Land O Links
"Convinced myself, I seek not to convince" -- renowned optimist Edgar Allan Poe.
* Matt Yglesias is a fascinating blogger -- he engages a wide variety of issues with energy, intelligence and humility. When he doesn't know much about a subject, he admits it and tries to point his readers to better sources. A recurring theme on his blog is the cost of health care and a recent post reiterates an old point: U.S. health-care costs are high because we pay high prices for health care. Follow the link and you'll see what I mean:
http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/09/20/324003/health-care-spending-its-the-high-prices/
* Rail project under construction to link Minneapolis and St. Paul touted for creating more than 3,000 jobs. A lesson for Detroit?:
* Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville reiterates the Republican agenda this fall to repeal the Personal Property Tax (which really isn't what you think it is based on the name). Still left unclear is exactly how the Legislature would make up the $1.2 billion loss to local governments if PPT goes away:
http://www.michiganradio.org/post/richardville-talks-about-fall-agenda-michigan-senate
* Interesting map on PPT repeal impact on local government (via the Michigan Municipal League):
http://www.mml.org/advocacy/replace-dont-erase/personal-prop-tax-michigan-large.jpg
* A newspaper uses the fact that state Rep. Paul Scott will face a recall election this fall as the pivot point for arguing Michigan's recall law should be amended to only allow recalls in cases of felonies and ethics violations. Yes, recalls have wreaked so much damage on the Legislature that a grand total of 2 -- count 'em 2 -- state lawmakers actually have been recalled in the last 30 years. So, if we want decisions on public service to be made by voters at the "next scheduled election," why do we live with term limits, which have arbitrarily thrown out 50 times more legislators than recalls in the same time span?:
http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2011/09/21/opinion/srv0000014001870.txt?viewmode=fullstory
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