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1) Policy Focus of the Week: Health Care Reform
2) The David Strom Show
3) Sign up for our Action eLists and get a free pocket US Constitution!
4) Central Corridor is a Bad Bargaining Chip
5) California's Energy Colonialism
1) Policy Focus of the Week: Health Care Reform
Before the end of the legislative session, Gov. Pawlenty will be called upon to sign or veto a health care bill. It will be a complicated bill that spins the brain of a central planner, so a free-market guy who said he wanted legislation that supports the patient/doctor relationship, as the governor did, ought be a bit flummoxed. But as complicated as the conference committee health care bill might be, it boils down to a simple question:
Who is going to make decisions about your family's health care - you and a doctor you trust, or somebody else?
Bill sponsors Rep. Linda Berglin and Rep. Tom Huntley and members of the Health Care Transformation Task Force, including the business community and organized medicine, have assured us this bill is not a government takeover of health care. They call it a "public-private partnership," but it is a partnership where the distinction is virtually indistinguishable.
Contrast that approach with one where patients are free to choose their doctors based solely on their personal judgment, doctors are free to choose and price their services informed by patient expectations, and insurance companies are free to offer products that meet a diverse set of consumer needs and tolerance for risk - and we are all free to buy them.
Public policy that helps make that happen is good public policy; public policy that hinders that from happening, which is the current thinking in health care policy, is bad public policy.
See Craig Westover's recent Pioneer Press column: "About that health care bill, Gov. Pawlenty ... "
2) The David Strom Show
The David Strom Show sponsored by the Minnesota Free Market Institute is broadcast weekly on AM 1280 The Patriot Saturdays 9-11 A.M. Podcasts of the showare available at Townhall.com and also directly via iTunes. (See our radio show pagefor details). The show is now downloaded over 11,000 times a month!
 This weekend on The David Strom Show, guest host Craig Westover talked to Charles Territo, Director of Communications, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers about the attempt in the Minnesota Legislature to tie Minnesota car, truck and SUV emissions standards to California standards. In the second hour, Craig interviewed William "Chip" Mellor, President and General Counsel of the Institute for Justice, on his new book, co-authored with Robert Levy, The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom.
As noted on the show, Mellor and Levy along with Supreme Court Correspondent Lyle Denniston and Cato's Roger Pilon will discuss the book at a Cato Book Forum, Tuesday May 6 at noon EDT. Information about live and podcast viewing/audio here.
For newsmaker and highlights audio clips of the the 5/3 show go here. For commercial-free show podcast downloads visit the show page at townhall.com or subscribe via iTunes. To find out ahead of time who the guests on the show will be, sign up for our action eList and check the RADIO box. (one email per week).
Congratulations to Cory Jensen of Brooklyn Park who won a free copy of last week's contest for the autographed copy of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism by Robert Murphy, that week's guest. He won by clicking the join button on the toolbar and registering for one of our elists by last Friday. See our pocket constitution giveaway below and stay tuned for more offers!
3) Sign up for our Action eLists and get a free pocket US Constitution!
Visit http://www.minnesotafreemarkets.org/ and click Join! on the toolbar to sign up for one of our elists. Everyone with a mailing address in our database by May 31 will get a free copy of the Cato Pocket Constitution and Declaration of Independence mailed to that address.
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4) Central Corridor is a Bad Bargaining Chip
It may be politics as usual, but can we at least feel a little ashamed of it? We're talking about the "no go - go go" status of the $70 million funding for the Central Corridor light rail line running between St. Paul and Minneapolis along University Ave. The Central Corridor funding was among the line-item vetoes Gov. Pawlenty made to the bonding bill.
If the Central Corridor is a legitimate state expenditure and a good investment for Minnesota, the governor should not hold it out as a bargaining chip with the Legislature in the battle over other budget issues. If, however, local transportation is not a legitimate state expenditure or the Central Corridor is a bad investment for Minnesota, then the governor shold put taxpayer dollars in play because he can't get the Legislature to act responsibly without bribing them. That may be compromise, but it is bad compromise.
Last week the governor attempted that bad compromise. He tied approval for the Central Corridor project to a budget agreement and some reasonable requirements but in quid pro quo fashion made its funding contingent on inclusion of his wish list -- the Minneapolis Veterans Home Nursing Facility and Lake Vermillion State Park in an $825 GO bonding bill.
If the Central Corridor is essential for Minnesota - build it. If the Minneapolis Veterans Home is essential to fulfill our legitimate obligation to those who served this country - build it. If Lake Vermillion State Park is an essential expenditure - make it. If not essential, don't. But let's not play "Let's Make a Deal" with taxpayers' money by conceding bad projects to get good ones.
5) California's Energy Colonialism
Last weekend on the David Strom Show we discussed how Minnesota is considering using California emissions standards for Minnesota cars, trucks and SUVs. California has long been at the forefront of pollution control regulation. How does it continue to grow its economy and population with such increasingly stringent regulation? Max Shultz of the Manhattan Institute provides this answer in a recent Wall Street Journal commentary which is adapted from his latest report in the Manhattan Institute'sCity Journal.:
"The blunt secret is this: California now imports lots of energy from neighboring states to make up for having too few power plants. Up to 20% of the state's power comes from coal-burning plants in Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Montana. Another significant portion comes from large-scale hydropower in Oregon, Washington State and the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas."
'"California practices a sort of energy colonialism," says James Lucier of Capital Alpha Partners, a Washington, D.C.-area investment group. "They leave those states to deal with the resulting pollution."'
California has some of the highest energy costs in the US and is having to face the consequences in blackouts and manufacturing businesses fleeing for other states. Shultz notes that even Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are fleeing Silicon Valley, with both Google and Intel opting to put their new factories elsewhere due to the unreliability and cost of California power.
California is not a model for Minnesota for problem solving, it's an example of buck passing.
The Minnesota Free Market Institute conducts research and advocates for policy that limits government involvement in individual affairs and promotes competition and consumer choice. By analyzing the actions of the past and applying the enduring lessons of the free market, the Minnesota Free Market Institute creates policy options for the future. The Minnesota Free Market Institute accepts PayPal! To donate click here.
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