Daily Policy Digest
| Hydraulic Fracturing Could Jumpstart Economy In 2011, the United States produced more than 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from shale gas wells worth more than $36 billion... |
| Redundant Federal Programs Waste Billions Over the past three years, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found 162 areas where agencies are duplicating efforts, at a cost of tens of billions of dollars... |
| The Amount of Hidden Debt Will Stun Taxpayers Collectively, state and local governments are estimated to owe $7.3 trillion and most of this debt was never approved by taxpayers... |
| Telemedicine Advances All the Way to Antarctica New videoconferencing technologies and special medical instruments are expanding access to medical care as far away as Antarctica... |
| The Federal Reserve's Expanding Regulator Umbrella Under Dodd-Frank, the Federal Reserve Board now has authority over the whole holding company structure, even subsidiaries that have another regulator... |
| Innovation in Oil and Natural Gas Production Assures Future Supplies U.S. oil production rose by 790,000 barrels per day in 2012 -- the largest annual increase in U.S. oil production since it began in 1959... |
| Why Saving Less Is Costly The savings rate fell to roughly 6 percent in the late 1980s (from 8 percent in the early 1980s), to 4 percent in the 1990s and to almost 2 percent in 2007 before the housing collapse... |
| Licensing Requirements Are Biggest Barrier for Small Businesses Forty percent of small businesses surveyed reported being subject to licensing requirements at more than one level of government... |
| States Show Folly of Energy Mandates According to the Institute for Energy Research, utility bills in states with a renewable energy portfolio standard are 40 percent higher on average than in states without one... |
| Dementia Tops Cancer, Heart Disease in Cost Dementia's direct costs, from medicines to nursing homes, are $109 billion a year in 2010 dollars... |
