Commentary
Business & Economics
Tax Reform Kabuki Theater Ready to Take Center Stage
Last month, the Legislature sent 600 bills to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature (or veto). Senator Bob Hertzberg’s SB 8 was not among them. Hertzberg created a buzz when he introduced his proposal in late 2014. Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton wrote Hertzberg’s proposal “points the way to ...
Commentary
Obamacare’s penalties shoot for quality, hit patients
Medicare’s doctors are revolting against Obamacare’s new system for paying them. Soon enough, patients will, too. This year, Medicare implemented a system of “value-based care,” whereby the government pays health care providers for the supposed quality of the care they provide, rather than the quantity. But value-based care isn’t what ...
Business & Economics
Tax cuts will revitalize growth: Opposing view
Governor Jeb Bush’s proposed pro-growth tax reform, mimicked by Donald Trump, is an important step forward. The U.S. economy has been plagued with unacceptably slow growth since the 2007-09 recession — so slow that six years into our supposed recovery, policymakers still talk about the need for economic stimulus. It ...
Commentary
Hillary Clinton’s Answer To Obamacare: More Government
Late last month, Hillary Clinton began releasing the details for her vision for health reform. That vision is little more than Obamacare on steroids. “I will defend the Affordable Care Act, but as president I want to go further,” the Democratic presidential hopeful said at a recent community forum in ...
Commentary
Insurance mergers: Weddings mean funeral for health care
Merging insurance companies could be a disaster for U.S. health care. Welcome to Unholy Matrimony: Healthcare Edition. Insurance giant Aetna has made an offer to combine with Humana, and Anthem has bid to buy Cigna. If regulators allow these multibillion-dollar deals to go through, three corporate behemoths will dominate the ...
Agriculture
Capital Ideas: California’s Water “Shortage”
KEY POINTS IN THIS BRIEF: Many commentators incorrectly identify California’s historic draught, melting of its snow caps, or a handful of misguided policies as the cause of the state’s current water crisis. The cause of California’s current water crisis is the absence of scarcity pricing based on the supply and ...
Commentary
Obamacare Is Back In Court
Obamacare is back in court. This month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has standing to sue the Obama administration over how it spent federal money implementing the Affordable Care Act. The lawsuit, brought by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), ...
Business & Economics
Tax Reform Research Brief
A tax reform plan by PRI authors Art Laffer and Wayne Winegarden is the subject of a new research brief by Forward Observer, a prominent research and strategy firm with offices in California and Washington, DC. The research brief compares the tax reform proposal, including a flat tax, outlined in ...
Commentary
Still plagued by scandal, VA needs market reforms
The Department of Veterans Affairs just got another black eye — this time from its own internal auditor. The VA’s inspector general reported earlier this month that the applications of nearly 900,000 veterans for health care were still “pending.” The agency’s record-keeping is so bad that one-third of those applicants ...
Commentary
Is the VA Getting Any Better?
The Department of Veterans Affairs just got another black eye — this time from its own internal auditor. Last week, the VA’s Inspector General reported that the applications of nearly 900,000 veterans for health care were still “pending.” The agency’s record-keeping is so bad that one-third of those applicants may, ...
Tax Reform Kabuki Theater Ready to Take Center Stage
Last month, the Legislature sent 600 bills to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature (or veto). Senator Bob Hertzberg’s SB 8 was not among them. Hertzberg created a buzz when he introduced his proposal in late 2014. Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton wrote Hertzberg’s proposal “points the way to ...
Obamacare’s penalties shoot for quality, hit patients
Medicare’s doctors are revolting against Obamacare’s new system for paying them. Soon enough, patients will, too. This year, Medicare implemented a system of “value-based care,” whereby the government pays health care providers for the supposed quality of the care they provide, rather than the quantity. But value-based care isn’t what ...
Tax cuts will revitalize growth: Opposing view
Governor Jeb Bush’s proposed pro-growth tax reform, mimicked by Donald Trump, is an important step forward. The U.S. economy has been plagued with unacceptably slow growth since the 2007-09 recession — so slow that six years into our supposed recovery, policymakers still talk about the need for economic stimulus. It ...
Hillary Clinton’s Answer To Obamacare: More Government
Late last month, Hillary Clinton began releasing the details for her vision for health reform. That vision is little more than Obamacare on steroids. “I will defend the Affordable Care Act, but as president I want to go further,” the Democratic presidential hopeful said at a recent community forum in ...
Insurance mergers: Weddings mean funeral for health care
Merging insurance companies could be a disaster for U.S. health care. Welcome to Unholy Matrimony: Healthcare Edition. Insurance giant Aetna has made an offer to combine with Humana, and Anthem has bid to buy Cigna. If regulators allow these multibillion-dollar deals to go through, three corporate behemoths will dominate the ...
Capital Ideas: California’s Water “Shortage”
KEY POINTS IN THIS BRIEF: Many commentators incorrectly identify California’s historic draught, melting of its snow caps, or a handful of misguided policies as the cause of the state’s current water crisis. The cause of California’s current water crisis is the absence of scarcity pricing based on the supply and ...
Obamacare Is Back In Court
Obamacare is back in court. This month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has standing to sue the Obama administration over how it spent federal money implementing the Affordable Care Act. The lawsuit, brought by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), ...
Tax Reform Research Brief
A tax reform plan by PRI authors Art Laffer and Wayne Winegarden is the subject of a new research brief by Forward Observer, a prominent research and strategy firm with offices in California and Washington, DC. The research brief compares the tax reform proposal, including a flat tax, outlined in ...
Still plagued by scandal, VA needs market reforms
The Department of Veterans Affairs just got another black eye — this time from its own internal auditor. The VA’s inspector general reported earlier this month that the applications of nearly 900,000 veterans for health care were still “pending.” The agency’s record-keeping is so bad that one-third of those applicants ...
Is the VA Getting Any Better?
The Department of Veterans Affairs just got another black eye — this time from its own internal auditor. Last week, the VA’s Inspector General reported that the applications of nearly 900,000 veterans for health care were still “pending.” The agency’s record-keeping is so bad that one-third of those applicants may, ...
