Press Briefing

Oct 30, 2010

A Closer Look into the Commit to Vote Challenge
http://goo.gl/fb/YkKm1

Is China’s Wen Backing Away from Reform?
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/10/28/is-china%E2%80%99s-wen-backing-away-from-reform/

State Sec Clinton pressed Asian leaders to resolve maritime disputes through international legal channels, repeating a position that has raised China's ire recently
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304713004575583501876201136.html

Questioning the Yuan’s Rise to Global Status
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/10/29/questioning-the-yuans-rise-to-global-status/

Stand Up
http://goo.gl/fb/R4mTs

Kal Penn wants you to vote
http://goo.gl/fb/fV1WJ

GM's Wagoner Gets His Due - The much-maligned former CEO fixed GM's dysfunctional welfare state. Maybe he can fix ours.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303362404575580572772816274.html

The President in Maryland: "We Have to Do More to Accelerate This Recovery"
http://goo.gl/fb/33r9L

West Wing Week: "The Mysterious Case of Mysterious Case 55"
http://goo.gl/fb/UN2li

Dissecting French Schizophrenia - The lost children of Bastiat have traded a monarchy for a union-made straitjacket
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574482493143718.html

Video: Open for Questions: Pete Souza
http://goo.gl/fb/FFrvq

Bubba and Charlie - The pair are made for one another
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303284604575582701843554116.html

Video: President Obama's Statement on Security Alert
http://goo.gl/fb/8D9ZF

John Legend: “I’m committed to vote this year—are you?”
http://goo.gl/fb/vfwMN

The New Abnormal - The Keynesian determinism of slow growth and high unemployment
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303284604575582472032173484.html

You Did It: 7 Million Voters in Less Than Seven Days
http://goo.gl/fb/OSvsP

Michigan Turns to the GOP for Jobs - During previous recessions, voters went for Democratic candidates. Not this year.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304786904575581271720694734.html

Your Call Tonight Can Make the Difference
http://goo.gl/fb/59tPl

ObamaCare and Voters - Clinton and Obama told Democrats it would be popular. Whoops.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303284604575582394262243272.html

Video: The National: Raise Your Vote
http://goo.gl/fb/FazkW

Democratic Rep. Brian Baird says that job creation should have been priority 'number one, two and three'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303284604575582320752384384.html

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flood Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/10/150186.htm

GE Gets Over 2.3 Federal Energy Grants…Every Month!
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/29/ge-gets-over-2-3-federal-energy-grants-every-month/

Press Briefing

Oct 29, 2010

Saturday in DC: Phonebank to Restore Sanity
http://goo.gl/fb/QRabd

A religious perspective on Halloween - The holiday is a rare opportunity in the religious calendar to reflect on death
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578670497907994.html

On Human Rights, Send in the Experts
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/1027_human_rights_piccone.aspx

Sandra Day O'Connor v. the People - The former Supreme Court justice wants trial lawyers to pick state judges
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303362404575580191009529622.html

Solar Panels on the White House and in the Desert, 36 Billion Gallons of Biofuels, and Cleaner Trucks
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/29/solar-panels-white-house-and-desert-36-billion-gallons-biofuels-and-cleaner-trucks

How To Cut Federal Spending
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/29/morning-bell-how-to-cut-federal-spending

Video: First Question with Robert Gibbs - October 28, 2010
http://goo.gl/fb/q5nq4

Prop 23 and the Green Jobs Myth - Californians could protect a million or so jobs by overturning the state's self-imposed carbon dioxide limits
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578021936972884.html

Highlights from President Obama’s Daily Show Appearance
http://goo.gl/fb/E70vT

Rendell's Frack Attack - Pennsylvania's gas boom and its discontents
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578533435774858.html

Secretary Clinton and Norwegian Foreign Minister Store Publish Joint Op-Ed on Women as Peacemakers
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/10/150130.htm

And the FAIR Tax Trap - Democrats turn a conservative fad against GOP candidates
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562230737760778.html

2010 Summit of the Global Banking Alliance for Women
http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/rls/rem/2010/150137.htm

The Tax Me More State - Two initiatives that would further punish California
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303362404575580253578522766.html

Why Business Should Fear the Tea Party - CEOs who complain about uncertainties caused by President Obama's policies aren't going to be happy about a new crop of congressman seeking to abolish the Fed
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578200086257706.html

Recognising the risk-mitigating impact of insurance in operational risk modelling
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs181.htm

Democrats Outpacing Republicans in Early Voting http://goo.gl/fb/keaOP

A Little Lady Predicts a Big Win - The Republican tide may even reach the Jersey Shore
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303362404575580683815857488.html

Calling the voters who’ll make a difference this year is big—or as a certain vice president might say, a BFD
http://goo.gl/fb/jmewz

Conservatives: The Obama War On Science
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/28/morning-bell-the-obama-war-on-science

President Obama on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart
http://goo.gl/fb/woM1c

How Long Before We See Tea Partiers Start Showing Up in Uniform, 1930s Style?
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/geoffrey-dickens/2010/10/27/matthews-how-long-we-see-tea-partiers-start-showing-uniform-1930s-

