Wayne Winegarden

Commentary

New York mandates create ‘energy poverty’ for citizens

New York has a proud tradition of environmental conservation. From Frederick Law Olmsted creating Central Park in the 1870s to the national environmental movement inspired by trailblazing President Theodore Roosevelt to the lush nature preserves created in the Adirondack and Catskills mountains, wise environmental stewardship has always been a cornerstone ...
Business & Economics

Protecting The Medicines Of Tomorrow

Government solutions often come with a price. For the America Invents Act (AIA), this price was an unintended impediment to medical innovation. Proposed legislation known as the Hatch-Waxman Integrity Act can reduce these costs, if Congress takes advantage of the opportunity. The problem of patent trolls plaguing Silicon Valley was ...
Blog

Proxy Advisory Firms Are Worsening CalPERS and CalSTRS ESG Problem

My last blog post discussed the risks that ESG investing creates for CalPERS and CalSTRS. If not addressed, then both taxpayers and public employees will bear unnecessary costs and risks. Unfortunately, SEC rules are making this problem even worse. The SEC requires all institutional investors, such as CalPERS and CalSTRS, ...
Business & Economics

New Study Shows California/New York Approach to Fighting Global Warming Hurts Working Class and Minority Communities

Legislating Energy Poverty Shows Market-Based Policies More Effective in Cutting Emissions The big government approach to fighting ‘global warming’ taken by California and New York hits working class and minority communities the hardest, a new report released today by the California-based free-market think tank, the Pacific Research Institute, concludes. “Overzealous ...
Blog

The ESG Threat to California’s Pensions

California’s public pensions are in trouble. While the Pew Charitable Trusts reports that California’s current unfunded liabilities are nearly $170 billion, as I recently reported in my chartbook on California’s pension crisis, the crisis is much worse. Valuing the liabilities using a more realistic market rate, the total pension debt ...
Business & Economics

Redefining Presidential Failure As Success

While success still has many fathers, failure is no longer an orphan. President Obama’s recent speeches and rallies demonstrate that, now, failure is simply redefined as success. The costs from this revisionism is high. Creating false narratives encourage policies that will harm economic prosperity and impose large economic hardships on ...
Business & Economics

The Bizarre World of Drug Pricing

There is no shortage of bad ideas when it comes to the pharmaceutical market. One such proposal would allow drugs to be imported directly from other countries, such as Canada. Then there is the Trump Administration’s proposal that would effectively adopt foreign price controls on Medicare Part B drugs by ...
Business & Economics

New Medicare Price Controls Don’t Put America First

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar just released a sweeping proposal that would drastically change how Medicare pays for advanced cancer therapies and other potent medicines. The plan relies on foreign price controls to reduce drug spending by $17 billion over five years. Although drug spending may decline, as ...
Business & Economics

The Law of Unintended Consequences: The Case of Proxy Advisory Firms

The SEC requires all institutional investors to vote on all matters put forth in proxy statements, or the measures voted on during shareholder meetings. For most institutional investors, keeping up with all of these issues is not feasible, so they turn to proxy advisory firms. Proxy advisory firms help institutional ...
Blog

Does President Trump Favor Price Controls?

At 2 pm Eastern time today, President Trump spoke at the Department of Health and Human Services where he recommended a litany of policies that would ultimately impose price controls on the pharmaceutical market. Take his proposal to force the prices paid by Medicare for drugs administer in doctors’ offices ...
Commentary

New York mandates create ‘energy poverty’ for citizens

New York has a proud tradition of environmental conservation. From Frederick Law Olmsted creating Central Park in the 1870s to the national environmental movement inspired by trailblazing President Theodore Roosevelt to the lush nature preserves created in the Adirondack and Catskills mountains, wise environmental stewardship has always been a cornerstone ...
Business & Economics

Protecting The Medicines Of Tomorrow

Government solutions often come with a price. For the America Invents Act (AIA), this price was an unintended impediment to medical innovation. Proposed legislation known as the Hatch-Waxman Integrity Act can reduce these costs, if Congress takes advantage of the opportunity. The problem of patent trolls plaguing Silicon Valley was ...
Blog

Proxy Advisory Firms Are Worsening CalPERS and CalSTRS ESG Problem

My last blog post discussed the risks that ESG investing creates for CalPERS and CalSTRS. If not addressed, then both taxpayers and public employees will bear unnecessary costs and risks. Unfortunately, SEC rules are making this problem even worse. The SEC requires all institutional investors, such as CalPERS and CalSTRS, ...
Business & Economics

New Study Shows California/New York Approach to Fighting Global Warming Hurts Working Class and Minority Communities

Legislating Energy Poverty Shows Market-Based Policies More Effective in Cutting Emissions The big government approach to fighting ‘global warming’ taken by California and New York hits working class and minority communities the hardest, a new report released today by the California-based free-market think tank, the Pacific Research Institute, concludes. “Overzealous ...
Blog

The ESG Threat to California’s Pensions

California’s public pensions are in trouble. While the Pew Charitable Trusts reports that California’s current unfunded liabilities are nearly $170 billion, as I recently reported in my chartbook on California’s pension crisis, the crisis is much worse. Valuing the liabilities using a more realistic market rate, the total pension debt ...
Business & Economics

Redefining Presidential Failure As Success

While success still has many fathers, failure is no longer an orphan. President Obama’s recent speeches and rallies demonstrate that, now, failure is simply redefined as success. The costs from this revisionism is high. Creating false narratives encourage policies that will harm economic prosperity and impose large economic hardships on ...
Business & Economics

The Bizarre World of Drug Pricing

There is no shortage of bad ideas when it comes to the pharmaceutical market. One such proposal would allow drugs to be imported directly from other countries, such as Canada. Then there is the Trump Administration’s proposal that would effectively adopt foreign price controls on Medicare Part B drugs by ...
Business & Economics

New Medicare Price Controls Don’t Put America First

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar just released a sweeping proposal that would drastically change how Medicare pays for advanced cancer therapies and other potent medicines. The plan relies on foreign price controls to reduce drug spending by $17 billion over five years. Although drug spending may decline, as ...
Business & Economics

The Law of Unintended Consequences: The Case of Proxy Advisory Firms

The SEC requires all institutional investors to vote on all matters put forth in proxy statements, or the measures voted on during shareholder meetings. For most institutional investors, keeping up with all of these issues is not feasible, so they turn to proxy advisory firms. Proxy advisory firms help institutional ...
Blog

Does President Trump Favor Price Controls?

At 2 pm Eastern time today, President Trump spoke at the Department of Health and Human Services where he recommended a litany of policies that would ultimately impose price controls on the pharmaceutical market. Take his proposal to force the prices paid by Medicare for drugs administer in doctors’ offices ...
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