Commentary

Commentary

Soda tax proposal should fizzle out

President Obama has promised the American people that full-scale healthcare reform will be enacted by the end of this year. The decidedly less-inspiring task of determining how to pay for his $1.2-trillion reform package has fallen to congressional lawmakers. The Senate Finance Committee is considering dozens of options for generating ...
Business & Economics

California’s Economy: Boxer And Krugman Get It Wrong

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman argued in a May 25th column that California’s economic problems are rooted in a dysfunctional government that finds it “extremely hard to raise taxes, even in emergencies.” On May 28, California’s junior Senator, Barbara Boxer made a similar argument on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Both ...
Commentary

Want Better Teachers? Improve Working Conditions

New research finds that compared to their public school counterparts, private school teachers are much more satisfied with their jobs. Why? Private schools hire based on talent and empower their teachers with decision-making about classroom discipline, curricula, and standards. In contrast, public schools often squander teacher talent, with only 68 ...
Business & Economics

Curing the Healthcare Maladies in the Stimulus Package

As a psychiatrist, I’ve observed that people generally make bad decisions when they’re rushed and in crisis. Politicians, unfortunately, often fail to recognize this aspect of human nature. Clearly, we are in an economic crisis, which makes me immediately fearful of politicians’ proposed cures. In rushing to stimulate the economy—a ...
Business & Economics

The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to the Great Depression and the New Deal

Everything they say about the Great Depression and the New Deal is wrong. No economic myth these days is more pernicious than the myth that the free market caused the Great Depression and the New Deal got us out of it. That, as economist Robert P. Murphy points out is ...
Business & Economics

Brown does a better job than Obama at the 65th anniversary of D-Day

In case anyone thinks that I only ever post negative comments about Gordon Brown (not so, as you can see HERE ), I do agree with today’s positive assessment of his D-Day performance by Clark Judge, a former Reagan speechwriter: ‘Today, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was by far the ...
Commentary

Canadian patients face long waits for low-tech healthcare

Washington Examiner (Washington, DC), June 5, 2009 San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, CA), June 5, 2009 KEY DATA: The average patient waiting period between referral and actual treatment for the 12 most frequently needed specialties was nearly 4½ months in 2008, double the average from 15 years ago. KEY DATA: ...
Commentary

10 Questions State Legislators Should Ask About Higher Education

ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) is a small group of legislators, which more than 30 years ago, joined together with the common goal of creating a nonpartisan association for conservative state lawmakers with similar governmental beliefs. The core of their belief system was that “government closest to the people was ...
Business & Economics

Why No Health Tax Reform? A Conservative’s Inside View

Mr. Wulsin has done a great job of explaining the pernicious effects of the current exclusion of employer-sponsored benefits from taxable income (which I also addressed in an earlier contribution). Mr. Wulsin and I are hardly the only ones who have noted this. Last June, MIT economist Jonathan Gruber told ...
Business & Economics

Make California an Enterprise Zone

Jack Kemp, who passed away last month at 73, is associated with football, New York state, and Washington DC. He was actually a native Californian and right now the Golden State could use some of his ideas. The former AFL quarterback proved that the Washington establishment makes a poor teammate ...
Commentary

Soda tax proposal should fizzle out

President Obama has promised the American people that full-scale healthcare reform will be enacted by the end of this year. The decidedly less-inspiring task of determining how to pay for his $1.2-trillion reform package has fallen to congressional lawmakers. The Senate Finance Committee is considering dozens of options for generating ...
Business & Economics

California’s Economy: Boxer And Krugman Get It Wrong

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman argued in a May 25th column that California’s economic problems are rooted in a dysfunctional government that finds it “extremely hard to raise taxes, even in emergencies.” On May 28, California’s junior Senator, Barbara Boxer made a similar argument on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Both ...
Commentary

Want Better Teachers? Improve Working Conditions

New research finds that compared to their public school counterparts, private school teachers are much more satisfied with their jobs. Why? Private schools hire based on talent and empower their teachers with decision-making about classroom discipline, curricula, and standards. In contrast, public schools often squander teacher talent, with only 68 ...
Business & Economics

Curing the Healthcare Maladies in the Stimulus Package

As a psychiatrist, I’ve observed that people generally make bad decisions when they’re rushed and in crisis. Politicians, unfortunately, often fail to recognize this aspect of human nature. Clearly, we are in an economic crisis, which makes me immediately fearful of politicians’ proposed cures. In rushing to stimulate the economy—a ...
Business & Economics

The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to the Great Depression and the New Deal

Everything they say about the Great Depression and the New Deal is wrong. No economic myth these days is more pernicious than the myth that the free market caused the Great Depression and the New Deal got us out of it. That, as economist Robert P. Murphy points out is ...
Business & Economics

Brown does a better job than Obama at the 65th anniversary of D-Day

In case anyone thinks that I only ever post negative comments about Gordon Brown (not so, as you can see HERE ), I do agree with today’s positive assessment of his D-Day performance by Clark Judge, a former Reagan speechwriter: ‘Today, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was by far the ...
Commentary

Canadian patients face long waits for low-tech healthcare

Washington Examiner (Washington, DC), June 5, 2009 San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, CA), June 5, 2009 KEY DATA: The average patient waiting period between referral and actual treatment for the 12 most frequently needed specialties was nearly 4½ months in 2008, double the average from 15 years ago. KEY DATA: ...
Commentary

10 Questions State Legislators Should Ask About Higher Education

ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) is a small group of legislators, which more than 30 years ago, joined together with the common goal of creating a nonpartisan association for conservative state lawmakers with similar governmental beliefs. The core of their belief system was that “government closest to the people was ...
Business & Economics

Why No Health Tax Reform? A Conservative’s Inside View

Mr. Wulsin has done a great job of explaining the pernicious effects of the current exclusion of employer-sponsored benefits from taxable income (which I also addressed in an earlier contribution). Mr. Wulsin and I are hardly the only ones who have noted this. Last June, MIT economist Jonathan Gruber told ...
Business & Economics

Make California an Enterprise Zone

Jack Kemp, who passed away last month at 73, is associated with football, New York state, and Washington DC. He was actually a native Californian and right now the Golden State could use some of his ideas. The former AFL quarterback proved that the Washington establishment makes a poor teammate ...
Scroll to Top