Business & Economics
Agriculture
Gov. Brown exceeds his authority on greenhouse gas limits
When Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order last year mandating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, he said he did it for California’s future. But his motives were irrelevant. He broke the law, says the state’s legislative counsel. “We think the determination ...
Business & Economics
Who’s Afraid of Anti-Inversion Rules?
Swift and merciless. That was the apparent effect the U.S. Treasury’s April 4 regulatory package had on what was poised to be the largest inversion in history. But several pending inversions have emerged relatively unscathed, and experts are predicting continued corporate exodus, raising questions about what exactly Treasury has accomplished. ...
Agriculture
CAPITAL IDEAS: Market-Driven Solutions to Relieve Drought
This legislative session, California could take an important step toward creating a true water market to meet the needs of cities, farmers and the environment with the Open and Transparent Water Data Act (Assembly Bill 1755). It’s hard to solve a problem when we don’t have all the facts and ...
Business & Economics
Regulating the Upstream Energy Industry: Getting the Balance Right
Read Full Study New Study: State Regulations Have Outsized Impact on Energy Industry’s Health SAN FRANCISCO (May 31) — Natural resources don’t respect state boundaries. Consequently, states’ energy regulations are among the prime determinants of whether a state benefits from its resource wealth — or lets those benefits accrue to ...
Business & Economics
Tackling the Public Pensions Problem
State and local public pension systems are in deep financial trouble. The latest comprehensive assessment by Joshua Rauh of the Hoover Institution, which captured 97 percent of public pension assets, found that the unfunded liabilities of public pensions are in the trillions of dollars. The public pensions problem is a ...
Business & Economics
Corporate Inversions Are the Symptoms; Poor Tax Policies Are the Disease
In response to several high profile corporate restructurings known as corporate inversions, politicians have been looking for ways to punish any company considering such a restructuring. Hillary Clinton’s ill-conceived exit tax exemplifies the types of harmful policies that are being proposed . A corporate inversion is a type of acquisition ...
Business & Economics
Yet Another Promise: The ACA and Entrepreneurship
Many were the benefits promised by supporters of the Affordable Care Act. If you like your doctor and health plan, you will be able to keep them. Health insurance premiums will fall by an average of $2500 per year for a typical family, even as coverage will be extended to ...
Business & Economics
Remember When Kasich Proposed An Oil Tax Just Like Obama’s?
President Barack Obama proposed a tax Thursday of $10 for every barrel of oil produced in the U.S. to fund new spending on “green” infrastructure programs. Republican Governor of Ohio and current presidential candidate John Kasich, however, beat him to the punch by a year. In February 2015, Kasich attempted ...
Business & Economics
Pension reforms in peril if leaders don’t defend them
Unfunded public pensions threaten the fiscal solvency of states and localities across the country. And California is not immune. Back in 2012, San Diego voters recognized the threat and overwhelmingly supported Proposition B, a set of pension reforms that is helping San Diego stabilize its long-term budget outlook. Thanks to ...
Commentary
The Ugly Reality of Single-Payer
Late Sunday night, just hours before the fourth Democratic presidential debate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders unveiled what’s probably the purest expression to date of his unreconstructed 1970s radicalism: a plan for “universal” single-payer health care in the United States. Proudly titled “Medicare-for-All,” the Sanders scheme would eliminate the private insurance ...
Gov. Brown exceeds his authority on greenhouse gas limits
When Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order last year mandating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, he said he did it for California’s future. But his motives were irrelevant. He broke the law, says the state’s legislative counsel. “We think the determination ...
Who’s Afraid of Anti-Inversion Rules?
Swift and merciless. That was the apparent effect the U.S. Treasury’s April 4 regulatory package had on what was poised to be the largest inversion in history. But several pending inversions have emerged relatively unscathed, and experts are predicting continued corporate exodus, raising questions about what exactly Treasury has accomplished. ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Market-Driven Solutions to Relieve Drought
This legislative session, California could take an important step toward creating a true water market to meet the needs of cities, farmers and the environment with the Open and Transparent Water Data Act (Assembly Bill 1755). It’s hard to solve a problem when we don’t have all the facts and ...
Regulating the Upstream Energy Industry: Getting the Balance Right
Read Full Study New Study: State Regulations Have Outsized Impact on Energy Industry’s Health SAN FRANCISCO (May 31) — Natural resources don’t respect state boundaries. Consequently, states’ energy regulations are among the prime determinants of whether a state benefits from its resource wealth — or lets those benefits accrue to ...
Tackling the Public Pensions Problem
State and local public pension systems are in deep financial trouble. The latest comprehensive assessment by Joshua Rauh of the Hoover Institution, which captured 97 percent of public pension assets, found that the unfunded liabilities of public pensions are in the trillions of dollars. The public pensions problem is a ...
Corporate Inversions Are the Symptoms; Poor Tax Policies Are the Disease
In response to several high profile corporate restructurings known as corporate inversions, politicians have been looking for ways to punish any company considering such a restructuring. Hillary Clinton’s ill-conceived exit tax exemplifies the types of harmful policies that are being proposed . A corporate inversion is a type of acquisition ...
Yet Another Promise: The ACA and Entrepreneurship
Many were the benefits promised by supporters of the Affordable Care Act. If you like your doctor and health plan, you will be able to keep them. Health insurance premiums will fall by an average of $2500 per year for a typical family, even as coverage will be extended to ...
Remember When Kasich Proposed An Oil Tax Just Like Obama’s?
President Barack Obama proposed a tax Thursday of $10 for every barrel of oil produced in the U.S. to fund new spending on “green” infrastructure programs. Republican Governor of Ohio and current presidential candidate John Kasich, however, beat him to the punch by a year. In February 2015, Kasich attempted ...
Pension reforms in peril if leaders don’t defend them
Unfunded public pensions threaten the fiscal solvency of states and localities across the country. And California is not immune. Back in 2012, San Diego voters recognized the threat and overwhelmingly supported Proposition B, a set of pension reforms that is helping San Diego stabilize its long-term budget outlook. Thanks to ...
The Ugly Reality of Single-Payer
Late Sunday night, just hours before the fourth Democratic presidential debate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders unveiled what’s probably the purest expression to date of his unreconstructed 1970s radicalism: a plan for “universal” single-payer health care in the United States. Proudly titled “Medicare-for-All,” the Sanders scheme would eliminate the private insurance ...
