Another ObamaCare bomb discovered
You used to be able to use your flexible spending account to purchase over-the-counter medicines and other medicinal supplies with pre-tax dollars. Now, however, ObamaCare requires you to have a doctor's prescription before you can buy cold medicine or aspirin.
The result is that Americans are visiting their doctors before making a trip to the drugstore, hoping their physician will help them out by writing the prescription. The new requirements create not only an added burden for doctors, but also new complications for retailers and pharmacies.
"It drives up the cost of health care as opposed to reducing it," says Dr. Chung, who rejected much of a 10-item request from a mother of four that included pain relievers and children's cold medicine.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704692904576166554110739560.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories
Up to 80% of schools will fail "No Child Left Behind" requirements this year
Would you like to be informed that 80% or more of schools across the country are labeled as "failing schools" under NCLB? It may happen, and the most likely state response will be to LOWER standards so their rating goes up. Wonderful law, NCLB.
The Department of Education estimates the percentage of schools not meeting yearly targets for their students' proficiency in in math and reading could jump from 37 to 82 percent as states raise standards in attempts to satisfy the law's mandates.
The 2002 law requires states to set targets aimed at having all students proficient in math and reading by 2014, a standard now viewed as wildly unrealistic.
"No Child Left Behind is broken and we need to fix it now," Duncan said in a statement. "This law has created a thousand ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPmjfDMN5nHOpeSIZYLwkVfKAHGQ?docId=c7dc0757afd54b5ca2836c00de44535f
Editorial: ObamaCare like prohibition, 55 MPH speed limit
An editorial in the Examiner compares ObamaCare to prohibition and the 55 MPH speed limit, i.e. laws that were passed and then so universally detested, they were eventually repealed.
Now, as we learn more about Obamacare, the odds are good that it will ultimately rank right down there with Prohibition and the double nickel in public esteem. First, there is the matter of those 1,040 waivers issued by President Obama's secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius. The waivers allow corporations, health insurance providers, nonprofits and unions to cap how much they spend on individual health insurance policyholders in a year. Obamacare makes it illegal for providers to impose such caps after 2014. The common justification among those seeking the waivers is that they cannot afford Obamacare's removal of coverage caps. Why should anybody continue to believe Obama's endlessly repeated claim that Obamacare will reduce health costs as long as his HHS chief issues hundreds of such waivers?
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2011/03/examiner-editorial-obamacare-ranks-prohibition-and-55-mph-speed-limit
Five lies economists are telling us
Anthony Mirhaydari wrote an opinion piece about how economists are guilty of "wishful thinking," and continue to tell us things we know are nonsense.
Economists aren't exactly held in high regard these days.
The run-up to the 2008 financial crisis and the deep recession that followed were accompanied by reassurances from economists all the way up to Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke that the subprime mortgage problem was "well contained."
British economists even issued a formal apology to the Queen after she berated them for not predicting the credit crunch. Their rationale? That many were guilty of "wishful thinking combined with hubris."
Now, the same brain trust of mainstream academics and economists is offering reassurances that ring just as hollow to the person on the street. Their main arguments: Rising food and fuel prices aren't a concern and rising "core" inflation isn't a threat.
http://money.msn.com/exchange-traded-fund/5-lies-the-economists-are-feeding-us-mirhaydari.aspx
Well, those are the articles I thought were important. I hope you found them informative and entertaining.
The blunt truth about education in America....you want your school to perform at a 4-star level...then don't worry about a state or national agenda. You want a local agenda and people putting pressure on the school board to terminate incompetent teachers. Don't worry about funding technology...Socrates, Plato, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford didn't have technology in their schools as they grew up.
ReplyDeleteAs for the idea of offering French, dramatic arts, and college-level courses for your kids? What you want is a pumped up first grade through the sixth grade program where everyone is advancing and progressing through the system. Every kid ought to read at the sixth grade level when in the sixth grade. After that...add a few classes to let advanced kids continue but we are allowing idiots to get up to the seventh grade and can't read past the 3rd grade level or perform basic math.
This whole 'no kid left behind' is bogus and probably one of the dumbest programs to ever come out at the national level.