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Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.
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from The Atlantic (& CityLab)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
With the bill 51 votes away from law, the central philosophy of the Trump era is one step closer to becoming policy. How did a law that almost certainly makes health care more expensive for low-income, sicker, older, and more rural voters even make it this far? The central philosophy of the Trump era is a throwback with strikingly modern implications.
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from Daily Mail (UK)
Congress plans to cancel Obama's $200,000-a-year government pension following news of $400,000 speaking fees and a $65million book deal
Republicans plan to reintroduce legislation capping presidential pensions. Barack Obama vetoed the bill last year. Law would reduce pensions by $1 for every dollar over $400,000 a former president earns.
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from Daily Wire
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
People Literally Starving Thanks to Socialism in Venezuela
Once South America’s richest country, Venezuela implemented a socialist agenda. Now people are starving to death. Venezuela’s inflation, estimated by the International Monetary Fund to reach 720% in 2017, is the highest in the world. The economy has shrunk 27% since 2013, according to local investment bank Torino Capital; imports of food have plummeted 70%.
People Literally Starving Thanks to Socialism in Venezuela
Once South America’s richest country, Venezuela implemented a socialist agenda. Now people are starving to death. Venezuela’s inflation, estimated by the International Monetary Fund to reach 720% in 2017, is the highest in the world. The economy has shrunk 27% since 2013, according to local investment bank Torino Capital; imports of food have plummeted 70%.
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from EUobserver
Turkey's accelerated drift from Europe
Turkey's accession talks have been on a rough road since it first applied 54 years ago, but after Erdogan this week threatened to "wave" goodbye to the bloc, the path towards EU membership seems even bumpier. Once hailed as a rising Muslim democracy, aspiring to become a member of the European Union, Turkey now faces a stalemate with the bloc. Some member states consider full accession a dead deal and call for deeper economic cooperation instead.
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Turkey's accelerated drift from Europe
Turkey's accession talks have been on a rough road since it first applied 54 years ago, but after Erdogan this week threatened to "wave" goodbye to the bloc, the path towards EU membership seems even bumpier. Once hailed as a rising Muslim democracy, aspiring to become a member of the European Union, Turkey now faces a stalemate with the bloc. Some member states consider full accession a dead deal and call for deeper economic cooperation instead.
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from The Federalist
You May Like Obamacare, But Don’t Forget About The People It Has Hurt
Arguing about this as if beneficiaries of ACA don't exist isn't right. Arguing about it as if people like me don't is also not right.
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Progressive Labor Policies Stymie Growth and Exacerbate Inequality
As private sector unions were largely replaced with public sector unions, union financial support more closely resembled the soviet model: public funds for political action.
This Is Why Government Shouldn’t Be Involved in Health Care
Even if you don’t like every result of market control, it’s hard to imagine that anyone can defend what necessarily replaces it once you surrender any market to control by government.
Prosperity and Income Aren’t the Same Thing
In recent years, income inequality has become a major political and economic issue in America. It is true that, adjusted for inflation, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees in the private sector have barely changed between 1979 and 2015. But wages do not provide the full picture of workers’ earnings.
MIT Is Making Kid-Friendly Communist Propaganda
In order to make the deadliest ideology of the 20th century palatable to young Americans, Communism for Kids is coming to a bookstore near you. This newly released book from MIT Press “proposes a different kind of communism, one that is true to its ideals and free from authoritarianism.”
ADAM SMITH’S CIVILIZING PROCESS
Adam Smith is known as the founding theorist of capitalism. Surprisingly, he agreed with many of his contemporaries’ criticisms of emerging commercial civilization. He acknowledged that the division of labor produces inequality and can weaken virtue. Like Rousseau, he understood that we see ourselves through others’ eyes, turning us into envious rivals. He recognized that commercial society fosters desires it cannot fulfill. He had a solution to this problem, but is it still applicable today?
from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
Progressive Labor Policies Stymie Growth and Exacerbate Inequality
As private sector unions were largely replaced with public sector unions, union financial support more closely resembled the soviet model: public funds for political action.
This Is Why Government Shouldn’t Be Involved in Health Care
Even if you don’t like every result of market control, it’s hard to imagine that anyone can defend what necessarily replaces it once you surrender any market to control by government.
