Commentary
Business & Economics
Government ‘too big to fail’ and too big to succeed
These days, one is hard-pressed to read a newspaper or watch the news without encountering the phrase “too big to fail.” The debate over TBTF, as it also is known, completely ignores the one institution that deserves attention when assessing the real risks of TBTF: government. To get a sense ...
California
Boxer, Fiorina mostly MIA on war
SACRAMENTO – As usual, American policy-makers, the media and California’s political candidates avoid the big issues while they make a huge deal out of the small stuff. The latest example is Afghanistan, where Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and coalition commander, got booted from his post by the president Wednesday ...
Business & Economics
Oil Producers’ Liability Should Not Be Unlimited
Everyone loves a villain. And with the Deepwater Horizon disaster at the two-month mark, the love knows no bounds, uniting much of the political-media complex in a sticky goo of opportunism, finger-pointing and phony demands for apologies. That BP–having schmoozed the environmental left for years while compiling a dreadful safety ...
Business & Economics
What an economist learned in Haiti
I recently spent a week in Haiti helping with reconstruction efforts. I volunteered only as someone with two hands and a lot of Gatorade, but my professional background as an economist allowed me to diagnose some of Haiti’s problems. These go much deeper than the earthquake. I registered with the ...
Business & Economics
‘Government involvement’ never leads to lowered prices
After almost a month of repairs, the K.R. Harrington Water Treatment Plant is back in operation. Nashville residents can bathe and wash dishes normally. Now that the crisis has passed, it is useful to reflect on the economic lessons of government pricing and rationing. Let’s start with the basic facts. ...
Business & Economics
How lawsuit reform could jump-start Illinois’ economy
The Illinois economy continues to struggle, with an unemployment rate of 11.5 percent, near the highest in the nation. If lawmakers want to put people back to work, without costing taxpayers another penny for “stimulus,” they can enact desperately needed lawsuit reforms. In the newly released U.S. Tort Liability Index: ...
Business & Economics
Without legal reform, economic growth evades Nevada
State’s poor civil-justice tort climate drives away businesses and entrepreneurs Nevada’s economy continues to struggle. Its unemployment rate is 14 percent, the highest in the nation. If lawmakers want to put people back to work — without costing taxpayers another penny for “stimulus” — they can enact desperately needed lawsuit ...
Business & Economics
It’s not easy being nonunion green
SACRAMENTO – The state’s Democratic legislators have an inordinate hostility to the free marketplace, as evidenced by their endless push for new business regulations and for higher taxes for corporations and wealthy Californians. Yet there is one form of business development that the California Left has embraced with particular gusto ...
Business & Economics
At the crossroads of Silicon Valley, Sacramento
California is pursuing an IT Strategic Plan, the official state blueprint for improving citizen and internal services through technology investments. Though launched with good intentions, the plan could benefit from some revision and more input from Silicon Valley. Historically, government officials have struggled to effectively manage the state’s massive, decentralized ...
Business & Economics
When governments lobby governments
During the current economic downturn, governors across the nation such as Arnold Schwarzenegger of California have been lining up to lobby the federal government for bailout money. For the public, and taxpayers in particular, this activity raises serious but seldom examined questions. If private citizens undertook such activity, there are ...
Government ‘too big to fail’ and too big to succeed
These days, one is hard-pressed to read a newspaper or watch the news without encountering the phrase “too big to fail.” The debate over TBTF, as it also is known, completely ignores the one institution that deserves attention when assessing the real risks of TBTF: government. To get a sense ...
Boxer, Fiorina mostly MIA on war
SACRAMENTO – As usual, American policy-makers, the media and California’s political candidates avoid the big issues while they make a huge deal out of the small stuff. The latest example is Afghanistan, where Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and coalition commander, got booted from his post by the president Wednesday ...
Oil Producers’ Liability Should Not Be Unlimited
Everyone loves a villain. And with the Deepwater Horizon disaster at the two-month mark, the love knows no bounds, uniting much of the political-media complex in a sticky goo of opportunism, finger-pointing and phony demands for apologies. That BP–having schmoozed the environmental left for years while compiling a dreadful safety ...
What an economist learned in Haiti
I recently spent a week in Haiti helping with reconstruction efforts. I volunteered only as someone with two hands and a lot of Gatorade, but my professional background as an economist allowed me to diagnose some of Haiti’s problems. These go much deeper than the earthquake. I registered with the ...
‘Government involvement’ never leads to lowered prices
After almost a month of repairs, the K.R. Harrington Water Treatment Plant is back in operation. Nashville residents can bathe and wash dishes normally. Now that the crisis has passed, it is useful to reflect on the economic lessons of government pricing and rationing. Let’s start with the basic facts. ...
How lawsuit reform could jump-start Illinois’ economy
The Illinois economy continues to struggle, with an unemployment rate of 11.5 percent, near the highest in the nation. If lawmakers want to put people back to work, without costing taxpayers another penny for “stimulus,” they can enact desperately needed lawsuit reforms. In the newly released U.S. Tort Liability Index: ...
Without legal reform, economic growth evades Nevada
State’s poor civil-justice tort climate drives away businesses and entrepreneurs Nevada’s economy continues to struggle. Its unemployment rate is 14 percent, the highest in the nation. If lawmakers want to put people back to work — without costing taxpayers another penny for “stimulus” — they can enact desperately needed lawsuit ...
It’s not easy being nonunion green
SACRAMENTO – The state’s Democratic legislators have an inordinate hostility to the free marketplace, as evidenced by their endless push for new business regulations and for higher taxes for corporations and wealthy Californians. Yet there is one form of business development that the California Left has embraced with particular gusto ...
At the crossroads of Silicon Valley, Sacramento
California is pursuing an IT Strategic Plan, the official state blueprint for improving citizen and internal services through technology investments. Though launched with good intentions, the plan could benefit from some revision and more input from Silicon Valley. Historically, government officials have struggled to effectively manage the state’s massive, decentralized ...
When governments lobby governments
During the current economic downturn, governors across the nation such as Arnold Schwarzenegger of California have been lining up to lobby the federal government for bailout money. For the public, and taxpayers in particular, this activity raises serious but seldom examined questions. If private citizens undertook such activity, there are ...
