by cactus I can’t remember where I saw this OECD study first: Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden have the lowest prices for mobile phone calls among OECD countries, according to the latest OECD Communications Outlook. The highest were found in Canada, Spain and the United States. But after listening to folks on the right talk […]

Nor is Cate Blachett playing me. (Nor, unfortunately, am I using this as an opportunity to post a picture of Ms. Blanchett in an attempt to troll for links. You want that, go to John Carney.) Taxes are always fun, and there’s a few other things going on. But, really, let me quote the Internet’s […]

by Tom aka Rusty The Doomsday Scenario So why are conservatives so excited about health care reform? Many see the progressive left pushing a gradual move to the Doomsday Scenario, something like this: 1) private health insurance is hyper-regulated, underwriting standards are eliminated, and premium costs rise astronomically 2) employers, especially smaller employers, drop coverage […]

by cactus For the last few decades, a many prominent conservatives and libertarians have been associated with the Hoover Institution. The Hoover of the Hoover Institution is Herbert Hoover, the guy who was president during the Crash of 1929 and under whom the Great Depression unfolded. Now, I’ve been thinking about how conservatives and libertarians […]

hby Spencer On Monday Greg Mankiw quoted a CBO study on health care spending. An Ounce of Prevention …is expensive, says CBO:the evidence suggests that for most preventive services,expanded utilization leads to higher, not lower, medical spending overall. That was the end of his quote from the study. He did not quote the part of […]

rdan The Sacremento Bee has forwarded this story (h/t reader Denis) The unionized government work force has roughly 200,000 or so employees represented by 12 labor organizations. It’s a vast, diverse group ranging from custodians to doctors, clerks to engineers. And don’t forget non-union managers. All get different contract deals with varying terms. In a […]

rdan NYT reports on $40,000/year health plans as we discuss health payment options for health care. Goldman Sachs is one of the nation’s richest banks, and hundreds of top Goldman employees have a health care package to match — one of the “gold-plated Cadillac” plans cited by those involved in the health care debate in […]

rdan (Re-printed with permission from the author, James Taylor, and David Zetland from The Great Recession Conspiracy)

by Bruce Webb Summary from Director’s Blog CBO’s Long-Term Projections for Social Security: 2009 UpdateFull Report: Long-Term Projections for Social Security: 2009 Update This newest report on the long-range health of Social Security shows a shape not much changed from last year’s but with some changes in the detailed dates and numbers. Per this report […]

By Spencer, Yesterday in describing the employment report I said: Moreover, the manufacturing work week rose from 39.5 to 39.8 hours and overtime hours were 2.9 hours versus 2.8 in the second quarter. Much of this was auto and confirms the other reports that at least auto output is rebounding. I was criticized and accused […]