Prosperity and Income Aren’t the Same Thing
In recent years, income inequality has become a major political and economic issue in America. It is true that, adjusted for inflation, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees in the private sector have barely changed between 1979 and 2015. But wages do not provide the full picture of workers’ earnings.
MIT Is Making Kid-Friendly Communist Propaganda
In order to make the deadliest ideology of the 20th century palatable to young Americans, Communism for Kids is coming to a bookstore near you. This newly released book from MIT Press “proposes a different kind of communism, one that is true to its ideals and free from authoritarianism.”
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from First Things
It’s in everyone’s interests to enforce immigration law—it’s even necessary for expanding immigration. Why is it so hard to do?
Adam Smith is known as the founding theorist of capitalism. Surprisingly, he agreed with many of his contemporaries’ criticisms of emerging commercial civilization. He acknowledged that the division of labor produces inequality and can weaken virtue. Like Rousseau, he understood that we see ourselves through others’ eyes, turning us into envious rivals. He recognized that commercial society fosters desires it cannot fulfill. He had a solution to this problem, but is it still applicable today?
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from The Heritage Foundation
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]
Encouraging April Jobs Report Shows Need for More Pro-Growth Reforms
The April jobs report is in, and the Trump administration is taking a victory lap. But as with most job reports in recent history, the good and not-so-good go hand in hand. Until substantive reforms are passed, we'll keep getting a mix of good and bad reports.
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Encouraging April Jobs Report Shows Need for More Pro-Growth Reforms
The April jobs report is in, and the Trump administration is taking a victory lap. But as with most job reports in recent history, the good and not-so-good go hand in hand. Until substantive reforms are passed, we'll keep getting a mix of good and bad reports.
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from The Living Church
WHO IS WORSHIP FOR?
Is Sunday worship for meeting people's needs, or for God's greater glory? “Seeker”-friendly church is hardly a new concept, but it is obviously becoming more pervasive, since it has spread even to the mainline churches.
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Obamacare? Trumpcare? Get Rid of it All
Ever since the US government began to sink its claws into the medical industry a good 50 or so years ago, attempts at reducing costs have failed again and again. This is par for the course whenever government invades an industry. Trying to reform this Frankenstein with either Obamacare, or Trumpcare, will solve nothing. The problem is structural. Tinkering with this or that will just waste more time.
WHO IS WORSHIP FOR?
Is Sunday worship for meeting people's needs, or for God's greater glory? “Seeker”-friendly church is hardly a new concept, but it is obviously becoming more pervasive, since it has spread even to the mainline churches.
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from Miami Herald
When a black criminal shoots someone, he will, if caught, be held to answer for it. When a cop shoots an unarmed black person, he probably won’t. Prosecutors decline to prosecute, grand juries decline to indict, juries decline to convict. Now an officer has pleaded guilty, and yet a judge declines to judge.
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from Mises Institute
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]Ever since the US government began to sink its claws into the medical industry a good 50 or so years ago, attempts at reducing costs have failed again and again. This is par for the course whenever government invades an industry. Trying to reform this Frankenstein with either Obamacare, or Trumpcare, will solve nothing. The problem is structural. Tinkering with this or that will just waste more time.
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from Reason Magazine
Seattle Mayor Proposes Soda Tax To Fight White Privilege
A similar tax was roundly rejected in Santa Fe this week.
No, the AHCA Doesn't Make Rape a Preexisting Condition
The latest less-than-truthful meme about Republicans' American Health Care Act (AHCA), passed by the U.S. House on Thursday, is that it makes rape a "preexisting condition" for health-insurance purposes. According to a host of women's publications and an army of outraged tweeters, sexual assault and domestic abuse survivors could soon be forced to disclose their attacks to insurance companies, which could subsequently deny them health-insurance coverage because of it. None of this is true. Like, not even a little bit. And the fact it's not just being shared by shady social-media activists and their unwitting dupes but by ostensibly-legitimate media outlets is another sad indictment of press standards these days.
Bullet Train Myopia Driving Local Transit Boondoggles
If California officials weren't spending so much money on wasteful rail-related transit projects, they'd have extra money to fix roads, bridges and freeways—and to provide realistic transit projects rather than overbuilt boondoggles designed with a future fantasy train in mind.
Congress's Budget Bill Spends Billions on Useless Light Rail
Trump's abandoned "skinny budget" would have cut wasteful rail spending.
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from The Spokesman-Review
