FDA prohibits doctors from acting on best judgment
FDA controls prohibit doctors from acting according to their own judgment during a patient’s heart surgery. They wanted to use a stent to repair a blockage, but they did not. Patient still is at risk for a stroke.
How Many Lies Are in These Documents?
Portland’s Metro has published an environmental impact statement (EIS) for a proposed streetcar line to Lake Oswego, the city’s wealthiest suburb. Why anyone thinks people in Lake Oswego would want to ride a streetcar to Portland is beyond the Antiplanner, but Metro’s goal is to spend money, not to transport people. The Antiplanner turned almost […]
Two New Reports: Colorado Lawmakers Can Make K-12 Education More Productive
So you just got elected (or re-elected) to the Colorado state legislature. But it’s not as much fun as you thought, because they say there’s this big budget deficit that has to be made up. And that means some spending cuts, which won’t make you the most popular person with a lot of the interest […]
Heading into HB 1365 Crunch Time, A Rundown of Who Is Hoping for What
As reported yesterday by Mark Jaffe in the Denver Post, the PUC on Monday partially ruled on Xcel’s HB 1365 implementation plan. Nothing controversial was determined; instead, the PUC approved elements that were common to all of the plans “on the table.”* The disputed subject matter was left for today—namely, what is to be done […]
Low-wage union workers’ kids lose health plans because of ObamaCare
Partly because of ObamCare [HR 3590], “one of the largest union-administered health-insurance funds in New York is dropping coverage for the children of more than 30,000 low-wage home attendants,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
What He Said
Economic journalist Robert Samuelson has a brilliant piece about the inadequacy of the deficit-reduction plan from the Bowles-Simpson Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Commission. It’s not enough to merely trim budgets, says Samuelson. We need a “new public philosophy,” one that rejects the idea that people are entitled to federal subsidies for everything from mass transit […]
State Ed Board Chair Bob Schaffer Boldly Speaks for Parental, Not Federal, Power
Colorado is a truly interesting place when it comes to education reform. If you follow this blog at all, you know what I mean. But seriously, how many states have a State Board of Education chair who is such a bold spokesman for empowering students and parents rather than propping up politics and the current […]
Why Wouldn’t Wirth Say “New Energy Economy”?
Governor Bill Ritter takes a great deal of pride in having coined the phrase “New Energy Economy” to describe the raft of expensive energy policies his administration has pushed through the General Assembly. Earlier this year in Aspen, for example, Governor Ritter noted that, “If you Google it [the phrase “New Energy Economy], I think […]
Constitutional Breakdown: How the GOP-Dem Tax and Spend Compromise Throttles the Voters’ Will
The impending taxing and spending compromise between congressional Republicans and Democrats and the Obama administration demonstrates how the federal constitutional system has broken down. And how the breakdown can sabotage democracy. Under the emerging terms, as reported in the press, the Republicans will receive at least a temporary extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for […]
Should you trust the Colorado Trust?
Colorado Trusts’s CEO repeats a common health care falsehood: that the cost-shift from the uninsured’s outstanding medical bills justifies mandatory insurance. While the cost-shift increases premiums, the amount is small compared to cost-shifting from mandatory insurance and Medicaid.
More Overbudget Rail Projects
The planned Honolulu rail line is likely to go at least 30 percent over its projected costs, and ridership is likely to be 30 percent less than forecast, according to a new report commissioned and released by Hawaii’s governor. The report cost $350,000, which means it commands more respect than if one of the Antiplanner’s […]
The Citizens' Budget: K-12 Funding Issue Brief
This concise issue brief on K-12 education is part of the comprehensive Citizens’ Budget. The report lays out a road map for Colorado policy makers to implement policies that would close next year’s billion-dollar budget problem and establish a sustainable trend line for balanced budgets into the future, with no increase in taxes or fees. This section explores how Colorado’s current K-12 school funding system works and offers ideas for savings, including a tax credit program to offset private school tuition costs.