Press Briefing

Oct 28, 2010

Video: ‘Backstage with Barack’
http://goo.gl/fb/bRV25

How Obama Will Address Outsourcing in India
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/10/28/how-obama-will-address-outsourcing-in-india

An Event to End Violence Against Women
http://goo.gl/fb/5GN1c

The Rage Against Citizens United - Why Barack Obama gave the Supreme Court a public tongue-lashing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578461221742460.html

President Obama in Nevada: “Let’s go forward”
http://goo.gl/fb/AyiUj

Time for Bailout Transparency - Big banks don't want you to know which of them went to the Fed for emergency help
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575576653405070336.html

Your Questions on Climate Change and Foster Youth
http://goo.gl/fb/f3hIm

Gold vs. the Fed: The Record Is Clear - There were no world-wide financial crises of major magnitude during the Bretton Woods era from 1947 to 1971
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548451304697496.html

Real Update on Real Property
http://goo.gl/fb/dCxI3

Christie Gets Off the Train - The New Jersey Governor cancels a bloated railroad project
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578563724422240.html

United States -Japan 2010 Joint Projects in APEC
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/10/150101.htm

Midterms are tough for presidents, but party leaders aren't usually in trouble
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578243140680032.html

Counterterrorism: Preventing Terrorism: Strategies and Policies To Prevent and Combat Transnational Threats
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rm/2010/150068.htm

Political Conservation Returns
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/26/political-conservation-returns/

What You Missed: Tuesday Talk with David Axelrod
http://goo.gl/fb/HFLDE

David Plouffe: You are changing the dynamic of this election
http://goo.gl/fb/20jlB

12 Year-Old Kayla: 'What we're doing now affects the next generation'
http://goo.gl/fb/SPC9y

A Referendum on the Redeemer - Barack Obama put the Democrats in the position of forever redeeming a fallen nation rather than leading a great one
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578363243019000.html

Making a Habit of Subverting the Will of Voters - New York will finally get the chance to vote on term limits
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575577082134369818.html

Libertarians: The 111th Congress fits a familiar Democratic pattern
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578410626436120.html

Press Briefing

Oct 27, 2010

Sec Clinton's Remarks at Millennium Challenge Corporation Signing Ceremony for the Jordanian Compact
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/10/149917.htm

Private Social Security Accounts: Still a Good Idea - A couple who worked from 1965 to 2009 would have beat the government payout by 75%
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575546491036105542.html

The Global Immigrant Experience, by Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs
http://www.state.gov/g/149926.htm

7 in 7 Day One: 1,329,196
http://goo.gl/fb/fQ86A

Dishonest Prosecutorial Services - Democrats try to revive a vague antibusiness bludgeon
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882404575520061251604600.html

Small Business and the Economy
http://goo.gl/fb/zli6i

Where the New Jobs Are - In Texas, not California
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574322146119944.html

367 Calls in One Night
http://goo.gl/fb/i0Lku

Boxer's Friends at Cisco - Outsourcing and political double standards
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575576263518011380.html

President Obama in Rhode Island: "When You Vote Against Small Business Tax Relief..."
http://goo.gl/fb/OkEDt

On the NERC report - The EPA wants to take away 7% of U.S. power generation
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574401127641896.html

White House - Closing the IT Gap: An Update
http://goo.gl/fb/5wB1m

House Afire - The elusive search for villains in the foreclosure crisis
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575576200794162356.html

U.S.-Colombia Action Plan on Racial and Ethnic Equality
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/sc/fs/2010/147375.htm

Karzai and the Scent of U.S. Irresolution. By Fouad Ajami
Our longest war is now being waged with doubt and hesitation, and our ally on the scene has gone rogue, taking the coin of our enemies and scoffing at our purposes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303341904575576342977166312.html
WSJ, Oct 27, 2010

'They do give us bags of money—yes, yes, it is done, we are grateful to the Iranians for this." This is the East, and baksheesh is the way of the world, Hamid Karzai brazenly let it be known this week. The big aid that maintains his regime, and keeps his country together, comes from the democracies. It is much cheaper for the Iranians. They are of the neighborhood, they know the ways of the bazaar.

The remarkable thing about Mr. Karzai has been his perverse honesty. This is not a Third World client who has given us sweet talk about democracy coming to the Hindu Kush. He has been brazen to the point of vulgarity. We are there, but on his and his family's terms. Bags of cash, the reports tell us, are hauled out of Kabul to Dubai; there are eight flights a day. We distrust the man. He reciprocates that distrust, and then some. Our deliberations leak, we threaten and bully him, only to give in to him. And this only increases his lack of regard for American tutelage. We are now there to cut a deal—the terms of our own departure from Afghanistan.

The idealism has drained out of this project. Say what you will about the Iraq war—and there was disappointment and heartbreak aplenty—there always ran through that war the promise of a decent outcome: deliverance for the Kurds, an Iraqi democratic example in the heart of a despotic Arab world, the promise of a decent Shiite alternative in the holy city of Najaf that would compete with the influence of Qom. No such nobility, no such illusions now attend our war in Afghanistan. By latest cruel count, more than 1,300 American service members have fallen in Afghanistan. For these sacrifices, Mr. Karzai shows little, if any, regard.

