Commentary
Business & Economics
Get in line, and take a number
SACRAMENTO – I’ve experienced several months where, for one reason or another, I’ve been stuck wrestling with various bureaucracies, of the governmental and corporate variety. It’s a frustrating, time-consuming and, ultimately, dehumanizing process. You’re always a number. Most everyone at the other end of those darned customer “service” lines is ...
Commentary
Big mistakes by ‘big ideas’ critic
Apostasy is always news if the apostates are well-known persons on the right, and the case of noted New York University education historian Diane Ravitch is no exception. Mrs. Ravitch, who used to support bold reforms such as school choice, is making headlines condemning those “big ideas” as bad policy. ...
Climate Change
Environment too important to be left to the government
Earth Day turns 40 today, a good time to review some realities we didn’t know on the first Earth Day in 1970, when economic prosperity was assumed to be the enemy of the environment. That turns out to be wrong. The Index of Leading Environmental Indicators has been monitoring the ...
Commentary
Will Business-Toxic Environment Poison Silicon Valley Innovation?
The world is full of pseudo-Silicon Valleys — private and public attempts to re-create California’s high-tech mecca. But they have achieved only pale copies of an original that remains the undisputed cradle of innovation. Historic leaders like Hewlett-Packard and Intel have stayed there, and more recent giants like Google, Facebook ...
Business & Economics
Earth Day Agenda: Cap and Trade Plan for AB 32
California environmental officials have decided against implementing the “cool car” regulations they finalized last June. The move could be a first step toward a better environmental policy and an improved economy. Last June the California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted a rule forcing car companies to install metallic reflective windows, ...
Business & Economics
New study cites California’s high taxes and spending
California has one of the nation’s highest levels of government spending and taxes, and it adversely affects the state’s economic competitiveness, according to a new report by the conservative, San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute. Titled “Taxifornia,” the study by Robert P. Murphy and Jason Clemens found that state and local ...
Commentary
Poison pill could be among drug imports
In recent testimony before Congress, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg reiterated the agency’s opposition to the importation of prescription drugs from foreign shores. “There are genuine safety concerns,” she explained. For years, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have supported legislation to legalize foreign drug importation. Yet ...
Business & Economics
Grading California’s Tax System
Every April California workers square up with the federal and state governments. This April deadline is a good time to grade the Golden State on its tax policy, which not only takes a lot of money from workers but manages to do so in a relatively counterproductive way. On the ...
California
HOW OBAMA-ED HURTS CALIFORNIA
California’s rigorous academic content standards are one of the few bright spots on the state’s otherwise dismal education landscape. Now, however, President Obama’s drive to nationalize education could doom the standards. Created in the late 1990s, California’s math and English standards give guidance to educators regarding the grade-level knowledge and ...
Commentary
First ObamaCare, now ObamaEd
The Daily Caller, April 12, 2010 President Obama has extended federal control over health care and is now trying to centralize education policy by imposing Washington’s dictates on states and local jurisdictions. Though aimed at improvement, the president’s agenda will weaken strong state standards, set in motion a domino effect ...
Get in line, and take a number
SACRAMENTO – I’ve experienced several months where, for one reason or another, I’ve been stuck wrestling with various bureaucracies, of the governmental and corporate variety. It’s a frustrating, time-consuming and, ultimately, dehumanizing process. You’re always a number. Most everyone at the other end of those darned customer “service” lines is ...
Big mistakes by ‘big ideas’ critic
Apostasy is always news if the apostates are well-known persons on the right, and the case of noted New York University education historian Diane Ravitch is no exception. Mrs. Ravitch, who used to support bold reforms such as school choice, is making headlines condemning those “big ideas” as bad policy. ...
Environment too important to be left to the government
Earth Day turns 40 today, a good time to review some realities we didn’t know on the first Earth Day in 1970, when economic prosperity was assumed to be the enemy of the environment. That turns out to be wrong. The Index of Leading Environmental Indicators has been monitoring the ...
Will Business-Toxic Environment Poison Silicon Valley Innovation?
The world is full of pseudo-Silicon Valleys — private and public attempts to re-create California’s high-tech mecca. But they have achieved only pale copies of an original that remains the undisputed cradle of innovation. Historic leaders like Hewlett-Packard and Intel have stayed there, and more recent giants like Google, Facebook ...
Earth Day Agenda: Cap and Trade Plan for AB 32
California environmental officials have decided against implementing the “cool car” regulations they finalized last June. The move could be a first step toward a better environmental policy and an improved economy. Last June the California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted a rule forcing car companies to install metallic reflective windows, ...
New study cites California’s high taxes and spending
California has one of the nation’s highest levels of government spending and taxes, and it adversely affects the state’s economic competitiveness, according to a new report by the conservative, San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute. Titled “Taxifornia,” the study by Robert P. Murphy and Jason Clemens found that state and local ...
Poison pill could be among drug imports
In recent testimony before Congress, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg reiterated the agency’s opposition to the importation of prescription drugs from foreign shores. “There are genuine safety concerns,” she explained. For years, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have supported legislation to legalize foreign drug importation. Yet ...
Grading California’s Tax System
Every April California workers square up with the federal and state governments. This April deadline is a good time to grade the Golden State on its tax policy, which not only takes a lot of money from workers but manages to do so in a relatively counterproductive way. On the ...
HOW OBAMA-ED HURTS CALIFORNIA
California’s rigorous academic content standards are one of the few bright spots on the state’s otherwise dismal education landscape. Now, however, President Obama’s drive to nationalize education could doom the standards. Created in the late 1990s, California’s math and English standards give guidance to educators regarding the grade-level knowledge and ...
First ObamaCare, now ObamaEd
The Daily Caller, April 12, 2010 President Obama has extended federal control over health care and is now trying to centralize education policy by imposing Washington’s dictates on states and local jurisdictions. Though aimed at improvement, the president’s agenda will weaken strong state standards, set in motion a domino effect ...
