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In 2008, candidate Barack Obama made a campaign promise to put abortion at “the heart” of any health care plan his administration would propose. President Barack Obama is making good on this promise. Through a mandate issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, nearly all private insurance plans must fully cover the abortion-inducing…

After playing (price) tag for more than a year, Apple Inc., the iconic symbol of Generation Y, recently blew past Exxon Mobil Corp. and is riding the wave of success following the release of its new iPad. With its market capitalization pegged at more than $550 billion, the technology giant achieved the uncontested title of…

Much has been written in recent months about the future of the Republican Party, as “conservative” Rick Santorum proved popular among many primary voters against “centrist” Mitt Romney. This centrist vs. conservative meme is an oversimplification of the primary fight between Romney and Santorum, but it is not new. For years, the media have been…

WHEN CONGRESS first considered allowing shareholders to cast a non-binding vote on executive compensation — “say on pay” — three years ago, we were skeptical. One of our concerns was that the votes would be meaningless if they were truly non-binding. The other concern was that “say on pay” might prove harmful if it empowered inexpert shareholders motivated…

Amelioration of today’s drug problem requires Americans to understand the significance of the 80-20 ratio. Twenty percent of American drinkers consume 80 percent of the alcohol sold here. The same 80-20 split obtains among users of illicit drugs. About 3 million people — less than 1 percent of America’s population — consume 80 percent of…

Unemployment remains high, job growth is sluggish and millions of Americans have given up hope of ever finding work. So how do creative legislators propose to generate new hiring? Easy: Make it more expensive. That’s right. In Congress and several states, some lawmakers want to increase the legally mandated minimum wage. They think employers should…

“I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.” — Barack Obama, on the constitutional challenge to his health-care law, April 2  “Unprecedented”? Judicial review has been the centerpiece of the American…

Playing second fiddle to Mitt Romney won’t be easy, but somebody has to be his running mate. Let’s handicap the field: ●Florida Sen. Marco Rubio: The choice who offers the biggest potential reward — for the biggest risk. The telegenic young Cuban American could potentially shore up three of the Romney campaign’s weaknesses: He is…

During the presidential campaign, Cabinet departments are wide targets for candidates touting efficiency and fiscal responsibility. This makes for a nice sound bite, but how badly are these departments performing? It is high time to have a top-to-bottom review of all Cabinet-level departments to determine the purpose, mission and efficacy of the organization. Every Cabinet…

If there is one lesson from the financial crisis that should be indelible, it is that unregulated derivatives are prone to catastrophic failure. And yet, nearly four years after the crash, and nearly two years since the passage of the Dodd-Frank law, the multitrillion-dollar derivatives market is still dominated by a handful of big banks,…

On Monday the Supreme Court began three days of oral arguments concerning possible — actually, probable and various — constitutional infirmities in Obamacare. The justices have received many amicus briefs, one of which merits special attention because of the elegant scholarship and logic with which it addresses an issue that has not been as central…

Florida’s now-infamous “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law may not, in the end, protect the man who killed an unarmed teenager in a shooting last month that has sparked national outrage. That would be the most just outcome, given the mounting evidence that George Zimmerman followed and confronted 17-year-old Trayvon Martin before shooting him as he…

March 26, 2012 – Politics, Money and You!
Subject: March 26 : Bad Florida Law: Shoot first and ask questions later…

The 2012 major party presidential candidates have put forward a variety of ideas and plans to deal with our huge deficits and mounting debt. All four of the GOP presidential candidates have proposed plans with varying degrees of specificity, and President Barack Obama set out his plan in his recently proposed budget. Unfortunately, all the…