Commentary
Business & Economics
Growth is the only solution to state’s crisis
Most of the proposed solutions for California’s budget problems – spending cuts, tax increases, infrastructure spending – attempt to patch a Band-Aid on a festering wound but do not address the underlying causes of the infection – an economy weakened by improper nutrition and the wrong medications. We cannot cut, ...
Commentary
Medicaid’s Poverty Trap: Learning the Right Lesson
The Annals of Internal Medicine has an original article demonstrating that patients who had interrupted access to Medicaid in California (Medi-Cal) were more likely to be hospitalized than those who were constantly enrolled during a five year period. The New York Times concludes that the culprit is California’s requirement that ...
Commentary
Why Water Markets Should be Part of the “Vision” for the Delta, and All of California
SACRAMENTO – Before the end of 2008, the Delta Vision Committee will send Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger a Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), “one of the most ambitious infrastructure and habitat restoration projects ever proposed in America,” according to news reports, to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a prime source of drinking ...
Business & Economics
Inadequate labeling or human error?
Re: Nov. 28 commentary “Court takes up pre-emption doctrine.” It’s hard to see how “inadequate labeling,” not human error, resulted in the amputation of Diana Levine’s arm, as Thomas O. McGarity claims. The FDA-approved label on the anti-nausea drug Phenergan contained prominent warnings: “extreme care should be exercised to avoid ...
Commentary
Six Fixes For Healthcare Costs
The financial crisis will most likely leave Congress unable to pursue the wholesale healthcare reforms that many desire. Fortunately, there are several ways to lower healthcare costs and improve care without massive government outlays. Here are six fixes that lawmakers should consider: Build on the success of laser eye surgery ...
Business & Economics
Hayek Tells Bill Buckley That Even Keynes Was Afraid of the Keynesians
Last month Bob Roddis caused a stir when he made available the audio recording of Hayek’s 1975 “Meet the Press” appearance. Well Roddis has done it again. He has provided me with this recording (mp3) of Hayek on Bill Buckley’s Firing Line. Buckley asks Hayek about the popularity of Keynesianism, ...
California
Families of 80% of Uninsured California Kids Reject State Coverage
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has published its annual update on health insurance in the Golden State. I’m a big consumer of the Center’s research. It conducts the outstanding California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), which was a source for much of my criticism of last year’s Schwarzenegger-Nuñez Health ...
Commentary
Politics & Health Care in Illinois: “Even Crooks are Appalled”
I feel a little lazy going after such low-hanging blog-fruit as Gov. Blagojevich, but as long as he refuses to give up command of the good ship Illinois, I suppose he’s fair game. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal ran a guest column by Chicagoan and NPR radio-man, Scott Simon, noting that ...
Business & Economics
Tort reform can stop defensive medicine
David W. Oliker was absolutely right to identify tort reform as key to combating skyrocketing health care costs (Nov. 30 essay, “Quality, affordability, accessibility are all key”). Defensive medicine adds significantly to America’s health care bill. To protect themselves against costly and often frivolous medical-malpractice lawsuits, doctors and hospitals order ...
Agriculture
Synthetic biology is a key to energy independence
Barack Obama recently pledged to establish a $150 billion “Apollo project” for energy independence. A new field known as synthetic biology presents one of the most promising opportunities to achieve his goal, but influential interest groups within his own party are fighting to kill this technology in its cradle. Just ...
Growth is the only solution to state’s crisis
Most of the proposed solutions for California’s budget problems – spending cuts, tax increases, infrastructure spending – attempt to patch a Band-Aid on a festering wound but do not address the underlying causes of the infection – an economy weakened by improper nutrition and the wrong medications. We cannot cut, ...
Medicaid’s Poverty Trap: Learning the Right Lesson
The Annals of Internal Medicine has an original article demonstrating that patients who had interrupted access to Medicaid in California (Medi-Cal) were more likely to be hospitalized than those who were constantly enrolled during a five year period. The New York Times concludes that the culprit is California’s requirement that ...
Why Water Markets Should be Part of the “Vision” for the Delta, and All of California
SACRAMENTO – Before the end of 2008, the Delta Vision Committee will send Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger a Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), “one of the most ambitious infrastructure and habitat restoration projects ever proposed in America,” according to news reports, to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a prime source of drinking ...
Inadequate labeling or human error?
Re: Nov. 28 commentary “Court takes up pre-emption doctrine.” It’s hard to see how “inadequate labeling,” not human error, resulted in the amputation of Diana Levine’s arm, as Thomas O. McGarity claims. The FDA-approved label on the anti-nausea drug Phenergan contained prominent warnings: “extreme care should be exercised to avoid ...
Six Fixes For Healthcare Costs
The financial crisis will most likely leave Congress unable to pursue the wholesale healthcare reforms that many desire. Fortunately, there are several ways to lower healthcare costs and improve care without massive government outlays. Here are six fixes that lawmakers should consider: Build on the success of laser eye surgery ...
Hayek Tells Bill Buckley That Even Keynes Was Afraid of the Keynesians
Last month Bob Roddis caused a stir when he made available the audio recording of Hayek’s 1975 “Meet the Press” appearance. Well Roddis has done it again. He has provided me with this recording (mp3) of Hayek on Bill Buckley’s Firing Line. Buckley asks Hayek about the popularity of Keynesianism, ...
Families of 80% of Uninsured California Kids Reject State Coverage
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has published its annual update on health insurance in the Golden State. I’m a big consumer of the Center’s research. It conducts the outstanding California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), which was a source for much of my criticism of last year’s Schwarzenegger-Nuñez Health ...
Politics & Health Care in Illinois: “Even Crooks are Appalled”
I feel a little lazy going after such low-hanging blog-fruit as Gov. Blagojevich, but as long as he refuses to give up command of the good ship Illinois, I suppose he’s fair game. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal ran a guest column by Chicagoan and NPR radio-man, Scott Simon, noting that ...
Tort reform can stop defensive medicine
David W. Oliker was absolutely right to identify tort reform as key to combating skyrocketing health care costs (Nov. 30 essay, “Quality, affordability, accessibility are all key”). Defensive medicine adds significantly to America’s health care bill. To protect themselves against costly and often frivolous medical-malpractice lawsuits, doctors and hospitals order ...
Synthetic biology is a key to energy independence
Barack Obama recently pledged to establish a $150 billion “Apollo project” for energy independence. A new field known as synthetic biology presents one of the most promising opportunities to achieve his goal, but influential interest groups within his own party are fighting to kill this technology in its cradle. Just ...
