Links, 4-4-12

The discussion in the Supreme Court last week prompted outrage among many liberal commentators:

Steven Pearlstein writes that the questions about requiring citizens to eat broccoli or buy cell phones misunderstand the issue because the power to tax, regulate, or mandate anything (e.g. airbags) always runs the risk of taxing, regulating, or mandating "stupidly".

Paul Begala writes that "your health care is now in the hands of the right-wing majority of the Supreme Court" and writes that

The oral arguments on the Affordable Care Act give us very little reason to have faith in the wisdom of the court. Some of the justices came off as smug, arrogant, and frighteningly detached from the realities of everyday life in America

And Supreme Court expert Jeffrey Toobin writes that the characterization of the health care mandate as "unprecedented" by Anthony Kennedy and others is a "misperception" on all levels and that Congress has had sole authority to determine how to implement the Commerce Clause the last 75 years.

For example, the Justices had no trouble upholding the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which used the clause to mandate the integration of hotels and restaurants. “It may be argued that Congress could have pursued other methods to eliminate the obstructions it found in interstate commerce caused by racial discrimination,” Justice Tom C. Clark wrote, for his unanimous brethren. “But this is a matter of policy that rests entirely with the Congress, not with the courts. How obstructions in commerce may be removed—what means are to be employed—is within the sound and exclusive discretion of the Congress.” In other words, Justice Kennedy had it backward. The “heavy burden” is not on the defenders of the law but on its challengers. Acts of Congress, like the health-care law, are presumed to be constitutional, and it is—or should be—a grave and unusual step for unelected, unaccountable, life-tenured judges to overrule the work of the democratically elected branches of government.

Politico wonders what's next for health care if the mandate is struck down, with some worrying that it might pave the way for the repeal of environmental and labor laws.

The Economist wonders whether there are still Conservatives who oppose the health care law but who believe it's constitutional or if everybody has conflated good/bad with constitutional/unconstitutional.

Nate Silver explores whether the current Supreme Court is the most conservative in modern history


President Obama went after the GOP budget designed by Paul Ryan, calling it a "radical vision"

60 Minutes reported Sunday on new research finding that sugar is toxic and can lead to heart disease and cancer independent of its effects on weight gain.

Many of you wrote about early childhood education in your ed policy papers.  Here's a brief from University of Chicago's Nobel Prize winning James Heckman on the importance of investment in young children.

A new report argues that while more Americans obtaining college degrees, the numbers haven't increased fast enough to keep up with the demands of the private sector.  The US now ranks 16th in the world in percentage of adults with a college degree.

With a Romney nomination (Romination?) looking more and more likely, the Washington Post says to let the veepstakes begin and explores ten of the most likely nominees

Utah's Republican Attorney General is pushing for a slightly less confrontational crackdown on illegal immigration, including allowing guest worker visas.

Links, 3-28-12

Here's an overview of what the Supreme Court will hear about health care this week.  The hearings represent a "moment of truth" for health care reform.  Among other things, the court will decide what parts of the health care law, if any, can stand if the mandate is unconstitutional.  The federal government is arguing that they cannot require insurers to accept all applicants or cover pre-existing conditions without the mandate.  Here's an update on what's happened the past two days.


In other health news, hospitals and other medical providers charge different users and insurers vastly different amounts for the same procedures.

Romney may be the consensus Republican candidate now, but that doesn't mean everybody is okay with that.  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Romney needs to check his watch from time to time and realize "it is 2012, not the mid-1970s".  And Rick Santorum said that Romney was the "worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama" on the issue of health care.

Newt Gingrich, meanwhile, is scaling back his campaign -- firing one-third of his staff and replacing his campaign manager


The Economist reports that nudges are catching on around the world.

Climatologists report that the Earth is on the brink of crossing a tipping point past which global warming will be irreversible.

The electric car seems to be losing steam.

