John C. Goodman writes: This CEO Solved His Company’s Healthcare Problems Without Washington . “You can’t do anything about the cost or quality of health care if you don’t know what’s happening,” Harris Rosen told me. He was casually dressed, sitting in an office he shares with a large Labrador retriever and a fluffy white poodle. For 40 years Rosen has sat at the same desk,…
NEWSBALANCE
A Focus On Liberty by Bill B. May, PhD
The goal of the NewsBalance site is to educate readers on politics and economics using the principles of Liberty. If we think that schools fail us in basics like math and English, think about sending our children into the real world with virtually no education in economics. The education in politics is little better because it lacks any substantive discussion of the unintended consequences of well-meaning politicians or the monopoly nature of government. Both of which fail the citizenry compared to free enterprise where mistakes are either soon corrected or the business fails so that another one with better ideas can take its place.
Liberty is a fundamental yearning of humans, right behind satisfying hunger and comfort. People as young as two yearn want to do things their way. If we must be governed to keep an orderly society, that government should focus on protecting people’s liberty and we should not allow government to violate our liberty itself. That is the focus.
Abigail R. Hall Blanco writes: San Francisco has become the first city to mandate full pay for parents who take leave on the birth or adoption of a child. According to the legislation, lost pay is the primary reason workers fail to take advantage of existing California law that enables them to receive 55 percent of their wages (and up to 70 percent beginning in 2018)…
Michael F. Haverluck writes: With the self-proclaimed socialist, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) being the hands-down favorite for young Americans looking for a Democratic presidential candidate, the results from a recent survey confirms this Leftist bent, showing that more than half of American adults under 30 reject capitalism. The study conducted by Harvard University was a shocker for many Americans, showing that capitalism is dying in…
John C. Goodman writes: On Monday, Puerto Rico missed a payment on $422 million worth of bonds. If the United States doesn’t come to the rescue, this will be only the first of many defaults to come. In all, the island has $72 billion in debt and an additional $46 billion in unfunded pension liabilities — totaling more than the country’s annual GDP. As debt…
George F. Will writes: Gigantic government’s complexity and opacity provide innumerable opportunities for opportunists to act unconstrained by clear law or effective supervision. Today’s example, involving the government’s expropriation of hundreds of billions of dollars, features three sets of unsympathetic actors — a grasping federal government, a few hedge funds nimble at exploiting the commingling of government and the private sector, and two anomalous institutions…
- The Justice Department is processing just over half of death, disability and education benefit claims from police and firefighters within a year’s time — all despite a series of reports issued over the last decade that highlight inefficiency in the process and an infusion of cash meant to resolve backlogs.
Visa says its improving its smart chip-embedded cards, which have been the source of grumbling from businesses and customers forced to wait for transactions to go through.
Ryan McMaken says: Every year around tax time, we’re reminded of the pain of the income tax. We’re reminded not just of the wealth that is taken, but also of all the time and energy that must be expended helping the federal government estimate just how much they should take from us this year.
Katie Kieffer writes: Obama’s order for Apple to let him hack your iPhone is not about fighting terror—it’s about iPhone dominion. This is the equivalent of gun control except in the tech sector. Terrorism is one of the top two issues concerning Americans, including Millennials. You deserve to know why and how Obama’s attack on Apple’s encryption technology threatens your safety.
J. Christian Adams writes: Trump earns support from Americans who think he has a Midas touch and will use his business skills to fix the mess President Obama has created. But a closer look at Trump’s record reveals his success story is just that — a story. How many of his supporters know about Trump University? Trump Air? Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump ties, or…