Search query: missouri

Concerns about rising tuition and how students can afford to finance their major investments in post-secondary education are widespread. Solid insights into these questions require accurate and up-to-date information about prices. reports on the prices charged by colleges and universities in 2013-14, how prices have changed over time, and how they vary within and across types of institutions, states, and regions. We also provide information on the net prices that students and families actually p

Out of Washington, we tend to hear the same old stories.  Republicans want to cut spending and not raise taxes.  Democrats want to tax the rich and not let Republicans touch the entitlement programs.  Tea Party Republicans just want to defund the Affordable Care Act.  In a divided government, it has managed to get us into one stalemate after another.  This last time, it finally shut down the government and nearly brought us to the brink of defaulting on our debt.  Obviously, there are some commo

Benjamin Franklin once said that “The only things certain in life are death and taxes.” Mr. Franklin never encountered the 112 th or 113th Congress. Since the debt limit was officially set in 1917, the threat of passing that limit usually saw a smooth increase in the limit. Now, things are more than a little different and more difficult. Trying to visualize the national debt over the years is like looking up a steep staircase; each step being a hike in the debt limit. The interconnected nation

zimmytws / shutterstock.com We have grown accustomed to Congress "managing by crisis," as U.S Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) phrased it on the Senate floor on Wednesday. Instead of taking the time necessary to have a full discussion on the nation's biggest problems, lawmakers choose to kick the can a little further down the road every time these fiscal "crisis" arise. The latest fiscal debate over keeping the government funded into the beginning of the 2014 fiscal year, which actually begins o

Demand, meet Supply Amidst some disenchantment with both major political parties, the chart above shows, when looking across the 50 states, the share of votes earned by candidates that were not either Democratic or Republican has fallen significantly for U.S. House of Representative elections since 2000. The State Data Lab resource (Votes Cast for House Election – Other), developed by Truth in Accounting, shows that states with relatively high shares of non-major party votes in 2000 also had s

The future of sustainable energy likely depends on the invention of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR), sometimes referred to as "cold fusion." From space exploration, geo-economics, and geo-politics to solving the world's climate and energy problems -- such a device, by itself, could revolutionize the world.Imagine a world where there is no need for gasoline or power grids, where every family, community or office can generate their own power through a device that could replace water heaters --

Lake Oahe before and after a six-year drought // Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/Japan Space Systems and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team Global Climate Change : A four part discussion on long-term global socioeconomic goals and the impact those goals will have on climate change. Drought, North / South Dakota When the right-hand image was taken, the Missouri River was six years into a severe drought. Because of reduced snowpack in the Rocky Mountains in Montana, where the river has its headwaters, le

Climate change usually leads people to think about the North and South poles. After all, the polar bear is the unofficial mascot of climate change. However, climate change shows its effects right here in the united States. Perhaps one of the most obvious regions is the Midwest. Home to tornadoes, flooding, blizzards, and drought, the Midwest is - with the exception of hurricanes - home to many of the weather extremes within the continental United States. With some research pointing to climate ch

One-hundred and twelve legislative bodies have come and gone. We are now in the midst of our 113th Congress. And since our inception, only 27 of these assemblies have consisted of a sixty percent majority in both the House and the Senate; a partisan monopoly on government legislation that eventually became known as the filibuster proof majority. With a sixty percent lead in Congress, whichever party is in control would, theoretically, be impervious to roadblocks. But is an entire nation of peop

Maryna Pleshkun // Shutterstock.com There has been a lot of discussion about campaign finance reform. Many advocates suggest publicly financed elections, where each candidate gets access to an equal amount of taxpayer funds or additional donations are matched by a public coffer. All the while, donations are to be capped at certain thresholds. Critics of these types of policies say that since money equals speech, limiting donations violates the First Amendment. However, there's another idea tha