In his latest outburst, Mr. Karzai said the private security companies that guard the embassies and the development and aid organizations are killer squads, on a par with the Taliban. "The money dealing with the private security companies starts in the hallways of the U.S. government. Then they send the money for killing here," Mr Karzai said. It is fully understood that Mr. Karzai and his clan want the business of the contractors for themselves.

[Photo: Afghan President Hamid Karzai (left) and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]

The brutal facts about Afghanistan are these: It is a broken country, a land of banditry, of a war of all against all, and of the need to get what can be gotten from the strangers. There is no love for the infidels who have come into the land, and no patience for their sermons.

In its wanderings through the Third World, from Korea and Vietnam to Iran and Egypt, it was America's fate to ride with all sorts of clients. We betrayed some of them, and they betrayed us in return. They passed off their phobias and privileges as lofty causes worthy of our blood and treasure. They snookered us at times, but there was always the pretense of a common purpose. The thing about Mr. Karzai is his sharp break with this history. It is the ways of the Afghan mountaineers that he wishes to teach us.

When they came to power, the Obama people insisted they would teach Mr. Karzai new rules. There was a new man at the helm in Washington, and there would be no favored treatment, no intimacy with the new steward of American power. Governance would have to improve, and skeptical policy makers would now hold him accountable (Vice President Joe Biden, Special Representative Richard Holbrooke, et al.). Mr. Karzai took their measure, and everywhere around him there were signs of American retreat, such as the spectacle of the Pax Americana eager to reach a grand bargain with the Iranian theocrats.

Mr. Karzai didn't need to be a grand strategist. He had, as is necessary in his world of treachery and betrayal, his ear to the ground, his scent for the irresolution of the Obama administration. He saw the scorn of Iran's cruel leaders for America's diplomatic approaches. He could see Iranian power extend all the way to the Mediterranean, right up to Israel's borders with Lebanon and to Gaza. The Iranians were next door and the Americans were giving away their fatigue. Why not accept the entreaties from Tehran?

A year ago, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, laid out the truth about Mr. Karzai and his regime in a secret cable that of course made its way into the public domain. "President Karzai is not an adequate strategic partner," Mr. Eikenberry wrote. The Karzai regime could not bear the weight of a counterinsurgency doctrine that would win the loyalty of the populace. There were monumental problems of governance but "Karzai continues to shun responsibility for any sovereign burden, whether defense, governance, or development. He and much of his circle do not want the U.S. to leave and are only too happy to see us invest further. They assume we covet their territory for a never-ending war on terror and for military bases to use against surrounding powers." In Mr. Eikenberry's cable, Mr. Karzai is a man beyond redemption, who was unlikely to "change fundamentally this late in his life and in our relationship."

In one of his great tales of the imperial age, "Lord Jim," Joseph Conrad depicts the encounter between a criminal and a noble figure. "Gentleman" Brown and a band of robbers had come into Tuan Jim's domain—a small world, Patusan, where Jim's writ ran and the natives honored and deferred to him. Everything was on the side of Jim—possession, security, power. But Brown senses the hidden irresoluteness of Jim, a man who had come to this remote, small world in the Pacific in search of redemption. We are equal, says Brown: "What do you know more of me than I know of you? What did you ask for when you came here?" Jim pays with his life. He had let the ruffian set the terms of the encounter.

A big American project, our longest war, is now waged with doubt and hesitation, and our ally on the scene has gone rogue, taking the coin of our enemies and scoffing at our purposes. Unlike the Third World clients of old, this one does not even bother to pay us the tribute of double-speak and hypocrisy. He is a different kind of client, but then, too, our authority today is but a shadow of what it once was.

Mr. Ajami is a professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.


International Health Issues: Advancing the Status of Women Around the World
http://www.state.gov/p/io/rm/2010/150037.htm

Undergoverned space in the sub-Sahel area
http://themoornextdoor.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/experiments-in-map-making/

Sec Clinton's Remarks at the 10th Anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/10/150010.htm

Solar Energy is California’s New Gold Rush
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/26/solar-energy-is-californias-new-gold-rush/

Celebrating Science and Engineering on the National Mall
http://goo.gl/fb/7Edhy

Conservatives: Returning the People’s House to the People
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/26/morning-bell-returning-the-peoples-house-to-the-people

Press Briefing

Oct 26, 2010

Wall Street Reform: "One of the most important victories we achieved"
http://goo.gl/fb/CmnfS

Former George W. Bush adviser Mark McKinnon on union funding for political campaigns
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574543205953932.html

DOT, EPA Propose Nation's First-Ever Emissions, Fuel-Efficiency Standards
http://goo.gl/fb/pTyW1

Eliminating Lifetime Limits Helps Paul Focus on Care
http://goo.gl/fb/eklfp

The Pakistan Paradox - Unless we're prepared to deal with it as an enemy, we must make do with it as a friend
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574681179907108.html

Organizing for America's Director Mitch Stewart: "The calls I'm getting, from all over the country"
http://goo.gl/fb/gH4DO

