Business & Economics
Business & Economics
Democrats dreamin’ — a public demanding tax hikes
California’s Assembly Democrats want you to be part of the state’s budget solution, which is how they are touting a series of live budget forums across the state. One took place Saturday in San Diego and the next one is scheduled May 13 in the Bay Area city of Albany. ...
Business & Economics
Spending will confine Americans to debtors’ prison
The Congressional Budget Office recently updated its estimates of the fiscal impact of the Obama administration’s proposals. The results are breathtaking, and show that the federal government is making a great leap forward into the red. While there is still time, taxpayers should be asking some tough questions. The CBO ...
Business & Economics
High taxes choke off jobs for Rhode Islanders
Rhode Island is still struggling with unemployment, a sluggish economic recovery, and increasing worker anxiety. It’s worthwhile to understand how tax policies generated on Smith Hill are hurting a state the recession has hit particularly hard. At 12.7 percent unemployment, Rhode Island has the country’s third-highest rate. Equally disturbing is ...
Business & Economics
Kansas needs better lobbying laws
Recent scandals, out-of-control spending and ongoing fiscal crises have all boosted interest in lobbying. Much of the new interest, understandably, is targeted on Washington, D.C. More scrutiny should trickle down to states that need it, such as Kansas. Overall, Kansas ranked a disappointing 42nd among states in lobbying transparency with ...
Business & Economics
Referendum on unions in OC
Voters in North Orange County on June 8 will fill the Fourth Supervisorial District seat vacated by Chris Norby when he was elected to the state Assembly to replace Mike Duvall, of sex-scandal fame. Most residents probably don’t think too much about the Board of Supervisors, but there is one ...
Business & Economics
Title IX Eyes the Science Guys
Feminist organizations have launched yet another gender-gap crusade, this time in the nation’s science, technology, engineering, and math departments, or STEM, for short. As we have noted, female college enrollment now approaches 60 percent in this country, and women earn the majority of degrees at every academic level. However, after ...
Business & Economics
The Silicon Lining
Given California’s harsh business climate, it’s remarkable that entrepreneurs still flock to Silicon Valley, Sonia Arrison wryly observes. She’s a Pacific Research Institute scholar with a reputation for being a high-tech prophetess. “It’s a trade-off,” she says. “If you leave the Valley, you lose a lot.” The cost of doing ...
Business & Economics
Even ‘SNL’ is on to government unions
SACRAMENTO – As government employee unions were negotiating their lucrative retirement deals during the rising economic tide of the past decade, they promised cities and counties that the deals would pay for themselves, citing fanciful rates of return on investment income. Now that the economic tide is no longer rising, ...
Business & Economics
California’s State IT Overhaul Plan Lacks Critical Safeguards for Taxpayers and Transparency, Concludes New PRI Study
First 16 projects cost $471 million but deliver only $382 million in short-term financial benefits San Francisco – The California state government has taken important steps to improving the management of public information technology assets, but a new study from the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute concludes that tougher policy ...
Business & Economics
Putting the Security Back in Social Security
(April 27) — Social Security needs fixing, most analysts agree, but supposedly we had a few more years to work out the details. Now the crisis is upon us. This year, Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it collects in employer and employee contributions, but the problems ...
Democrats dreamin’ — a public demanding tax hikes
California’s Assembly Democrats want you to be part of the state’s budget solution, which is how they are touting a series of live budget forums across the state. One took place Saturday in San Diego and the next one is scheduled May 13 in the Bay Area city of Albany. ...
Spending will confine Americans to debtors’ prison
The Congressional Budget Office recently updated its estimates of the fiscal impact of the Obama administration’s proposals. The results are breathtaking, and show that the federal government is making a great leap forward into the red. While there is still time, taxpayers should be asking some tough questions. The CBO ...
High taxes choke off jobs for Rhode Islanders
Rhode Island is still struggling with unemployment, a sluggish economic recovery, and increasing worker anxiety. It’s worthwhile to understand how tax policies generated on Smith Hill are hurting a state the recession has hit particularly hard. At 12.7 percent unemployment, Rhode Island has the country’s third-highest rate. Equally disturbing is ...
Kansas needs better lobbying laws
Recent scandals, out-of-control spending and ongoing fiscal crises have all boosted interest in lobbying. Much of the new interest, understandably, is targeted on Washington, D.C. More scrutiny should trickle down to states that need it, such as Kansas. Overall, Kansas ranked a disappointing 42nd among states in lobbying transparency with ...
Referendum on unions in OC
Voters in North Orange County on June 8 will fill the Fourth Supervisorial District seat vacated by Chris Norby when he was elected to the state Assembly to replace Mike Duvall, of sex-scandal fame. Most residents probably don’t think too much about the Board of Supervisors, but there is one ...
Title IX Eyes the Science Guys
Feminist organizations have launched yet another gender-gap crusade, this time in the nation’s science, technology, engineering, and math departments, or STEM, for short. As we have noted, female college enrollment now approaches 60 percent in this country, and women earn the majority of degrees at every academic level. However, after ...
The Silicon Lining
Given California’s harsh business climate, it’s remarkable that entrepreneurs still flock to Silicon Valley, Sonia Arrison wryly observes. She’s a Pacific Research Institute scholar with a reputation for being a high-tech prophetess. “It’s a trade-off,” she says. “If you leave the Valley, you lose a lot.” The cost of doing ...
Even ‘SNL’ is on to government unions
SACRAMENTO – As government employee unions were negotiating their lucrative retirement deals during the rising economic tide of the past decade, they promised cities and counties that the deals would pay for themselves, citing fanciful rates of return on investment income. Now that the economic tide is no longer rising, ...
California’s State IT Overhaul Plan Lacks Critical Safeguards for Taxpayers and Transparency, Concludes New PRI Study
First 16 projects cost $471 million but deliver only $382 million in short-term financial benefits San Francisco – The California state government has taken important steps to improving the management of public information technology assets, but a new study from the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute concludes that tougher policy ...
Putting the Security Back in Social Security
(April 27) — Social Security needs fixing, most analysts agree, but supposedly we had a few more years to work out the details. Now the crisis is upon us. This year, Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it collects in employer and employee contributions, but the problems ...
