California
Business & Economics
Prop 1A: Interview with economist Ben Zycher, who says the measure does not deliver on a promise of real spending reform
Ben Zycher, a senior fellow with the Pacific Research Institute, thoroughly reviewed the text of Proposition 1A before the voters this May, and was underwhelmed by alleged spending reforms, and critical of tax increases in the proposal. FR Publisher Jon Fleischman interviews noted economist Ben Zycher A few weeks ago, ...
Climate Change
CA Nightmare: Worsening State’s Fiscal Crisis Through Bad Climate Policy
I have spent my entire 35 year professional life developing and implementing energy policies vital to our state. So it pains me to now see California taking an unfortunate misstep: embracing participation in the Western Climate Initiative. WCI, developed by seven U.S. states (California is joined by Oregon, Washington, Utah, ...
Business & Economics
Nothing Paradoxical About Thrift
To address our current economic woes, classically-minded economists argue that the government should get out of the way and let the market heal itself. They warn that massive government “stimulus” packages only divert resources away from the private sector, thus delaying recovery.1 Keynesian economists say the opposite. They argue that ...
California
The Obama Stimulus, Education, and California
Now that President Obama has signed the three-quarter-of-a-trillion-dollar stimulus package, which contains $100 billion for public schools, many observers on the left and the right are concluding that the package won’t change very much in America’s underperforming government education system. The stimulus package contains various pots of money for public ...
California
How Federal Health “Reform” Will Devastate California’s Budget
Last June California politicians claimed to have “fixed” the budget but according to a November 18 report from the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) California now faces a budget deficit of $20.7 billion from the present until 2010-2011. Unfortunately, something’s coming down the pike that will make today’s budget shenanigans ...
Business & Economics
California Supreme Court Decision Quashes Innovation, Threatens Health, and Encourages Costly Lawsuit Abuse
Traditional tort law holds that manufacturers are responsible only for their own products, not those made by competitors. The California Supreme Court changed that in late January by declining to review Conte v. Wyeth, which leaves name-brand drug manufacturers liable for harm caused by another manufacturer’s generic version. This unprecedented ...
Agriculture
Bank Bailout Blues
Undeterred by the failure of the last injection of taxpayer dollars into a bloated banking system, our financial crusaders in DC are scratching their heads over the best way to flush another few hundred billion away. The latest scheme involves the creation of a “bad bank” that would purchase the ...
California
A Bad Message from California on Offshore Drilling
As I posted at the Pacific Research Institute website, the California State Lands Commission (SLC) has rejected a proposal that would have led to the first new oil drilling project off the California coast in 40 years. On January 29, the panel voted 2-1 against Plains Exploration & Production Company’s ...
Business & Economics
Calif.’s Fertility Flap and the Future of Reproductive Tech
The news of octuplets born recently near Los Angeles shocked many people, especially since the mother, Nadya Suleman, apparently already had six children and is reported to be jobless and living with her parents. Such rare stories certainly sell newspapers, but they can also lead to knee-jerk calls for overly ...
Business & Economics
Don’t blame China for U.S. woes
Several Chinese readers have contacted me to express astonishment at the chorus of voices blaming China for the U.S. recession. They wonder: Is this the preamble of a protectionist backlash? There is plenty that China deserves to be bashed for – its political system and its backing of Sudan and ...
Prop 1A: Interview with economist Ben Zycher, who says the measure does not deliver on a promise of real spending reform
Ben Zycher, a senior fellow with the Pacific Research Institute, thoroughly reviewed the text of Proposition 1A before the voters this May, and was underwhelmed by alleged spending reforms, and critical of tax increases in the proposal. FR Publisher Jon Fleischman interviews noted economist Ben Zycher A few weeks ago, ...
CA Nightmare: Worsening State’s Fiscal Crisis Through Bad Climate Policy
I have spent my entire 35 year professional life developing and implementing energy policies vital to our state. So it pains me to now see California taking an unfortunate misstep: embracing participation in the Western Climate Initiative. WCI, developed by seven U.S. states (California is joined by Oregon, Washington, Utah, ...
Nothing Paradoxical About Thrift
To address our current economic woes, classically-minded economists argue that the government should get out of the way and let the market heal itself. They warn that massive government “stimulus” packages only divert resources away from the private sector, thus delaying recovery.1 Keynesian economists say the opposite. They argue that ...
The Obama Stimulus, Education, and California
Now that President Obama has signed the three-quarter-of-a-trillion-dollar stimulus package, which contains $100 billion for public schools, many observers on the left and the right are concluding that the package won’t change very much in America’s underperforming government education system. The stimulus package contains various pots of money for public ...
How Federal Health “Reform” Will Devastate California’s Budget
Last June California politicians claimed to have “fixed” the budget but according to a November 18 report from the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) California now faces a budget deficit of $20.7 billion from the present until 2010-2011. Unfortunately, something’s coming down the pike that will make today’s budget shenanigans ...
California Supreme Court Decision Quashes Innovation, Threatens Health, and Encourages Costly Lawsuit Abuse
Traditional tort law holds that manufacturers are responsible only for their own products, not those made by competitors. The California Supreme Court changed that in late January by declining to review Conte v. Wyeth, which leaves name-brand drug manufacturers liable for harm caused by another manufacturer’s generic version. This unprecedented ...
Bank Bailout Blues
Undeterred by the failure of the last injection of taxpayer dollars into a bloated banking system, our financial crusaders in DC are scratching their heads over the best way to flush another few hundred billion away. The latest scheme involves the creation of a “bad bank” that would purchase the ...
A Bad Message from California on Offshore Drilling
As I posted at the Pacific Research Institute website, the California State Lands Commission (SLC) has rejected a proposal that would have led to the first new oil drilling project off the California coast in 40 years. On January 29, the panel voted 2-1 against Plains Exploration & Production Company’s ...
Calif.’s Fertility Flap and the Future of Reproductive Tech
The news of octuplets born recently near Los Angeles shocked many people, especially since the mother, Nadya Suleman, apparently already had six children and is reported to be jobless and living with her parents. Such rare stories certainly sell newspapers, but they can also lead to knee-jerk calls for overly ...
Don’t blame China for U.S. woes
Several Chinese readers have contacted me to express astonishment at the chorus of voices blaming China for the U.S. recession. They wonder: Is this the preamble of a protectionist backlash? There is plenty that China deserves to be bashed for – its political system and its backing of Sudan and ...
