The debate over health care has been going on for a long time now. It’s easy to lose sight of where we started. So I’d just like to remind people today of what this debate was supposed to be about. It was supposed to be about cost.

Senator Jim Bunning could probably use a hug.

The retiring Kentucky Republican has been trying to get Congress to live up to its fiscal promises. And for that good deed he’s getting pummeled by Democrats, barraged by reporters and largely ignored by Republicans.

One of the things I love most about my friend Barbara Alby is her "I know something that you don’t know look" — which hasn’t changed in the nearly twenty years that I have known her. When I sat down briefly with Barbara last weekend at the California Republican Assembly’s 75th Anniversary Convention in Buena Park, and asked her about her campaign for Board of Equalization, she gave me "the look" when I asked her about her ballot designation. She told me that it was "a surprise" but that her choice for ballot designation would be very important to her campaign (along with her published statement in the ballot pamphlet).

Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch still hasn’t publicly released his long-term plan to restore structural balance to New York’s state budget, including a rumored proposal to bond out a portion of the state’s budget shortfall.   But the details emerging so far from officials with some knowledge of the plan make this sound like a dubious proposition, [...]

Tomorrow is a big day in the land of liberty. We’ve got two events going on, back to back.
The first is Taxpayer Day at the Capitol. The Independence Institute is proud to join forces with Americans for Prosperity and other liberty minded organizations including The 9-12 Project Colorado Coalition, The Gadsen [...]

Half of all infection deaths are caused by hospitals. Infections are acquired in the course of care.
Ordinary household dust consists of…well, let’s just say there is a high “ick factor.”
Carrollton, Texas is a good place to drop dead from cardiac arrest. (15.8% survive vs. 2% in large cities nationally). 
Kids snack on junk food almost [...]

I will be back on RussiaToday tonight at 6pm eastern to discuss the Greek debt crisis. Click here for a live feed. I’ll be the first guest, probably on air at 6:10pm.

WTOP news reports on a bill in the Maryland state legislature that would allow Montgomery County, Maryland to invest tax dollars in private equity companies:

“Delegate Brian Feldman, who leads Montgomery’s delegation to the House of Delegates, says the proposal would improve the county’s ability to compete for new biotech companies. He notes the state already can make equity investments in businesses that have returned millions of dollars to state coffers.”

Remarkably little analysis has been done on whether county governments (or state governments) are good venture capitalists, but it’s hard to see how county officials are in a better position to weigh the prospects of start-up companies than private venture capitalists with their own money on the line. This is a bit like the tail wagging the dog. Unfortunately, I have no doubt we can expect to see a lot more of this as more reports of the federal government’s occasional “success” in its equity “investments” in big banks and other businesses “too big to fail” show paper profits.

Of course, at least conceptually, a difference exists between the federal government’s program that took equity stakes in banks and the proposed county program. The federal government took equity stakes in banks to provide capital and liquidity and to hedge against what they believed would be certain losses even though the businesses themselves were fundamentally sound. All the investments were in established financial institutions with a track record of effective management under normal economic conditions; they weren’t start-up ventures in a highly uncertain and risky business like biotech. Also, no one really expects the federal government’s investment in GM or Chrysler to pay off, so this was really a direct bone to an important political constituency, not a true venture capital investment.

Montgomery County’s rationale for the program also seems odd because its economy is strong. It’s benefiting from the goose in jobs resulting from expanded federal government employment. In fact, the problem facing the county is that low-income and middle-income households are being priced out of the market because supply can’t keep up with demand (which is also due to the country’s stringent planning laws). Where are all these new workers going to live if the county is successful?

Today, the Senate voted unanimously to pass Sen. Coburn’s PAYGO transparency amendment (#3358) to the Baucus substitute for the tax extenders bill, H.R. 4213.
The amendment requires the Senate to disclose detailed expenditures information on t

Got your attention? The State has put a wealth of disclosure from health insurers and providers up on the web. I lack the time and, frankly, the chops to really get at all the good stuff but I did find a few interesting pieces of disclosure.
In Partners’s disclosure, they note the [...]