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Carbon Tax: Climatically Useless
Chip KnappenbergerThis blog entry at the free market climate blog, Master Resource, opines that there will be virtually no impact on climate change by instituting a carbon tax. Indeed, data shows that the amount the U.S. contributes to global warming is minimal. Therefore, a carbon tax will place on consumers a great financial burden with ...
Proposed Wyoming Wind Farm Draws Environmentalist Opposition
Kenneth ArtzEnvironmentalists are joining forces to oppose a planned wind farm in southern Wyoming that is planned include up to 1,000 large wind turbines. U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials estimate the wind turbines will kill between 46 and 64 golden eagles each year, plus a larger number of bats and other birds. The American ...
No one benefits: How teacher pension systems are failing botH teachers and taxpayers
Kathryn M. Doherty, Sandi Jacobs, Trisha M. MaddenThe structure of teacher pension systems in the United States is, by and large, untenable. Not only are these systems costly to states, school districts and taxpayers, but the carefully guarded retirement benefits are being squeezed and distributed unfairly in ways that are also costly to teachers. Since 2008, the National Council ...
National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2011 Missouri Math and Reading
National Assessment of Educational ProgressFifty-nine percent of Missouri fourth graders were not proficient in math and 66 percent were not proficient in reading in 2011, according to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress, the most respected nationwide test. For minorities, the stats are more abysmal: Only 14 percent of African-American fourth graders ...
Two in Five New York Superintendents Expect Budget Disasters
Joy PullmannForty-one percent of New York school superintendents believe they will not be able to finance their budgets within four years and 77 percent say they will not have the money to comply with state and federal mandates, according to the New York State Council of School Superintendents. Superintendents said their top mandate-related ...
Walmart Uses Obamacare to Shift Costs to Taxpayers
Benjamin DomenechSince the inception of President Barack Obama’s health care law, I and others in the libertarian community have argued this law represents a massive corporatist project – that under the guise of achieving subsidized universal coverage, major corporations would use the approach to undercut their competitors by raising the costs ...
Macroeconomic Impacts of LNG Exprts from the United States
NERA Economic ConsultingA U.S. Department of Energy-commissioned study finds natural gas exports would benefit the nation’s economy. The study throws cold water on efforts by trade protectionists to pass legislation banning energy companies from transporting natural gas for sale in other countries. ...
Philip Klein: Liberty University and Obamacare
Benjamin DomenechBenjamin Domenech talks with Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner about Liberty University's case against Obamacare. ...
Sentenced to Time Served
Maureen MartinA Canton, Ohio driver whose car struck a police officer while the officer was directing traffic was sentenced to a year’s probation and ordered to cook Thanksgiving dinner for three police officers on disability leave. The police officer she struck signaled her to stop her car and not make a left turn as he directed traffic ...
Science Academies Ridicule ‘Push Study’ Claiming Link Between GM Foods and Tumors
Kenneth ArtzIn a rare display of unified action among global science groups, six French science academies slammed a study by an anti-biotechnology activist claiming a link between genetically modified corn and tumors. The European Food Safety Authority and science groups in Germany, Australia, and New Zealand presented similar criticism of ...
States Reduce Focus on Social Studies, Civics
Rachel SheffieldAll 50 states have social studies standards, but only 21 test students on the topic and nine require students to pass them to graduate, according to a new Tufts University analysis of state K-12 civics requirements. “States say civic education is important, but very few test on it,” said Cheryl Miller, manager of the American ...
Carbon Tax: Climatically Useless
Chip KnappenbergerThis blog entry at the free market climate blog, Master Resource, opines that there will be virtually no impact on climate change by instituting a carbon tax. Indeed, data shows that the amount the U.S. contributes to global warming is minimal. Therefore, a carbon tax will place on consumers a great financial burden with ...
Schools Waste $37 Billion on Staff Bloat: Report
Ashley BatemanThe number of public school administrators and nonteaching staff has grown seven times as fast as student enrollment since 1950, according to a new report published by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. Taxpayers would have saved $37.2 billion in that time if the teaching force had instead increased one and a half ...
The Hidden Costs of Wind Electricity
George Taylor and Thomas TantonGeorge Taylor, an ATI senior fellow and executive director of Palmetto Energy Research, writes that the “cost of electricity” comparisons have understated the cost of wind electricity because of a failure to take into account indirect and infrastructure costs. the study finds that: the cost of keeping available the primary plants ...
America’s New Energy Future: The Unconventional Oil and Gas Revolution and the US Economy
IHSVolume 2 – State Economic Contributions State Economic Contributions: Highlights About IHS (www.ihs.com) IHS (NYSE: IHS) ) is a leading source of information and insight in critical areas that shape today’s business landscape, including energy and power; design and supply chain; defense, risk and security; environmental, health and ...
More Jobs, BIGGER Paychecks: A Pro-Growth Tax Reform for North Carolina
Arthur B. Laffer and Stephen Moore John William Pope Civitas InstituteNorth Carolina competes with every other state for tomorrow’s growth industries. Although North Carolina was once a growth leader, this is no longer the case. Policymakers in Raleigh can reverse this trend. Among the many state policies that are important in fostering strong economic growth, a pro-growth state tax policy is ...
The Potential Economic Impact of New Albany Gas on the Illinois Economy
David G. LoomisNatural gas exploration in shale formations could create more than 47,000 jobs in Illinois and spur $9 billion in statewide economic development, concludes a new study released by the Illinois Chamber Foundation. ...
Considering a U.S. Carbon Tax: Frequently Asked Questions
Resources for the FutureThis FAQ includes: the definition of a carbon tax, what revenue might be raised from such a tax, how much emissions may be reduced, how the tax would influence energy markets, and, how the tax could be set and implemented. ...
Wisconsin’s Walker Rejects State Health Insurance Exchange
Kirsten AdsheadRepublican Gov. Scott Walker has decided Wisconsin won’t proceed with forming its own state-run health-insurance exchange, but will allow the federal government to implement an exchange in the state instead. Under President Obama’s law, each state has to set up its own exchange (essentially an online marketplace for health insurance ...
Louisiana Judge Strikes Down Statewide Vouchers
Joy PullmannA district judge has ruled Louisiana’s new voucher program is unconstitutional because of how the state funds it, leaving the education of 5,000 voucher students uncertain. Gov. Bobby Jindal will appeal the case directly to the state Supreme Court, said Institute for Justice attorney Arif Panju. Approximately 380,000 students ...