The Secret Plot Against Santa. Bureaucrats love to classify information as SECRET. It makes them feel important. Among the things recently found classified: a secret plot against Santa Claus. Yes, Virginia, these guys are paid with your tax money. Nearly 4,000 people have the rubber stamps to classify things SECRET, TOP SECRET, AND CLASSIFIED. And they stamp nearly 14 million documents every year. (WashPost)
Why are American Drug Prices the Highest in the World? MSNBC has a history lesson on how the $200 billion pharmaceutical industry became what it is today. And analysis of how prescriptions go through so many middlemen before reaching you -- raising their prices with each handling. (MSNBC)
Brace for the Most Expensive Natural Disaster Ever. Hurricane Frances could take that title. Some estimates already put potential loss at $35 billion. The worst so far has been Hurricane Andrew in 1992 which, when you adjust for inflation, did $20 billion in damage. It’s as hard to predict a storm’s damage as it is to predict a storm’s path. The other end of the estimates predicts Frances could do $10 billion in damage. That would still place it second behind Andrew for storm damage. (CNN)
Hugging the Third Rail. Social Security is an insurance program, not a retirement plan. President Bush again called for privatization -- meaning the government would tell people where in the Stock Market they could invest portions of their withholdings. How much has Wall Street contributed to politicians like the President? Try $58 million this election year. Considering that Social Security would be another $400 billion of other people’s money (yours) to play with -- sounds like good business sense. (USA Today)
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