Commentary
Commentary
Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile
San Francisco—Many policies aiming to “green” the American car culture may do just the opposite, according to a new study from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based free market think tank. Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile, by Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., PRI ...
Commentary
A crummy Canadian import
A federal judge recently ruled President Obama’s health care law unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court no doubt will have to settle the matter, but several of the reform package’s worst offenses have taken root already. A new “medicine cabinet tax” prevents 40 million Americans from using their Health Savings Accounts ...
Commentary
Repealing Obamacare: State Governors Respond to Judge Vinson’s Ruling
Soon after the new Congress convened last month, one of the first actions by the House of Representatives was a vote to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, (un)popularly known as Obamacare. The repeal action passed with a significant majority in the House and came to a vote ...
Commentary
Responsible Resistance to Obamacare: Has Mitch Daniels Shown the Way?
My friend Tevi Troy cheers Daniels’s approach, noting that if the president had considered bipartisan reform he might have avoided the hostile backlash that Obamacare has created. But he didn’t. Surely it can’t be Governor Daniels’s responsibility to show the president how to find the way to real health-care reform, ...
Business & Economics
Union rally exposes Republicans’ weak links
After Gov. Jerry Brown’s State of the State address pushing for the Legislature to place a series of tax-extension measures on the ballot, Republicans countered by emphasizing their continuing opposition to higher taxes. For instance, Assemblyman Brian Nestande of Palm Desert, the Assembly minority leader’s top lieutenant, said, “I stand ...
Commentary
Enabling The Next Biomedical Revolution
In his State of the Union address President Obama singled out biomedical innovation as a key driver of America’s future prosperity. This sector has indeed generated tens of thousands of jobs, attracted billions in investment and created advanced medical treatments for Americans. A promising new area of biomedicine, called biologics, ...
Business & Economics
Balancing California’s unwieldy budget
Gov. Jerry Brown’s State of the State speech Monday night was pretty much what anyone should have expected, as the new governor championed his “tough choices” budget and pushed hard for its centerpiece: a public vote on controversial tax extensions. Since his inauguration, Brown has made it clear that he ...
Commentary
Red Tape and Special Interets Short Circuit Education Innovation
Californias budget meltdown is an opportunity, not to raise taxes, but to explore innovative ways to deliver services more efficiently and effectively. With the revolution in online technology, education is a perfect area to re-think obsolete delivery systems. However, according to a new book by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), ...
Business & Economics
Bankruptcy one of state’s few options
SACRAMENTO – Congressional Republicans “should be ashamed of themselves for even suggesting” bankruptcy as an option for California and other debt-plagued states, according to Sacramento Bee Capitol columnist Dan Walters. Unlike municipalities, states aren’t allowed to go bankrupt, but some conservatives have talked openly about changing the law. Walters, reflecting ...
Commentary
Crowdsourcing, Price Formation, and Health IT
Last year, a non-profit called Costs of Care sponsored a national essay contest, inviting people to submit anecdotes “illustrating the importance of cost awareness in medicine.” One of the winning entries concerned a billing error for inserting an IUD. Before the procedure, the patient learned (via “a few keystrokes”) that ...
Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile
San Francisco—Many policies aiming to “green” the American car culture may do just the opposite, according to a new study from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based free market think tank. Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile, by Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., PRI ...
A crummy Canadian import
A federal judge recently ruled President Obama’s health care law unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court no doubt will have to settle the matter, but several of the reform package’s worst offenses have taken root already. A new “medicine cabinet tax” prevents 40 million Americans from using their Health Savings Accounts ...
Repealing Obamacare: State Governors Respond to Judge Vinson’s Ruling
Soon after the new Congress convened last month, one of the first actions by the House of Representatives was a vote to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, (un)popularly known as Obamacare. The repeal action passed with a significant majority in the House and came to a vote ...
Responsible Resistance to Obamacare: Has Mitch Daniels Shown the Way?
My friend Tevi Troy cheers Daniels’s approach, noting that if the president had considered bipartisan reform he might have avoided the hostile backlash that Obamacare has created. But he didn’t. Surely it can’t be Governor Daniels’s responsibility to show the president how to find the way to real health-care reform, ...
Union rally exposes Republicans’ weak links
After Gov. Jerry Brown’s State of the State address pushing for the Legislature to place a series of tax-extension measures on the ballot, Republicans countered by emphasizing their continuing opposition to higher taxes. For instance, Assemblyman Brian Nestande of Palm Desert, the Assembly minority leader’s top lieutenant, said, “I stand ...
Enabling The Next Biomedical Revolution
In his State of the Union address President Obama singled out biomedical innovation as a key driver of America’s future prosperity. This sector has indeed generated tens of thousands of jobs, attracted billions in investment and created advanced medical treatments for Americans. A promising new area of biomedicine, called biologics, ...
Balancing California’s unwieldy budget
Gov. Jerry Brown’s State of the State speech Monday night was pretty much what anyone should have expected, as the new governor championed his “tough choices” budget and pushed hard for its centerpiece: a public vote on controversial tax extensions. Since his inauguration, Brown has made it clear that he ...
Red Tape and Special Interets Short Circuit Education Innovation
Californias budget meltdown is an opportunity, not to raise taxes, but to explore innovative ways to deliver services more efficiently and effectively. With the revolution in online technology, education is a perfect area to re-think obsolete delivery systems. However, according to a new book by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), ...
Bankruptcy one of state’s few options
SACRAMENTO – Congressional Republicans “should be ashamed of themselves for even suggesting” bankruptcy as an option for California and other debt-plagued states, according to Sacramento Bee Capitol columnist Dan Walters. Unlike municipalities, states aren’t allowed to go bankrupt, but some conservatives have talked openly about changing the law. Walters, reflecting ...
Crowdsourcing, Price Formation, and Health IT
Last year, a non-profit called Costs of Care sponsored a national essay contest, inviting people to submit anecdotes “illustrating the importance of cost awareness in medicine.” One of the winning entries concerned a billing error for inserting an IUD. Before the procedure, the patient learned (via “a few keystrokes”) that ...
