The Glittering Eye —

End of the Road

December 4, 2013

Detroit is making history. Yesterday a federal judge ruled that Detroit’s bankruptcy could proceed and that the pensions of past and present city workers were not protected by the state’s constitution: DETROIT — In a ruling that could reverberate far beyond Detroit, a federal judge held on Tuesday that this battered city could formally enter […]

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When the Dominick’s Stores Close

December 4, 2013

The fate of the 72 Dominicks stores in the Chicago area has been uncertain since Safeway announced it was leaving the Chicago market back in October. It’s becoming clearer now. Jewel will buy a few stores. Whole Foods will buy a few stores. With the announcement that Mariano’s will purchase another eleven stores, the picture […]

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Illinois Reforms Public Pensions

December 4, 2013

There’s a considerable volume of state and local news that deserves comment. Most important for Illinois, the Illinois legislature has voted to reform public pensions: SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers narrowly approved a historic, sweeping overhaul of government worker pension systems Tuesday, overcoming years of political and philosophical differences in an attempt to address one of […]

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I Have Seen the Future

December 3, 2013

The idea of “delivery by drone” floated by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos the other day: Amazon.com is testing delivering packages using drones, CEO Jeff Bezos said on the CBS TV news show 60 Minutes Sunday. The idea would be to deliver packages as quickly as possible using the small, unmanned aircraft, through a service the […]

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The Power to Delay Is the Power to Destroy

December 3, 2013

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has come out in favor of delaying the individual mandate of the PPACA: The Obama administration is claiming that Healthcare.gov is now working well for consumers about 90% of the time, a far better track record than at launch. Jeffrey D. Zients, who was picked by President Barack Obama to lead the […]

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Stayin’ Alive

December 3, 2013

Megan McArdle summarizes the status of Healthcare.gov: Which sums up all of our information about the site, broadly: We don’t know, because the administration doesn’t really have the information we want or any way to get it. It’s clearly choosing the most optimistic metrics possible while ignoring more obvious ones. But even the more obvious […]

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Kissinger and Shultz on the Deal With Iran

December 3, 2013

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, two former U. S. Secretaries of State outline the problems with the deal with Iran: For two decades, American presidents from both parties have affirmed that the U.S. is unalterably opposed to an Iranian military nuclear capability. They have usually added a warning to the effect that […]

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Who’s Winning in Syria?

December 3, 2013

I wonder who David Ignatius is talking to. He’s ready to proclaim victory over Assad in the rebellion in Syria and onwards to confronting the Al Qaeda rebels whom we would have helped to put in place: The two tracks — fighting and negotiating — sound good in principle. But the rebels haven’t been strong […]

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The Illinois Public Pension Deal

December 3, 2013

I’ve been biding my time on the incipient public pension deal working its way through the Illinois legislature until something has actually been enacted into law. It’s far from a done deal at this point and I don’t think it’s too much to say that, if the present deal can’t pass, no agreement that actually […]

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Realism Was Never Like This

December 2, 2013

Fred Hyatt produces a timeline of the unfolding disaster in Syria. Read it and weep. Our posture can’t be defended from the standpoint of realism. You can support the rebels, support Assad, or just butt out. What we’re doing is condemning Assad and providing tepid support for the rebels. That’s not realism. The realist position […]

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