At 1:30 PM EST, Liberty Cap Talk Live,

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/libertycaptalklive/2011/04/27/special-episode-a-60-minute-interview-with-jeffrey-miron

At 9:00 PM EST, WBZ-1030 in Boston, Nightline, with Dan Rea.

The crucial question facing the United States is whether the current path of federal expenditure is vital to our economic well-being. If so, then the U.S. faces a grim economic future. This path implies an exploding national debt, and the taxation necessary to tame the debt would cripple economic growth. The U.S. would thus appear to have no good policy choices.

The right view of all the expenditure is different, however; the U.S. can slash it with minimal adverse effects. Many cuts, in fact, improve economic performance and thus make sense independent of the fiscal outlook.

Read the rest at RealClearMarkets.com.

Could not resist passing this along:

Lots of bandwidth and $5,000 can get anyone an hour with Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker.

A couple more computer clicks can also remake a tennis serve, fix a golf swing and provide tips on how to out-bluff the poker world’s top pros.

Becker, a University of Chicago professor who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1992, will be selling his time on ExpertInsight.com, a website offering one-to-one video chats with leaders, which opened yesterday. He’ll join people such as economics professors Jeffrey Miron of Harvard University and Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University, “Freakonomics” co- authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, poker celebrities Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan, and tennis coach Jeff Salzenstein.

In case you are wondering, my rate is not $5,000 an hour!

… when politicians do things like this:

ALBANY: State bureaucrats have identified a potentially deadly hazard facing our children this summer – freeze tag.

That’s right, officials have decided the age-old street game – along with Wiffle Ball, kickball and dodgeball – poses a “significant risk of injury.”

And classics like Capture the Flag, Steal the Bacon and Red Rover are also deemed dangerous in new state regulations for day camps.

In many ways, medical marijuana entrepreneurs are no different than any other business start-ups: They need a business plan, venture capital and a fair dose of fortitude.

They also are likely to have something not generally found in most small-business owners: an activist streak.

The rest is here.

Dear Readers:

As of today, I am done blogging.  I will continue writing op-eds, which I will link here. But the “daily” grind of blogging is too much.

Many thanks for reading.

Jeff

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post writes:

In 2008, Mitt Romney desperately tried to run from his record as a pro-choice governor. The story of his change of heart didn’t exactly hold together, social conservatives never trusted him and he acquired the “flip-flop” label. He lost Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and was done for.

Contrast that to his position on RomneyCare. He refuses to step away from his embrace of the individual mandate and instead is trying to escape the wrath of voters by saying “each state should decide.” 

Rubin then argues that Romney should have taken the opposite approach: repudiated Romneycare, but endorsed overturning Roe v. Wade while letting each state choose its own abortion policy.

I agree with Rubin.  I think Romney is in a tough position for the 2012 nomination because neither conservatives or independents know whether they can trust him.

For lawyers and consultants:

For months, said Washington health-care attorney Rene Quashie, his phone has been “ringing off the hook,” with hospital and doctor clients wanting advice on how to reorganize themselves to get new Medicare bonuses under the health-care law. Handling such questions, said Quashie, an associate with the firm Drinker Biddle & Reath, is sure to be “a growth area” for his firm.

And a lucrative one.

From Washington to California, the year-old health law, with its layers of complexity, is setting off a gold rush for high-priced lawyers and consultants. It’s “a full employment act for health-care consultants,” said Ian Morrison, a founding partner of Strategic Health Perspectives in Menlo Park, Calif.

DAKAR, Senegal — As rebels swept across Ivory Coast in a rapid advance to oust the nation’s strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, hundreds of people were killed in a single town last week, by far the worst episode of violence reported in the four-month political crisis that has plunged the country back into civil war.

The exact number of dead was unclear. The United Nations said Saturday that 330 people had been killed, while the International Committee of the Red Cross put the death toll at 800 or more.

So, why are we intervening in Libya but not Ivory Coast? I wonder if it’s the “O” word.

What do Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams have in common with Cheech & Chong?

All have had the honor of having a shoe named after them by Nike, the athletic apparel giant.

That’s right. Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, the pot-smoking comedy duo of the 1970s and ’80s, will be paid homage with an eponymous sneaker due out April 20, the unofficial international holiday for marijuana tokers.

The skateboarding shoe, officially called the Nike SB Dunk High 420 Cheech & Chong, will feature a red heel panel, an icy translucent outsole and “marijuana-green” laces, according to the website sneakerobsession.com. Only 1,000 pairs will be made.