Commentary
Business & Economics
To cut state prison budget, start with perks for guards
California’s voters will soon consider two ballot initiatives that aim to reduce the state’s unsustainable spending on prisons. The cost of jail is punishing and not just for the prisoners. Incarcerating an inmate runs an average of $47,000 a year. That figure certainly is not chump change, but the ...
Commentary
NPR Audience Wants End of Life Care Rationed for the Elderly
By centralizing control of health care, Obamacare will cause us to turn on each other to grab bigger pieces of the medical pie. The elderly will be among the first victims, as has already happened in the UK. Recently, NPR held a debate with utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer and an ...
Business & Economics
California’s politicians failing taxpayers
California’s state and local politicians are failing their fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers. As the taxpayers’ agents, California’s politicians should be establishing compensation policies that are generous enough to attract and retain the right people, but not so generous that government workers earn a substantial premium compared to their private ...
Commentary
A Private Sector Healthcare Solution That We Can Smile About
Earlier this year, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn decided to cut $1.6 billion from the states Medicaid program to help get the states finances under control. Among the benefits slashed was dental coverage for adults. The Land of Lincoln was only the latest cash-strapped state to scrap dental coverage under Medicaid, ...
Business & Economics
Economists argue about sequestration’s effect on jobs
As a prominent analyst of the local economy, Stephen S. Fuller of George Mason Universitys Center for Regional Analysis attracted plenty of attention when he estimated that the mandatory budget cuts coming in January could cost more than 2 million jobs nationwide, including nearly 450,000 in the District, Maryland and ...
California
Is The Fix In Higher Taxes And Less School Accountability
Supporters of Gov. Jerry Browns tax-hike ballot measure, Proposition 30, argue that the added tax revenues are needed so schools can, among other things, turn out high-achieving students. The head of the San Diego teachers union claims that without revenues to pay for programs and personnel, our schools are struggling ...
Commentary
Another Broken Obama Promise: The Healthcare Cost Monster Emerges
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published an article for its special Election 2012? edition signed by nearly two dozen economists and healthcare experts calling for a systematic approach to health cost control. Several of the co-authors used to be advisers to President Obama, including former budget chief Peter ...
Commentary
Medical Students Need Second Opinion About Obamacare
The board can’t make any changes to Medicare’s fee-for-service structure or adjust the benefits seniors receive. That leaves two options for bringing Medicare’s costs into balance. IPAB could cut payments to doctors or Congress could raise taxes. Reimbursements for doctors are already low. Doctors receive 20% less from the ...
Business & Economics
More taxes won’t fix state debt
The Golden State continues to lead the nation in accumulating public debt, a race where being in first place isn’t the same thing as winning. “California again trumped other states with a $617 billion debt,” reported State Budget Solutions, a nonpartisan organization advocating “fundamental reforms” for state budgets. For the ...
California
Implementing AB 32 will increase unemployment, household expenses
With the passage of California’s Assembly Bill 32, the Golden State has embarked upon an experiment in energy policy that has no modern parallel. Several recent studies have shown that the consequences to the state could be dire, and that California faces a choice between continuing on its current trajectory ...
To cut state prison budget, start with perks for guards
California’s voters will soon consider two ballot initiatives that aim to reduce the state’s unsustainable spending on prisons. The cost of jail is punishing and not just for the prisoners. Incarcerating an inmate runs an average of $47,000 a year. That figure certainly is not chump change, but the ...
NPR Audience Wants End of Life Care Rationed for the Elderly
By centralizing control of health care, Obamacare will cause us to turn on each other to grab bigger pieces of the medical pie. The elderly will be among the first victims, as has already happened in the UK. Recently, NPR held a debate with utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer and an ...
California’s politicians failing taxpayers
California’s state and local politicians are failing their fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers. As the taxpayers’ agents, California’s politicians should be establishing compensation policies that are generous enough to attract and retain the right people, but not so generous that government workers earn a substantial premium compared to their private ...
A Private Sector Healthcare Solution That We Can Smile About
Earlier this year, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn decided to cut $1.6 billion from the states Medicaid program to help get the states finances under control. Among the benefits slashed was dental coverage for adults. The Land of Lincoln was only the latest cash-strapped state to scrap dental coverage under Medicaid, ...
Economists argue about sequestration’s effect on jobs
As a prominent analyst of the local economy, Stephen S. Fuller of George Mason Universitys Center for Regional Analysis attracted plenty of attention when he estimated that the mandatory budget cuts coming in January could cost more than 2 million jobs nationwide, including nearly 450,000 in the District, Maryland and ...
Is The Fix In Higher Taxes And Less School Accountability
Supporters of Gov. Jerry Browns tax-hike ballot measure, Proposition 30, argue that the added tax revenues are needed so schools can, among other things, turn out high-achieving students. The head of the San Diego teachers union claims that without revenues to pay for programs and personnel, our schools are struggling ...
Another Broken Obama Promise: The Healthcare Cost Monster Emerges
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published an article for its special Election 2012? edition signed by nearly two dozen economists and healthcare experts calling for a systematic approach to health cost control. Several of the co-authors used to be advisers to President Obama, including former budget chief Peter ...
Medical Students Need Second Opinion About Obamacare
The board can’t make any changes to Medicare’s fee-for-service structure or adjust the benefits seniors receive. That leaves two options for bringing Medicare’s costs into balance. IPAB could cut payments to doctors or Congress could raise taxes. Reimbursements for doctors are already low. Doctors receive 20% less from the ...
More taxes won’t fix state debt
The Golden State continues to lead the nation in accumulating public debt, a race where being in first place isn’t the same thing as winning. “California again trumped other states with a $617 billion debt,” reported State Budget Solutions, a nonpartisan organization advocating “fundamental reforms” for state budgets. For the ...
Implementing AB 32 will increase unemployment, household expenses
With the passage of California’s Assembly Bill 32, the Golden State has embarked upon an experiment in energy policy that has no modern parallel. Several recent studies have shown that the consequences to the state could be dire, and that California faces a choice between continuing on its current trajectory ...
