Cost

Re "Obama goes all in on guns," Editorial, Jan. 17 As a UC Berkeley-trained demographer and epidemiologist, I look at the total cost of any event, not just the immediate dollar price. In recent years the total cost of gun violence has not been well documented because of action by Congress. I applaud President Obama for suggesting that comprehensive public health studies be conducted to estimate the actual cost of our gun policies. I would guess that gun-related violence costs us billions of dollars every year.

Re "Dirty but essential," Opinion, July 27 Robert Bryce begins his Op-Ed article on coal at Peabody Energy's huge North Antelope Rochelle Mine near Gillette, Wyo. Is that really the best place to get an idea as to how "essential" coal is to our future? I would point Bryce to a Georgia Power Co.plant featured in a July 14 National Public Radio report. The plant manager explained all the reasons why his plant converted from coal to natural gas - part of a wave of conversions that accounts for the two fuels each being responsible for about one-third of the nation's electricity production.

Between the turkey, the sweet potatoes, the cranberries and the pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving dinner will cost consumers more this year - but not by much. Households will shell out, on average, $49.48 for a party of 10, or 28 cents more than last year. That's less than a 1% increase and still less than $5 a person, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation . Consider last Thanksgiving, when the cost of dinner soared 13% in the largest hike since 1990. The price survey, which has been conducted every year since the meal cost $28.74 in 1986, has shown increases since 2008.

Our purchase of Heritage Cards from Ireland's Office of Public Works guaranteed us free admission to all fee-paying state-managed OPW heritage sites throughout the country for one year. The costs were recouped within the first week of our recent three-week trip. Adults, about $26, families, about $67 Heritage Card, Office of Public Works, Heritage Ireland division; http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/Info/HeritageCards/ . Gail Robillard Rancho Palos Verdes

About one in four Americans say that President Obama's support for same-sex marriage makes it less likely they'll support him this fall, with far more saying it will have no impact on their vote, a new Gallup poll finds. An additional 13% of the registered voters surveyed Thursday said they were now more likely to support Obama, who announced Wednesday he believed same-sex couples ought to be able to get married. Republicans were far more likely to say Obama's new position would dissuade them from supporting him. The reaction of independent voters was largely in line with the overall results.

The Tokyo Skytree , the world's tallest communications tower, opened Tuesday. Twice the height of the Eiffel Tower, it stands 2,080 feet tall (only Dubai's Burj Khalifa is taller at 2,716 feet) with observation decks that offer amazing views of the densely packed Japanese capital. So how much does that view cost? Visitors going to the Tembo Deck at 1,148 feet above the city pay $31.25 for adults and $25 for children 12 to 17 from now until July 10 (and you have to buy tickets in advance and online with a credit card issued in Japan, according to Skytree website )

Frank M. Sifuentes (Voices, Jan. 29) states he is a long-forgotten soldier in the "war on poverty," which is a noble calling. I appreciate his goodwill and efforts on behalf of the poor and uneducated. However, Medicare does "dole" out $200 billion a year. Medicare expense is not included in the mandatory Social Security "contributions" extracted from workers. The $48 per month that he and Mrs. Sifuentes each pay per month is but a small portion of the cost of Medicare benefits. For example, in Southern California, HMOs are reimbursed in excess of $750 per month for Medicare recipients.

WASHINGTON -- The financial crisis and the Great Recession have taken a heavy toll on the U.S. and now one advocacy group says it has calculated that cost: at least $12.8 trillion. The estimate Wednesday from Better Markets , a public interest group that supports tougher financial regulations, came in a 72-page report released just days before the four-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Bros. That failure triggered the crisis, which dramatically exacerbated the recession that began in late 2007.

A shifting district and waves of outside cash have put Democrats at risk of losing their foothold on Western Pennsylvania, where the 12 th Congressional District race has seen more outside money than in any other U.S. House race. After the 2010 census, Pennsylvania saw its 12 th Congressional District get rejiggered by state Republicans to include more conservative voters. That presents a challenge for Democratic incumbent Mark Critz, who has distanced himself from President Obama and the president's signature healthcare reform.

In a stark reminder of growing costs, the government has released a new estimate that healthcare spending grew to a record 17.3% of the U.S. economy last year, marking the largest one-year jump in its share of the economy since the government started keeping such records half a century ago. The almost $2.5 trillion spent in 2009 was $134 billion more than the previous year, when healthcare consumed 16.2% of the gross domestic product, according to...