Commentary
Business & Economics
California’s recipe for stagnation
As legislators finished their session and scattered to their home districts this week without a realistic budget plan and two months after the deadline for approving a budget, one cannot help but wonder if our elected leaders truly grasp the depths of economic crisis and despair facing Californians. Unemployment in ...
Commentary
That sucking sound is LAUSD doing business as usual
WHEN the Los Angeles Unified School District unveiled its opulent $578 million Robert F. Kennedy High School, the most expensive government-run K-12 school in this nation’s history, it was not just an isolated PR disaster. Rather, it was only the latest evidence that the floundering district is like a vacuum ...
Business & Economics
State budget mess a comedy, or tragedy?
SACRAMENTO – As entertainment goes, the final regular-season episode of the Budget Show in the Capitol was shoddy. The actors – the Assembly members and senators – are B-rate. The speeches, despite their strained attempts to sound Kennedy-esque, were pretentious. Those of us in the audience sometimes rolled our eyes ...
Commentary
CARB Fakes Out California
Vol. 16 No. 32, September 1, 2010 CARB Fakes Out California By K. Lloyd Billingsley, editorial director The University of California at Los Angeles is attempting to dump James Enstrom, a researcher with the UCLA School of Public Health. This action is part of a larger story with consequences for ...
Commentary
Obamacare undermines our right to health care
President Obama has made no secret of his belief that health care should be “a right for every American.” This moral argument for reform was no doubt among the strongest offered by Obamacare’s proponents. Unfortunately, Obamacare doesn’t guarantee a right to health care. Instead, it undermines that right by subverting ...
Commentary
The Truth About ObamaCare
Sally Pipes presents her thoughts on the recently passed health care legislation. The author examines the 2,400 page bill and argues that the plan will leave 23 million Americans uninsured and cost taxpayers $1 trillion over ten years. Watch the video on c-spanvideo.org.
Business & Economics
Pension escape routes being cut
I’ve frequently argued that, as the state faces an unfunded pension liability that’s as high as $500 billion, legislators are not doing anything about a problem that is depleting public services and imposing additional debt and tax burdens on Californians. In fact, the state’s legislators are doing something: They are ...
Commentary
Which is More Obese, San Francisco’s Kids, or Its Government?
Imagine this scene a year or two in our future: An inspector from the San Francisco Department of Public Health spots something shiny behind a restaurant freezer. He pulls out a plastic Iron Man™ action figure, which the manager claims belongs to his son. No dice – they haul him ...
Business & Economics
Scrutiny for lobbyists
Recent scandals, runaway spending and ongoing fiscal crises have all boosted interest in lobbying. Washington, D.C., draws much of the new interest, but states, including Maryland, also deserve scrutiny. According to “State-Level Lobbying and Taxpayers: How Much Do We Really Know?” — our recent report for the Pacific Research Institute ...
California’s recipe for stagnation
As legislators finished their session and scattered to their home districts this week without a realistic budget plan and two months after the deadline for approving a budget, one cannot help but wonder if our elected leaders truly grasp the depths of economic crisis and despair facing Californians. Unemployment in ...
That sucking sound is LAUSD doing business as usual
WHEN the Los Angeles Unified School District unveiled its opulent $578 million Robert F. Kennedy High School, the most expensive government-run K-12 school in this nation’s history, it was not just an isolated PR disaster. Rather, it was only the latest evidence that the floundering district is like a vacuum ...
State budget mess a comedy, or tragedy?
SACRAMENTO – As entertainment goes, the final regular-season episode of the Budget Show in the Capitol was shoddy. The actors – the Assembly members and senators – are B-rate. The speeches, despite their strained attempts to sound Kennedy-esque, were pretentious. Those of us in the audience sometimes rolled our eyes ...
CARB Fakes Out California
Vol. 16 No. 32, September 1, 2010 CARB Fakes Out California By K. Lloyd Billingsley, editorial director The University of California at Los Angeles is attempting to dump James Enstrom, a researcher with the UCLA School of Public Health. This action is part of a larger story with consequences for ...
Obamacare undermines our right to health care
President Obama has made no secret of his belief that health care should be “a right for every American.” This moral argument for reform was no doubt among the strongest offered by Obamacare’s proponents. Unfortunately, Obamacare doesn’t guarantee a right to health care. Instead, it undermines that right by subverting ...
The Truth About ObamaCare
Sally Pipes presents her thoughts on the recently passed health care legislation. The author examines the 2,400 page bill and argues that the plan will leave 23 million Americans uninsured and cost taxpayers $1 trillion over ten years. Watch the video on c-spanvideo.org.
Pension escape routes being cut
I’ve frequently argued that, as the state faces an unfunded pension liability that’s as high as $500 billion, legislators are not doing anything about a problem that is depleting public services and imposing additional debt and tax burdens on Californians. In fact, the state’s legislators are doing something: They are ...
Which is More Obese, San Francisco’s Kids, or Its Government?
Imagine this scene a year or two in our future: An inspector from the San Francisco Department of Public Health spots something shiny behind a restaurant freezer. He pulls out a plastic Iron Man™ action figure, which the manager claims belongs to his son. No dice – they haul him ...
Scrutiny for lobbyists
Recent scandals, runaway spending and ongoing fiscal crises have all boosted interest in lobbying. Washington, D.C., draws much of the new interest, but states, including Maryland, also deserve scrutiny. According to “State-Level Lobbying and Taxpayers: How Much Do We Really Know?” — our recent report for the Pacific Research Institute ...
