PUBLIC MARKS with tags government & freedom

Now that the federal government is really serious about high oil prices we can expect a heightened effort to waste your tax dollars on dubious projects designed to distract the public’s attention. The government is hoping that you will not remember previous grand government-financed efforts to outperform what markets do better, more efficiently and without your tax dollars to grease the skids.

The White House has been dropping hints that the president will make health-care reform the centerpiece of his State of the Union address. The Bush administration's health care record is, to put it delicately, inconsistent. It has supported efforts to remove government influence over the health care sector, such as health savings accounts (HSAs). On the other hand, the president signed into law the largest expansion of federal power over health care in generations the ill-fated Medicare drug program.