Tuesday, August 16, 2016

FREEDOMWORKS 08/16/2016

1. Hillary Clinton: Nowhere Girl - by FreedomWorks Senior Economic Contributor Stephen Moore via The Washington Times
She’s a real nowhere girl. Sitting in her nowhere world. Making all her nowhere plans for nobody.
Poor Hillary Clinton. She’s trying so fervently to come up with at least one new, inspiring idea to jump-start a moribund economy and help the financially stressed-out middle class. She’s like the economics professor in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”: “Anyone? Anyone?” But the left’s idea cupboard is pitifully empty. They literally, not figuratively, have nothing to offer except tax, spend, spin and then hit the button again.
So in her speech on Thursday on the economy, she proposed last week’s leftover cold porridge. And it doesn’t taste any better today than when President Obama first served it up. Read more here...


2. When the Olympics Crush a Community - via Reason

In the run-up to Rio's Olympic Games, the Brazilian authorities violently evicted residents and bulldozed homes in the Olympic Park area. Writing in The American Conservative, Catherine Addington defends the informal favela communities that were removed, noting that it wasn't so long ago that Rio was attempting to integrate these self-built, self-governing communities into the city rather than aiming to eradicate them. That process was hardly flawless, but it's clearly preferable to the mass displacement happening now.
Aside from a somewhat forced comparison between the favelas and the New Urbanism, Addington's article is a good guide to the relevant history. Also worth a read: Priscila Néri points out that the talk you may have heard about a "disaster-free" Olympics sidesteps the disaster the games have been for the people who live nearby. And here's a golden oldie from the Reason files: Robert Nelson looks at life in the favelas and other informal Third World neighborhoods. Read more here...
In Our Lost Constitution, Senator Mike Lee tells the dramatic, little-known stories behind six of the Constitution’s most indispensable provisions. He shows their rise. He shows their fall. And he makes vividly clear how nearly every abuse of federal power today is rooted in neglect of this Lost Constitution. Get your copy here...



3. ObamaCare Premiums May Rise by 10% in 2017 - Here's Why - via Newsweek
Get ready, because the 2017 enrollment period for Obamacare—officially known as the Affordable Care Act—is right around the corner.
Slated to begin on Nov. 1, 2016, the enrollment process for Obamacare could come with a sticker shock this year. Based on early rate request indications from individual state press releases, and an analysis conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation of 14 major cities in mid-June, the average Obamacare healthcare premium in the U.S. could be headed higher by at least 10 percent in 2017.
It's hard to pick out a single culprit, as nearly every state that's reported insurer rate hike requests thus far has an average or weighted increase north of 10 percent. In virtually every state a big premium hike appears likely. Here are the four reasons why your Obamacare healthcare premium is probably going up by at least 10 percent next year.  Read more here...
4. Time for Congress' Spending Decisions to Go on the Record - by Neil Siefring via The Hill

Under the leadership of Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the House of Representatives has been engaging in a review of the rules of the House through Organizational Task Force meetings and the House Rules Committee. This is a needed and courageous exercise. Citizens of all political backgrounds can agree that Congress needs to reform the way it works. A key way for that to happen is to make sure committees hold recorded votes on big-ticket items before they come to the House floor for a vote.
oo often, legislation that will spend a great deal of money is passed in committees by voice vote. Often, committee members are encouraged to let a bill pass by voice vote and not by a recorded vote. In fact, this year, nine of the 12 spending bills approved by the House Appropriations Committee were passed by voice vote at full committee.  Read more here...
5. FDA E-Cigarette Regulations Give Smoking a Boost  - via Reason
The Food and Drug Administration's e-cigarette regulations, which took effect last week, immediately struck two blows against public health. As of Monday, companies that sell vaping equipment and the fluids that fill them are forbidden to share potentially lifesaving information about those products with their customers. They are also forbidden to make their products safer, more convenient, or more pleasant to use.
The FDA's censorship and its ban on innovation will discourage smokers from switching to vaping, even though that switch would dramatically reduce the health risks they face. That effect will be compounded by the FDA's requirement that manufacturers obtain its approval for any vaping products they want to keep on the market for longer than two years. The cost of meeting that requirement will force many companies out of business and force those that remain to shrink their offerings, dramatically reducing competition and variety. Read more here...

Jason Pye
Communications Director, FreedomWorks

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