5/11 Roundup: Cutting Costs, Anti-Trust, Molly the Cow

Health CareLeader: Cutting Costs

- A group of health care industry groups will unveil today a plan to wring $2 trillion in projected cost increases from health care expenditures in the coming decade.  The plan will take advantage of new efficiencies to cut costs from rising 1.5% per year. Half a dozen health care industry leaders will make their case to the President in a White House meeting today. 

- This could be an important step toward major health care reform this year.  One senior White House official called it a "game changer" in the health care debate. The leaders represent groups from across the health care playing field, and interests that often clash.

- Paul Krugman calls this "some of the best policy news" he's heard in a long time.  Hopefully, it will live up to expectations.

Politics

- Sen. John McCain thinks the GOP needs to be more inclusive, and not demand the kind of ideological fealty that currently seems to be a requisite for Party support.

- Dick Cheney seems to take a different view, as he said yesterday that he would choose the Republican Party of Rush Limbaugh over Colin Powell's version.

- Morley and Mike weighed in on this subject in an op-ed in yesterdays LA Times, chastening the Republican Party that it ignores Millennials at its own peril.

Economy

- The Obama Administration is looking to strengthen anti-trust laws that atrophied under the Bush Administration, which tended to favor the defendants in anti-trust cases.

- A GM bankruptcy is "almost inevitable," according to experts.  To avoid Chapter 11, the auto manufacturer will have to convince creditors to swap $27 billion in debt for stock shares-- a risky investment, considering the state of affairs.

International

- Al Qaeda has shifted its efforts from planning terrorist attacks against the West to fomenting chaos in Pakistan, and promoting the cause of fellow Islamist groups as they battle government forces.

- The US military is beginning to take cyberwarfare very seriously, as we see in this NY Times article that reports on war games between West Point cadets and NSA agents.

New From NDN

- Simon wrote this morning that the Obama Administration is right to be seeking to curb credit card debt in America. 

- Be sure to check out Jake's backgrounder from Friday, responding to the release of the stress test results, and linking to some of our recent work on the subject.

One More Thing

- Last week, Molly the Cow's epic adventure through the streets of Queens captured the imagination of millions of Americans.  Or something like that.  This week, Molly's efforts will be honored as she is sent to a cow sanctuary further out on Long Island, and is spared the unsavory fate of becoming a double quarter-pounder.  No bull!

- Last, Barack Obama was funny at the WH correspondents' dinner on Saturday: