Cox: Make Builders Responsible
The builders of any Florida high-speed rail project should be responsible for cost overruns and all operating losses, suggests a new report from the Reason Foundation. Written by the Antiplanner’s faithful ally, Wendell Cox, the report suggests that rail construction is likely to go at least 40 percent over projected costs and that rail fares […]
School Passports: Another Great Idea to Expand Choice and Save Money
I’m pretty young and haven’t had the chance to visit a lot of places. Still, I think of passports as pieces of paper that allow you to travel to other countries. The Foundation for Educational Choice offers a different and thought-provoking twist, though, with a new report called “School Passports: Making the Stimulus Pay Off […]
De facto death panels: all four pieces in place
All 4 pieces are in place for gov’t to deny life-saving medicine: Health Info. Technology to track doctors, comparative effectiveness research to decide what works, Accountable Care Orgs. to control doctors’ practice, & end-of-life counseling to inform patients. Greg Scandlen explains.
Passing the Test
This week, the new Republican-dominated House passed one of the first tests of its ability to promote fiscal sanity in the face of interest-group lobbying. On Tuesday, the House voted in new rules that govern its own operations, and one of those rules struck at the heart of recent transportation pork barreling. Even though federal […]
Petrilli’s Prognostications and Public School Productivity in Colorado
What’s in store in the world of K-12 education for 2011? I’m too young and naive to make any worthwhile predictions myself, but I invite you to check out the “7 for 11″ prophetic musings of Fordham’s Mike Petrilli. In about 360 days or so we can fully judge how accurate his educated guesses prove […]
Joan Henneberry & Colorado’s health insurance exchange
John Hickenlooper has appointed Joan Henneberry to head the creation of Colorado’s health insurance exchange. Gregg Girvan of the Heritage Foundation has spoken highly of Utah’s apparently market-friendly exchange. But John Graham of the Pacific Research Institute warns against this: “If Obamacare persists, exchanges will become bloated administrative nightmares.”
Have We Reached “Peak Travel”?
The New Year brings a number of news reports fretting (or hoping) that the amount of travel we do has peaked or plateaued. Given that cars are becoming more fuel-efficient, that means that the total amount of energy we use driving will significantly decline. However, the real implications of the claim are far more dire. […]
Weld County School District Bargaining Dispute Starts Getting National Spotlight
I’m still catching up on stories and commentaries I may have missed while on break at the end of the year. A few months ago I brought your attention to a growing dispute in Weld County’s Valley Re-1 School District, from the local teachers association that claimed its collective bargaining privileges were being stripped away […]
How Long Will Hick Equivocate on Energy Policy?
On energy policy, Governor-elect John Hickenlooper is perhaps the most masterful politician I’ve ever encountered. Coal, climate change, costs…these matters engender passions. They get people riled up. So it’s an awesome political trick that Hickenlooper has been elected mayor of this country’s finest city, and then governor of this country’s finest state, without revealing what […]
Feds reward Colorado Medicaid for increasing gov’t dependency
The federal gov’t gave the CO state gov’t $14 million in tax dollars for expanding eligibility for its state-run health plan for kids. This health plan encourages parents to drop private insurance & punishes their career advancement.
Driverless Cars and the Law
The Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS), which has done much of the development of driverless cars, may join with Stanford’s law school to review the legal changes needed for driverless cars to take the road. The most important (and most difficult) change will probably be to liability law: true no-fault insurance systems would […]
New Florida Governor Rick Scott Weighs Some Bold Education Reforms
While a lot of states – including Colorado – look forward to convening their legislatures with a focus on tackling budget problems, truly bold education reform is at the forefront of conversation in at least one place: Florida. Governor-Elect Rick Scott’s transition team has proposed a slew of promising bold education reform ideas. Drawing the most attention is the “Education Savings Account” private school choice proposal.
