Business & Economics
Business & Economics
North Carolina: Growing Less Free Every Year!
I recently wrote about North Carolina’s disappointing economic trends since 2001. Rising poverty, unemployment consistently above the national average, job and income growth lagging national and regional averages were among the findings. Now, we can add to that list: less economic freedom. The Pacific Research Institute recently released their U.S. ...
Business & Economics
Product Liability Law: Should FDA Approval Pre-empt State Tort Law?
This morning’s New York Times carried a story which addressed the question of whether medicines licensed by the FDA should be above and beyond state product liability law. In legalese, it asks whether the federal Food, Drug & Cosmetics Act “pre-empts” state law. The NY Times tells the story of ...
Business & Economics
Index points finger at Kentucky’s economic failure
Nearly 80 percent of American states have more economic freedom than Kentucky – a fact that could prove to hamper the commonwealth’s prospects for economic growth. The “U.S. Economic Freedom Index: 2008 Report” by the Pacific Research Institute and Forbes magazine reports that only 10 states have less economic freedom ...
Business & Economics
Lessons from the $388 million Hyatt case: How current tax policy hurts California
California’s financial problems may have gotten worse by $388 million, according to an August 16 Nevada trial verdict in favor of an inventor mistreated by California’s Franchise Tax Board. The unprecedented case highlights California’s enforcement tactics and points to the solution for state revenue instability. Gilbert P. Hyatt, an electrical ...
Business & Economics
The First Presidential Debate and Legal Reform
The First Presidential Debate and Legal Reform The first presidential debate takes place Friday in Oxford, Mississippi. Oxford…Oxford…Oxford…Now whom is it we associate, lately, with Oxford, Mississippi? Right. It’s the home of Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, the giant among trial lawyers. Or at least it was until July. “Court Orders Dickie ...
Business & Economics
Commentary: Who do you think will be better for the economy: John McCain or Barak Obama?
Cartoonist Scott Adams, he of “Dilbert” fame, was plagued by the same question so, he reports, he commissioned a survey of more than 500 economists, “to find out which candidates for President of the United States would be best for the economy long term,” a release put out by United ...
Business & Economics
Government size matters
According to the Pacific Research Institute, two thirds of the Tri-State area does not rank well in terms of economic freedom. On Tuesday, the PRI released its “U.S. Economic Freedom Index: 2008 Report,” which ranks “economic freedom” in the 50 states among 143 variables, including “regulatory and fiscal obstacles imposed ...
Business & Economics
Missing step: Control spending
Wisconsin received more evidence this week that its taxes are too high. This time the evidence arrived in a study suggesting that Wisconsin may be just a few tax cuts away from becoming one of the nation’s economic hot spots. The study, from the Pacific Research Institute in association with ...
Business & Economics
Speculation not to blame for oil prices
Congress continues to wrangle on measures to curb the alleged influence of speculators on oil prices. Republicans want to insert provisions on offshore and ANWR drilling, while Democrats prefer to focus on enlarging the regulatory powers of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). However the political maneuvering turns out, cracking ...
Business & Economics
The Global Antitrust Arsenal
Earlier this week, European regulators said that they are investigating the online advertising deal between Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO), even though that deal affects only the U.S. and Canadian markets. Such a revelation is a disturbing sign of the globalization of government meddling and the out-of-control use ...
North Carolina: Growing Less Free Every Year!
I recently wrote about North Carolina’s disappointing economic trends since 2001. Rising poverty, unemployment consistently above the national average, job and income growth lagging national and regional averages were among the findings. Now, we can add to that list: less economic freedom. The Pacific Research Institute recently released their U.S. ...
Product Liability Law: Should FDA Approval Pre-empt State Tort Law?
This morning’s New York Times carried a story which addressed the question of whether medicines licensed by the FDA should be above and beyond state product liability law. In legalese, it asks whether the federal Food, Drug & Cosmetics Act “pre-empts” state law. The NY Times tells the story of ...
Index points finger at Kentucky’s economic failure
Nearly 80 percent of American states have more economic freedom than Kentucky – a fact that could prove to hamper the commonwealth’s prospects for economic growth. The “U.S. Economic Freedom Index: 2008 Report” by the Pacific Research Institute and Forbes magazine reports that only 10 states have less economic freedom ...
Lessons from the $388 million Hyatt case: How current tax policy hurts California
California’s financial problems may have gotten worse by $388 million, according to an August 16 Nevada trial verdict in favor of an inventor mistreated by California’s Franchise Tax Board. The unprecedented case highlights California’s enforcement tactics and points to the solution for state revenue instability. Gilbert P. Hyatt, an electrical ...
The First Presidential Debate and Legal Reform
The First Presidential Debate and Legal Reform The first presidential debate takes place Friday in Oxford, Mississippi. Oxford…Oxford…Oxford…Now whom is it we associate, lately, with Oxford, Mississippi? Right. It’s the home of Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, the giant among trial lawyers. Or at least it was until July. “Court Orders Dickie ...
Commentary: Who do you think will be better for the economy: John McCain or Barak Obama?
Cartoonist Scott Adams, he of “Dilbert” fame, was plagued by the same question so, he reports, he commissioned a survey of more than 500 economists, “to find out which candidates for President of the United States would be best for the economy long term,” a release put out by United ...
Government size matters
According to the Pacific Research Institute, two thirds of the Tri-State area does not rank well in terms of economic freedom. On Tuesday, the PRI released its “U.S. Economic Freedom Index: 2008 Report,” which ranks “economic freedom” in the 50 states among 143 variables, including “regulatory and fiscal obstacles imposed ...
Missing step: Control spending
Wisconsin received more evidence this week that its taxes are too high. This time the evidence arrived in a study suggesting that Wisconsin may be just a few tax cuts away from becoming one of the nation’s economic hot spots. The study, from the Pacific Research Institute in association with ...
Speculation not to blame for oil prices
Congress continues to wrangle on measures to curb the alleged influence of speculators on oil prices. Republicans want to insert provisions on offshore and ANWR drilling, while Democrats prefer to focus on enlarging the regulatory powers of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). However the political maneuvering turns out, cracking ...
The Global Antitrust Arsenal
Earlier this week, European regulators said that they are investigating the online advertising deal between Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO), even though that deal affects only the U.S. and Canadian markets. Such a revelation is a disturbing sign of the globalization of government meddling and the out-of-control use ...
