By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Groundhog Day is a holiday celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks. - Source: Wikipedia
Michael Douglas, Bill Murray and Bruce Willis are just a few of stars to move from a life on television to a successful film career.
Get ready for a little deja vu from Washington. The federal government is about to hit the debt ceiling, now set at a whopping $16.8 trillion. Yes, again. It's like the Bill Murray movie "Groundhog Day" — only this time, unfortunately, no one is laughing.
An end to winter's bitter cold will come soon, according to Pennsylvania's famous groundhog.
Hillary Rodham Clinton got an early valentine from President Obama, leaving Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to celebrate Groundhog Day alone. Perhaps the veep sees a shadow already (you can't blame him for looking over his shoulder), and he'll burrow underground.
"Lady and the Tramp," "Heaven Can Wait," "A Star Is Born" and "Gone With the Wind" are just some of the films perfect for a romantic evening this Feb. 14.
The clock is ticking for the Justice Department. As officials continue to withhold documents relevant to the administration's fatally flawed gunrunning scheme, House lawmakers grow more anxious to get to the bottom of what happened. Unless the material is produced before the deadline, Republicans shouldn't waver in issuing contempt-of-Congress citations.
In Europe, every day seems to be Groundhog Day. The Greek economy woke up Thursday morning, saw its shadow and retreated for six more weeks of bailouts. Already two years into the crisis, the Hellenic debt-to-gross-domestic-product ratio remains a crippling 160 percent - despite all the past bailouts.
Snow has been missing in action for much of the U.S. the last couple months. But it's not just snow. It's practically the season that's gone AWOL.
The holidays and three weeks away from the Capitol have tempered some of the bad feelings, but several GOP lawmakers' emotions are still raw as Congress returns for a 2012 session certain to be driven by election-year politics and fierce fights over the size and scope of government and its taxing, spending and borrowing practices.
For the NASA team tasked with the latest lunar mission, New Year's Day seems like Groundhog Day. Twenty-four hours after a probe safely entered orbit around the moon, its twin was poised to do the same on Sunday.
The average American home received a personal letter through the mail just once every seven weeks last year. With business dwindling, the U.S. Postal Service lost $8.5 billion in 2010, and losses for fiscal 2011 are expected to be about $9 billion. The USPS doesn't have the $5.5 billion needed for its retiree health care fund payment due this month and is so close to its debt limit that it won't be able to pay its bills later this fiscal year.
Down to their last three outs and facing another serious World Series deficit, the Texas Rangers did some rallying of their own.
Wisconsin is rarely going to be mistaken for one of college football's "glamour" teams.
The downside to Minnesota's government reopening, which creaked to a start in earnest Thursday: No significant progress was made on the state's massive budget woes, leaving lawmakers and taxpayers on track to face the same — if not bigger — deficit problems in two years.
Poor President Obama. Despite all his efforts, or maybe because of them, the U.S. economy keeps crumbling.
