Can’t get by without your trusty air conditioner? Benjamin Bankes certainly understands, especially as temperatures skyrocket on the East Coast and summer kicks into full gear. But be sure to use your air conditioner in smart ways in order to keep your electric bill under control.

Only use your air conditioner when you absolutely have to—a window fan might be sufficient overnight when the humidity and temperature are lower. Investigate drapes or window blinds to keep sunlight out of your home—the more you can block, the cooler you can keep your home and the less you will need your air conditioner.

A programmable thermostat on a central air conditioner unit and a timer on a window unit are the best ways to control when your air conditioner kicks in so you don’t waste energy and cooling when you aren’t home and when it isn’t needed. And don’t forget to change the filter—all units are more efficient when clean.

If you haven’t bought an air conditioning unit yet but are planning too, remember to look for Energy Star brands. While these may cost a little more when you are purchasing them, you will save money on your electric bill, and can feel good about going green while you are at it. Make sure you get the right unit for the size of the space you are cooling—too big or too small will waste money and energy.

There are also many little ways to beat the heat this summer. Take advantage of any public pools in your area, which are usually inexpensive or free. Remember to only turn on the lights you need, limit your time at the oven and stove and only keep your computer on when you are using it. All of these add to the heat being generated in your home. Even a cool shower before going to bed can help you beat the heat and rely less on your air conditioning.

Try to stay cool and have fun this summer!
Visit www.feedthepig.org for more money-saving tips.

What’s Your Financial IQ?

According to a recent survey conducted by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, almost half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 have no savings. Additionally, 47 percent of Generation Y respondents gave themselves Cs, Ds or Fs in personal finance skills such as budgeting and saving for retirement.

The time to act is now! Take this short quiz to test your financial literacy IQ so you can improve your personal finance savvy.

This quiz is a good starting point, but the more you educate yourself on personal finances and savings, the more prepared you’ll be when facing financial situations in the future. Be smart, and remember to feed the pig!

Visit www.FeedthePig.org for more money-saving tips!

Save Money on Your Commute

Did you know that a 2009 report from the American Public Transportation Association estimated that Americans can save thousands of dollars by switching to public transportation? The Association determined this amount by comparing the average monthly transit fares to the average cost of driving. In cities like New York, Boston and Philadelphia, the annual savings for one person to switch to public transportation was over $10,000!

Two-car families can save by switching to a one-car household, saving money on additional automobile insurance, fuel costs, maintenance costs and parking. The savings could be put toward a future purchase of a newer, more fuel efficient car or another savings goal. Carpooling is another way to save money by splitting gas costs; it can make a trip more interesting, and sometimes faster if your commute has HOV or carpool lanes.

If you already utilize public transportation or are going to start, consider purchasing monthly or weekly passes to save money. Some employers offer pre-tax commuter benefits, such as discounted passes. Or look into transportation during off-peak hours—sometimes the difference in price can add up if you take an earlier or later train to avoid peak travel times. Of course, walking or riding a bicycle can offer even greater savings and have a healthy impact on your life as well.

Visit www.feedthepig.org for more money-saving tips.

Everyone is given three choices when arriving to the polls on Primary Day: a Republican Ballot, a Democrat Ballot, or a SCHOOL BOARD ONLY Ballot. While voting Republican or Democrat is dirty and will go on your permanent record, School Board races are non-partisan and should be voted on by everyone (schools control 50% of your property taxes). Pike & Washington Twp’s will also have a public question that you’ll want to answer.

So go vote on May 4, 6am-6pm, and ask for the School Board Only Ballot. Then, come to the Liberty Election Night Party 6pm - 10pm at Claude & Annie’s (Pike Plaza) - 5162 Pike Plaza Road, Indianapolis, 46254, hosted by the Ogden/Maguire team for School Board.  Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106138229429464

The following candidates for School Board are endorsed by the Libertarian Party of Marion County:

Allison Maguire, Pike Twp School Board
Paul Ogden, Pike Twp School Board
Jo Coleman, IPS School Board

http://allisonmaguire.wordpress.com/

Allison Maguire - Pike Township School Board

Allison Maguire for Pike Township School Board

allisonmaguire.wordpress.com

I don’t have kids, but I pay property taxes, and I know how to budget. I will never vote to raise your property taxes, but will instead ensure that your money is used to educate students.

What is financial literacy? Financial literacy refers to the ability to make informed judgements and effective decisions about the use and management of your money. One of the first steps to being financially literate is to create a budget.

• Examine your financial goals  
• Identify your current monthly income and expenses
• Evaluate your budget 
• Monitor your budget
• Get a financial coach

Also, Feed the Pig has created a savings calendar with simple tips to help you improve your financial literacy. Visit www.feedthepig.org to download the next four months of the calendar and for more more money-saving tips.

http://mises.org/story/3737

A Free-Market Guide to Fixing Healthcare
Mises Daily by Mises.org | Posted on 10/2/2009 12:00:00 AM

It’s a near-universal assumption of the healthcare debate that the current system is a market system and it is broken, and hence we should try a government system. The people who assume this aren’t considering the last 100 years of healthcare policy. Government is deeply involved at all levels, from medical licensure and patents, to direct subsidies and provision, to employee mandates and insurance-pooling controls, at all levels.

It’s been a steady path to medical serfdom all the way, under both parties, and this is precisely what accounts for most of the problems that people complain about. Meanwhile, the private dimensions of the healthcare system are what accounts for its merits.

So what are we doing? The very opposite of what we should be doing: more control instead of more freedom, more spending instead of less, more mandates instead of fewer. The logic of interventionism is taking over: problems are being addressed by more of what caused the problems. The sick patient is being given more poison with the claim that it is the cure.

