Free Republic

A major flood insurance bill was a rarity when it passed what is widely derided as a do-nothing Congress in 2012, but a year and a half later, there is now an enthusiastic bipartisan effort to gut it. This week the Senate is expected to approve a measure that would block, repeal or delay many of the key provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, which was sponsored by Representative Judy Biggert, an Illinois Republican, and Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat. Tucked into broader transportation legislation, the bill had enthusiastic support across the political spectrum, from liberal environmentalists...

A provision requiring members of Congress and the administration to disclose what crop insurance subsidies they receive was quietly dropped from the farm bill that the House passed on Wednesday. Section 11001 of the House-passed farm bill had a provision that “requires disclosure (by name) of the amount of crop insurance assistance received by Members of Congress, Cabinet Secretaries, and members of their immediate families.” That provision was taken out in closed-door conference negotiations before the bill was released on Monday. The bill cleared the House in less than 72 hours, before many lawmakers had a chance to review it,...

Last week, Eric Mosher of PIRGIM and I published a piece about how the state can increase transparency at the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Legislative discussions about how to spend the projected state budget surplus show just how necessary it is to implement our recommendations. Much of the surplus is due to the timing of substantial refundable tax credits to specific companies, yet Michigan residents cannot be told who is being paid this taxpayer money or what the state is getting in return. The state has made a number of economic development deals that were administered through the old Michigan...

Subsidies: Former Indiana congressman (and now state governor) Mike Pence used to quip that he was 99% capitalist but 1% socialist, and that turns socialist "when it comes time to vote on a farm bill." At least he was honest. Just what is it about farm bills that make Republicans abandon their principles of limited government and fiscal restraint? The sad answer: Farm bills are classic examples of Republican pork delivered to their own voters. The $1 trillion bill that will be voted on this week is another big pail of slop. It includes subsidies for corn, cotton, wool, sugar,...

Solar installations have been taking off in many areas of the Midwest, but perhaps nowhere more so than in farm country. “It’s a huge buzz now throughout the agriculture industry,” said Todd Miller, sales director for CB Solar in Ankeny, Iowa. In Washington County, Iowa, for example, farmers with access to an unusual and lucrative combination of federal, state and utility incentives were anticipating payback periods of as little as two years, according to Ed Raber, director of the county’s economic development corporation. In Washington County, Iowa, for example, farmers with access to an unusual and lucrative combination of federal,...

While Michigan taxpayers prepare to dole out $35 million to Warner Bros. for the filming of the expected blockbuster Superman-Batman movie sometime early in 2014, the company could be in for record profits. In 2012, Warner Bros. had an operating income — profits that exclude interest and income tax expenses — of $1.2 billion, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That's about the same amount the state of Michigan gives in general fund dollars to higher education and community colleges. Warner Bros. is projected to spend $131 million in Michigan while filming the Superman-Batman movie, according to the Michigan Film Office....

A recent study by fleetcarma.com unveils yet another drawback of General Motors' much-hyped Chevy Volt. It appears that the environmentally-conscientious, affluent owners of the vehicles who drive in cold weather will get about half of the electric range, on average, of those who drive in warmer climates. Fleetcarma charted real-world data displaying an average electric range of approximately 20 miles for Volts driven during temperatures of about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. The owners of President Obama's favorite car who were under the impression that they would be helping Mother Earth by saving less than one gallon of gas a day at...

Solar electricity is growing, promoted, and most importantly, heavily subsidized. The promoters of solar electricity claim that it is close to being competitive with conventional sources of electricity. That is a fantasy. Solar electricity is expensive and impractical. If it weren't for government subsidies, some explicit and some disguised, the solar industry would collapse. The many claims of competitiveness are always based on ignoring subsidies provided to politically correct renewable power, ignoring the costs associated with unreliability, and ignoring the cost of backup fossil fuel plants. An example of a hidden subsidy is the California Renewable Portfolio Standard that mandates...

After years of cuts in state subsidies and growing resistance to rising tuition, U.S. colleges and universities are starting to unwind decades of administrative bloat and back-office waste that helped push up costs and tuition. The State University of New York system shaved $48 million in the past two years by cutting unused software licenses and consolidating senior administrators. The University of California, Berkeley, cut $70 million since 2011 by centralizing purchasing and laying off a layer of middle managers, among other things. And the University of Kansas revamped its back-office operations to save about $5 million in 2013. One...

There’s that uncomfortable juxtaposition of words again: “Tesla” and “fire.” This time was quite an accomplishment by the electric automaker’s publicity department: they kept the Irvine, Calif. garage fire quiet for over a month. The secrecy expired on the November 15 incident when the Orange County Fire Authority attributed the incident to the EV’s re-powering set-up, according to a report obtained by Reuters. “The fire occurred as a result of an electrical failure in the charging system for an electric vehicle,” the report said, while stating the cause of the fire is unclear. “The most probable cause of this fire...

