Oh, SNAP: Congress Hasn't Gone Far Enough to Cut Food Stamps | Cato Institute

Oh, SNAP: Congress Hasn't Gone Far Enough to Cut Food Stamps | Cato Institute: "as recently as 2000, this program cost just $18 billion annually and covered just 17 million Americans. Today, roughly 48 million Americans receive food stamps at a cost of almost $83 billion per year.

That amount already is scheduled to decline to roughly $73 billion by 2023, in part because increases included in the 2009 stimulus bill expired last month. The reported compromise would reduce this spending by an additional 1.3 percent, which still would leave total food-stamp spending at $72 billion in 2023. That’s roughly the same level as it was in 2011, not a year known as “the Great American Famine.”"

"the vast majority of the proposed cuts come from closing the so-called Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, loophole, which allows states to increase benefits for individuals who also receive utilities assistance. Approximately 16 states have used this loophole to leverage nominal (as little as $1) LIHEAP payments into an increase in a household’s SNAP benefits. Reports indicate that the congressional compromise would require states to provide LIHEAP benefits of at least $20 in order to qualify for the exemption, preventing them from manipulating the system to increase federal payments."

"Currently, 44 states have waivers that allow them to forgo the program’s requirements that food-stamp participants work, or at least be actively looking for work. As a result, in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, only 27.7 percent of nonelderly adult participants were employed, while another 28 percent reported that they were looking for work."

"In fact, the Government Accountability Office found that “the literature is inconclusive regarding whether SNAP alleviates hunger and malnutrition for low-income households.” Similarly, a study for the U.S. Department of Agriculture found for nearly all vitamins, minerals and macronutrients assessed, the dietary intake among SNAP participants was comparable to that of nonparticipants."

Will Paul Ryan and GOP Budget Negotiators Snatch Defeat from Jaws of Victory? | Cato Institute

Will Paul Ryan and GOP Budget Negotiators Snatch Defeat from Jaws of Victory? | Cato Institute: " A majority of the Republican caucus presumably understands that they hold a winning hand and they’re content to maintain current law and let the sequester continue.

But the Republicans on the Appropriations Committee tend to dislike the sequester since it reduces their ability to spend other people’s money in exchange for political support."

What to Do If and When Obamacare Collapses | Cato Institute

What to Do If and When Obamacare Collapses | Cato Institute: "The most effective plan for most people to cover health care costs probably would include the following elements:

(A) A major medical insurance policy for catastrophic expenses

(B) A high deductible to minimize insurance premiums

(C) A tax-advantaged health savings account built up with regular contributions to cover medical expenses below the deductible

(D) A guaranteed-renewable (sometimes referred to as non-cancellable) feature that means the insurer will continue covering a policyholder regardless of medical conditions, as long as premiums are paid on time

(E) A health-status feature to protect against the risk that future premiums might rise significantly if a policyholder develops medical conditions involving higher medical expenses

(F) All insurance policies should be owned by the insured, not their employers or anyone else. This means wherever one might move, the insurance policies will follow. Similarly, divorce won’t result in the loss of health insurance.

(G) Each health insurance owner should receive a standard deduction for health insurance premiums on his or her federal income tax return."

Congress Should Abolish the TSA -- It's Time to Privatize Airport Screening | Cato Institute

Congress Should Abolish the TSA -- It's Time to Privatize Airport Screening | Cato Institute: "Studies have found that TSA’s screening results have been no better, and possibly worse, than that of the private screeners. And a House report in 2011 found that private screeners at San Francisco International Airport were far more efficient than the federal screeners at the Los Angeles International Airport."

WORLD | Carbon goes green | Daniel James Devine | Nov. 30, 2013

WORLD | Carbon goes green | Daniel James Devine | Nov. 30, 2013: "To a plant, carbon dioxide is food. But the gas has a counterintuitive effect on a plant’s metabolism: The more CO2 in the air, the less water a leaf needs."

"researchers estimated that warm, dry areas were 11 percent greener than they would have been had CO2 remained constant since 1982.

The long-term effects of this greening are hard to predict, but scientists speculate it could prevent soil erosion, increase plant life in deserts, and increase forest cover. On the other hand, it could increase fuel for forest fires, and provoke unexpected changes in habitats, requiring wildlife—or farmers—to adjust ways of living."

Johnson Comments on President's ‘Fix It’ Speech - Press Releases - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin

Johnson Comments on President's ‘Fix It’ Speech - Press Releases - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin: "In contrast, the president’s latest idea has a crucial flaw: It is short-term. He proposes letting people keep their plans for one year only. After that, apparently, they’d again be forced onto costlier, less satisfactory Obamacare plans. People don’t need a health-care solution just for the next year. We need to think long-term."

School starting age: the evidence | University of Cambridge

School starting age: the evidence | University of Cambridge: "tudies have compared groups of children in New Zealand who started formal literacy lessons at ages 5 and 7. Their results show that the early introduction of formal learning approaches to literacy does not improve children’s reading development, and may be damaging. By the age of 11 there was no difference in reading ability level between the two groups, but the children who started at 5 developed less positive attitudes to reading, and showed poorer text comprehension than those children who had started later. In a separate study of reading achievement in 15 year olds across 55 countries, researchers showed that there was no significant association between reading achievement and school entry age."

Death row inmate's wish raises ethical questions | Fox News

Death row inmate's wish raises ethical questions | Fox News: "They worry that such practices would make judges and juries more likely to hand out death sentences."

The Fourth Obamacare Shock Wave Is about to Reach Us | Cato Institute

The Fourth Obamacare Shock Wave Is about to Reach Us | Cato Institute: "Government-run Romneycare — the model used for Obamacare — was enacted in Massachusetts in 2006, and a recent survey by the Massachusetts Medical Society found that half the state’s primary care practices aren’t accepting new patients. At practices accepting new patients, the average wait to see a family physician is 39 days, and the average wait to see an internal medicine physician is 50 days.

Because so many people in Massachusetts don’t have a doctor, there has been a sharp increase in the number of emergency room visits. Stressed-out emergency room nurses are talking about possible strikes."

"according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the number of doctors who no longer accept Medicare patients has tripled during the last three years"

"Some doctors go off networks and continue their usual routines, but they accept only cash, checks or credit cards. Such doctors seem to cut their prices about 50 percent, since they don’t have all the billing paperwork and the staff needed to handle it, and they don’t wait months to get paid by Obamacare, Medicare or Medicaid."

Chained CPI Chains Taxpayers - Campaign for Liberty

Chained CPI Chains Taxpayers - Campaign for Liberty: "Thus, the government decides your standard of living is not affected if you can no longer afford to eat steak, as long as you can afford to eat hamburger."