NCPA: Daily Policy Digest 2-5-2010

National Center for Policy Analysis Daily Policy Digest Friday, February 5, 2010 There are more than 500,000 subscribers that receive the Daily Policy Digest. Help us hit 1 million by Forwarding to a Friend. Yes, I want to support Daily Policy Digest and contribute today! State and Local Issues THE NEW JERSEY EXIT At one time in the not-too-distant past, New Jersey was by some measures the wealthiest state in the country, however, wealth is now fleeing at an alarming rate, say observers... BOSTON COLLEGE CENTER ON WEALTH AND PHILANTHROPY/INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Health Issues WHAT COSTS $282 MILLION AN HOUR? Government health programs are a growing burden on the federal budget, which is running annual deficits of more than $1 trillion, and rising health costs continue to batter private industry, say federal actuaries... WALL STREET JOURNAL Health Issues WHAT HAPPENS IF NOTHING HAPPENS TO HEALTH CARE? Without some big change, health care will amount to 19.3 percent of gross domestic product by 2019, predicts the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services... WALL STREET JOURNAL/URBAN INSTITUTE Health Issues MICHIGAN TAXPAYERS SPEND $2 BILLION FOR TEACHERS' HEALTH CARE Moving all Michigan public school employees into a state-run high-deductible Health Savings Account plan would save the state $451 million in the first year and roughly $26 billion over the next decade, according to the Mackinac Center... HEARTLAND INSTITUTE Education Issues A CRITICAL ELEMENT OF REFORM OF MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS The Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) have not established a trust fund, nor built up any assets whatsoever to pay its promised retiree benefits, say observers... WISCONSIN POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE/ MCKINSEY & CO. Economic Issues GOVERNMENT UNIONS WIN, YOU LOSE Government unions have not only avoided contraction in the struggling economy, but have actually managed to grow instead, says Conn Carroll, Assistant Director for the Heritage Foundation's Strategic Communications... HERITAGE FOUNDATION About the DPD NCPA's Daily Policy Digest brings you the most wide-ranging public policy findings five times a week at no charge. DPD knows your time is valuable, so we find and summarize the most topical public policy issues from today's newspapers, magazines, websites, government reports, scholarly journals and think tanks. Visit the DPD Archives Visit the NCPA website The John Goodman Health Blog A new Consumer-Directed Health Care Blog. Forward this to a Friend Subscribe to the Daily Policy Digest. Unsubscribe: If you received this email in error, you can unsubscribe here. NCPA Events Mitt Romney - Thursday, March 18, 2010 Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts and Republican Candidate for President of the United States, will discuss his new book No Apology: The Case for American Greatness as a part of the Hatton W. Sumners Distinguished Lecture Series. Philip K. Howard - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 Philip Howard, Chairman of Common Good and legal and regulatory reform advisor to former Vice President Al Gore and others, will discuss his book Life Without Lawyers: Restoring Responsibility in America as a part of the NCPA Economic Policy Forum and Author Series. Connect with the NCPA on: Please do not reply to this email address as it is not monitored. For a list of NCPA departments and corresponding email addresses, please visit www.ncpa.org/contact. We depend on the financial support of individuals. We need your help to continue our work. Join the NCPA today! Dallas Headquarters 12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800 Dallas, TX 75251-1339 Phone: (972) 386-6272 Fax: (972) 386-0924 Copyright 2003-2010 National Center for Policy Analysis - All rights reserved To unsubscribe, click here.