Business & Economics
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 ...
Robert P. Murphy
November 18, 2009
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 ...
Lawrence J. McQuillan
November 18, 2009
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 ...
Pacific Research Institute
November 17, 2009
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 ...
Veronique de Rugy
November 17, 2009
Business & Economics
An Empire Disaster: Why New York’s Tort System is Broken and How to Fix It
(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 ...
Lawrence J. McQuillan
November 17, 2009
Business & Economics
Study: NY Legal System 3rd Worst In U.S.
North Country Gazette (Albany, NY), November 17, 2009 ReadMedia, November 17, 2009 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 ...
Pacific Research Institute
November 17, 2009
Commentary
Bending the Cost-Curve and the Truth
In July, the Washington Post wrote, “From the start, President Obama has been firm. . . . He told us flatly that he won’t accept a bill that doesn’t ‘bend the curve’ on rising health-care costs.” Furthermore, “Any reform, he has said, must be ‘deficit-neutral.’” Just over three months later, ...
Jeffrey H. Anderson
November 16, 2009
Business & Economics
Sheriff Joe no role model
Former Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Hunt should know a thing or two about the dangers of an abusive law enforcement culture. He was a victim of now-disgraced Sheriff Mike Carona, who demoted him to deputy after Hunt ran for sheriff against Carona in 2006. Hunt even made First Amendment ...
Steven Greenhut
November 15, 2009
Business & Economics
The Pillage People Ride Again
On November 1 California began withholding 10 percent more from workers’ paychecks than the government already takes. This money grab, bad enough on its own terms, is a sign that the state has missed an opportunity to modernize the tax system and provide more stable revenue. Those were the tasks ...
K. Lloyd Billingsley
November 11, 2009
Agriculture
Pork, water policy don’t mix
SACRAMENTO – Advocates for government “solutions” for everything from health care to education argue that some aspects of life are just so darn complicated that only a centralized authority with taxing and spending power can handle such matters. Yet whenever we look at those areas of life dominated by the ...
Steven Greenhut
November 8, 2009
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 ...
An Empire Disaster: Why New York’s Tort System is Broken and How to Fix It
(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 ...
Study: NY Legal System 3rd Worst In U.S.
North Country Gazette (Albany, NY), November 17, 2009 ReadMedia, November 17, 2009 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 ...
Bending the Cost-Curve and the Truth
In July, the Washington Post wrote, “From the start, President Obama has been firm. . . . He told us flatly that he won’t accept a bill that doesn’t ‘bend the curve’ on rising health-care costs.” Furthermore, “Any reform, he has said, must be ‘deficit-neutral.’” Just over three months later, ...
Sheriff Joe no role model
Former Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Hunt should know a thing or two about the dangers of an abusive law enforcement culture. He was a victim of now-disgraced Sheriff Mike Carona, who demoted him to deputy after Hunt ran for sheriff against Carona in 2006. Hunt even made First Amendment ...
The Pillage People Ride Again
On November 1 California began withholding 10 percent more from workers’ paychecks than the government already takes. This money grab, bad enough on its own terms, is a sign that the state has missed an opportunity to modernize the tax system and provide more stable revenue. Those were the tasks ...
Pork, water policy don’t mix
SACRAMENTO – Advocates for government “solutions” for everything from health care to education argue that some aspects of life are just so darn complicated that only a centralized authority with taxing and spending power can handle such matters. Yet whenever we look at those areas of life dominated by the ...