Mandelson: Prosperity Is More Than Just Money - Democracy, freedom, and entrepreneurial opportunity are at least as important
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304388304575574000872990256.html

Michelle Obama: "Don't wait—vote early"
http://goo.gl/fb/NH8ah

A $1.50 Lens-Free Microscope - The device could diagnose disease in the developing world and enable rapid drug screening
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/26610/

The Free Checking Restoration Act - Middle-class consumers are paying the price for the Dodd-Frank financial reform. The next Congress can undo the damage.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574123982225624.html

Soros: Why I Support Legal Marijuana - We should invest in effective education rather than ineffective arrest
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574450703567656.html

Nancy Pelosi Who? - Democrats deny being Democrats
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574493889847442.html

Committed to Vote in South Carolina
http://goo.gl/fb/oDULv

Geithner's Global Central Planning - The Chinese government's accumulation of U.S. debt represents a tragic investment decision, not a currency-manipulation effort
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574101493496596.html

Remarks to Participants in the Edward R Murrow Program for Journalists
http://www.state.gov/r/remarks/2010/149927.htm

Big Insurance, Big Medicine - ObamaCare is already driving a wave of health-care consolidation—and higher costs
WSJ, Oct 26, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554293656982422.html

ObamaCare's once and future harms have been well chronicled, but the major effects so far are less obvious and arguably more important: A wave of consolidation is washing over the health markets, and the result is going to be higher costs.

The turn toward consolidation among insurance companies is not new, and neither is it among doctors, hospitals and other providers. Yet the health bill has accelerated these trends, as all sides race to anticipate and manage political risk and regulatory uncertainty. This dynamic is leading to much larger hospital systems and physician groups, and fewer insurers dominated by a handful of national conglomerates. ObamaCare was sold using the language of choice and competition, but it is actually reducing both.

***
The first surge will come among the 1,200 insurers doing business in the U.S., given that a major goal of ObamaCare is to convert these companies into de facto public utilities. Those regulations are now being written—and once they're up and running some medium-sized carriers will collapse under the new mandates and higher overhead. State insurance commissioners warned the Administration this month that "improper or overly strident application . . . could threaten the solvency of insurers or significantly reduce competition in some insurance markets." They also implied that bankruptcies are likely.

With these headwinds, investors and Wall Street analysts are now predicting a lost decade for health insurance stocks. But it may be more accurate to say that there will be a lot of losers and some very big winners. Mergers and acquisitions will increase dramatically once companies get a better look at the regulation and figure out the valuation of M&A targets. Larger carriers will swallow smaller ones quietly before they fail.

Both publicly traded and nonprofit insurers have been heading in this direction for years, as in any industry where there are returns to scale. Size is also important in a low-margin business in which capital is costly and political clout vital. But scale is far more central now, because ObamaCare standardizes benefits. Once insurers lose the freedom to design their own products, they'll essentially be selling commodities, and survival will depend on enrollment volume and market share.

The same thing will happen to stand-alone and community hospitals—always a precarious business. Nearly a third of U.S. hospitals are currently operating in the red and will get steamrolled by ObamaCare, and many of them will be annexed by national chains and larger local systems.

This trend got a preview two weeks ago when Mercy Health Partners announced that it was seeking buyers for three Catholic hospitals in northeast Pennsylvania. CEO Kevin Cook told local media that ObamaCare was "absolutely" a factor in the decision to sell, only to backtrack once his comments were used in campaign ads against House Democrats Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney, who voted for the bill.

Though it received little attention over a year of debate, ObamaCare actively promotes provider consolidation. Writing this summer in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Nancy-Ann DeParle and other White House health advisers argued that "The economic forces put in motion by the Act are likely to lead to vertical organization of providers and accelerate physician employment by hospitals and aggregation into larger physician groups."

Ask and ye shall receive. Across the country, providers are building giant hospital systems and much tighter doctor alliances like multispecialty groups to get out ahead of a concept known as "accountable care organizations," or ACOs. To modernize the delivery of medical services, ACOs would encourage doctors to work in teams to use resources more efficiently, streamline treatment and improve quality. The model is the Mayo Clinic and other large integrated systems.

At the moment ACOs are only a gleam in some bureaucrat's eye, and no one has a clue how they'll operate in practice until the government releases a working regulatory definition next year. Yet the percussive effects are already being felt across medicine.

Hospitals are now on a buying spree of private physician practices in the rush to build something that will qualify as an ACO. Some 65% of doctors who changed jobs in 2009 moved into a hospital-owned practice, while 49% of doctors out of residency were hired by hospitals, according to the Medical Group Management Association. In its 2010 census, the American College of Cardiology reports that nearly 40% of private cardiology groups are currently integrating with hospitals or merging with other practices.

Doctors are selling because complying with the ever-growing list of mandates has become more cumbersome; and while staff physicians on salary do gain predictability, they also lose the autonomy of independent practice. The other problem is price controls in Medicare, which are about 20% below private payments for doctors and 30% lower for hospitals. Hospitals are also scooping up practices to lock in referral sources and make up for ObamaCare's Medicare cuts. As it is, two-thirds of hospitals lose money today on Medicare inpatient services, according to Medicare.

