Business & Economics
Business & Economics
New Yorkers pay a high price for liability litigation
High taxes help make New York an expensive place to do business. A new report argues convincingly that costly malpractice litigation and insurance also kill jobs and drive away business. The report from the conservative Pacific Research Institute notes that from an economic perspective, New York state ranks near the ...
Business & Economics
Frosting on an already-sweet pension deal
When people have an entitlement mentality, enough is never enough. Even though government employees enjoy absurdly generous defined-benefit pensions that often allow them to retire with 80 percent to 90 percent of their final year’s pay guaranteed forever, employees game the system by taking advantage of various pension-spiking schemes. A ...
Business & Economics
Giving Thanks for Leading Health Technology Advances
While Congress debates an US$850 billion healthcare bill with questionable benefits, leaders in the technology industry are quietly creating products and services that will truly reform healthcare. This Thanksgiving, for example, Americans can be appreciative of the incredible price decline in genome sequencing, one of the most important health advances. ...
Business & Economics
People vote for freedom with their feet and effort
“Why are they all running to Colorado? What have they got down there that we haven’t got?” So asks a villain in Ayn Rand’s, “Atlas Shrugged.” He complains about Colorado’s primitive, lazy government that “does nothing outside of keeping law courts and a police department.” A young worker answers, “Maybe ...
Business & Economics
Derailing public pension gravy train
Orange County Register (CA), November 22, 2009 Defenders of government employees’ current retirement system depict critics as haters of government workers who want public “servants” to spend their retirement years eating cat food and living in dire poverty. That’s the response I always get when I point to the absurdity ...
Business & Economics
NY suer system stinks
New York Post, November 18, 2009 Report: Legal costs rob economy of $16B New York’s court system is among the most lawsuit-friendly in the country — socking citizens with millions of dollars in wacky jury awards, higher taxes and increased costs of insurance and health care, a study released yesterday ...
Business & Economics
Buying TVs and cars, Soviet-style
Two new regulations suggest that California leads the nation in mandates that inconvenience its residents while gaining little for the environment. First, consider the California Energy Commission’s unanimous vote Wednesday to effectively ban most current televisions more than 40 inches wide because they use too much electricity. The new energy-efficiency ...
Business & Economics
To Revive New York’s Economy, Attack Lawsuit Abuse
New York’s unemployment rate is hovering near 9% – the highest in more than a decade. Meanwhile, almost 12% of Empire State homeowners are late on their mortgages or in foreclosure. From 1997 through 2007, the number of jobs in New York increased only 8%, ranking the state 36th. During ...
Business & Economics
New Independent Study Finds That New York’s Legal System is Among the Worst in the Nation
(ALBANY) A new study of New York’s legal system conducted by Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a nationally known research firm, has concluded that New York’s legal system is the third worst in the country and is costing taxpayers millions of dollars through higher taxes and increased costs for goods, insurance ...
Business & Economics
Where’s That Inflation?
From September 2008 to September 2009, the Federal Reserve pumped an unprecedented $2 trillion into the financial system by buying Treasury bonds and assets from banks. According to most mainstream economists, such action should create a general increase in prices. Inflation is the result of more dollars chasing the same ...
New Yorkers pay a high price for liability litigation
High taxes help make New York an expensive place to do business. A new report argues convincingly that costly malpractice litigation and insurance also kill jobs and drive away business. The report from the conservative Pacific Research Institute notes that from an economic perspective, New York state ranks near the ...
Frosting on an already-sweet pension deal
When people have an entitlement mentality, enough is never enough. Even though government employees enjoy absurdly generous defined-benefit pensions that often allow them to retire with 80 percent to 90 percent of their final year’s pay guaranteed forever, employees game the system by taking advantage of various pension-spiking schemes. A ...
Giving Thanks for Leading Health Technology Advances
While Congress debates an US$850 billion healthcare bill with questionable benefits, leaders in the technology industry are quietly creating products and services that will truly reform healthcare. This Thanksgiving, for example, Americans can be appreciative of the incredible price decline in genome sequencing, one of the most important health advances. ...
People vote for freedom with their feet and effort
“Why are they all running to Colorado? What have they got down there that we haven’t got?” So asks a villain in Ayn Rand’s, “Atlas Shrugged.” He complains about Colorado’s primitive, lazy government that “does nothing outside of keeping law courts and a police department.” A young worker answers, “Maybe ...
Derailing public pension gravy train
Orange County Register (CA), November 22, 2009 Defenders of government employees’ current retirement system depict critics as haters of government workers who want public “servants” to spend their retirement years eating cat food and living in dire poverty. That’s the response I always get when I point to the absurdity ...
NY suer system stinks
New York Post, November 18, 2009 Report: Legal costs rob economy of $16B New York’s court system is among the most lawsuit-friendly in the country — socking citizens with millions of dollars in wacky jury awards, higher taxes and increased costs of insurance and health care, a study released yesterday ...
Buying TVs and cars, Soviet-style
Two new regulations suggest that California leads the nation in mandates that inconvenience its residents while gaining little for the environment. First, consider the California Energy Commission’s unanimous vote Wednesday to effectively ban most current televisions more than 40 inches wide because they use too much electricity. The new energy-efficiency ...
To Revive New York’s Economy, Attack Lawsuit Abuse
New York’s unemployment rate is hovering near 9% – the highest in more than a decade. Meanwhile, almost 12% of Empire State homeowners are late on their mortgages or in foreclosure. From 1997 through 2007, the number of jobs in New York increased only 8%, ranking the state 36th. During ...
New Independent Study Finds That New York’s Legal System is Among the Worst in the Nation
(ALBANY) A new study of New York’s legal system conducted by Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a nationally known research firm, has concluded that New York’s legal system is the third worst in the country and is costing taxpayers millions of dollars through higher taxes and increased costs for goods, insurance ...
Where’s That Inflation?
From September 2008 to September 2009, the Federal Reserve pumped an unprecedented $2 trillion into the financial system by buying Treasury bonds and assets from banks. According to most mainstream economists, such action should create a general increase in prices. Inflation is the result of more dollars chasing the same ...
