Inspector General Richard J. Griffin’s investigation on the Veterans Affairs scandal has confirmed that 1,700 patients that were not placed on the official waiting list for doctors’ appointments at the veteran’s medical center in Phoenix and discovered that the average waiting time for initial primary care for veterans is about 115 days. In light of … Continue reading
It’d hardly be a stretch to say that the Obama administration is on the wrong side of most energy issues. But when they get something right, we should give them credit. The US Department of Energy’s recent decision to require FERC approval before being awarded liquefied natural gas export licenses is a case in point. … Continue reading
Imagine walking into a doctor’s office and being prescribed one, maybe even more than one, medication for a mental illness you do not believe you have and having no choice on whether or not you will take this drug. The drug has significant negative side effects and the long-term effects of it have not been … Continue reading
One fundamental principle of financial markets is the relationship between risk and return. This tenet is reflected in the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), the workhorse of security pricing, where the return required by investors is measured by adding the risk free rate (such as a treasury bond) to a market risk premium, adjusted for … Continue reading
On May 27th, 2014, President Barack Obama announced a formal “endgame” to the thirteen-year war in Afghanistan. He declared there will be less than 10,000 troops by the end of 2014, and a near complete withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of Obama’s presidency in 2016. Shortly after the President’s announcement on Tuesday, Republican representatives … Continue reading
Designed to hold institutions of higher education accountable for their affordability and to assist students with their college selection process, President Obama’s college rating system remains highly controversial since its announcement last year. Discussions, especially criticisms, heated up recently as an education officer claimed that rating colleges is as easy as “rating a blender”. Well, … Continue reading
The battle over school lunches is on again. On May 29, 2014, the House Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal year 2015 agriculture spending bill that included a waiver to allow schools that are floundering under rigorous school lunch program standards one year to play catch up. The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 imposed demanding … Continue reading
The Climate Change threat doesn’t leave us much choice but to transform our current economy into a “low carbon economy”. While it is well acknowledged that renewable energy (RE) sources like solar, wind or even biomass could lead us towards that goal, conventional energy sources like coal, natural gas or oil will still play a … Continue reading
Social Security is both the largest program in the federal budget and one of the most fiscally unsustainable. The program has already begun paying out more in benefits than it is taking in through payroll taxes. By 2033, the Social Security Trust Fund will be drained and the benefits paid out will decline by 25 … Continue reading
Many are those that believe that coal is an obsolete technology that is not or should not be used in this advanced 21st century world. Let’s be honest, at first sight coal doesn’t really look like anything attractive. It is a black-brownish sedimentary rock that causes many miners to develop black lung disease due to … Continue reading
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