ACOs are also driving consolidation among hospitals. Anecdotally, Marquette General Hospital and Bell Hospital formed a strategic ACO partnership in July that will dominate Michigan's upper peninsula. In Omaha, Methodist Health System and the Nebraska Medical Center recently followed suit. Similar alliances are underway in Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, greater Boston, Roanoke and southwest Virginia—even Youngstown, Ohio.

The accountable care movement could do some good if it spreads best practices. But no one should entertain the illusion that it will reduce costs perforce and "bend the curve." In fact, the most concrete effect of this wave of consolidation may be to increase private health spending significantly.

Unlike Medicare and Medicaid, private reimbursement rates are determined by negotiations, often highly antagonistic. Insurers always attribute premium increases to the underlying cost of care, while doctors and hospitals always argue that there isn't enough competition among health plans. Both claims are "true," some of the time—but it depends on which side has more market power.

Insurers extract lower rates by steering patients and revenue to certain providers through their networks. Providers gain bargaining leverage when health plans can't credibly threaten to exclude them, whether because their share of the market is too large or due to public demand for "must have" hospitals. Consolidation will increasingly feed off itself as providers and insurers vie to get the whip hand in rate negotiations.

Most neutral experts believe the balance of power has tipped toward providers over the last decade, though this isn't always anticompetitive. Higher rates generally reflect investments in staffing, technology, specialization and sometimes consumer preferences. There is also the cost-shift to private insurance to offset Medicare's price controls. However, most economic studies on hospital M&A over the last two decades show that consolidation increases unit prices, though there is significant disagreement over the magnitude.

Accountable care organizations may become little more than a pretext for building up market power and fixing prices. The American Medical Association wants the government to stop insurers from individual contracting in favor of "exclusive dealing arrangements" with ACOs. In effect, the AMA wants a mandatory collective bargaining tool that would convert ACOs into unions.

***
"In a lot of states, the problem is just you don't have competition at all," President Obama said in February at his health summit. "We want competition."

Yet the consolidation wave is churning the insurance markets and reshaping clinical medicine with almost no public scrutiny. A rational system would give consumers an incentive to reward those businesses that innovate and deliver higher quality at lower cost, whether they are providers or insurers. ObamaCare is already moving the U.S. even further from the rational world, and this forced retreat will continue the longer it is left in place.

Press Briefing

Oct 25, 2010

President Obama’s message at the Moving America Forward rally in Las Vegas
http://goo.gl/fb/81DCS

The Feds vs. Fruit Juice - The FTC goes to war against those who promote the health benefits of the pomegranate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303738504575568461196114520.html

Back to Work at California HQ
http://goo.gl/fb/ofxL6

Panama's Presidential Temptation - Its market-friendly leader is beguiled by grandiose state projects
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522341151402162.html

President Obama & Moving America Forward Rally Fires Up Base
http://goo.gl/fb/9Z18d

Licensing to Kill - A new study shows how city regulations harm small business
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564171912051184.html

OFA: What Can You Do to Help Further Change?
http://goo.gl/fb/hrbqa

Another Drilling Smackdown - The White House loses again in court
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564520883929464.html

Los Angeles Goes All in with President Obama
http://goo.gl/fb/5idj6

The G-20's 'Rebalancing' Act - Dollar devaluation is not a global growth strategy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303321904575571363698234720.html

Federal President's Weekly Address: Letting Wall Street Run Wild Again
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/23/weekly-address-letting-wall-street-run-wild-again

How to Privatize the Mortgage Market - Europeans manage just fine without Fannie and Freddie-type agencies
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558303668606406.html

The White House Blog: What Do They Expect in Return?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/22/what-do-they-expect-return

The NAACP's Unhealthy Tea Party Obsession - Black-on-black crime remains at epidemic levels and black children continue to suffer in bad schools. Doesn't the organization have better things to worry about?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303738504575568434291817928.html

Our Fiscal Policy Paradox - Government's kitbag is overflowing with ways to spur demand. Yet fiscal policy sits idle, paralyzed by extreme partisanship.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303738504575568122743023374.html

Stiglitz: Why Easier Money Won't Work - The Fed risks fueling a destructive bond market bubble, while any gains from a weaker dollar will come at the expense of those to whom we hope to export
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304023804575566573119083334.html

The Real Case for Defunding NPR - My quarrel with government subsidies is that they cast a chill over the markets in which entrepreneurs seek to raise capital for highbrow journalism
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303738504575568222953428174.html

Press Briefing

Oct 23, 2010

Iraq Prime Minister Calls WikiLeaks Report Political
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303299304575570253164829026.html

Al-shabab ordered Kismayo district residents to pay a monthly fee
http://mustaqiim.com/Al-shabab%20to%20collect%20Monthly%20Fee%20from%20Kismayo%20Residents.htm

Obama Rebuilt the Regulatory State. Now, Republicans Are About To Destroy It.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/78586/epa-osha-fcc-republicans-congress-midterm-elections

What's the Worst That Could Happen With The New Health Law?
http://fixhealthcarepolicy.com/in-the-news/whats-the-worst-that-could-happen-with-the-new-health-law

Moral Arguments for Soaking the Rich
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/78459/moral-argument-soaking-the-rich

City Centered: Investing in Metropolitan Areas to Build the Next Economy
http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2010/1021_metro_economy_katz.aspx

High costs of making batteries stall affordability of electric cars

High costs of making batteries stall affordability of electric cars. By Mike Ramsey
The Wall Street Journal Europe, page 22, Oct 19, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB40001424052748703735804575536242934528502.html

The push to get electric cars on the road is backed by governments and auto makers around the world, but they face a hurdle that may be tough to overcome: the stubbornly high cost of the giant battery packs that power the vehicles.

