Since the landmark 1998 State Tobacco Settlement, the combined U.S. states have collected $79.2 billion from the settlement along with $124.3 billion from tobacco taxes – a combined $203.5 billion in tobacco-generated revenue – but have allocated only $6.5 billion on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. Read more...

Swayed by multi-billion dollar anti-smoking ad campaigns, higher tobacco taxes and simply getting tired of dying young, over 80 percent of U.S. adults have either quit or never started smoking, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Still, says CDC, smoking remains the nation's number one killer, claiming 443,000 lives during 2007, at a cost of $193 billion to the economy. Read more...

G.M., Ford and Chrysler say they need a $25 billion government bailout. A good way to come up with the money might be to recover the $35.8 billion in taxpayer money lost in Medicare and Medicaid billing errors and improper payments recently identified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMMS). Read more...

Libya has paid its $1.5 billion obligation to compensate American victims of Libyan terrorist attacks, according to U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey). The funds were paid under terms of the Libyan Claims Resolution Act, sponsored by Lautenberg.

Compensation was paid by Libya for the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 279, including 38 Americans, the1968 bombing of the Labelle discotheque bombing in Berlin, Germany which killed two and injured approximately 90 Americans and other U.S. deaths and injuries in still pending cases.

"American victims and their families have waited decades for Libya to pay for its deadly acts of violence -- and today they have received long-overdue justice," Sen. Lautenberg said in a press release. "I am pleased that our relentless pressure and support for terror victims has led to this historic moment."

In 2004, President Bush lifted economic sanctions against Libya which had been in place since 1986, and in 2006, Bush removed Libya from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism. Both actions came before Libya had paid any compensation to American victims of its terror attacks.

Also See:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Defines Modern Terrorism
Origins and History of Terrorism (Terrorism)
Global Terrorism in Presidential Election Years (Terrorism)