What if I’m right — what if Boomergeddon comes true and the U.S. government goes into default? How do you protect yourself? How do you preserve your wealth while all those about you are losing theirs? Even scarier, what if there’s a Japan-sized earthquake…. in California? What if a cyber-terrorist knocks out the electric grid?…

The publishers of the Dartmouth Atlas have seized upon an important insight: The cost of health care varies widely from region to region across the country, and higher costs are not always associated with superior outcomes. In its most recent report, the Dartmouth Institute plumbs one of the more vexing problems facing health care policymakers:…

For-Profits in Higher Ed: Delivering What Society Asks ForAmerican Enterprise InstituteDon’t blame for-profit higher ed for low graduation rates and high student debt. Private colleges are doing what the federal government incentivizes them to do: Expand access and damn the consequences. Immigrant Children and the Path to Educational SuccessUrban InstituteThe discussion about education reform needs…

Drawing upon on data relating to student success, the Aspen Institute has published a list of 120 community colleges across the nation that are eligible to compete for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Only one community college in Virginia made the cut. And it is (drum roll)…. Wytheville Community College! That doesn’t say…

It came as a shock for Laurie Duncan. This past Saturday, she was with her husband and 13-year-old daughter fishing on the Pasquotank River near South Mills, N.C. about five miles south of the Virginia border. There, amidst the marsh grass and cypress roots was a large, seven-foot-long alligator sunning itself. After a few pregnant…

Few writers on economics are able to say more in about 700 words than James Surowiecki of The New Yorker. He’s done it again in the current issue, spelling out in clear and simple terms the choices the U.S. faces with health care. Perhaps not too oddly, he’s in sympathy with some of the points…

Cutting Corporate Taxes Can Increase Tax ProgressivityUrban InstituteCut corporate tax rates and jack up rates on dividends and capital gains – reduce incentives for corporate tax avoidance and recapture the revenue from payouts to stockholders. Infrastructure Bank Means More Power to WashingtonHeritage FoundationPresident Obama’s idea for an “infrastructure bank” would concentrate transportation decision-making authority in…

Malcolm Harris has published a piece, “Bad Education,” in N+1 magazine, which is “must reading” for anyone obsessing like I do about the higher education bubble. He draws eerie parallels between the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac-fueled expansion of the housing bubble and the Sallie Mae-fueled expansion of the student loan bubble that should leave you feeling…

The gap between state obligations for employee retirement benefits and the money set aside to pay for them grew to at least $1.26 trillion in fiscal 2009 — a 26% increase in one year, according to this Pew Center for the States analysis. Pension plans accounted for $660 billion of the gap, health care and…

Expanded Measures of School PerformanceRand CorporationUncle Sam should encourage, but not mandate, the states to expand measures of school performance beyond those instituted by No Child Left Behind. Coordinate Schooling with Social ServicesCenter for American ProgressCongress should ensure that social services like primary health and dental care are coordinated with teaching children, especially poor children,…

Tossing Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli a defeat, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider his bid to fast track his politically-charged challenge to President Obama’s health-care reform law. The high court didn’t even bother to issue comments on its decision. Why? The usual procedure is for the justices to wait to get the…

Once upon a time, it was considered a sign of progress in rural American to pave over dusty gravel roads. After decades of spreading asphalt, economic reality is catching up with many counties in the Midwest. Iowa, Michigan, the Dakotas and other farm states are letting little-traveled paved roads revert back to gravel, reports the…

There is a growing sentiment among think tanks and in the blogosphere that the higher ed industry is experiencing a financial “bubble” that cannot long be sustained. I have used this blog for years to document that college tuition and fees long ago detached from the Consumer Price Index and now constitute the most chronically…

After a gig at the Virginia Institute for Public Policy, Bacon’s Rebellion alum Norm Leahy (right) has joined forces with Scott Lee (of the radio Lee Brothers fame here in Richmond) to launch The Score Radio Network. With the tag-line of “free market radio for free people,” the Score provides an outlet for rational yet…

Fighting Poverty with Behavioral ResearchBrookings InstitutionPoor people don’t always behave as “rationally” as we think they should. Research shows how to fine-tune poverty-fighting programs to make them more effective. A Report… on a Plan… to Fight Hospital-Acquired InfectionsRand CorporationIf we think about it hard enough and publish enough studies, we might actually figure out how…