Commentary
Business & Economics
Uncertainty about government creates sluggishness
The economy shed 85,000 jobs in December, to the surprise of most analysts. Meanwhile, the Obama administration continues to push for health care reform and other measures that will require higher taxes. But such activism is largely to blame for the prolonged economic slump. Some politicians speak of creating jobs ...
Commentary
Prepare foster kids for future
Letters to the Editor Prepare foster kids for future Re “Shame on us for putting foster kids last” (Viewpoint, Feb. 12): Ed Howard makes a good point that California has more consideration for pet-related issues than the fate of foster children. Although pending legislation could extend foster care to age ...
Business & Economics
Obama Takes Deficits To New Frontier
In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said that “families across the country are tightening their belts and making tough decisions,” so the “federal government should do the same.” The following week, the president presented his new budget, which contains $1.267 trillion in new deficit spending. So ...
Business & Economics
Cut taxes to boost employment
Californias unemployment rate, according to the most recent figures, is 12.4 percent, fifth highest in the nation behind only such economic basket cases as Michigan and South Carolina. Californias second-largest city, San Diego, is known as Americas Finest City but hasnt been immune to unemployment problems. San Diegos unemployment rate ...
Business & Economics
Declining unions, increasing stranglehold
The new figures on union membership are out from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. They reveal a decidedly non-union American workforce, and a union movement in continuous decline. That has been known for some time, but the figures reveal a new milestone in unions clout with government. Only 7.2% ...
Commentary
Tax-credit scholarships could ease school funding burden
Gov. Chris Christie has proposed freezing $475 million in education spending to help shrink New Jersey’s $2.2 billion budget deficit, focusing on school districts with budget surpluses. (“Deep budget cuts carry economic risk for N.J.,” Feb. 14.) This plan raises concerns about punishing fiscally responsible school districts. It also raises ...
Commentary
Congress Should Not Pre-Empt State Antitrust Regulation of Health Insurance
Claiming that health insurers are uniquely exempt from antitrust laws is misleading in more than one way. In fact, federal law ensures that state antitrust and other consumer-protection laws dominate the field of insurance regulation. And this goes for all lines of insurance, not just health insurance. The law that ...
Commentary
Let’s Make a Deal
Another possibility, more congenial to conservatives, would be a coverage expansion that follows an explicitly free-market blueprint, but thats funded at a rate that makes Democrats feel comfortable. Writing in The Weekly Standard, for instance, Jeffrey H. Anderson has proposed covering an extra 10 million Americans with a mixture of ...
Business & Economics
Insurance czar’s cheap political ploy
One of the best ways to evaluate the merits of any politicians’ proposed new rule or power grab is to first consider whether it’s something you would support if your political foes were in power. Unfortunately, Republican Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner apparently hasn’t employed that (or any other) common-sense test ...
Commentary
Republicans Must ‘Medal’ at Health Care Summit
Jeffrey Anderson, director of the Benjamin Rush Society, offers a template for a Republican health care proposal in the latest edition of The Weekly Standard. He calls his suggestion The Small Bill and indeed it is a one-page product (admittedly in fairly small type) of seven points aimed at ...
Uncertainty about government creates sluggishness
The economy shed 85,000 jobs in December, to the surprise of most analysts. Meanwhile, the Obama administration continues to push for health care reform and other measures that will require higher taxes. But such activism is largely to blame for the prolonged economic slump. Some politicians speak of creating jobs ...
Prepare foster kids for future
Letters to the Editor Prepare foster kids for future Re “Shame on us for putting foster kids last” (Viewpoint, Feb. 12): Ed Howard makes a good point that California has more consideration for pet-related issues than the fate of foster children. Although pending legislation could extend foster care to age ...
Obama Takes Deficits To New Frontier
In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said that “families across the country are tightening their belts and making tough decisions,” so the “federal government should do the same.” The following week, the president presented his new budget, which contains $1.267 trillion in new deficit spending. So ...
Cut taxes to boost employment
Californias unemployment rate, according to the most recent figures, is 12.4 percent, fifth highest in the nation behind only such economic basket cases as Michigan and South Carolina. Californias second-largest city, San Diego, is known as Americas Finest City but hasnt been immune to unemployment problems. San Diegos unemployment rate ...
Declining unions, increasing stranglehold
The new figures on union membership are out from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. They reveal a decidedly non-union American workforce, and a union movement in continuous decline. That has been known for some time, but the figures reveal a new milestone in unions clout with government. Only 7.2% ...
Tax-credit scholarships could ease school funding burden
Gov. Chris Christie has proposed freezing $475 million in education spending to help shrink New Jersey’s $2.2 billion budget deficit, focusing on school districts with budget surpluses. (“Deep budget cuts carry economic risk for N.J.,” Feb. 14.) This plan raises concerns about punishing fiscally responsible school districts. It also raises ...
Congress Should Not Pre-Empt State Antitrust Regulation of Health Insurance
Claiming that health insurers are uniquely exempt from antitrust laws is misleading in more than one way. In fact, federal law ensures that state antitrust and other consumer-protection laws dominate the field of insurance regulation. And this goes for all lines of insurance, not just health insurance. The law that ...
Let’s Make a Deal
Another possibility, more congenial to conservatives, would be a coverage expansion that follows an explicitly free-market blueprint, but thats funded at a rate that makes Democrats feel comfortable. Writing in The Weekly Standard, for instance, Jeffrey H. Anderson has proposed covering an extra 10 million Americans with a mixture of ...
Insurance czar’s cheap political ploy
One of the best ways to evaluate the merits of any politicians’ proposed new rule or power grab is to first consider whether it’s something you would support if your political foes were in power. Unfortunately, Republican Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner apparently hasn’t employed that (or any other) common-sense test ...
Republicans Must ‘Medal’ at Health Care Summit
Jeffrey Anderson, director of the Benjamin Rush Society, offers a template for a Republican health care proposal in the latest edition of The Weekly Standard. He calls his suggestion The Small Bill and indeed it is a one-page product (admittedly in fairly small type) of seven points aimed at ...
