Business & Economics
Business & Economics
Letter: Litigation costs hurt Bay State doctors, hospitals
To the editor: Kudos for your Nov. 20 editorial on the devastating impact of rising malpractice insurance premiums and defensive medicine costs on the North Shore Birth Center and other medical facilities in Massachusetts. (“Birth Center’s problems highlight need for tort reform”). Defensive medicine is not just a problem in ...
Lawrence J. McQuillan
November 28, 2008
Business & Economics
Decision against Wyeth would clog courts
Regarding “Wyeth should win/Otherwise, a bad case will make bad law” (Editorial, Nov. 17): Your editorial on the ramifications of a ruling against Wyeth Pharmaceuticals for the U.S. health care system was right on the money, particularly regarding the potential for a torrent of frivolous and wasteful lawsuits. A decision ...
Lawrence J. McQuillan
November 26, 2008
Business & Economics
Will Electric Cars Jolt California’s Economy?
With the support of Governor Schwarzenegger, the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose last week announced a $1-billion joint plan to make the Bay Area “the electric-vehicle capital of the world.” The announcement follows President-elect Obama’s pledge to reinvigorate the nation’s economy with millions of “green collar” jobs. ...
Daniel R. Ballon
November 26, 2008
Business & Economics
Is The Big Three Crisis Obama’s PATCO?
President-elect Obama faces serious economic challenges, including demands for a bailout of the Big Three automakers. America’s new president can find lessons in the way Ronald Reagan, the last president to assume office amidst such turmoil, handled a similar labor-dominated crisis. Ronald Reagan, the first union leader to be president ...
Robert P. Murphy
November 26, 2008
Business & Economics
San Francisco Tax Hike Cannot Help Public Health Bureaucracy
Don’t get me wrong: of all the various byzantine agencies that comprise the massive (and growing) government intervention in American health care, counties’ public-health agencies are probably my favorite (or, perhaps to assuage the arch-libertarian readers, “the least harmful”). They do things like inspecting restaurants for cleanliness, watching out for ...
John R. Graham
November 26, 2008
Business & Economics
More Economic Freedom = Lower Jobless Rate
SAN FRANCISCO – The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, recently released the U.S. Economic Freedom Index: 2008 Report, a ranking of economic freedom in the 50 states. Published in association with Forbes, the Index scores states based on 143 variables, including regulatory and fiscal ...
Mark J. Perry
November 25, 2008
Business & Economics
Beware shift in balance of power
Labor laws are intended to balance power between employers and employees — actually unions who represent employees. Changes to labor laws that tilt the balance too far in either direction impose serious costs on workers and our economy. Big Labor and members of the Democratic Party are demanding passage of ...
Jason Clemens
November 24, 2008
Business & Economics
PRI Fellow: The Future of Broadband Looks Bright
Tech Policy Central, November 24, 2008 This post has been weeks in the making, in the sense that it’s about an event that I attended in San Jose on November 6th: the broadband policy meeting co-hosted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). ...
Pacific Research Institute
November 24, 2008
Business & Economics
The Worst States For Business
Forbes.com, November 24, 2008 Three first-term governors fight problems that have plagued their states for decades. The economy is diving deeper into a recession seemingly by the day, forcing tough decisions on companies: Layoffs? Plant closings? Killing product lines? They’re also reassessing the business climate of the states where they ...
Kurt Badenhausen
November 24, 2008
Business & Economics
Washington Ranks 37th on New U.S. Economic Freedom Index
The Pacific Research Institute recently released its 2008 Economic Freedom Index. Here’s how they describe it: … a ranking of economic freedom in the 50 states. Published in association with Forbes, the Index scores states based on 143 variables, including regulatory and fiscal obstacles imposed on businesses and residents. This ...
Richard Davis
November 22, 2008
Letter: Litigation costs hurt Bay State doctors, hospitals
To the editor: Kudos for your Nov. 20 editorial on the devastating impact of rising malpractice insurance premiums and defensive medicine costs on the North Shore Birth Center and other medical facilities in Massachusetts. (“Birth Center’s problems highlight need for tort reform”). Defensive medicine is not just a problem in ...
Decision against Wyeth would clog courts
Regarding “Wyeth should win/Otherwise, a bad case will make bad law” (Editorial, Nov. 17): Your editorial on the ramifications of a ruling against Wyeth Pharmaceuticals for the U.S. health care system was right on the money, particularly regarding the potential for a torrent of frivolous and wasteful lawsuits. A decision ...
Will Electric Cars Jolt California’s Economy?
With the support of Governor Schwarzenegger, the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose last week announced a $1-billion joint plan to make the Bay Area “the electric-vehicle capital of the world.” The announcement follows President-elect Obama’s pledge to reinvigorate the nation’s economy with millions of “green collar” jobs. ...
Is The Big Three Crisis Obama’s PATCO?
President-elect Obama faces serious economic challenges, including demands for a bailout of the Big Three automakers. America’s new president can find lessons in the way Ronald Reagan, the last president to assume office amidst such turmoil, handled a similar labor-dominated crisis. Ronald Reagan, the first union leader to be president ...
San Francisco Tax Hike Cannot Help Public Health Bureaucracy
Don’t get me wrong: of all the various byzantine agencies that comprise the massive (and growing) government intervention in American health care, counties’ public-health agencies are probably my favorite (or, perhaps to assuage the arch-libertarian readers, “the least harmful”). They do things like inspecting restaurants for cleanliness, watching out for ...
More Economic Freedom = Lower Jobless Rate
SAN FRANCISCO – The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, recently released the U.S. Economic Freedom Index: 2008 Report, a ranking of economic freedom in the 50 states. Published in association with Forbes, the Index scores states based on 143 variables, including regulatory and fiscal ...
Beware shift in balance of power
Labor laws are intended to balance power between employers and employees — actually unions who represent employees. Changes to labor laws that tilt the balance too far in either direction impose serious costs on workers and our economy. Big Labor and members of the Democratic Party are demanding passage of ...
PRI Fellow: The Future of Broadband Looks Bright
Tech Policy Central, November 24, 2008 This post has been weeks in the making, in the sense that it’s about an event that I attended in San Jose on November 6th: the broadband policy meeting co-hosted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). ...
The Worst States For Business
Forbes.com, November 24, 2008 Three first-term governors fight problems that have plagued their states for decades. The economy is diving deeper into a recession seemingly by the day, forcing tough decisions on companies: Layoffs? Plant closings? Killing product lines? They’re also reassessing the business climate of the states where they ...
Washington Ranks 37th on New U.S. Economic Freedom Index
The Pacific Research Institute recently released its 2008 Economic Freedom Index. Here’s how they describe it: … a ranking of economic freedom in the 50 states. Published in association with Forbes, the Index scores states based on 143 variables, including regulatory and fiscal obstacles imposed on businesses and residents. This ...