State Budget
Environment
Cap and Trade in the Western States
In a review of the claims made by the Western Climate Initiative, the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston identified several flaws made by the seven-state consortium, calling into question claimed cost savings ranging between $11.4 billion and $23.5 billion. These flaws render WCI’s projections useless in determining ...
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, ...
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 ...
Commentary
Overhauling health care could boost the economy
There are plenty of reasons to overhaul our creaky health care system, ranging from its status as the most expensive system in the world to its failure to provide for the health of millions of our fellow citizens. But several recent studies suggest that there’s one more reason for reform: ...
Commentary
The Unseen Culprits in America’s Financial Crisis
To the long list of villains in America’s unfolding economic crisis … the politicians who encouraged risky lending, the bankers who bundled questionable mortgages into marketable securities, and the ratings agencies that gave inflated grades to sub-par debt … add the thousands of supposedly responsible citizens who served as volunteers ...
Business & Economics
First, do no harm
Taking the temperature of the Colorado economy As we close out the year in one of the worst recessions in modern history, Congress and the Colorado Legislature will be looking to do something — whatever that is — because people want something done — whatever that might be. Before any ...
Commentary
Hawaii Seeking More Money for Health Plan
Health Care News (Heartland Institute), January 1, 2009 A 9 percent jump in enrollment is forcing Hawaii’s state government to consider ways to increase funding for its taxpayer-funded health coverage program. Officials from Hawaii’s Department of Human Services say the enrollment spike in Med-Quest, the state’s Medicaid managed care program, ...
Commentary
Counting the Cost of the War on Global Warming
Last month, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger held an international climate summit to show local governments in other countries that greenhouse gas emissions can be cut, to the degree he wants, without harming the economy. This comes as the financial meltdown has prompted a global movement to scale back draconian measures ...
Commentary
Rhode Island Seeks Caps on Medicaid, Will Shift Costs to Emergency Room Patients
In response to an ongoing state budget crisis, Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri (R) has requested the federal government relax its strict Medicaid regulations in exchange for caps on state spending and federal contributions to the program. The state’s plan is to cap Medicaid spending at 23 percent of the ...
Commentary
Government Care Isn’t Promising
Health care reform proposals generally fall into two camps: Those that rely on government to expand access and hold prices down, and those that rely on market competition to lower prices and expand consumer choice. Proponents of government-heavy reform believe that because the health care problem itself is massive and ...
Cap and Trade in the Western States
In a review of the claims made by the Western Climate Initiative, the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston identified several flaws made by the seven-state consortium, calling into question claimed cost savings ranging between $11.4 billion and $23.5 billion. These flaws render WCI’s projections useless in determining ...
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, ...
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 ...
Overhauling health care could boost the economy
There are plenty of reasons to overhaul our creaky health care system, ranging from its status as the most expensive system in the world to its failure to provide for the health of millions of our fellow citizens. But several recent studies suggest that there’s one more reason for reform: ...
The Unseen Culprits in America’s Financial Crisis
To the long list of villains in America’s unfolding economic crisis … the politicians who encouraged risky lending, the bankers who bundled questionable mortgages into marketable securities, and the ratings agencies that gave inflated grades to sub-par debt … add the thousands of supposedly responsible citizens who served as volunteers ...
First, do no harm
Taking the temperature of the Colorado economy As we close out the year in one of the worst recessions in modern history, Congress and the Colorado Legislature will be looking to do something — whatever that is — because people want something done — whatever that might be. Before any ...
Hawaii Seeking More Money for Health Plan
Health Care News (Heartland Institute), January 1, 2009 A 9 percent jump in enrollment is forcing Hawaii’s state government to consider ways to increase funding for its taxpayer-funded health coverage program. Officials from Hawaii’s Department of Human Services say the enrollment spike in Med-Quest, the state’s Medicaid managed care program, ...
Counting the Cost of the War on Global Warming
Last month, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger held an international climate summit to show local governments in other countries that greenhouse gas emissions can be cut, to the degree he wants, without harming the economy. This comes as the financial meltdown has prompted a global movement to scale back draconian measures ...
Rhode Island Seeks Caps on Medicaid, Will Shift Costs to Emergency Room Patients
In response to an ongoing state budget crisis, Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri (R) has requested the federal government relax its strict Medicaid regulations in exchange for caps on state spending and federal contributions to the program. The state’s plan is to cap Medicaid spending at 23 percent of the ...
Government Care Isn’t Promising
Health care reform proposals generally fall into two camps: Those that rely on government to expand access and hold prices down, and those that rely on market competition to lower prices and expand consumer choice. Proponents of government-heavy reform believe that because the health care problem itself is massive and ...