Both the industry and government are betting that a quick takeoff in electric-car sales will drive down the price of the battery packs, which can account for more than half the cost of an electric vehicle.

But a number of scientists and automotive engineers believe cost reductions will be hard to come by. Unlike with tires or toasters, battery packs aren't likely to enjoy traditional economies of scale as their makers ramp up production.

Some experts say that increased production of batteries means the price of the key metals used in their manufacture will remain steady—or maybe even rise—at least in the short term.

These experts also say the price of the electronic parts used in battery packs as well as the enclosures that house the batteries aren't likely to decline appreciably.

The U.S. Department of Energy has set a goal of bringing down car-battery costs by 70% from last year's price, which it estimated at $1,000 per kilowatt hour of battery capacity, by 2014.

Jay Whitacre, a battery researcher and technology policy analyst at Carnegie Mellon University, is skeptical. The government's goals "are aggressive and worth striving for, but they are not attainable in the next three to five years," he said in an interview. "It will be a decade at least" before that price reduction is reached.

The high cost of batteries is evident in the prices set for early electric cars. Nissan Motor Co.'s Leaf, due in the U.S. in December, is priced at $33,000. Current industry estimates say its battery pack alone costs Nissan about $15,600.

That cost will make it difficult for the Leaf to turn a profit. And it also may make the Leaf a tough sell, since even with government tax breaks the car will cost more than twice the $13,520 starting price of the similar-size Nissan Versa hatchback.

Nissan won't comment on the price of the battery packs, other than to say that the first versions of the Leaf won't make money. Only later, when the company begins mass-producing the battery units in 2013, will the car be profitable, according to Nissan.

The Japanese company believes it can cut battery costs through manufacturing scale. It is building a plant in Smyrna, Tenn., that will have the capacity to assemble up to 200,000 packs a year.

Other proponents of electric vehicles agree that battery costs will fall as production ramps up. "They will come down by a factor of two, if not more, in the next five years," said David Vieau, chief executive officer of A123 Systems, a start-up that recently opened a battery plant in Plymouth, Mich.

Alex Molinaroli, president of Johnson Controls Inc.'s battery division, is confident it can reduce the cost of making batteries by 50% in the next five years, though the company won't say what today's cost is. The cost reduction by one of the world's biggest car-battery makers will mostly come from efficient factory management, cutting waste and other management-related costs, not from fundamental improvement of battery technology, he said.

But researchers such as Mr. Whitacre, the National Academies of Science and even some car makers aren't convinced, mainly because more than 30% of the cost of the batteries comes from metals such as nickel, manganese and cobalt. (Lithium makes up only a small portion of the metals in the batteries.)

Prices for these metals, which are set on commodities markets, aren't expected to fall with increasing battery production—and may even rise as demand grows, according to a study by the Academies of Science released earlier this year and engineers familiar with battery production.

Lithium-ion battery cells already are mass produced for computers and cellphones and the costs of the batteries fell 35% from 2000 through 2008—but they haven't gone down much more in recent years, according to the Academies of Science study.

The Academies and Toyota Motor Corp. have publicly said they don't think the Department of Energy goals are achievable and that cost reductions are likely to be far lower. It likely will be 20 years before costs fall by 50%—not the three or so years the DOE projects—according to an Academy council studying battery costs. The council was made up of nearly a dozen researchers in the battery field.

"Economies of scale are often cited as a factor that can drive down costs, but hundreds of millions to billions of ... [battery] cells already are being produced in optimized factories. Building more factories is unlikely to have a great impact on costs," the Academies report said.

The report added that the cost of the battery-pack enclosure that holds the cells is a major portion of the total battery-pack cost, and isn't likely to come down much. In addition, battery packs include electronic sensors and controls that regulate the voltage moving through and the heat being generated by the cells. Since those electronics already are mass-produced commodities, their prices may not fall much with higher production, the study said.

Lastly, the labor involved in assembling battery packs is expensive because employees need to be more highly trained than traditional factory staff because they work in a high-voltage environment. That means labor costs are unlikely to drop, said a senior executive at one battery manufacturer.

When car makers began using nickel-metal hydride batteries, an older technology, in their early hybrid vehicles, the cost of the packs fell only 11% from 2000 to 2006 and has seen little change since, according to the Academies study.

Toyota executives, including Takeshi Uchiyamada, global chief of engineering, say their experience with nickel-metal hydride batteries makes them skeptical that the prices of lithium ion battery pack prices will fall substantially.

