Commentary
Business & Economics
Competition Begets Better Banking Data Than Regulation
As it works to determine how to safeguard the sharing of and access to consumer financial data, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) faces a clear choice. It can allow market-based frameworks developed by the private sector to continue evolving, stepping in only where genuine gaps or abuses emerge. Or ...
Wayne H Winegarden
January 23, 2026
Commentary
Newsom budget expands green subsidies taxpayers can’t afford
California is staring at a $3 billion budget deficit, but Gov. Gavin Newsom still wants to spend $200 million on electric vehicle rebates. It’s both a foolish gesture and a graphic example of why Sacramento can’t get spending under control. The funds would replace the $7,500 federal EV tax credits ...
Kerry Jackson
January 22, 2026
Commentary
No Accountability as Insurers Profit From Public Programs
Executives from the nation’s largest health insurers are set to testify before Congress soon in a hearing on healthcare affordability. It’s about time. From Medicare Advantage to Obamacare exchanges to prescription drug benefits, insurers have been extracting ever-greater amounts of public funds while passing costs and risk on to patients ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 22, 2026
Commentary
Red tape is strangling rural health care. It’s time to cut it
Rural America is running out of doctors. According to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, 43 million Americans now live in rural communities facing a shortage of primary care providers. This shortage isn’t new. It’s been reality for rural America for decades. And it helps explain why patients there ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 22, 2026
Commentary
Alexis Wilkins Interview Of Sally Pipes
PRI’s Sally Pipes discusses health care policy and the threat of single payer with podcast host Alexis Wilkins. Listen to the entire podcast here.
Sally C. Pipes
January 22, 2026
Commentary
Enhanced Obamacare subsidies are gone. They deserve to stay that way
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) took to the chamber’s floor last week to voice his opposition to legislation that would extend the pandemic-era enhanced premium subsidies for Obamacare plans for three years. Unfortunately, his wise counsel fell on deaf ears, as all Democrats and 17 Republicans ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 20, 2026
Commentary
Congress Must Prioritize Patients, Not Insurers, In Renewed Healthcare Debate
Congress has returned to Washington. Democrats are renewing their call to extend COVID-era health insurance subsidies to shield people from hefty premium increases. Just last week, some Republicans in the House joined them to pass a bill that extends these subsidies—putting the question squarely before the Senate. That approach would ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 13, 2026
Commentary
Does California Want To Be Part Of The Nuclear Renaissance?
As the California Coastal Commission agreed this month to keep the state’s last nuclear energy plant open for at least five more years, the Trump administration announced federal funding for the development of small modular nuclear reactors. The Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo Power Plant, the only remaining nuclear energy ...
Kerry Jackson
January 12, 2026
Agriculture
‘Bridge payments’ to nowhere: time for ag to find its own path
The Trump administration recently announced $12 billion in “bridge payments” for American farmers and ranchers to provide relief from tariffs and “other economic challenges.” American farmers and ranchers are suffering. The national Farm Aid suicide prevention hotline has reported an increase in calls year-over-year and farm bankruptcies for 2025 have ...
Pam Lewison
January 9, 2026
California
If California is an economic powerhouse, then where are the jobs?
It’s a new year, a time for resolutions and fresh starts. Of course, only 9 percent of people who declare New year’s resolutions ultimately fulfill them. Most will give up before January ends. Such a dour outlook is a bit of a wet blanket, but it is apropos for California’s ...
Wayne H Winegarden
January 5, 2026
Competition Begets Better Banking Data Than Regulation
As it works to determine how to safeguard the sharing of and access to consumer financial data, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) faces a clear choice. It can allow market-based frameworks developed by the private sector to continue evolving, stepping in only where genuine gaps or abuses emerge. Or ...
Newsom budget expands green subsidies taxpayers can’t afford
California is staring at a $3 billion budget deficit, but Gov. Gavin Newsom still wants to spend $200 million on electric vehicle rebates. It’s both a foolish gesture and a graphic example of why Sacramento can’t get spending under control. The funds would replace the $7,500 federal EV tax credits ...
No Accountability as Insurers Profit From Public Programs
Executives from the nation’s largest health insurers are set to testify before Congress soon in a hearing on healthcare affordability. It’s about time. From Medicare Advantage to Obamacare exchanges to prescription drug benefits, insurers have been extracting ever-greater amounts of public funds while passing costs and risk on to patients ...
Red tape is strangling rural health care. It’s time to cut it
Rural America is running out of doctors. According to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, 43 million Americans now live in rural communities facing a shortage of primary care providers. This shortage isn’t new. It’s been reality for rural America for decades. And it helps explain why patients there ...
Alexis Wilkins Interview Of Sally Pipes
PRI’s Sally Pipes discusses health care policy and the threat of single payer with podcast host Alexis Wilkins. Listen to the entire podcast here.
Enhanced Obamacare subsidies are gone. They deserve to stay that way
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) took to the chamber’s floor last week to voice his opposition to legislation that would extend the pandemic-era enhanced premium subsidies for Obamacare plans for three years. Unfortunately, his wise counsel fell on deaf ears, as all Democrats and 17 Republicans ...
Congress Must Prioritize Patients, Not Insurers, In Renewed Healthcare Debate
Congress has returned to Washington. Democrats are renewing their call to extend COVID-era health insurance subsidies to shield people from hefty premium increases. Just last week, some Republicans in the House joined them to pass a bill that extends these subsidies—putting the question squarely before the Senate. That approach would ...
Does California Want To Be Part Of The Nuclear Renaissance?
As the California Coastal Commission agreed this month to keep the state’s last nuclear energy plant open for at least five more years, the Trump administration announced federal funding for the development of small modular nuclear reactors. The Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo Power Plant, the only remaining nuclear energy ...
‘Bridge payments’ to nowhere: time for ag to find its own path
The Trump administration recently announced $12 billion in “bridge payments” for American farmers and ranchers to provide relief from tariffs and “other economic challenges.” American farmers and ranchers are suffering. The national Farm Aid suicide prevention hotline has reported an increase in calls year-over-year and farm bankruptcies for 2025 have ...
If California is an economic powerhouse, then where are the jobs?
It’s a new year, a time for resolutions and fresh starts. Of course, only 9 percent of people who declare New year’s resolutions ultimately fulfill them. Most will give up before January ends. Such a dour outlook is a bit of a wet blanket, but it is apropos for California’s ...
