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There's a big push in some corners of the US transportation industry to "bring high speed rail to America". Visions of relaxed, latte-sipping trips over the nation, no lines for security, low cost trips are certainly heady ideas, but do they bear out? Let's take a critical, cold, calculating look at the reality of the situation. As many know, I split my time between the US (Seattle, WA area) and Asia (predominantly Shanghai, China). China's been on a high speed rail building frenzy recently, and there are thousands of kilometers of line laid, with thousands more to come. Soon most...

An attempt in Scott County to tally up the price of illegal immigrants who break the law is being both praised and panned. In response to inquiries from two county commissioners who face reelection challenges this year, County Attorney Pat Ciliberto told the County Board not long ago that it costs a fortune. University of Minnesota immigration expert Katherine Fennelly said the county's top prosecutor is "creating lots of smoke where there's no fire."

The actuary for Oregon's Public Employee Retirement System confirmed Friday what is already a common-knowledge piece of the state's looming budget shortfall: the cost of funding PERS will increase sharply in 2011. As of Dec 31, the retirement system had 76 cents in assets for every $1 in liabilities, excluding prepaid contributions. The system's investments declined about 1 percent year through May 31, Mercer said. If they finish the year at this level, the system's overall funded status, excluding prepaid contributions, will decline to about 70 percent

Oregon Public Employee Retirement Costs Will DOUBLE Next Year Mike "Mish" Shedlock Jul. 24, 2010, 10:08 AM OregonLive reports PERS rates for state agencies will more than double in 2011. The actuary for Oregon's Public Employee Retirement System confirmed Friday what is already a common-knowledge piece of the state's looming budget shortfall: the cost of funding PERS will increase sharply in 2011. Mercer Inc. told the PERS board Friday that systemwide, the payroll rates paid by cities, counties, school districts and state agencies to cover their employees' pension and health care benefits will more than double in 2011, from their...

The fundamental problem with our national intelligence system is that it assumes that quantity can substitute for quality. The result is a vast, expensive network that's far less than the sum of its parts. It's as if the Yankees, stung by a string of losing seasons, avoided seeking out talented ballplayers in favor of hiring a thousand Little Leaguers (at major-league salaries). This week, The Washington Post has done something of a service with a series of articles, "Top Secret America," chronicling the lack of accountability in our intelligence community. The analysis is a bit superficial, but diligent reporting drives...

Does President Obama have any idea what's in his own health-care reform law? Since he signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act a bit more than 100 days ago, the president has given a number of speeches and interviews in which he continues to say things that, well, just aren't so. Just last Friday, he told MSNBC's Chuck Todd that the law "not only makes sure everybody has access to coverage but is reducing costs." Wrong on both counts. The bill doesn't come close to giving "everybody" access to coverage. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 10 years from...

London is an amazing place, full of vitality, intensity, foreign tourists and residents, a patchwork of pluralism. Talk to the average person, and nothing seems amiss: this cab driver, having driven in London for 40 years, sees no significant change in the neighborhoods he travels through; this financier sees no signs of intimidation; this shopper, this tavern-hopper, this man on the bus, lives in an interesting and relatively normal world. A superficial walk through the [Regent’s] park gives the distinct sense of normality. But talk to the Jews, and you get a different story. The International Association of Jewish Lawyers...

Link only: http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100623/NEWS01/6230331/1006/rss01

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health insurers are raising prices by an average of 20 percent for adults age 64 and younger who buy their own policies, according to a survey released by a nonprofit healthcare group on Monday. Such premium cost increases affected more than three-quarters of the 14 million adults who buy their own health plans and caused some to either seek a cheaper option with fewer benefits or switch insurers altogether, the Kaiser Family Foundation study showed. The findings come as the Obama administration works with insurers to implement some of the new rules under the recently passed...

So why do government hammers cost $1000.00? I recently came across a document prepared by a federal agency for a small construction job. This is not for any building of significance, in fact there is a provision that the main work is to be completed within two weeks. I took a brief look at this document (it’s an inch thick) and was amazed, though not surprised at what I found.

In his brilliant exposition of why sweeping policy changes often have unintended consequences, the late sociologist Robert K. Merton wrote that leaders get things wrong when their "paramount concern with the foreseen immediate consequences excludes the consideration of further or other consequences" of their proposals. This leads policy makers to assert things that are false, wishing them to be true. Which brings us to President Obama's many claims about his health-care reform. Take his oft-expressed statement that if you like the coverage you have, you can keep it. That sounds good—but perverse incentives in his new law will cause most...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration says a climate and energy bill being pushed in the Senate would cost American households 22 to 40 cents a day, less than the cost of a postage stamp. The Environmental Protection Agency said in a new analysis released Tuesday that a bill sponsored by Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman would cost households an average of $79 to $146 per year.

"PricewaterhouseCoopers found that medical costs are expected to rise 9 percent next year. But this doesn't mean workers will see that big a jump. Employers often try to soften the blow."

Now It Gets Interesting: Rift Grows Between BP And White House Over Cleanup Costs Joe Weisenthal Jun. 9, 2010, 5:57 PM The happy talk about from BP (BP) about how it will do everything to "make it right" in the Gulf is quickly dissipating. The straw that broke the camel's back: Noise out of Washington that BP ought to pay the salaries of everyone that's lost their job due to the spill. An anonymous BP source, presumably someone senior that wants to get a message out, told Reuters: "At some point a line has to be drawn," in response to...

Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system. British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee. In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States. Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly...

A teachers union leader's claim that the Warren Consolidated Schools were so hurting for money that students didn't have desks and had to sit on the floor is being disputed by district officials. Jennifer Miller, Warren Education Association executive director, said the district had "kids on the floor without any desks" at a Michigan Education Association rally on May 24. Brian Walmsley, the district's chief economic officer, said he wasn't aware of any instances where students sat on the floor without a desk. "I work directly with the principals," Walmsley said. "They would be the ones bringing it to my...

Legislate in haste, repent at leisure. The ObamaCare bill signed by Barack Obama after getting hastily and repeatedly rewritten in backroom negotiations by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid turns out to cost a lot more than they admitted — and in new areas that keep appearing after its passage. The CBO now estimates the “doctor fix” that Pelosi and Reid promised to the AMA in exchange for their support will cost much more than the Democratic leaders admitted, emphases mine:

In one of her most infamous and stupidest comments, Nancy Pelosi once stated about the healthcare bill, “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” The bill has now passed and people are starting to learn what is in it – and most people do not like it. In the past week I have learned about a provision of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” which I certainly do not like at all. What I learned solidifies my contention that the name of this healthcare reform bill should be changed...

The real cost of health care reform, as recognized by the nation's business community, is just beginning to take shape. Bloomberg Business Week (picked up by Drudge) reports that SEC filings by such companies as AT&T, Caterpillar, AK Steel Holding, and 3M Co., reflect their anticipated costs of compliance with ObamaCare. Keep three things in mind: a.) these write-downs are not reflected in any CBO estimates of the cost of funding health care reform; b.) in order to protect stock prices, these companies have a huge incentive to understate the costs they actually face; and, c.) the true cost of...

Frustrated with state and national leaders, I attended my first Tea Party protest April 15, 2009, then wrote, "How's that change working out for you?" Protesters then, just as today, lined the streets, American flags and signs held high. They didn't feel their views were heard and had turned to the streets and the Tea Parties nationwide, to raise their voices in peaceful protest. The consensus of opinion in 2009 was unanimous—VOTE ANY INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE who chooses self-interest over the interests of the people they pledge to serve....