White House to List Visitors on Web Site - Political News - FOXNews.com

White House to List Visitors on Web Site - Political News - FOXNews.com: "'For the first time in history, records of White House visitors will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis,' President Obama said in a statement. 'We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most open and transparent administration in history not only by opening the doors of the White House to more Americans, but by shining a light on the business conducted inside. Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process.'"

It doesn't seem that significant to me. Meetings would just have to be held off-site to keep them private.

Mammoth U.N. Tech Overhaul: Over Budget and Behind Schedule - United Nations - FOXNews.com

Mammoth U.N. Tech Overhaul: Over Budget and Behind Schedule - United Nations - FOXNews.com: "A $286.6 million computer and software system upgrade, described as the 'cornerstone of a United Nations-wide effort to bring groundbreaking reform' to the management of the U.N. Secretariat, is already about three to four months behind schedule, and is headed to be tens of millions of dollars over budget, less than a year and a half after being approved."

"Yet despite the unappetizing revelations about the cost and timing of the technology project-named Umoja, or "unity" in Swahili — the bureaucrats in charge of the scheme remain relentlessly upbeat about the final outcome."

'The bureaucrats claim that by the time their project is concluded in 2012 it will be back on schedule, and will pay for itself in cost efficiencies and other savings in just two years' time after it is operable and "stabilized." Their report offers little evidence beyond sweeping generalities, however, of how those efficiencies will be achieved.

And by then, the report says, the technology upgrade will have cost a staggering $337 million, or about $50.4 million more than was planned when the scheme was approved about a year and a half ago.

Even that cost-overrun is considerably understated. The original $286.6 million price tag for the Umoja information technology project, known as an enterprise resource system, or ERP, included $37.2 million worth of funding over and above the expected cost, or roughly 15 percent, for "contingencies" In effect, the report projects that the worst-case over-run will be exceeded by 135 percent.'

'Elsewhere, the report says many of the existing electronic systems are only used to back up hand-entered paper systems, which employees trust more than their electronic tools. "Paper documents are usually the source of trusted information," the report confides, adding that at the U.N. "we often have several versions of 'the truth.'" '

'Among other things, the report claims that Umoja's automated processes would "drastically reduce the 207-day average time between the creation of a requisition for goods and the creation of a purchase order" in the Secretariat's procurement system — a claim that seems unarguable. '

'Some projected savings, however, appear bizarre. One example: "Umoja would also generate opportunities for the United Nations to generate income with ... sales of publications, postage stamps and gift items." Expected revenue: $11 million to $21 million. No explanation is provided of how that would happen. The U.N. postal system has been a scandal-tainted perennial money loser.'

'The original plan for the project called for 44 "core" or full-time staffers to manage the Umjoa installation and roll-out. The new draft report bluntly declared the project "could not possibly be executed" without 36 additional bodies. Cost: $32.4 million. Another $18.1 million would be required to replace staff brought in from other parts of the U.N. to help out along the way.

Even though the staffing climbs to 80, the revised Umoja budget includes office rental for 236 people ($6.7 million) with "minor alterations" to the office space ($4.2 million).

The original budget for the tech overhaul had a minimal expense line for travel. That's changed: now the budget calls for "a total of 1,285 trips by the ERP team, subject-matter-experts and corporate consultants," at an average air ticket cost of $6,000, plus $202 "terminal expenses," plus $5,000 for per diem expenses, "with each trip is [sic] estimated to cost $11,202/person."'

This would be hilarious if were just a comical movie. Only a government organization could get away with being that incompetent without being shut down!

Report: U.S. Makes $4 Billion From Bailout Banks - Political News - FOXNews.com

Report: U.S. Makes $4 Billion From Bailout Banks - Political News - FOXNews.com: "The U.S. government has hauled in about $4 billion in profits from large banks that have repaid their obligations from last year's federal bailout, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Last September, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pressed congressional leaders for legislation authorizing a $700 billion financial bailout of some of the nation's largest financial institutions, which were in danger of collapsing. The bill was signed into law in October."

So the profit rate is only 0.57% on banks that have repaid -- which appears to exclude any banks that haven't repaid. It will be interesting to see the overall rate once all have paid back (or failed).

Obama Defends Health Care Plan to Town Hall Skeptic - Political News - FOXNews.com

Obama Defends Health Care Plan to Town Hall Skeptic - Political News - FOXNews.com: "He cited examples in which people have lost their insurance, including when going from job to job and because of pre-existing conditions."

Government regulation promotes the loss of insurance between jobs so why don't they just fix that?
Technically you can't lose insurance because of a pre-existing condition -- it is just more expensive to buy new insurance.

Job Market Could Lag Behind for Years, Study Forecasts - Political News - FOXNews.com

Job Market Could Lag Behind for Years, Study Forecasts - Political News - FOXNews.com: "According to their forecast, the unemployment rate will be at 10 percent through 2011. Three years after that, the jobless rate will have dropped only to 8 percent. And a decade from now, that rate will still be floating above 6 percent.�"

Can the Free Market Wage War? - David Gordon - Mises Institute

Can the Free Market Wage War? - David Gordon - Mises Institute: "Tariffs, and similar measures designed to strengthen the nation, 'should not be considered as measures of production policy.' They aid some citizens at the expense of others; they do not help the economy as a whole."