"The cost reductions aren't attainable even in the next 10 years," said Menahem Anderman, principal of Total Battery Consulting Inc., a California-based battery research firm. "We still don't know how much it will cost to make sure the batteries meet reliability, safety and durability standards. And now we are trying to reduce costs, which automatically affect those first three things."

Press Briefing

Oct 22, 2010

President Obama: It Gets Better
http://goo.gl/fb/yoePW

When Will Our Progressive Corporatism Nightmare End?
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/22/morning-bell-when-will-our-progressive-corporatism-nightmare-end

Employers, Insurance and Health Care
http://goo.gl/fb/yGQBG

Fed’s Plosser: Bad Incentives Drove Much of Financial Crisis
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/10/20/feds-plosser-bad-incentives-drove-much-of-financial-crisis/

Partnership for Sustainable Communities Awards Grants to Build Infrastructure…
http://goo.gl/fb/UNUFo

OFA: Progress In Iowa
http://goo.gl/fb/Mi4Iu

Offshore Oil Drilling in Shallow Water: Good Safety Record, Less Risky
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/21/offshore-oil-drilling-in-shallow-water-good-safety-record-less-risky/

Jobs and Economic Security for America's Women Report
http://goo.gl/fb/3cGgP

Remarks by the President at a Rally in Portland, Oregon
http://goo.gl/fb/oSPzX

Can Yoga Be Christian? - An exercise craze provokes questions of body and soul
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562651537656366.html

Tax Cut Facts: How Obama’s Tax Cuts Are Helping American Families
http://goo.gl/fb/1yO7X

San Francisco's Public Pension Revolt - The city has cut back on almost every service: Summer schools have been shut, potholes deepen, parks close early, and services for the poor have been pared to the quick.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562350166984886.html

Building Stronger, Sustainable Communities Through Strategic Coordination
http://goo.gl/fb/Y6EyG

The Tea Party Is Wrong About Earmarks - Why just accept the president's spending priorities? Congress has the right and duty to make appropriations in the public interest.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562442197836742.html

The Role and Perspectives of Arms Control and Confidence- and Security-Building Regimes in Building Trust in the Evolving Security Environment
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/149779.htm

Soros Bets on Nevada - The campaign to hijack state judicial selection
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703859204575526164036476490.html

President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Releases Money Market Funds Report
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg918.htm

Britain's 'Austerity' Lessons - What Margaret Thatcher can teach David Cameron—and the Republican Party
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304023804575566431921159198.html

New Haitian Mango Centers will Increase Production and Incomes for Thousands of Haitian Mango Farmers
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr101021.html

NPR's Taxpayer-Funded Intolerance - All Americans, particularly those of Arab or Muslim descent, should protest the firing of Juan Williams
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304023804575566363119493650.html

Focus on Nutrition:  Creating Inclusive Partnerships and Deepening our Knowledge
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/nutrition_partnerships_and_knowledge

Providing Jobs and Economic Security for America's Women
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/21/providing-jobs-and-economic-security-americas-women

Struggles and Triumphs: Afghan Governor Naeemi Discusses Progress in Afghanistan
http://blogs.state.gov/ap/index.php/site/entry/naeemi_nato_afghanistan

A Free Trade Agreement with South Korea Would Promote Both Prosperity and Security
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12490

Press Briefing

Oct 21, 2010

Video: Open for Questions: Cybersecurity
http://goo.gl/fb/iMnkU

Renewable Electricity Standards Kill Jobs Too
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/21/morning-bell-renewable-electricity-standards-kill-jobs-too

Video: National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards
http://goo.gl/fb/SZK8B

WaPo Editorial: Nicaragua, Honduras and hypocrisy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/19/AR2010101906475.html

Watch a Campaign Update and Make Calls Tonight
http://goo.gl/fb/WmBFZ

Britain Bows Out of the Security Game - New defense cuts will leave the U.K. unable to support even its current deployment in Afghanistan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564313178698450.html

Getting Out the Early Vote
http://goo.gl/fb/EWGeh

France's Perpetual Revolution - The left seems to have forgotten Marx's line about history repeating itself as tragedy and farce
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564354040144426.html

Cutting Through the Rhetoric on Spending
http://goo.gl/fb/gXQ0h

Card Checkmate - Voters in four states head to the polls to preserve honest union elections
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704361504575552582690690048.html

A Small Business in Arkansas Benefits from the Affordable Care Act
http://goo.gl/fb/Ze31a

WikiPropaganda - Wikipedia bars a global warming censor from editing its pages
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560630778483558.html

Video: Campaign Update with Mitch Stewart: October 20, 2010
http://goo.gl/fb/I3UfC

The SEC's Mozilo settlement gives the political class a pass
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562311735698220.html

Fired Up in Ohio
http://goo.gl/fb/cxKLw

The Biggest Race You Haven't Heard Of - A rare chance to defuse the pension bomb
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564133687036768.html

Joe Biden: "Remember when the GOP was in control?"
http://goo.gl/fb/1Movx

Brookings: The needy have a direct interest in substantial reductions in the federal deficit - beginning with the end of nearly all A.R.R.A. expansion in safety net spending
http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/0917_stimulus_safety_net_haskins.aspx

