Daily Archives: September 12, 2012

You know that news we’ve been hearing for the last day or so that the Office of Special Counsel had ruled that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius violated the Hatch Act by electioneering on government time? Well, it happened here in North Carolina: “OSC concluded that Secretary Sebelius violated the Hatch Act whenContinue Reading

This has been the mantra of President Obama and the excuse given by his supporters, most recently Bill Clinton, for why during the recent recovery economic growth has been so anemic and job creation rates have been low. The assumption behind this claim is that the deeper the recession the slower the rates of economicContinue Reading

  There is new evidence that seems to prove something that only a trained climate scientist would not find obvious—sun activity and climate change are closely related. And a picture speaks a thousand words. The graph below is from the UC Berkley Earth-Surface Temperature Project. It shows what is a very tight relationship between changesContinue Reading

According to an article in the News & Observer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC (BCBS) “is pumping an undisclosed amount of money into FastMed Urgent Care to expand its network of clinics.”  Why?  Well, the insurer ends up paying the bills when people go to the emergency room, but many of those peopleContinue Reading

Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation offers the following thoughts about the links between marriage and alleviation of poverty: The continuing collapse of marriage in America, along with a dramatic rise in births to single women, is the most important cause of childhood poverty. In North Carolina, for example, seven of every 10 poor familiesContinue Reading

I read today’s Education Update from Terry Stoops and learned that 39% of Chicago’s public school teachers – you know, the ones who are on strike and have the city’s schools shut down – choose to send their own children to private schools.  I also learned a lot about the major issues driving this strike. Continue Reading

Many government agencies in North Carolina and other states have promoted the concept of “smart growth.” But a new John Locke Foundation Policy Report labels the policies associated with “smart” growth as misguided and ineffective. Report author Michael Lowrey touts instead the concept of “flex growth.” “Smart growth represents a backward-looking model for economic developmentContinue Reading

That former faculty colleague is Richard Epstein, who eviscerates Obama’s acceptance speech here. Many good observations in the piece and I especially like Epstein’s characterization of Obama’s understanding of economics — thin and immature. Wouldn’t it be grand if a serious thinker like Epstein could ask questions at the upcoming presidential debates? Both candidates would sweatContinue Reading