Business & Economics
Business & Economics
Vallejo’s Painful Lessons in Municipal Bankruptcy
Two years after going broke, the California city still isn’t free of its crushing pension obligations. In 2008, Vallejo, Calif., was nearly broke. Faced with falling tax revenues, rising pension costs, and unmovable public-employee unions, the city was unable to pay its bills and declared bankruptcy. Now, as it prepares ...
Business & Economics
Legends in their own minds
SACRAMENTO When people ask why I moved to Sacramento to write about California’s notoriously dysfunctional government, I say that, in the next two or three years, the government here is likely to (figuratively) crash and burn and that, as a journalist, I want a front-row seat for the action. ...
Commentary
High-Risk Pools v. Community Rating and the Individual Mandate
Here’s a little intra-mural squabble that I haven’t gotten into much on this site: Is support for an individual insurance mandate compatible with consumer-driven health care? I’ve periodically linked to Who Killed Health Care?, a book by Regina Herzlinger, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and professor at the Harvard ...
Business & Economics
Tort Reform
Tort reform is a popular call-to-action when it comes to healthcare legislation. In general tort reform in the healthcare arena refers to reducing lawsuits or damages related to medical malpractice. Several states have enacted tort reform. No one argues that frivolous lawsuits need to be eliminated; rather the debate revolves ...
Business & Economics
The $2 Trillion Hole
Promised pensions benefits for public-sector employees represent a massive overhang that threatens the financial future of many cities and states. LIKE A CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE, populist rage burns over bloated executive compensation and unrepentant avarice on Wall Street. Deserving as these targets may or may not be, most Americans have ignored ...
Business & Economics
One big lie says the U.S. is riding a reckless wave of capitalism
Don’t tell The Times, but America has long had a mixed economy with substantial regulations The theory of the big (but good) lie goes back to a certain reading of Plato’s most famous dialogue, the Republic. There are more or less crude versions of it, but the gist of the ...
Business & Economics
Sunshine Week 2010: Sunshine is the Best Disinfectant
KansasWatchdog will mark Sunshine Week with daily articles on government transparency: The Sunny Awards for the best in open government A Kansas transparency report card, why Kansas isnt the Sunshine state How to: The basics and beyond of Kansas Open Meetings and Open Records law A look back at important ...
Business & Economics
Taxes pay government to lobby itself
The Sacramento Bee , March 13, 2010 California has the largest state economy, and the state Capitol jostles with players seeking a piece of the action. The biggest single lobbyist, however, is not Wal-Mart, Apple, Toyota, the entertainment industry or some fat-cat Jack Abramoff figure. The biggest lobbyist is government ...
Business & Economics
No roads to recovery in sight
With California teetering on insolvency, government union activists and liberal legislators are trying to whip the public into a “please tax us more” frenzy by scaring people about the consequences of spending cuts. At a union rally in Sacramento recently, one protester hoisted a “Raise Our Taxes” sign, which typifies ...
Business & Economics
Pacific Research Institute Releases New Study on Government to Government Lobbying
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, released a breakthrough study on taxpayer-funded lobbying, or government to government lobbying. Read PDF Study Pacific Research Institute Releases New Study on Government to Government Lobbying Connecticut has best lobbying transparency, New Hampshire has worst San Francisco, March ...
Vallejo’s Painful Lessons in Municipal Bankruptcy
Two years after going broke, the California city still isn’t free of its crushing pension obligations. In 2008, Vallejo, Calif., was nearly broke. Faced with falling tax revenues, rising pension costs, and unmovable public-employee unions, the city was unable to pay its bills and declared bankruptcy. Now, as it prepares ...
Legends in their own minds
SACRAMENTO When people ask why I moved to Sacramento to write about California’s notoriously dysfunctional government, I say that, in the next two or three years, the government here is likely to (figuratively) crash and burn and that, as a journalist, I want a front-row seat for the action. ...
High-Risk Pools v. Community Rating and the Individual Mandate
Here’s a little intra-mural squabble that I haven’t gotten into much on this site: Is support for an individual insurance mandate compatible with consumer-driven health care? I’ve periodically linked to Who Killed Health Care?, a book by Regina Herzlinger, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and professor at the Harvard ...
Tort Reform
Tort reform is a popular call-to-action when it comes to healthcare legislation. In general tort reform in the healthcare arena refers to reducing lawsuits or damages related to medical malpractice. Several states have enacted tort reform. No one argues that frivolous lawsuits need to be eliminated; rather the debate revolves ...
The $2 Trillion Hole
Promised pensions benefits for public-sector employees represent a massive overhang that threatens the financial future of many cities and states. LIKE A CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE, populist rage burns over bloated executive compensation and unrepentant avarice on Wall Street. Deserving as these targets may or may not be, most Americans have ignored ...
One big lie says the U.S. is riding a reckless wave of capitalism
Don’t tell The Times, but America has long had a mixed economy with substantial regulations The theory of the big (but good) lie goes back to a certain reading of Plato’s most famous dialogue, the Republic. There are more or less crude versions of it, but the gist of the ...
Sunshine Week 2010: Sunshine is the Best Disinfectant
KansasWatchdog will mark Sunshine Week with daily articles on government transparency: The Sunny Awards for the best in open government A Kansas transparency report card, why Kansas isnt the Sunshine state How to: The basics and beyond of Kansas Open Meetings and Open Records law A look back at important ...
Taxes pay government to lobby itself
The Sacramento Bee , March 13, 2010 California has the largest state economy, and the state Capitol jostles with players seeking a piece of the action. The biggest single lobbyist, however, is not Wal-Mart, Apple, Toyota, the entertainment industry or some fat-cat Jack Abramoff figure. The biggest lobbyist is government ...
No roads to recovery in sight
With California teetering on insolvency, government union activists and liberal legislators are trying to whip the public into a “please tax us more” frenzy by scaring people about the consequences of spending cuts. At a union rally in Sacramento recently, one protester hoisted a “Raise Our Taxes” sign, which typifies ...
Pacific Research Institute Releases New Study on Government to Government Lobbying
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, released a breakthrough study on taxpayer-funded lobbying, or government to government lobbying. Read PDF Study Pacific Research Institute Releases New Study on Government to Government Lobbying Connecticut has best lobbying transparency, New Hampshire has worst San Francisco, March ...
