April 23, 2024

Like a thief in the night

Vivek was right. We need to fire 75% of the federal workforce. The story I’m passing on relates to the world of insurance and employee benefits. On 4/19, my wife told me she heard on WBBM AM780 Chicago that Illinois was going to elimina...

April 12, 2024

The Case for Glenn Youngkin

As we are waiting for Donald Trump to name his running mate, we here some laudable names such as Kristi Noem, Tulsi Gabbard, Tim Scott, and other prominent figures as potential Vice Presidential material What do we want in a Vice President? First,...

February 17, 2024

The answer to Social Security's problem is right in front of us

The answer is increasing the labor participation rate and maintaining a sustainable worker to Social Security beneficiary ratio. As of January 2024, the civilian noninstitutional population (population over age 16 not in the military or insti...

July 13, 2023

Let's tax the healthy

The Biden administration now wants to limit short-term health insurance plans to three or four months.  Depending on where you live, these policies can provide up to 36 months of coverage (38 states allow for short-term health insurance -- not a...

March 29, 2023

Journalistic malpractice in the Wall Street Journal

The March 18 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) had two very interesting articles in its Review section: "What Worked against Covid" by Dr. Tom Frieden and "For Long-Term Health and Happiness, Marriage Still Matters" by Dr. ...

August 22, 2021

It's all your fault

“Exactly like your father:  A big stupid muscle-headed moron” -- Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman) in It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. With that inspiring start, let’s look via questions at the ways the American public as a whol...

June 19, 2021

Your Saturday morning quiz

Question 1: What's six trillion dollars in a country of 330 million people*? $181 per person $1,818 per person $18,182 per person $181,818 per person *According to census.gov, the U.S. population is 332,475,723. Question 2: Th...

March 10, 2021

It's time to move forward, Illinois

According to the Illinois Department of Health, COVID hospitalizations on March 3, 2021, Illinois had 1,200 statewide COVID hospitalizations out of a staffed hospital bed capacity of 31,313 and 1,779 new COVID cases.  Overall inpatient...

August 22, 2020

Our Dystopian Future under Biden/Harris

"I am gross and perverted. I'm obsessed 'n deranged I have existed for years But very little had changed I am the tool of the Government And industry too For I am destined to rule And regulate you I am the best you can get H...

September 25, 2019

Excellence or equity in education?

Let's look at Evanston, Illinois (home of Northwestern) and Naperville, Illinois (western suburbs of Chicago) and their two different approaches to achievement. The September 5, 2019 National Merit Semi-Finalist list (the national top 1% stude...

June 1, 2019

Alisha Newman and medical incompetence

Mark Belling of Milwaukee's AM1130 (Belling is among the substitutes for Rush Limbaugh) devoted a lengthy segment to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's article about Alisha Newman and her being charged with physical abuse of a ch...

May 9, 2019

The Cockroach Theory Applied to Governance

A long time ago, one of my friends explained to me the Cockroach Theory:  If you see one cockroach, there are one hundred cockroaches behind the wall. Recently I came across three examples of the Cockroach Theory as it applies to local, state...

March 20, 2019

Illinois repeats the progressive taxation error

New York governor Andrew Cuomo recently bemoaned the $2.3-billion revenue shortfall for the State of New York.  "Tax the rich, tax the rich, tax the rich.  We did that.  God forbid they leave."  In Ne...

November 13, 2018

Emperor for a day

You are Emperor for a Day and the only thing you need to do today is balance the federal budget for fiscal year 2019 -- no 10-year budgeting, no saying the budget will be balanced in nine years.  If you don’t succeed, as the saying go...

October 23, 2018

The Lonely Republican

I have been canvassing in Evanston, Illinois.  For those of you not in the know, Evanston is home to Northwestern University and is the first suburb north of Chicago.  In 2016, 88% of the vote went for Hillary Clinton.  ...

August 19, 2018

Governor Rauner, veto HB 2624

Illinois HB 2624, introduced by Representative Laura Fine, limits the duration of short-term health insurance plans to 181 days.  The intent of HB 2624 is to ensure that healthier people do not enroll in the short-term health insurance plans tha...

April 3, 2018

Save Illinois: Take the Pledge

As many people know, Illinois is a fiscal mess and a national leader in out-migration.  To turn Illinois around, how about our elected officials Take the Pledge this November?  Will our elected officials endorse these eight...

February 2, 2018

Little Manushi and healthcare

Earlier in January, there was an article in the Daily Star (UK) about a one-pound baby (Little Manushi) born prematurely at 28 weeks in India. The mother, age 48, delivered Manushi at 28 weeks due to dangerously high maternal blood pressure and reduc...

November 9, 2017

After the Obamacare Apocalypse: The Future of Health Care Reform

Health care reform isn't going to go away, and it shouldn't.  According to CNN (October 30), the average increase for a Silver plan in the United States is increasing 37%.  Those who receive taxpayer-subsidized insurance will be spa...