40 Percent of Minnesota House Democrats favor single-payer
Even though Congress enacted ObamaCare over the strenuous objections of the American people, Minnesota’s political leaders may enact something even worse. During this biennium, 35 members of the House DFL caucus–2 out of every 5 members–were cosponsors of HF135. ObamaCare establishes laws and regulations that are likely over time to mean the end of private health care. One thing it does is greatly expand Medicaid, the […]
Did Tom Emmer punt on Vikings stadium question?
On a recent weekend, I listened to an interview of Tom Emmer (conducted by Mitch Berg) that left me disappointed. The question arose of whether Emmer supported corporatism, or as anyone else would put it, “doing something to help the Vikings stay in Minnesota.” From what I recall, Emmer punted. To paraphrase the Republican nominee, he does not favor funding a stadium through the State […]
The Labor Movement: Now an Adjunct of Big Government
The labor movement sure has changed, and not for the better. For one thing, a majority of union members now work for taxpayer-funded governments, not profit-seeking businesses. What’s wrong with that? James Sherk writes, “if a union ends up extracting a contract from a private firm that eats up too much of the profits, then that firm will be unable to reinvest those resources and […]
Plagiarism in MSU report?
Now this is interesting. The report from Michigan State University, which I mentioned in a blog post, may have been plagiarized. A scholar at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, for which I have done some work, noticed some similarities between the MSU report and work published elsewhere. Click here for more from Mackinac.
A Yellow Light on District Consolidation
Should Michigan force-feed a consolidation of school districts? Perhaps. After all, public schools are funded almost entirely with public money, and a large chunk of that comes through the political apparatus in Lansing. A new report from Michigan State University suggests that consolidation could save Michigan taxpayers a lot of money. But should lawmakers proceed? The answer is complicated. Consider, for example, the the introduction to […]
MSU Prof: We’re over-medicating children
Currently, 4.5 million children are diagnosed with ADHD. Todd Elder, a professor at MSU, says that close to 20 percent of those children may be diagnosed incorrectly, simply because of an arbitrary line drawn on the calendar. According to a university press release, these children may be “misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder simply because they are the youngest ” and most immature ” in their […]
Avoiding Gerrymanders, Iowa-Style
Is it possible to take the gerrymandering out of redistricting? I’ve long been intrigued by the approach used by Iowa, which relies on an independent, non-partisan commission that is given strict instructions on how it is to draw the lines. Stateline.org looks at the Iowa approach and contrasts it with those used in other states.