Federal Prez's Incoherent Closing Argument - While the economy is the No. 1 issue, the president constantly changes the subject
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304741404575564383870852928.html

State Dept: Briefing on Pending Major Arms Sale
http://www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/rm/149749.htm

ObamaCare's Incentive to Drop Insurance - My state of Tennessee could reduce costs by over $146 million using the legislated mechanics of health reform to transfer coverage to the federal government
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562643804015252.html

Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues: Video Remarks to the African Union Launch of the Decade for Women
http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/rls/rem/2010/149756.htm

President Obama Prefers Imported Oil over American Made
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/20/president-obama-prefers-imported-oil-over-american-made/

Democracy -- not on the march
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=108&subid=900003&contentid=255199

Walter and Miriam Schneir - A longtime champion of the Rosenbergs tries to confront the evidence
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562223216619854.html

U.S. - Maghreb Entrepreneurship Conference: December 1-2, 2010
http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/rls/fs/2010/149742.htm

Obama and the Coming Palestinian State - What if the president abstains from a Security Council vote establishing one?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575559973666125394.html

Press Briefing

Oct 20, 2010

Adrienne Explains How College Students Are Benefiting from the Affordable Care Act
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/19/adrienne-explains-how-college-students-are-benefiting-affordable-care-act

Bernanke's Inflation Target Misses the Mark - The more latitude the Fed has to try to spur economic growth, the more economic uncertainty there will be
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560302444820376.html

President Obama Signs Executive Order On Education and Hispanics
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/19/president-obama-signs-executive-order-education-and-hispanics

ObamaCare, for Some - Step right up and get your waiver
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575546052343243306.html

Haitian Farmers Increase Agriculture Productivity through Support of U.S. Government
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr101019.html

Volte-Face - GM's new electric car depends on coal-belching power plants to charge its batteries. What's the point?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575562133163140878.html

Remarks by the President at DSCC Fundraiser
http://goo.gl/fb/CQsNq

Where France Goes . . . other Western entitlement nations are likely to follow
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510704575561682510521208.html

The Basel Committee's response to the financial crisis: report to the G20
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs179.htm

Bravo, Canada - A U.N. snub is a badge of honor
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560421374193814.html

Vietnam-US Relations: Past, Present, and Future
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/search-for-publications/browse-alphabetic-list-of-titles/?class_call=view&mode=view&pub_ID=3562

The Overseas Profits Elephant in the Room - There's a trillion dollars waiting to be repatriated if tax policy is right
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704469004575533880328930598.html

The Cuba Embargo at 50
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-cuba-embargo-at-50/

Misconceptions about energy lead to waste
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/19/misconceptions-about-energy-lead-to-waste/

A Free Press Stirs in North Korea - Armed with pinhole cameras and flash drives, journalists are getting videos, photographs and reporting out of the Hermit Kingdom
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575559980603982928.html

There Is No 'War on Teachers' - There is a growing bipartisan agreement on the importance of rewarding good ones
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575546502615802206.html

Press Briefing

Oct 19, 2010

Background on the White House Science Fair
http://goo.gl/fb/xcAlW

China's Rare Earths Gambit - Beijing is courting a backlash by denying access to vital elements
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575559532707753878.html

The Challenges and Opportunities of Biotechnology. Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs
http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/rls/rm/2010/149589.htm

The Housing Bust Lobby - Obama is right to resist the foreclosure wails from the political left
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554342373628422.html

Dinner with Putin: Musings on the Politics of Modernization in Russia
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/10_russia_putin_hill.aspx

The Trouble With Talking to the Taliban - As in Vietnam, compromise is not in the insurgents' playbook
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560112389695490.html

Remarks by the President and First Lady at a Reception for Governor Ted Strickland
http://goo.gl/fb/7z1B8

Treasury Announces Plan to Continue to Sell Citigroup Common Stock
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg915.htm

Conservatives: The Left Still Doesn’t Get Poverty
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/19/morning-bell-the-left-still-doesnt-get-poverty

President Obama to Host White House Science Fair
http://goo.gl/fb/bRuHN

Washington State's Union Tax - Bill Gates Sr. supports a state income tax on wealthy Washingtonians, but public unions are the real muscle behind the initiative
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560301019870596.html

Next Steps on U.S.-Russian Nuclear Negotiations and Nuclear Non-Proliferation
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2010/10_nonproliferation_albright_talbott.aspx

Data Dump RE: Political Positioning in the Maghreb-Sahel
http://themoornextdoor.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/data-dump-re-political-positioning-in-the-maghreb-sahel/

Barack Obama: "Our destiny is written by us"
http://www.youtube.com/v/-nQXNsD0sFY

How the Fed Is Holding Back Recovery - By promising to print more money, it's giving Congress an excuse to avoid critical tax and spending cuts
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575559972460199304.html

The US Perspective on Eurasian Energy
http://www.state.gov/s/eee/rmk/149543.htm

California’s Climate Policy: The Present and Future of AB 32
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/10/15/californias-climate-policy-the-present-and-future-of-ab-32/