Commentary
Business & Economics
GOP takes low road on immigration
Republicans in the state Assembly, still high-fiving each other for stopping Jerry Brown’s one proposal that actually made sense (ending redevelopment agencies), congratulated themselves last week for their tough stand on illegal immigration, another foolish decision that flies in the face of the GOP’s free-market rhetoric. Several Assembly members stood ...
Business & Economics
San Diego setting an example on pension reform
The city of San Diego has long been the poster child for pension abuse, but now it has a chance to become the statewide poster child for pension reform thanks to a ballot measure that top officials are circulating. San Diego’s efforts should be heartening to other California cities, including ...
California
Whatever Happened to California’s Obamacare Exchange?
The most disappointing news on the Obamacare front these days is that at least two Republican governors cannot wait to implement Obamacare in their states. Apparently, one Republican state senator in Oklahoma has finally decided to prevent an Obamacare exchange bill from reaching Gov. Mary Fallin for signature. Fair enough, ...
Commentary
Romneycare’s Popularity Plummets
A recent poll from Suffolk University and WHDH-TV reports that 49 percent of respondents do not believe Romneycare has helped, while only 38 percent believe that it is working. Fifty-four percent said that Romney’s signing the law likely hurt his presidential chances, while only 22 percent believed that it helped. ...
Commentary
Clarifying Ryan’s Medicare Reform
(Not that Ryan’s retreating from the term will prevent “voucher” being used to describe his reform. Grace-Marie Turner has explained how “premium support” differs from a voucher, but even Ryan supporter Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute insists on describing it as a voucher.) Of course, a good night’s sleep ...
Commentary
Good News for All States and All Taxpayers: Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver Survives Scrutiny
Rhode Island, the smallest state, is wielding big influence against federal control of health care. Other states would do well to take notice. Federal taxpayers pay about 53 percent of Rhode Islands Medicaid costs. This has created a perverse incentive for state politicians to increase dependency on Medicaid in order ...
Commentary
Ryan Flinched on Medicare
Path to Prosperity, however, eliminates the “payment” in favor of the woolier “premium support.” Nor does it even report how it would calculate this premium support, beyond asserting that “wealthier beneficiaries would receive a lower subsidy” (p. 46). It never ceases to amaze me that conservative policy analysts cheer such ...
Commentary
PRI’s Vicki Murray Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision Upholding Arizona Scholarship Program
San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute’s Vicki Murray applauds the ruling issued Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court reversing the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, a legal challenge aimed at ending Arizona’s tax credit scholarship program. A recent study by Vicki Murray, Education Studies Associate ...
Commentary
Students blocked from attending better schools
On Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act by a vote of 225 to 195. Last month a bipartisan coalition in Congress introduced the act reauthorizing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which bolsters a burgeoning choice movement nationwide. Powerful opponents, unfortunately, don’t want ...
Business & Economics
Budget battle a bad movie we’ve seen before
Have you ever watched one of those predictable, boring movies where you wish you could just skip the obligatory chase and romance scenes and get to the “I see it coming” ending already? That’s what I feel like as I watch the unfolding drama – and I use the term ...
GOP takes low road on immigration
Republicans in the state Assembly, still high-fiving each other for stopping Jerry Brown’s one proposal that actually made sense (ending redevelopment agencies), congratulated themselves last week for their tough stand on illegal immigration, another foolish decision that flies in the face of the GOP’s free-market rhetoric. Several Assembly members stood ...
San Diego setting an example on pension reform
The city of San Diego has long been the poster child for pension abuse, but now it has a chance to become the statewide poster child for pension reform thanks to a ballot measure that top officials are circulating. San Diego’s efforts should be heartening to other California cities, including ...
Whatever Happened to California’s Obamacare Exchange?
The most disappointing news on the Obamacare front these days is that at least two Republican governors cannot wait to implement Obamacare in their states. Apparently, one Republican state senator in Oklahoma has finally decided to prevent an Obamacare exchange bill from reaching Gov. Mary Fallin for signature. Fair enough, ...
Romneycare’s Popularity Plummets
A recent poll from Suffolk University and WHDH-TV reports that 49 percent of respondents do not believe Romneycare has helped, while only 38 percent believe that it is working. Fifty-four percent said that Romney’s signing the law likely hurt his presidential chances, while only 22 percent believed that it helped. ...
Clarifying Ryan’s Medicare Reform
(Not that Ryan’s retreating from the term will prevent “voucher” being used to describe his reform. Grace-Marie Turner has explained how “premium support” differs from a voucher, but even Ryan supporter Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute insists on describing it as a voucher.) Of course, a good night’s sleep ...
Good News for All States and All Taxpayers: Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver Survives Scrutiny
Rhode Island, the smallest state, is wielding big influence against federal control of health care. Other states would do well to take notice. Federal taxpayers pay about 53 percent of Rhode Islands Medicaid costs. This has created a perverse incentive for state politicians to increase dependency on Medicaid in order ...
Ryan Flinched on Medicare
Path to Prosperity, however, eliminates the “payment” in favor of the woolier “premium support.” Nor does it even report how it would calculate this premium support, beyond asserting that “wealthier beneficiaries would receive a lower subsidy” (p. 46). It never ceases to amaze me that conservative policy analysts cheer such ...
PRI’s Vicki Murray Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision Upholding Arizona Scholarship Program
San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute’s Vicki Murray applauds the ruling issued Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court reversing the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, a legal challenge aimed at ending Arizona’s tax credit scholarship program. A recent study by Vicki Murray, Education Studies Associate ...
Students blocked from attending better schools
On Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act by a vote of 225 to 195. Last month a bipartisan coalition in Congress introduced the act reauthorizing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which bolsters a burgeoning choice movement nationwide. Powerful opponents, unfortunately, don’t want ...
Budget battle a bad movie we’ve seen before
Have you ever watched one of those predictable, boring movies where you wish you could just skip the obligatory chase and romance scenes and get to the “I see it coming” ending already? That’s what I feel like as I watch the unfolding drama – and I use the term ...
