Opinion
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Health Care Costs Are Rising Slower than Expected, Three Surveys Show
Opinion -A number of consulting firms, including Mercer, Aon, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, are reporting a slowing of health care cost increases around the nation. The firms report costs have increased between 6 and 11 percent over the past year. -
School Choice Gains Unlikely Advocates in Florida
Opinion -Two new hires at the Florida School Choice Fund have made waves in the movement. The Tampa-based organization seeks to advance public policy giving parents the power to choose the educational institution that best suits their child’s needs. -
Effort to Cut Illinois Dropout Rate Is Unveiled
Opinion -The official Illinois Task Force on Reenrolling Students Who Dropped out of School has released a report offering several recommendations to get high school dropouts back in school. -
Remedial College Education Reaching Record Levels
Opinion -For many college freshmen, school has just gotten a lot tougher. -
Congress Debates Local Cell Phone Taxes
Opinion -Hard economic times have prompted local governments to look for creative ideas to raise funds, including imposing taxes on cell phone use. -
WiMax Gets First Real Test in Baltimore
Opinion -Sprint Nextel Corp. has opened its new wireless network to customers in Baltimore, Maryland, offering WiMax Internet service. -
FCC Lowers Phone Company Reporting Requirements
Opinion -Federal regulators have agreed to cut the amount of information they collect from the country’s largest phone companies about service quality and customer complaints. -
Broadcasters, Cable Firms Battle Over DTV Fees
Opinion -The cable TV industry is urging Congress to step in and ensure broadcasters do not use the switch to digital television as an opportunity to force cable companies to pay “retransmission consent fees” to provide local channels for their -
Hackers Suspected in Al Qaeda Web Stoppage
Opinion -Most events this year commemorating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks occurred without incident, except one—the release of al Qaeda’s heavily promoted 9/11 propaganda video, which was delayed by eight days. -
State Spam Law Unconstitutional, Court Says
Opinion -In 2004, North Carolina resident Jeremy Jaynes became the first person in American history to be convicted of a “felony spam” offense. This fall, the Virginia Supreme Court overturned Jaynes’ conviction by a Virginia jury. -
California Official Wants More Broadband User Info
Opinion -Broadband providers should share more market-penetration information with government officials so states can better plan ways to bring high-speed Internet to under-served communities, said a California regulator at a tech conference in Washington, DC. -
Unions Press for Foothold in IT Sector
Opinion -Influential members of the U.S. tech community are tossing around the idea of forming a union for information technology workers, citing a weakening economy and the trend of outsourcing work overseas or demanding more from Americans at the workplace. -
Everybody Is a Loser When Competitors Flock to Antitrust Lawsuits
Opinion -Google entered the browser wars in September (if any such war really exists) with the launch of Chrome, its new Web browser. -
Bailout Sequel May Be as Scary as Original, Analysts Warn
Opinion -Despite committing more than $2 trillion to buyouts, bailouts, loans, takeovers, and giveaways, federal government officials continue to struggle to manage credit markets, stock markets, and the entire American economic system. -
New Jersey Cigarette Tax Hike Reduces Revenues Again
Opinion -For the second consecutive year, New Jersey has unintentionally shattered the conventional wisdom on cigarette tax increases, that higher taxes serve the dual and seemingly opposite purposes of reducing and exploiting cigarette consumption. -
Fall Election Features Bumper Crop of Ballot Measures for Tax Cuts, Hikes
Opinion -While presidential candidates Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama occupy the top electoral slots this fall, voters will have numerous choices to make on state and local measures further down the ballot. -
Upper Midwest Is Enjoying Sudden Renaissance of Economic Freedom
Opinion -In news that has come as something of a surprise to economy watchers, the South is no longer the U.S. region offering the most promising trend toward economic freedom. -
Chicago Privatizes Midway Airport in $2.5 Billion Lease Deal
Opinion -The city of Chicago will receive $2.5 billion for a 99-year lease of Midway Airport on the city’s South Side, making it the first major commercial airport in the United States to go private. Despite turmoil in U.S. -
New Jersey Has Nation’s Worst Business Tax Climate
Opinion -The Tax Foundation’s 2009 State Business Tax Climate Index, the sixth annual report ranking the 50 states on the business-friendliness of their tax codes, finds New Jersey has the worst business tax climate in the nation ... -
Pittsburgh Lowballs Garbage Collection Charges for Neighbors
Opinion -In the spirit of municipal cooperation and to prove the city is an efficient service provider, Pittsburgh last year began collecting residential garbage in the Borough of Wilkinsburg, a municipality adjoining the eastern part of the city. -
The Bailout: What the Experts Are Saying
Opinion -After surveying media coverage leading up to the two congressional votes on the federal bailout of the mortgage industry, Congressional Quarterly Managing Editor Daniel J. -
Employer Survey Reveals Strong Concerns about Health Care Regulation
Opinion -There is great uncertainty about the future of American health care among corporate health benefit professionals, according to Miller & Chevalier and the American Benefits Council’s 2008 Corporate Health Care Policy Forecast Survey. -
‘Perfect Storm’ on Horizon for Consumer-Directed Health Care
Opinion -Will 2009 see a surge in health savings account enrollment among federal employees? Premium increases in federal employee health plans, combined with the current economic downturn, seem to point to the answer being “yes. -
Environmentalist Zealots Indoctrinate Students at Taxpayer Expense
Opinion -A coalition of environmental advocacy groups is pushing for the implementation of a federally financed environmentalist agenda in the curricula of all public schools. The benign-sounding No Child Left Inside Act, HB 3036, won U.S.