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Wow. And much of this money was carved out of funds that otherwise could have been spent on highways, which would benefit far more Americans.
Transit has been on the slide for well more than half a century. Even though spending on public transportation has ballooned to more than seven times its 1960s levels, the percentage of people who use it to get to work fell 63 percent from 1960 to 2000 and now stands at just under 5 percent nationwide.
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A man worthy of study, reflection, and celebration.
Dr. Milton Friedman was perhaps the most influential economist of the 20th Century, and the impact of his ideas will extend far into the future. To honor the man, January 29th is declared as Milton Friedman Day – a celebration of the economist's positive impact on American life and business, and the spread of the benefits of free markets to nations around the globe. Milton Friedman Day will include a host of activities, including a "Day of National Debate"€ť at universities across the country, a live online discussion on The Economist'€™s Free Exchange blog, and the premiere of the PBS special, "€śThe Power of Choice: The Life and Ideas of Milton Friedman" (check local listings), among other events.
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Michael Medved effectively rebuts the New York Times's surprising and apparently inaccurate analysis on marriage.
According to the most recent available figures (from 2005), a clear majority (56%) of all women over the age of 20 are currently married. Moreover, nearly all women in this country will get married at one time or another. Among those above the age of 50 (a group that includes the celebrated Baby Boomers of the famously revolutionary ?60?s generation), an astonishing 94% have been married at one time or another and some 79% are either currently married or widowed. Even including the younger, supposedly ?post-marriage? generation, and considering all women above the age of 30, some 61% are currently married and another 12% are widowed. In other words, nearly three-fourths (73%, a crushing majority) of all women who have reached the tender age of 30 now occupy a traditional female role as either current wives or widows ? avoiding the supposedly trendy status of divorced, separated, co-habiting or single.
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Let's say the Rabbi's explanation below for a recent wave of violence in L.A. isn't exactly convincing. Fortunately, the city plans "g a renewed crackdown on gangs," albeit "particularly those responsible for hate-related crimes." Violent street gangs motivated by other urges will apparently face less scrutiny.
Rabbi Allen Freehling, executive director of the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission, a group created after the 1965 riots, said the recent growth in hate crimes reflected a failure by government and community leaders to prepare residents for socioeconomic changes in many neighborhoods, "€śand therefore people have a tendency to lash out, out of desperation."
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Aligning costs with benefits to reduce moral hazards and externalities. No wonder the states are "gearing up to fight back in Congress."
A study issued in November by the inspector general's office of the United States Department of Agriculture, the parent agency of the Forest Service, said the nature of the wildfire threat was changing as private homes and communities pushed ever closer to the boundaries of once-remote public lands. Those communities and landowners, rather than federal taxpayers, should have to pay for more of their own fire protection, the report concluded.
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As several commentators have pointed out, one of those owners, Ronald Burkle, is worth a couple billion. But why pay for a new stadium when taxpayers can be made to cover the bill?
Penguins owners agreed to meet next week with Gov. Ed Rendell and local leaders to talk about how to pay for an Uptown arena that could keep the team in Pittsburgh, according to a letter they sent Thursday evening.
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"Setback"?
Massachusetts, the only state where same-sex marriage is legal, took a first step toward possibly banning it Tuesday when legislators voted to advance a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman.
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Wow. Now that's some surprising honesty, and good sense, for a big-city mayor.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino proposed in a morning speech today to sell the current City Hall and City Hall Plaza to private developers and relocate the seat of city government to Drydock Four on the South Boston Waterfront. "This sale will open up prime real estate for facilities and open space that will galvanize the vitality of our downtown and strengthen Boston's future," Menino said in a speech at a breakfast event sponsored by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
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Featuring a sketch by Heritage Trustee J. William Middendorf II.
The Heritage Foundation bids goodbye to a leading intellectual light of the 20th century whose powerful ideas continue to transform our world. Milton Friedman’s economic, philosophical, and political writing inspired decades of Heritage work in such diverse areas as Social Security reform, competition in education, and tax policy. We are particularly indebted for his role in championing economic freedom, and that effort lives on in the Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal annual Index of Economic Freedom. The life of Milton Friedman is proof that a single individual’s ideas can shape history for the better.
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Out-of-wedlock births in the United States have climbed to an all-time high, accounting for nearly four in 10 babies born last year, government health officials said Tuesday. While out-of-wedlock births have long been associated with teen mothers, the teen birth rate actually dropped last year to the lowest level on record. Instead, births among unwed mothers rose most dramatically among women in their 20s.
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A good bio from the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.
In Capitalism and Freedom, Friedman liberated the study of market economics from its ivory tower and brought it down to earth. He argued for, among other things, a volunteer army, freely floating exchange rates, abolition of licensing of doctors, a negative income tax, and education vouchers. (Friedman is a passionate foe of the military draft: he once stated that the abolition of the draft was the only issue on which he had personally lobbied Congress.) Although his book did not sell well, many of the young people who did read it were encouraged by it to study economics themselves. His ideas spread worldwide with Free to Choose (coauthored with his wife, Rose Friedman), the best-selling nonfiction book of 1980, written to accompany a TV series on the Public Broadcasting System. This book made Milton Friedman a household name.
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As a child, he said, he couldn't comprehend why his mother and his teachers insisted that he get an education. Now, I understand it at age 67," he said. "These children need to be watched and you need to stay on the case. If you can't do it, get some help."
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The American Community Survey, released this month by the Census Bureau, found that 49.7 percent, or 55.2 million, of the nation’s 111.1 million households in 2005 were made up of married couples — with and without children — just shy of a majority and down from more than 52 percent five years earlier.
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A new version of Monopoly--the board game about buying and selling real estate for profit--includes sponsored tokens, such as McDonald's french fries and a Toyota Prius. Tacky? Perhaps. But only the New York Times could conceive of players who might fault the game for being too "commercialized."
Those who consider playing games to be too serious to be commercialized need not fret. The maker of Monopoly, Hasbro, says that toy stores, discount stores and other retail outlets will continue to sell the original edition of the game, based on the classic version brought out by Parker Brothers in 1935, alongside the new edition.
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