Must-Reads for July 6
Crain's Chicago Business: Chicago schools plan to empty bank account in 2013
In a potentially high-risk financial move, Chicago Public Schools officials today are proposing a 2013 budget that would completely drain the school district's bank account.
Library of Law and Liberty: After Right to Work takes effect in Indiana, unions seek a judicial bailout
The union’s primary complaint is that the law reduces its revenues.
The Washington Times: Gov. Rick Scott - Florida will not implement Obamacare
I think everyone agrees there are far too many who want health insurance and can’t get it. But the truth is, the real problem isn’t with health insurance. The underlying cause is the rapidly increasing cost of health care.
Townhall: To fix health care system, put consumers in charge
No one wants their health care choices being made by government officials, insurance companies or their employer. People want to make those important decisions themselves.
American Enterprise Institute: June jobs swoon - America's labor market depression continues
The Labor Department said the U.S. economy created just 80,000 jobs in June, less than the 90,000 economists had been forecasting. And private-sector job growth was just 84,000, down sharply from 105,000 in May. Not doing fine.
Must-Reads for July 5
The Washington Times: Surprise cost of Obamacare
Not only is it a tax, but it’s one that will be levied on people who can afford neither to buy health insurance nor to pay an annual tax to the government.
National Review: Live free - and uninsured
For the record, there are losers under Obamacare. Here’s a short list.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois and Obamacare
By 2020, the states will pick up 10 percent of the expansion cost, an estimated $238 million a year in Illinois, according to the state Department of Healthcare and Family Services. We don't know if that figure is realistic or if it underestimates tomorrow's pricing in the expensive realm of health care.
Townhall: ACA even less effective as more states mull medicaid opt-out
If Obamacare fails to insure a meaningful number of Americans, then not only is it a bad, fiscally irresponsible policy; it's a failed one. To increase the insured at the expense of the taxpayer is wrong; but to have little effect on the number of insured while raising taxes on those who can't afford it is wrong and pointless.
Must-Reads for July 3
National Review: Obamacare - It's not over
When they set out to pass health-care reform, Democrats could have built public support for a sweeping law, or scaled back their ambitions. They did neither. Their insistence that the debate is over is a function of their continued failure to win genuine acceptance of the law. It’s still up in the air, even after the great John Roberts has spoken.
Washington Post: Obamacare's now a bigger mess
By striking down part of the law that required states to expand their Medicaid programs, the court tossed a very hot potato into the laps of state lawmakers everywhere.
Chicago Tribune: Isolation breeds corruption
Illinois breeds more corruption because Springfield is isolated. Politicians get less scrutiny, citizens pay less attention and the news media aren't as aggressive as they tend to be in larger metropolitan areas.
Crain's: Pension debts in Illinois and Chicago would soar under new Moody's ratings plan
A leading credit rating agency plans to recalculate public pension liabilities with much more conservative financial assumptions than most states or cities have been using. The new methodology could triple the nation's public pension debt and nearly quadruple how much state and local governments should contribute to cover their obligations at a time when many governments already are struggling to meet annual pension payments.
Must-Reads for July 2
Human Events: WSJ chief economist says 75% of Obamacare costs will fall on backs of those making less than $120k a year
It's a big punch in the stomach to middle-class families. Back in 2008, Barack Obama told supporters that health care should never be purchased "with tax increases on middle class families."
The New York Times: Reluctance in some states over Medicaid expansion
The Supreme Court said in its ruling on Thursday that states did not have to expand Medicaid as Congress had intended, leaving a huge question mark over the law’s mechanism for providing coverage to 17 million of the poorest people.