"The first step which led from the soldiers' war back to total war was the introduction of compulsory military service. … The war was no longer to be only a matter of mercenaries; it was to include everyone who had the necessary physical ability. … But when it is realized that a part of the able-bodied must be used on the industrial front … then there is no reason to differentiate in compulsory service between the able-bodied and the physically unfit. Compulsory military service thus leads to compulsory labor service of all citizens who are able to work, male and female."

"On the basis of such [anticapitalist] reasoning the [Léon] Blum government nationalized the French armament industry. When the war broke out and it became imperative to place the productive power of all French plants into the service of the rearmament effort, the French authorities considered it more important to block war profits than to win the war."

What Health Care "Reform" Would Mean For Montana | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

What Health Care "Reform" Would Mean For Montana | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "First, the legislation making its way through both the House and Senate contains an individual mandate — a requirement that every American buy health insurance. And not just any insurance but insurance that includes all the benefits government thinks you should have. That insurance could be more expensive or include benefits that people don't want, or are morally opposed to such as abortion.

That doesn't just affect those without insurance today. The bills now before Congress say that while you won't be immediately forced to switch from your current insurance to a government-specified plan, you'll have to switch to satisfy the government's requirements if you lose your current insurance or want to change plans. And, for the 70 percent of us who get our insurance through work, those plans will all have to satisfy the government's benefit requirements within five years."

Junk Food, Taxes, and the Market Solution - Sascha Baghestanian - Mises Institute

Junk Food, Taxes, and the Market Solution - Sascha Baghestanian - Mises Institute: "So it seems to be easy to explain why people love fast food: it contains a lot of meat, it is designed to taste well, and it is getting ever cheaper. But how can a good that is potentially hazardous get cheaper and cheaper? Shouldn't the market accommodate for the hazard, so that people who are willing to take the potential risk for the sake of pleasure have to face higher costs in terms of higher insurance premiums?

That's where the public medical plans come into play. Since the government distorts the health insurance markets, it releases the insurance seekers from their own responsibilities.

The standard health insurance premiums for overweight people (and smokers) are certainly below a potential free market price. The most obvious proof for this is the public health deficit — which a profit-oriented insurance company could not run year after year without being outcompeted by other companies. Clearly, on a free market in health insurance, obese persons would have to pay even higher premiums than they do now."

'For the sake of argument, let us also accept the government's assumption that an increase in taxes would affect behavior and reduce the consumption of burgers and pizza.

Who would be the most negatively affected by such a tax hike?'

'In the fast food industry, where 70% of total costs is attributed to labor, it's pretty clear who is going to be affected: the people who are standing behind the counter, asking several-hundred times a day, "For here or to go?"'

'What about the consumer? The government gave him the illusion that the side effects of his actions would be costless. He is certainly not the one who should be blamed for this situation. It is government overregulation that caused this mess and deserves the blame.'

The Case against National School Standards | Andrew J. Coulson | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Case against National School Standards | Andrew J. Coulson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "But averages don't take tests. Kids do. Even if students' average academic potential were the same in Texas and Vermont, the individual children who make up those averages would still be all over the map. To claim that all the children in a single large family could progress through every subject at the same pace is a stretch. To claim this of every child in a whole neighborhood is preposterous. To claim it of every child in a nation of 300 million people is the premise of national standards.

Children are not interchangeable widgets. It does not serve their interests to feed them through learning factories on a single, fixed-pace conveyor belt. Some pick up reading quickly and easily fly through ever more challenging texts. Others find reading a chore, progressing more slowly even when encouraged by supportive families and talented teachers. To demand a single pace for all students in all subjects is to simultaneously tie together the laces of the fleet and kick out the crutches of the slow.

Not only is it impossible to create a single set of standards that would serve every child equally well, such standards would fail to significantly improve our schools. High external standards have never been the driving force behind human progress.

The tremendous leap in Olympic athletic achievement of the past 40 years was not achieved because the organizing committee told competitors to start swimming faster or jumping higher. It happened because Olympic athletes are competitors.

The same thing is true across every sector of our economy. Cell phone makers have not relentlessly improved their products because of national mandates. They've done it to attract customers away from their competitors. Amazon did not diversify its business and create the Kindle because a consortium of Internet vendors demanded it, but because Amazon sought to beat its competition.

The progress we've seen in one industry after another, just as in athletic pursuits, has been the result of competition - something that our education system has sorely lacked. At the dawn of the 21st century, three quarters of American children are still assigned to schools based on where they live, by bureaucrats who have never met them. Stellar public schools cannot grow and take over less successful ones. Ineffective public schools have little fear of losing students to competitors because they have no real competitors - they enjoy a monopoly on $12,000 per pupil in public spending."

Who Are the Uninsured? | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Who Are the Uninsured? | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Only about 30 percent of the uninsured remain so for more than a year, approximately 16 percent for two years, and less than 2.5 percent for three years or longer. About half are uninsured for six months or less. Notably, because health insurance is too often tied to employment, the working poor who cycle in and out of the job market also cycle in and out of health insurance."