Your tax dollars at work… Millions of dollars in farm subsidies were given to city dwellers including over $100,000 to Louis Farrakhan in Hyde Park!

Last week’s punishment/settlement between the Department of Justice andDuke Energy over bird deaths caused by itswindturbines gives evidence that the Obama administration needed a scapegoat, to defuse accusations that it applies a double-standard in enforcement of wildlife laws. The Friday before Thanksgiving both parties announced that Duke would pay $1 million for the deaths of more than 160 birds that are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The incidents occurred over the last four years at two Wyoming sites operated by the utility’s Duke Energy Renewables subsidiary. “This case represents the first criminal conviction under the Migratory Bird Treaty...

After three recent fires, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk said he asked the National Highway Tranportation Safety Administration to investigate its Model S. NHTSA said no he didn’t. Tesla has been saying it received the highest safety rating in the U.S., a “new combined record of 5.4 stars.” NHTSA says there’s no such thing. Musk said he expects the investigation will clear Tesla after incidents in which metal objects struck the underside where the Model S battery is located. NHTSA says we’ll see, and a decision whether there should be a recall will likely take months. Maybe a lie...

Even though Congressional staffers were illegally granted subsidies they aren’t qualified to receive under the Affordable Care Act regulations many are finding that the cost for health insurance is far higher than expected. “In a shock to the system, the older staff in my office have now found out their personal health insurance costs have gone up 3-4 times what they were paying before,” Minh Ta, chief of staff to Representative Gwen Moore (D-Wis) complained. “The coverage is worse. The cost is higher. This is simply unacceptable.” That the deal is even worse for members of the general public who...

I have to hand it to General Motors and those Chevy Volt supporters who continue to come up with creative ways to espouse the virtues of the slow selling and heavily subsidized vehicle. They just won't give up. The latest figures being presented in political fashion utilize large numbers that, on the surface, appear impressive. When analyzed, the figures give more insight into just how much taxpayer money is being wasted on green subsidies, particularly on electric vehicles (EVs). Sound the trumpets! According to Green Car Reports, the Chevy Volt has saved 17 million gallons of gas to date. Now...

A California-based solar company backed by several Obama supporters has been receiving millions in federal tax credits while losing $322 million since 2008, raising concerns about the company “becoming the next Solyndra.” Among SolarCity Corp.’s biggest investors is Elon Musk -- the high-profile donor and fundraiser who co-founded PayPal and whose companies SpaceX and electric-car company Tesla Motors have received at least $846 million in loans and startup money from the Obama administration. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, warned about SolarCity’s financial standing in a letter Monday to the Treasury Department. “There is...

Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, seems to have reached cult status with green ideologues, as well as with many in the media. Musk's name often goes hand in hand with descriptive monikers like "visionary" and "genius." Of course, what Musk is really a genius at is getting politicians to fund his private businesses ventures with taxpayer money so they don't have to make a profit. It might also be time to step back and ponder the genius of Musk's latest idea. It is for Tesla to compete with Ford's best selling F-series trucks by offering up an electric pickup truck....

Should higher-education be subsidized? Friedman: 'You have a case in which you are imposing taxes on relatively low-income people to confer very large benefits on upper-income people...' Brooks: 'I think as soon as you start offering people economic incentives to get educated -or to use the education that they get for economic means- in other words when you put a price-tag on knowledge, I think that you're gonna be... Friedman: 'What are you talking about? You mean to say that the graduates of colleges and universities don't use their capacities in a direction influenced by the money they can earn...?...

ObamaCare could cost married couples $10,000 per year. Obamacare counts a married couple’s income jointly, so their health care subsidies would be lower, while a couple living together would have their incomes counted separately, so their subsidies would be higher. The report shows married couples in general would receive between $1,500 and $10,000 less in subsidies from the government than unwed couples. Couples could do better by living together rather than marrying. Indeed, couples staying married could be losing over $200,000 if they stay married throughout their lives.

Sam Stein, who poses as a journalist while toiling at the Huffington Post (he lost any legitimate claim to the title when he wouldn't back away when caught red-handed pretending to know something he couldn't possibly know about John McCain's vetting or lack thereof of Sarah Palin in September 2008), wrote on Thursday (HT Hot Air) that "The Obama administration is considering a fix to the president’s health care law that would expand the universe of individuals who receive tax subsidies to help buy insurance." Of course, Stein didn't look into how much this "fix," better described as a "huge...