Business & Economics
Business & Economics
Pension crater much deeper
SACRAMENTO – A new report from Stanford University’s well-respected economic policy institute has revealed that those of us who have been warning about California’s severely underfunded public employee retirement systems have, quite frankly, been wrong. We have been understating the scope of the problem. Pension critics, myself included, have been ...
Business & Economics
Margaret, Cristina, and Hillary
It has been some time since I chatted with Baroness Margaret Thatcher, our speaker at PRI’s gala dinner in San Francisco more than a decade ago, though it seems like just the other day. Lady Thatcher, now well into her emeritus years, is doubtless shaking her head over recent events ...
Business & Economics
What do we get in return for our taxes?
As Tax Day approaches, Americans rummage for misplaced receipts and dread any letters from the Internal Revenue Service. Most Americans remain unaware that for almost a century America got along just fine with no federal income tax at all. To help fund the Civil War, the federal government introduced its ...
Business & Economics
Lobbyists’ disclosure data not easily examined, accessed in Arizona
As Arizona struggles with deficits and a failing economy, it is critical to understand the behind-the-scenes lobbying that fuels the state’s political decision-making. On this issue, Arizona’s record is decidedly mixed. According to the Pacific Research Institute’s “State-Level Lobbying and Taxpayers,” a study that examines lobbying disclosure laws and accessibility ...
Business & Economics
Jerry Brown: older, not wiser
Now that California Attorney General Jerry Brown is an official candidate for governor, we’re getting to relive some California political history as pundits and reporters think back to Brown’s first stint as governor (1975-83) along with some of the entertaining facets of his long and bizarre political career. The basic ...
Business & Economics
Trial lawyers love Obamacare
Jackpot injustice still reigns President Obama made a big show about being open to some Republican reform ideas to rein in lawsuit abuse. Those pledges – which Mr. Obama made twice in major public forums – were worthless. The final version of Obamacare, as signed into law, is a dream ...
Business & Economics
Vallejo Goes for Broke
Can bankruptcy save California’s cities from staggering pension obligations? As California cities and counties struggle to fulfill the generous pay and pension commitments that they made to public employees during flush economic times, some politicians have taken comfort in a usually forbidding word: bankruptcy. Top officials in Los Angeles and ...
Business & Economics
Silicon Valley’s Innovative Approach to Creating American Jobs
Anytime immigration comes up in public debate, you can be sure there will be arguments that America should tighten its borders. However, in a global world where capital moves at will, and investors can and do take their money out of the U.S. to fund innovative ideas overseas, the concept ...
Business & Economics
A bone to pick with Bartlett on federal spending
Reps. Jeb Hensarling and Mike Pence recently called for a constitutional amendment limiting federal spending “to one-fifth of the economy.” Bruce Bartlett, a former official in the George H.W. Bush administration, promptly denounced the idea as “dopey,” one “terrible… on so many levels that it is hard to know where ...
Business & Economics
Growth Industry for Lobbyists: You, the Taxpayer
Forget the stereotype of the lobbyists shilling for corporate welfare in the polished corridors of K Street. The biggest single market for the lobby industry is government itself, as state entities try to get (or keep) money and privileges flowing from legislatures. The Pacific Research Institute (PRI) recently studied how ...
Pension crater much deeper
SACRAMENTO – A new report from Stanford University’s well-respected economic policy institute has revealed that those of us who have been warning about California’s severely underfunded public employee retirement systems have, quite frankly, been wrong. We have been understating the scope of the problem. Pension critics, myself included, have been ...
Margaret, Cristina, and Hillary
It has been some time since I chatted with Baroness Margaret Thatcher, our speaker at PRI’s gala dinner in San Francisco more than a decade ago, though it seems like just the other day. Lady Thatcher, now well into her emeritus years, is doubtless shaking her head over recent events ...
What do we get in return for our taxes?
As Tax Day approaches, Americans rummage for misplaced receipts and dread any letters from the Internal Revenue Service. Most Americans remain unaware that for almost a century America got along just fine with no federal income tax at all. To help fund the Civil War, the federal government introduced its ...
Lobbyists’ disclosure data not easily examined, accessed in Arizona
As Arizona struggles with deficits and a failing economy, it is critical to understand the behind-the-scenes lobbying that fuels the state’s political decision-making. On this issue, Arizona’s record is decidedly mixed. According to the Pacific Research Institute’s “State-Level Lobbying and Taxpayers,” a study that examines lobbying disclosure laws and accessibility ...
Jerry Brown: older, not wiser
Now that California Attorney General Jerry Brown is an official candidate for governor, we’re getting to relive some California political history as pundits and reporters think back to Brown’s first stint as governor (1975-83) along with some of the entertaining facets of his long and bizarre political career. The basic ...
Trial lawyers love Obamacare
Jackpot injustice still reigns President Obama made a big show about being open to some Republican reform ideas to rein in lawsuit abuse. Those pledges – which Mr. Obama made twice in major public forums – were worthless. The final version of Obamacare, as signed into law, is a dream ...
Vallejo Goes for Broke
Can bankruptcy save California’s cities from staggering pension obligations? As California cities and counties struggle to fulfill the generous pay and pension commitments that they made to public employees during flush economic times, some politicians have taken comfort in a usually forbidding word: bankruptcy. Top officials in Los Angeles and ...
Silicon Valley’s Innovative Approach to Creating American Jobs
Anytime immigration comes up in public debate, you can be sure there will be arguments that America should tighten its borders. However, in a global world where capital moves at will, and investors can and do take their money out of the U.S. to fund innovative ideas overseas, the concept ...
A bone to pick with Bartlett on federal spending
Reps. Jeb Hensarling and Mike Pence recently called for a constitutional amendment limiting federal spending “to one-fifth of the economy.” Bruce Bartlett, a former official in the George H.W. Bush administration, promptly denounced the idea as “dopey,” one “terrible… on so many levels that it is hard to know where ...
Growth Industry for Lobbyists: You, the Taxpayer
Forget the stereotype of the lobbyists shilling for corporate welfare in the polished corridors of K Street. The biggest single market for the lobby industry is government itself, as state entities try to get (or keep) money and privileges flowing from legislatures. The Pacific Research Institute (PRI) recently studied how ...