THE future would appear bright for the electric car. Gasoline prices are high. The government is spending billions on battery technology. Auto companies are preparing to roll out a dozen new electrified models. Concern is growing about the climate impacts of burning oil. And tough new fuel economy standards are looming.
Yet the state of the electric car is dismal, the victim of hyped expectations, technological flops, high costs and a hostile political climate. General Motors has temporarily suspended production of the plug-in electric Chevy Volt because of low sales. Nissan’s all-electric Leaf is struggling in the market. A number of start-up electric vehicle and battery companies have folded. And the federal government has slowed its multibillion-dollar program of support for advanced technology vehicles in the face of market setbacks and heavy political criticism.

Links, 3-23-12

Romney was basking in the glow of his victory in Illinois and endorsement by Jeb Bush when one of his aides said that Romney would be like an "etch-a-sketch" for the general election -- that he could start over in an effort to win over moderate voters.  Conservatives pounced on the comments, with Rick Santorum handing out etch-a-sketches to media at a press conference, to declare the Romney was flip-flopping again.

In a 5-4 decision, with Kennedy siding with the four liberal justices, the Supreme Court declared that the legal system should have more oversight over plea bargains and that lawyers must give competent advice to the clients they defend, opening the door for claims of incompetent representation after plea bargains.  One law scholar called it "the single greatest revolution in the criminal justice system" in the past 50 years.

Economist Christine Romer discusses recently published researching finding that while tax raises and cuts incentive people to work less and more, that the incentive is quite small and nowhere near enough to boost tax revenue through tax cuts or reduce tax revenue through tax increases.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) has called a hearing to investigate bounties in professional sports in the wake of the Saints scandal


Environmental Links

A new report ranks Nashville 50th of 51 large cities in affordability of transportation.  Because of the sprawl and lack of public transit, metro Nashville residents spend about 29% of their income on commuting.

In an editorial, the NY Times points out that though gas prices have risen, the US now produces more oil and imports less than at any time in the past 10 years.

In an online debate over energy efficient products, an economist from the libertarian Cato Institute argues that we should "increase fossil fuel prices enough through taxation to account for [negative externalities]"

In the first three years of Obama's administration, real per-capita government spending has increased at a lower rate than all but one of the last six Presidents (Clinton).

President Obama yesterday declared his support for expedited construction of the Southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline, but not the Northern portion.

Oil and gas companies are taking advantage of new finds in the Marcellus Shale formation to build plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio that will produce CNG for cars.

Wrap-up and Links 1-26-10

-The big news today was that Obama will announce a spending freeze on non-military discretionary spending in tomorrow's state of the union tomorrow.  The move seems to serve two purposes: 1.) start to reduce the size of the deficit, and 2.) placate conservatives who are calling, loudly, for a reduced deficit.  The Economist's DiA blog is skeptical -- pointing out that the spending in question only accounts for 1/8 of the federal budget won't do much -- and goes on to argue the largest causes of the deficit are low taxes and high military spending (two items not affected by the spending freeze).

Conservatives don't seem too placated, with House minority leader John Boehner saying that "Given Washington Democrats' unprecedented spending binge, this is like announcing you're going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest".  And liberals are somewhere between skeptical and irate.  Nate Silver writes that this is a gaffe on the same scale as John McCain's decision to suspend his campaign, and Paul Krugman writes that "it's appalling on every level ".

-Reaction to last week's supreme court decision overturning part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform continues to trickle in.  The NY Times writes about John Paul Stevens' new-found outspokenness.  The liberal judge joined with Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to oppose the expansion of the ability of corporations and unions to contribute to political campaigns.  In his dissention opinion, Stephens said from the bench that the decision "represents a radical change in the law," and "is at war with the views of generations of Americans."  Writing the majority decision was swing vote Anthony Kennedy, who voted along with the conservative wing of the court: Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Antonin Scalia.  And here's the Daily Show's comical criticism of the decision.

-Tom Schaller writes that this is, indeed, a center-right nation - not because the population leans conservative, but because the structure of our government makes it difficult to enact liberal reforms.

-Here's a mildly interesting picture of what the U.S. would look like if it were divided into 50 states with equal populations (which would dramatically re-shape the electoral college and the senate).