Commentary
Business & Economics
Lobbying needs cleansing effect of transparency
Recent scandals, runaway spending and ongoing fiscal crises have all heightened the public’s interest in lobbying. Most of the new interest, however, is focused on Washington, D.C. Not much has trickled down to the states that need it, such as Alabama. Overall, Alabama ranked a dismal 43rd among the states ...
Commentary
Uncle Sam, MD?
(April 10) — Now that health care reform is the law of the land, state governments will have to start looking for serious ways to control health costs. And one tempting target will be prescription drugs, which account for an increasing share of the nation’s health tab. But one cost-cutting ...
Business & Economics
Pension crater much deeper
SACRAMENTO – A new report from Stanford University’s well-respected economic policy institute has revealed that those of us who have been warning about California’s severely underfunded public employee retirement systems have, quite frankly, been wrong. We have been understating the scope of the problem. Pension critics, myself included, have been ...
Commentary
California Lawmakers Should Read the Writing on the Wall
Black, Hispanic, and low-income Florida fourth graders now outperform all California fourth graders in reading, according to National Assessment of Educational Progress results released last month by the U.S. Department of Education. Also known as the Nation’s Report Card, experts consider NAEP fourth-grade reading a leading predictor of success since ...
Commentary
Life’s certainties: Death and health reform’s taxes
The Daily Caller, April 6, 2010 President Obama’s health care reform package was just a week old when it started to cost taxpayers more money. By signing the reconciliation bill last Tuesday—the last step in his legislative two-step—the president raised the price of the original health care reform measure by ...
Business & Economics
What do we get in return for our taxes?
As Tax Day approaches, Americans rummage for misplaced receipts and dread any letters from the Internal Revenue Service. Most Americans remain unaware that for almost a century America got along just fine with no federal income tax at all. To help fund the Civil War, the federal government introduced its ...
Commentary
Where’s superman for the middle class?
The documentary “Waiting for Superman” by Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim, who previously directed Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” was a big hit at the recent Sundance Film Festival. Voted best U.S. documentary by Sundance moviegoers, Guggenheim’s film exposes the immense flaws in America’s public school system and follows the lives ...
Business & Economics
Lobbyists’ disclosure data not easily examined, accessed in Arizona
As Arizona struggles with deficits and a failing economy, it is critical to understand the behind-the-scenes lobbying that fuels the state’s political decision-making. On this issue, Arizona’s record is decidedly mixed. According to the Pacific Research Institute’s “State-Level Lobbying and Taxpayers,” a study that examines lobbying disclosure laws and accessibility ...
Business & Economics
Jerry Brown: older, not wiser
Now that California Attorney General Jerry Brown is an official candidate for governor, we’re getting to relive some California political history as pundits and reporters think back to Brown’s first stint as governor (1975-83) along with some of the entertaining facets of his long and bizarre political career. The basic ...
Commentary
New Study: High-Standards States Far Exceed National Standards
Boston/San Francisco — A new study by two nationally known curricular experts evaluates and critiques the proposed draft national standards in math and English. The new study, Fair to Middling: A National Standards Progress Report , is the second in-depth analysis of the standards, and is jointly published by the ...
Lobbying needs cleansing effect of transparency
Recent scandals, runaway spending and ongoing fiscal crises have all heightened the public’s interest in lobbying. Most of the new interest, however, is focused on Washington, D.C. Not much has trickled down to the states that need it, such as Alabama. Overall, Alabama ranked a dismal 43rd among the states ...
Uncle Sam, MD?
(April 10) — Now that health care reform is the law of the land, state governments will have to start looking for serious ways to control health costs. And one tempting target will be prescription drugs, which account for an increasing share of the nation’s health tab. But one cost-cutting ...
Pension crater much deeper
SACRAMENTO – A new report from Stanford University’s well-respected economic policy institute has revealed that those of us who have been warning about California’s severely underfunded public employee retirement systems have, quite frankly, been wrong. We have been understating the scope of the problem. Pension critics, myself included, have been ...
California Lawmakers Should Read the Writing on the Wall
Black, Hispanic, and low-income Florida fourth graders now outperform all California fourth graders in reading, according to National Assessment of Educational Progress results released last month by the U.S. Department of Education. Also known as the Nation’s Report Card, experts consider NAEP fourth-grade reading a leading predictor of success since ...
Life’s certainties: Death and health reform’s taxes
The Daily Caller, April 6, 2010 President Obama’s health care reform package was just a week old when it started to cost taxpayers more money. By signing the reconciliation bill last Tuesday—the last step in his legislative two-step—the president raised the price of the original health care reform measure by ...
What do we get in return for our taxes?
As Tax Day approaches, Americans rummage for misplaced receipts and dread any letters from the Internal Revenue Service. Most Americans remain unaware that for almost a century America got along just fine with no federal income tax at all. To help fund the Civil War, the federal government introduced its ...
Where’s superman for the middle class?
The documentary “Waiting for Superman” by Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim, who previously directed Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” was a big hit at the recent Sundance Film Festival. Voted best U.S. documentary by Sundance moviegoers, Guggenheim’s film exposes the immense flaws in America’s public school system and follows the lives ...
Lobbyists’ disclosure data not easily examined, accessed in Arizona
As Arizona struggles with deficits and a failing economy, it is critical to understand the behind-the-scenes lobbying that fuels the state’s political decision-making. On this issue, Arizona’s record is decidedly mixed. According to the Pacific Research Institute’s “State-Level Lobbying and Taxpayers,” a study that examines lobbying disclosure laws and accessibility ...
Jerry Brown: older, not wiser
Now that California Attorney General Jerry Brown is an official candidate for governor, we’re getting to relive some California political history as pundits and reporters think back to Brown’s first stint as governor (1975-83) along with some of the entertaining facets of his long and bizarre political career. The basic ...
New Study: High-Standards States Far Exceed National Standards
Boston/San Francisco — A new study by two nationally known curricular experts evaluates and critiques the proposed draft national standards in math and English. The new study, Fair to Middling: A National Standards Progress Report , is the second in-depth analysis of the standards, and is jointly published by the ...