We’ve put together this healthcare reader as a means of providing a deeper understanding of cause and effect. This market is like all other sectors of society: it functions best under conditions of freedom rather than state control.

Dailies:

• “Understanding the Costs of Healthcare” by D.W. MacKenzie
• “Is Emergency Care a Failed Market?” by Eric M. Staib
• “What Soviet Medicine Teaches Us” by Yuri N. Maltsev
• The Real Right to Medical Care versus Socialized Medicine by George Reisman
• “A Four-Step Healthcare Solution” by Hans-Hermann Hoppe (Also in MP3)
• ” Universal Coverage Means Suppressing Human Choice” by Eric M. Staib
• “Socialized Healthcare vs. The Laws of Economics” by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
• “Why Obamacare Can’t Work: The Calculation Argument” by Gabriel E. Vidal
• ” Private-Sector Health Care Leads the Way” by Chris Brown
• “The Relentless Process of Socializing Health Care” by D.W. MacKenzie (Also in MP3)
• “How Medical Boards Nationalized Health Care” by Henry Jones
• “Health Care for All!” by Christopher Mayer
• “Health Care Interventionism: A Case Study” by Christopher Westley
• “Bad Medicine” or Bad Economics?” by William L. Anderson

Journals:

• “Socialized Medicine, Take Two” by Jeffrey Herbener, The Free Market
• “Socialized Medicine in America” by Timothy D. Terrell, The Free Market
• Two Book Reviews by Dale Steinreich, Drury University, The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics Vol. 9, No. 3 (Fall 2006): 75–85 (PDF)
  1. Lives at Risk: Single-Payer National Health Insurance Around The World. By John C. Goodman, Gerald L. Musgrave, Devon M. Herrick Lanham. Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.
  2. Miracle Cure: How to Solve America’s Health Care Crisis and W:hy Canada Isn’t the Answer. By
     Sally C. Pipes.
     San Francisco: Pacific Research Institute, 2004.

Media:

“Health Economics” by Walter Block, MisesUniversity, July 31, 2009 (MP3)

“Economics of Risk and Insurance: From Healthcare to Welfare” by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, MisesUniversity, July 29, 2009 (MP3)

Mises Blog: “Health care: the government is the problem” (Video)

Comment on the blog 

*** Other recommended articles {from the above mentioned blog}:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200909/health-care/ - How American Health Care Killed My Father by David Goldhill

http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2007-winter/moral-vs-universal-health-care.asp
Moral Health Care vs. “Universal Health Care” - Lin Zinser and Paul Hsieh
 
http://mason.gmu.edu/~ihs/s92essay.html - The Rise and Fall of Fraternal Insurance Organizations by Leslie Siddeley
 
http://mises.org/story/3657 - Involuntary Medical Servitude by Maria Martins
 
http://mises.org/article.aspx?Id=1547 - 100 Years of Medical Robbery by Dale Steinreich
 
http://mises.org/story/1588 - Real Medical Freedom by Dale Steinreich
 
http://libertariannation.org/a/f12l3.html
How Government Solved the Health Care Crisis
Medical Insurance that Worked — Until Government “Fixed” It
by Roderick T. Long

“Are we a Supper Club or a Political Party?”

I want the LP to be a Political Party; as do others, like Mark and Rebecca, and Root.

There are those, however, who seem satisfied to remain a national Supper Club.
 
So I put the question to you: What do you want?

http://www.beveragechoices.com/

As you may be aware, the 2010 Session of the Indiana General Assembly drew to a close last Friday. Unfortunately, the legislature ignored the voices of the more than 50,000 Hoosiers who support the modernization of Indiana’s alcoholic beverage laws to allow for Sunday carryout alcohol sales and cold beer sales at Indiana’s drug, grocery and convenience stores. Your legislators failed to pass these common-sense changes into law.

That’s not to say that lawmakers did not take up some alcoholic beverage issues this year. The legislature did pass Senate Bill 75, which allows for Sunday carryout sales at microbreweries and also extends the hours that bars and restaurants can be open on Sundays to 3:00 am Monday morning (current law cuts off sales at 12:30 am).

The inconsistencies and unfairness in Indiana’s alcohol laws get worse every year!

Hoosiers can purchase alcohol on Sundays at bars, restaurants and microbreweries, but they still can’t shop at their local drug, grocery or convenience store. Even though opponents of this common-sense change express concern over drunk driving, a concern we all share, they convinced your legislators to extend the time that bars and restaurants can serve on Sundays from 12:30 am to 3:00 am Monday morning.

The powerful package liquor store lobby was able to protect the monopoly on cold beer sales in Indiana given to them by your legislators for another year. Hoosiers will continue to pay a “cold beer tax” because of the artificial monopoly enjoyed by package liquor store owners at a time when drug, grocery and convenience store owners are doing every they can to help struggling Hoosier families deal with a very challenging economy.

Even though we are disappointed with the outcome of this legislative session, we know that these changes take time, and we are optimistic about our prospects for success during the 2011 legislative session. First, it will be a “long” legislative session, allowing for more issues to be addressed by the General Assembly. In addition, lawmakers must also pass the state’s budget next year, and as state revenues continue to fall, we believe that the additional $10 million or more generated from Sunday sales will be recognized as part of a common sense solution to budget shortfalls.

With your continued support, we will continue our efforts to modernize and bring fairness to Indiana’s alcoholic beverage laws will continue this summer. We will keep you posted of our efforts and let you know how you can continue to support this campaign.

As always, thanks for your efforts on behalf of Hoosiers for Beverage Choices.

Sincerely,

Matt
Hoosiers for Beverage Choices
www.beveragechoices.com