deficit? Or $1 billion to avoid a $1 billion shortfall?'"

Give True Account of Health Plan's Cost | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary

Give True Account of Health Plan's Cost | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary: "First, Congress should ensure that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office includes all new state and private-sector spending, as well as new federal spending, in the total cost of each bill.

In 2006, Massachusetts snuck a health care boondoggle past the voters by pushing 20 percent of the cost on to the federal government and 60 percent onto private individuals and employers, according to data from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation"

"House Democrats kept the (on-budget) cost of their plan to a mere $1.2 trillion by delaying implementation until the second half of the 10-year budget window."

"It costs Massachusetts about $6,700 to cover each previously uninsured resident, or about $27,000 to cover a family of four. Democrats should justify why they want to tax us that much when the average employer-sponsored family policy costs just $12,680."

Obama Kills Health Competition | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Obama Kills Health Competition | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Obama has repeatedly said that one of his 'reform' goals is to increase 'competition and choice' in the US health-care system -- but the policies he's pursuing would actually reduce competition and give consumers fewer choices. Meanwhile, he's ignoring reforms that would bring more choices and competition."

"To truly create more choice and competition, Obama should tear down the regulatory barriers to choice by letting people buy insurance from states other than the one in which they live.

Though few realize it, it's illegal to purchase health insurance across state lines. This effectively creates insurance cartels in each state"

"Ironically, one group has this ability today: big businesses. The federal ERISA law (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act) lets larger companies ignore state mandates and avoid uncompetitive state markets: They can create their own plans, and their employees can take that insurance anywhere in the country."

Congressman Ron Kind : On the Road - Blog : Immediate Need for Health Care Reform: June 22, 2009

Congressman Ron Kind : On the Road - Blog : Immediate Need for Health Care Reform: June 22, 2009: "In a tough economic time, reforming the health care system will save money, create jobs, and help put us on a path toward recovery."

Since the system will cost at least $200 billion per year after it is fully ramped up, there is no way that it will save money or help the economy.

Moms Stage Breast-Feeding Protest at Florida Fast Food Restaurant - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Moms Stage Breast-Feeding Protest at Florida Fast Food Restaurant - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com: "The manager of a central Florida fast food restaurant says she made a 'doozy' of a mistake when she suggested a breast-feeding mother cover herself earlier this week."

I am all for breast-feeding but just because it is good doesn't mean that it should be on display.

Congressman Ron Kind : On the Road - Blog : Affordable Health Care for Wisconsin: July 28, 2009

Congressman Ron Kind : On the Road - Blog : Affordable Health Care for Wisconsin: July 28, 2009: "In order to increase access to affordable coverage we must make sure no one is denied coverage, specifically due to pre-existing conditions"

That would just increase costs.

Congressman Ron Kind : On the Road - Blog : More Cash for Clunkers: July 31, 2009

Congressman Ron Kind : On the Road - Blog : More Cash for Clunkers: July 31, 2009: "The incentives are not only spurring growth for the auto industry but by getting money flowing into the economy, helping it down the path to recovery. "

The government has to take from others to give to some so it is a net loss.

Obama and the Post Office - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. - Mises Institute

Obama and the Post Office - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. - Mises Institute: "Writing in The State and Revolution in 1917, Vladimir Lenin summed up the economic aim of socialism as follows: 'To organize the whole economy on the lines of the postal service….' "

"A student raised a question about the government's provision of health services and its impact on private services.

How can a private company compete against the government? My answer is that if the private insurance companies are providing a good bargain, and if the public option has to be self-sustaining, meaning that taxpayers aren't subsidizing it, but it has to run on charging premiums and providing good services, and a good network of doctors, just like private insurers do, then I think private insurers should be able to compete.

They do it all the time. If you think about it, UPS and Fed-Ex are doing just fine. It's the post office that's always having problems … there is nothing inevitable about this somehow destroying the private marketplace. As long as it is not set up where the government is being subsidized by the taxpayers so that even if they are providing a good deal, we keep having to pony up more and more money.

Now, these comments are nothing short of incredible. The post office has been on the loser list for many decades. Most recently, it has been included on the GAO's high-risk list, increasing its debt to $10.2 billion and incurring a cash shortfall of $1 billion."

What Black Parents Are Still Telling Their Children | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

What Black Parents Are Still Telling Their Children | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In Nassau, along with 30 hours of training on cultural diversity in the police academy, a much more enduring practice is 'data collection program that requires officers to note the race and ethnicity of motorists they stop on the road.'

Detective Lt. Kevin Smith adds that this data is periodically studied to determine if the police department engages in racial profiling.

Furthermore – and I hope other police departments will take notice – Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy told Newsday: 'Last year, for the first time, we completed a pilot program where we collected statistics to help identify a baseline for traffic stops and to red-flag officers who differed significantly from peers when making these stops.'

What then? 'We shared,' said Levy, 'these data with individuals who were above the norm, sought an explanation, and then possibly referred those individuals for additional training.'

This postgraduate education for police officers, if extended nationally and to police on the streets as well, could eventually lead to fewer war stories among black males about the humiliation, and worse, of 'driving while black.'"

Inhumanity of the Minimum Wage - Paul Poirot - Mises Institute

Inhumanity of the Minimum Wage - Paul Poirot - Mises Institute: "If a minimum wage is set high enough to have any effect, that effect must be a closing of the market to those persons least capable of earning a living. For the minimum wage denies such persons the right to offer their services for what they are worth. The law says in effect, 'If you are not worth the legal minimum wage, you are not worth anything.'

This, of course, is arbitrariness of the very worst kind. It is difficult to visualize a greater injustice than this among supposedly civilized human beings — the strong ganging up to deprive the weak of their limited means of helping themselves.

Setting a minimum wage, below which no man may sell his services, is like setting a floor price for potatoes. The higher the floor price, the less demand there will be for potatoes. Those growers of potatoes who are least skilled in the arts of production will have been forced out of the market arbitrarily. And so will those buyers who can least afford to pay the price for potatoes."

What to Do About Pre-existing Conditions | John H. Cochrane | Cato Institute: Commentary

What to Do About Pre-existing Conditions | John H. Cochrane | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Health care and insurance are service-oriented, retail businesses. There is only one way to reduce costs in such a business: intense competition for every customer. The idea that the federal government can reduce costs by negotiating harder or telling businesses what to do is a triumph of hope over centuries of experience."

"But what about pre-existing conditions?

A truly effective insurance policy would combine coverage for this year's expenses with the right to buy insurance in the future at a set price. Today, employer-based group coverage provides the former but, crucially, not the latter. A "guaranteed renewable" individual insurance contract is the simplest way to deliver both. Once you sign up, you can keep insurance for life, and your premiums do not rise if you get sicker. Term life insurance, for example, is fully guaranteed renewable. Individual health insurance is mostly so. And insurers are getting more creative. UnitedHealth now lets you buy the right to future insurance—insurance against developing a pre-existing condition.

These market solutions can be refined. Insurance policies could separate current insurance and the right to buy future insurance. Then, if you are temporarily covered by an employer, you could keep the pre-existing-condition protection."

"How do we know insurers will honor such contracts? What about the stories of insurers who drop customers when they get sick? A competitive market is the best consumer protection. A car insurer that doesn't pay claims quickly loses customers and goes out of business. And courts do still enforce contracts."