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Unless you really, truly believe that the United States is a unique outlier to the laws of economics, there's very little reason to believe that national health care in America would fare any worse.

3. Given that prices in the individual insurance market already seem to have gone up 14-28 percent, and may go up more once political scrutiny of insurance companies lessens, what is the overall individual welfare calculation from this policy change?

Actually, prices will probably go up less in future years. The initial increase was a one-time response to the new requirements of the law, especially the addition of lots of sicker people to the

"We believe in the goal of improving consumer choice for American families, including more vehicles that provide savings at the pump for consumers," special assistant to the president for energy and climate change, Dan Utech, wrote in a response to the petition last Friday. "However, we understand that pre-empting current state laws on direct-to-consumer auto sales would require an act of Congress."

As it stands, state laws protecting entrenched automakers like Ford, Honda and other industry leaders make it a state-by-state fight for Tesla to open dealerships.

Of the US government's 585-word response, just 61 of those words were dedicated to addressing the petition's request: for the US government to "allow Tesla Motors to sell directly to consumers in all 50 states." The rest of the response written by Utech focused on the Obama Administration's work in lowering vehicle emissions and supporting companies like Tesla (indeed, including Tesla) with loans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs needs $17.6 billion in additional funds over the next three years to meet patients’ needs and fix the troubled agency’s problems, its acting director said Wednesday.

But the request divided lawmakers. Democrats, including Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, supported the appeal, while Republicans, including Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska, questioned whether VA care would improve if it received additional funding.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy and Management on Friday approved the use of controversial sonic cannons to discover oil and gas deposits under the ocean -- opening the Eastern seaboard to offshore oil exploration for the first time in decades, the Associated Press reported. The government estimates that the technology could harm nearly 140,000 sea creatures, including fish and endangered whales and sea turtles.

"The governor is acting beyond the scope of his powers under the state constitution," said Stephen Kupperman, attorney for the plaintiffs. "Ultimately, this is about the kids."

Leisher wrote:One of Obamacare's authors said years ago state exchange were needed for subsidies.

These days, Gruber says it’s “absurd” that Congress didn’t mean to apply the subsidies to federally-run exchange states as well.

He's also says that not including it in the initial wording is no reason not to pretend it's there.

“How do we make sure we’ve got an economy that’s working for everybody?” Obama said. “Imagine how much further along we’d be if Congress was doing its job. … They haven’t been too helpful. They haven’t been as constructive as I would have hoped."

In the email exchange, Lerner appears to be chatting with another unidentified individual about a vacation in Great Britain. She describes how she overheard “some ladies” talking about how America is “going down the tubes.”

The person she tells this to responds that “you should hear the whacko wing of the GOP. The US is through; too many foreigners sucking the teat; time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end. The right wing radio shows are scary to listen to.”

Lerner responds: “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many ---holes.”

The news service says the report, due out Thursday from the Government Accountability Office, blames officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services with constantly changing marching orders for the contractors who built the system. That led to confusion and millions of dollars in additional costs, AP says.