Commentary
Commentary
Don’t blame drug companies for high prices
*Featured in Kaiser Health News Morning Briefing* Today, Type 1 diabetes patients pay twice as much for insulin as they did in 2012. This is outrageous — but drug companies aren’t to blame. The problem is a dysfunctional supply chain that benefits everyone except patients. In today’s system, insurers hire third-party firms, ...
Business & Economics
The Economy Has Changed for American Workers – And There’s No Going Back
It used to be that political parties would argue over which policy was more effective at helping the largest number of people achieve the American dream. Now, a growing chorus on the left have begun to argue that the American dream itself is a lie, and that our only option ...
California
California Housing Crisis Prolonged By Policymakers’ Inability To Shed Old Impulses
With every idea offered as a serious “solution,” it becomes clearer why California has a housing crisis. The thinking is stuck on policies that aggravate rather than improve. The latest ill-considered proposal picking up support would enact price-gouging laws to keep rental costs in check. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, ...
Business & Economics
Public Pension Funds’ Sole Responsibility Is To Secure The Retirement Of Public Sector Workers
State and local public pension funds are trillions of dollars in debt. Without fully accounting for the risks, state public pension funds have $1.4 trillion in unfunded liabilities (e.g. debt) according to the Pew Center’s latest estimates. Even more troubling, this debt is still growing. The sole priority of a public pension ...
Commentary
You should absolutely believe Kamala Harris: ‘Medicare for All’ will kill your health insurance
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., wants to ban private health insurance. But if she can’t do that outright, she’s happy settling for a reform that will eventually take away private health coverage. Harris, who is pursuing the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, spoke honestly about her proposal for the healthcare ...
Commentary
The GND: Glitter, Nonsense, and Devitalization
By Andrew I. Fillat and Henry I. Miller The latest public policy bandwagon is the “Green New Deal,” or GND, whose acronym could well stand for Glitter, Nonsense, and Devitalization. Some of its proposals are so outlandish that they would be more appropriate coming from enthusiastic (but not very smart) ...
CEQA
CEQA: How to mend it since you can’t end it
By Daniel Kolkey It’s no coincidence that California’s housing prices began to diverge from the rest of the country in 1970 – the very year that the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) was enacted. According to California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst, “Between 1970 and 1980, California home prices went from 30 ...
Agriculture
Do organic farms really produce ‘chemical free, healthier food’?
In “The Wealth of Nations,” the 18th century economist and philosopher Adam Smith observed about the chicanery of some businessmen, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” ...
Business & Economics
Fostering Transparency In The Pharmaceutical Market
In response to the problem of rising list prices for drugs, elected officials continue to propose counterproductive reforms. Whether it is importing drugs from Canada or indexing U.S. drug prices to the prices charged in other countries, these policies will make the current bad situation worse because they fail to ...
Business & Economics
Medicare price controls would harm patients and workers
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar just released a sweeping proposal that would drastically change how Medicare pays for advanced cancer therapies and other potent medicines. The plan relies on foreign price controls to reduce drug spending by $17 billion over five years. Although drug spending may decline, the ...
Don’t blame drug companies for high prices
*Featured in Kaiser Health News Morning Briefing* Today, Type 1 diabetes patients pay twice as much for insulin as they did in 2012. This is outrageous — but drug companies aren’t to blame. The problem is a dysfunctional supply chain that benefits everyone except patients. In today’s system, insurers hire third-party firms, ...
The Economy Has Changed for American Workers – And There’s No Going Back
It used to be that political parties would argue over which policy was more effective at helping the largest number of people achieve the American dream. Now, a growing chorus on the left have begun to argue that the American dream itself is a lie, and that our only option ...
California Housing Crisis Prolonged By Policymakers’ Inability To Shed Old Impulses
With every idea offered as a serious “solution,” it becomes clearer why California has a housing crisis. The thinking is stuck on policies that aggravate rather than improve. The latest ill-considered proposal picking up support would enact price-gouging laws to keep rental costs in check. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, ...
Public Pension Funds’ Sole Responsibility Is To Secure The Retirement Of Public Sector Workers
State and local public pension funds are trillions of dollars in debt. Without fully accounting for the risks, state public pension funds have $1.4 trillion in unfunded liabilities (e.g. debt) according to the Pew Center’s latest estimates. Even more troubling, this debt is still growing. The sole priority of a public pension ...
You should absolutely believe Kamala Harris: ‘Medicare for All’ will kill your health insurance
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., wants to ban private health insurance. But if she can’t do that outright, she’s happy settling for a reform that will eventually take away private health coverage. Harris, who is pursuing the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, spoke honestly about her proposal for the healthcare ...
The GND: Glitter, Nonsense, and Devitalization
By Andrew I. Fillat and Henry I. Miller The latest public policy bandwagon is the “Green New Deal,” or GND, whose acronym could well stand for Glitter, Nonsense, and Devitalization. Some of its proposals are so outlandish that they would be more appropriate coming from enthusiastic (but not very smart) ...
CEQA: How to mend it since you can’t end it
By Daniel Kolkey It’s no coincidence that California’s housing prices began to diverge from the rest of the country in 1970 – the very year that the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) was enacted. According to California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst, “Between 1970 and 1980, California home prices went from 30 ...
Do organic farms really produce ‘chemical free, healthier food’?
In “The Wealth of Nations,” the 18th century economist and philosopher Adam Smith observed about the chicanery of some businessmen, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” ...
Fostering Transparency In The Pharmaceutical Market
In response to the problem of rising list prices for drugs, elected officials continue to propose counterproductive reforms. Whether it is importing drugs from Canada or indexing U.S. drug prices to the prices charged in other countries, these policies will make the current bad situation worse because they fail to ...
Medicare price controls would harm patients and workers
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar just released a sweeping proposal that would drastically change how Medicare pays for advanced cancer therapies and other potent medicines. The plan relies on foreign price controls to reduce drug spending by $17 billion over five years. Although drug spending may decline, the ...
