Complete ignorance of economics and markets in general is the only explanation for those that continue to insist on "universal" or "single-payer" health care. Sheldon Richman explains why in this outstanding article. "Case in point: How would one see through the flimflam served up as health-care policy without a working knowledge of economic principles? When [...]
Monthly Archives: February 2008
- 2Feb29
Catholics and Immigration: The Changing Face of A Diocese
Earlier this week the News & Observer reported on the findings of the Pew Forum Survey on Religion and Public Life. The results were certainly worth reviewing and made for interesting reading. Nevertheless, as I transplanted Catholic, I found the comments of Russ Elmayan, the chief operating officer of the Diocese of Raleigh far more [...]
- Feb29
Corporate Welfare for Cary
Apparently, the Triangle is struggling for jobs. Or is at least struggling more than the more rural parts of the state. Why else would the state be giving $5.6 million to lure 300 jobs to poor, desolate, struggling Cary. It seems that any town that can afford to give a company $500,000 of taxpayer money [...]
- Feb29
Transportation: Hats off to NC Justice Center
NC Justice Center has put out their new "At the Crossroads" agenda, which has a number of recommendations for transportation reform. In short, it’s pretty good. Next week Civitas will release its "Blueprint for Transportation in North Carolina". Observers of the political zigzag in North Carolina may be surprised at the overlaps between our respective [...]
- Feb28
Who Said It?
On the situation in Iraq: "As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted [...]
- 1Feb28
From the Adam Searing Playbook, or the Reverse?
Now John McCain hates the children. Can the left get any more self-parodying?(Compare and contrast.)-Max Borders
- Feb28
The Myth of “Essential Services”
This outstanding article by John Chapman offers a blueprint for NC municipalities. One primary culprit in stagnating economic growth for a city? A high ratio of public employees to citizens: "the ratio of residents to city employees, a key measure of city government productivity, is 50:1 in Detroit, one of the worst in the United [...]
- 1Feb28
Healthcare: Talking Points and Elevator Pitches
I came back from our Civitas luncheon yesterday, upset because the panelists largely ignored the bulk of the healthcare results of the DecisionMaker Poll, which I thought were far more important than all the speculating D.G. Martin and Tom Fetzer did on McCain, Clinton, Obama and the mobocratic winds of presidental politics. Apparently someone felt [...]
- 1Feb28
North Carolina: Losing Our Edge
North Carolina is losing it’s edge. This eye-opening state-by-state index by Art Laffer and Steven Moore illustrates convincingly the close correlation between state policy and economic prosperity. Years of one party rule mean NC is moving toward the Jennifer Granholm/European socialist model that has left Michigan and Old Europe in economic stagnation for years now. [...]
- Feb27
Crosstabbing the Presidential Race
With the release of our February DecisionMaker poll today, I wanted to explore some of the crosstabs to see if any noticeable trends develop. We’ll start with the Presidential race. First, as a reminder, we poll likely General election voters, and as such the head-to-head Primary matchups are not a predictor of how the election [...]