California
Business & Economics
Is the CIRM Good Medicine for California?
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) turns five in 2009, a good occasion for a report card, beginning with the “medicine” part. Here we have a problem. “The California program has yet to produce cures,” explains John M. Simpson, stem cell director of Consumer Watchdog, in a recent Sacramento ...
Business & Economics
Nanny Government Plays from the Rough
As readers of the Contrarian know from the recent piece on Billie Jean King, my game is tennis. I’m not much of a golfer, but I can recognize a wild tee shot that lands deep in the rough. That is especially true when the shot comes from a politically correct ...
Commentary
W. Va. May Hike Cigarette Tax to Expand Medicaid
West Virginia legislators are considering a bill to fund an expansion of the state Medicaid program through an increase in the cigarette tax. The proposal would hike the tax 118 percent, from 55 cents to $1.20 per pack. The proposal comes on the heels of the recently passed increase in ...
Commentary
School districts illegally stockpiled millions of dollars
Sonoran Alliance (AZ), May 1, 2009 (STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX) – As the rest of the state struggles with devastating economic conditions with cuts, layoffs and the associated financial and emotional trauma, schools have been illegally and secretly stockpiling millions of dollars. “I am outraged at members of the education community ...
Business & Economics
Obama, Crisis, and the State
I am giving a speech in San Francisco today. Here’s a taste: How should we take the long view after 100 days of Obamamania? In the course of completing my long book about the Reagan presidency and what conclusions we should draw from that experience more than 20 years later, ...
Business & Economics
The Nuttiness of Negative Interest Rates
In his April 18 New York Times op-ed, Harvard professor (and Bush adviser) Greg Mankiw calls on the Federal Reserve to promise future inflation, in order to fix the economy. Mankiw’s article beautifully illustrates what is wrong with today’s economics profession: it consists of very sharp guys (and gals) who ...
Business & Economics
Has California finally hit the wall?
In a recent interview with Jason Clemens, Economist and Director of Research for the Pacific Research Institute, he explained that California’s budget problems are not really about taxes or the costs of illegal immigration. PRI is near completion of a large detailed study on California’s prosperity, or the lack thereof, ...
Climate Change
The Annual Green Orgy: Earth Day
On Earth Day we will have been engulfed by the avalanche of “Green” propaganda that preceded it, fills the day, and then continues relentlessly thereafter. When I say “propaganda”, I am being polite. Much of the foundation of the environmental movement is pure lies, mind boggling distortions of questionable “science”, ...
Business & Economics
California Has Fourth Latest Tax Freedom Day
The Tax Foundation recently released its annual Tax Freedom Day calculations. The news emanating from the report should be cause for great concern for all Americans, and Californians in particular. Tax Freedom Day represents the day when Americans begin to work for themselves after having paid their federal, state, and ...
Business & Economics
Prop. 1A’s passage would open doors to more taxation
In 1987, Gov. George Deukmejian gave California taxpayers a $1.1 billion rebate. Due to the Gann spending limit enacted in 1979, named after Proposition 13 co-author Paul Gann, the state had a budget surplus, making the rebate mandatory. Subsequent ballot measures, however, rendered the limit meaningless. Now we are being ...
Is the CIRM Good Medicine for California?
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) turns five in 2009, a good occasion for a report card, beginning with the “medicine” part. Here we have a problem. “The California program has yet to produce cures,” explains John M. Simpson, stem cell director of Consumer Watchdog, in a recent Sacramento ...
Nanny Government Plays from the Rough
As readers of the Contrarian know from the recent piece on Billie Jean King, my game is tennis. I’m not much of a golfer, but I can recognize a wild tee shot that lands deep in the rough. That is especially true when the shot comes from a politically correct ...
W. Va. May Hike Cigarette Tax to Expand Medicaid
West Virginia legislators are considering a bill to fund an expansion of the state Medicaid program through an increase in the cigarette tax. The proposal would hike the tax 118 percent, from 55 cents to $1.20 per pack. The proposal comes on the heels of the recently passed increase in ...
School districts illegally stockpiled millions of dollars
Sonoran Alliance (AZ), May 1, 2009 (STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX) – As the rest of the state struggles with devastating economic conditions with cuts, layoffs and the associated financial and emotional trauma, schools have been illegally and secretly stockpiling millions of dollars. “I am outraged at members of the education community ...
Obama, Crisis, and the State
I am giving a speech in San Francisco today. Here’s a taste: How should we take the long view after 100 days of Obamamania? In the course of completing my long book about the Reagan presidency and what conclusions we should draw from that experience more than 20 years later, ...
The Nuttiness of Negative Interest Rates
In his April 18 New York Times op-ed, Harvard professor (and Bush adviser) Greg Mankiw calls on the Federal Reserve to promise future inflation, in order to fix the economy. Mankiw’s article beautifully illustrates what is wrong with today’s economics profession: it consists of very sharp guys (and gals) who ...
Has California finally hit the wall?
In a recent interview with Jason Clemens, Economist and Director of Research for the Pacific Research Institute, he explained that California’s budget problems are not really about taxes or the costs of illegal immigration. PRI is near completion of a large detailed study on California’s prosperity, or the lack thereof, ...
The Annual Green Orgy: Earth Day
On Earth Day we will have been engulfed by the avalanche of “Green” propaganda that preceded it, fills the day, and then continues relentlessly thereafter. When I say “propaganda”, I am being polite. Much of the foundation of the environmental movement is pure lies, mind boggling distortions of questionable “science”, ...
California Has Fourth Latest Tax Freedom Day
The Tax Foundation recently released its annual Tax Freedom Day calculations. The news emanating from the report should be cause for great concern for all Americans, and Californians in particular. Tax Freedom Day represents the day when Americans begin to work for themselves after having paid their federal, state, and ...
Prop. 1A’s passage would open doors to more taxation
In 1987, Gov. George Deukmejian gave California taxpayers a $1.1 billion rebate. Due to the Gann spending limit enacted in 1979, named after Proposition 13 co-author Paul Gann, the state had a budget surplus, making the rebate mandatory. Subsequent ballot measures, however, rendered the limit meaningless. Now we are being ...
