Congressional Budget Office is the skunk at the picnic

NPR has a good story on the Congressional Budget Office, which is under fire as usual for its recent $1 trillion forecast of the cost of health care reform. The CBO is considered "the skunk at the picnic" by members of Congress who don't want to see the price tags for desired programs come in quite so high. But, an important point to remember is one I make to my students about all policy analysis: "In the end it's up to Congress to decide how much weight to give its research."

Budget Office Works Powerfully Behind The Scenes : NPR.

Professors and researchers move up in agenda setting?

Kingdon found professors and researchers were somewhat influential in Washington agenda setting. What effect might they have when a Gallup poll shows survey respondents more confident in them than in President Obama or Congress to recommend "the right thing for reforming the U.S. healthcare system?

This also jibes with Stealth Democracy's finding that people are willing to trust government decision making to disinterested technocrats.

Nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) say they are confident in doctors to recommend the right thing for reforming the U.S. healthcare system. That is significantly higher than the public confidence extended to President Barack Obama, as well as to six other entities that will be weighing in during the emerging healthcare reform debate.

via Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval.

U.K. Statistics Authority polices political number manipulation

In the United Kingdom, changing the definition of unemployment 23 times changed the number of people unemployed--23 times. Enter the U.K. Statistics Authority, charged with policing political number manipulation.

On The Media: Transcript of "The Stat Police" (June 19, 2009).

In-vitro fertilization called frivolous

Would people leave in-vitro fertilization out of their health-care coverage if they could?

And, lo, it proved true, as 100 million intelligent, well-educated employees of Corporate America were allowed to see for the first time what "tax free" health insurance was really costing them. They saw how it distorted their behavior and caused them to allocate far more of their incomes to the medical-industrial complex than they would have chosen for themselves.

Eyes newly opened, they demanded cheaper insurance options, covering fewer services (cancer wigs, family counseling, in-vitro fertilization), and opted for plans with higher deductibles and co-pays in return for much lower monthly rates.

via Jenkins: The Death and Life of Health 'Reform' - WSJ.com.

Johanns warns on health care plan

This is a good complement to Deborah Stone's "Numbers" chapter in her book Policy Paradox. When you dispute whether the "47 million uninsured" figure is accurate, as U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) does in this story, you are attempting to redefine the problem.

NETRADIO: Johanns warns on health care plan (2009-06-11).

Return of the Once-Rare Beaver? Not in My Yard

An example of the unintended consequences of public policy.

Around the nation, decades of environmental regulation, conservation efforts and changing land use have brought many species, like beavers, so far back from the brink that they are viewed as nuisances. As Stuart Pimm, a conservation ecologist at Duke University, put it, “We are finding they are inconvenient.�

via Return of the Once-Rare Beaver? Not in My Yard. - NYTimes.com.

3rd party is over in Nebraska

230 Students: A story in the news about the trouble third parties have in our party system should be fun to read because you know ahead of time all the reasons third parties fail! You could give the interview for this story:

Election laws do make it harder for third parties to exist in America, said Kevin Smith, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Smith said there are several reasons why third parties have a tough time winning recognition or attention.

Structurally, he said, the nation's winner-take-all system favors a two-party system. Third parties fare better in countries where legislative and other seats are divided proportionately - based on the percentage of the vote a party's candidate wins, Smith said.

He noted that members of the nation's two dominant political parties control the state legislatures where election laws are written.

"Clearly, there is no motivation for Democrats and Republicans to increase competition," Smith said.

Omaha.com Metro/Region Section.