Commentary
Commentary
Measure establishes rights
On November 4, Arizonans have the opportunity to make a key decision about their rights. Proposition 101, the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, secures your right to spend your money on the health care of your choice. It comes as no surprise that some people, notably government types, ...
Business & Economics
Where have Silicon Valley’s Republicans gone?
Calling venture capitalist Tim Draper an ardent Republican is something of an understatement. In 1999, he was enough of a fan of then-candidate George W. Bush that he chaired three fundraisers over a year before the actual election. Salon once dubbed him “George W.’s point man in Silicon Valley.” The ...
Commentary
Newsflash! Women Have Different Health Costs Than Men!
Surely, Robert Pear’s article in today’s New York Times, “Women buying health policies pay a penalty”, falls under the category of “old news”. (So old, indeed, that my former colleague Diana Ernst addressed it last year.) Calling it a “penalty”, rather than an actuarially fair premium, is also an old ...
Business & Economics
Paulson’s Plan Making Things Worse
U.S. financial markets continue to implode, yet government officials assure the American people that the problem is under control. More economists, however, are starting to realize that the government’s constantly evolving rescue plan is contributing to the instability. When the House of Representatives failed to pass the original request for ...
Business & Economics
To dig out of the hole, N.Y. must expand economic freedom
The economic misery caused by the nation’s financial meltdown has hit New York especially hard. Since September 2007, the city’s financial sector has lost 13,400 jobs, according to the state Labor Department. An additional 65,000 financial jobs will be gone in New York and its suburbs by mid-2010, says BusinessWeek. ...
Commentary
Bay State Health Mandates Threaten Expanded Insurance Coverage
In its first year, the Bay State’s subsidized insurance plan — Commonwealth Care — was supposed to cost $472 million. The bill came in at $630 million. The $158 million overrun hasn’t phased state lawmakers, however. If anything, they seem hellbent on making the plan even more expensive. They’re interested ...
California
California’s High-Risk Pool Is Not Working
California’s high-risk pool for medically uninsured residents, MRMIP, is in trouble – poorly funded and lots of eligible folks are on the waiting list to enrol – according to the Los Angeles Times. The article notes that other states, with more successful progams, assess levies on health plans to fund ...
Commentary
Long Gone: Why California should eliminate the post of Secretary of Education
SACRAMENTO – David Long, California’s Secretary of Education, resigned on August 10, the fourth such Secretary to resign in the past five years. California should take this opportunity to eliminate this position, which Mr. Long’s brief 18-month tenure confirms to be redundant. “I’d be less than honest if I didn’t ...
Business & Economics
Product-Liability Law: Is “Pre-emption” the Right Question?
The media are (justifiably) interested in the Bush administration’s (or, if you prefer, the “Bush regime’s”) rushing a bunch of new rules into the Code of Federal Regulations that would “pre-empt” states’ product-liability laws. According to the Wall Street Journal, these rules “could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states.” ...
Business & Economics
Freedom more important than climate
Most of us who live here love California — the climate, the views, the beaches, the mountains, the opportunities, the people. One of the main reasons California Democrats (and, to a lesser extent, California Republicans) have been so aggressive in pushing bad policies is they believe that we won’t leave ...
Measure establishes rights
On November 4, Arizonans have the opportunity to make a key decision about their rights. Proposition 101, the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, secures your right to spend your money on the health care of your choice. It comes as no surprise that some people, notably government types, ...
Where have Silicon Valley’s Republicans gone?
Calling venture capitalist Tim Draper an ardent Republican is something of an understatement. In 1999, he was enough of a fan of then-candidate George W. Bush that he chaired three fundraisers over a year before the actual election. Salon once dubbed him “George W.’s point man in Silicon Valley.” The ...
Newsflash! Women Have Different Health Costs Than Men!
Surely, Robert Pear’s article in today’s New York Times, “Women buying health policies pay a penalty”, falls under the category of “old news”. (So old, indeed, that my former colleague Diana Ernst addressed it last year.) Calling it a “penalty”, rather than an actuarially fair premium, is also an old ...
Paulson’s Plan Making Things Worse
U.S. financial markets continue to implode, yet government officials assure the American people that the problem is under control. More economists, however, are starting to realize that the government’s constantly evolving rescue plan is contributing to the instability. When the House of Representatives failed to pass the original request for ...
To dig out of the hole, N.Y. must expand economic freedom
The economic misery caused by the nation’s financial meltdown has hit New York especially hard. Since September 2007, the city’s financial sector has lost 13,400 jobs, according to the state Labor Department. An additional 65,000 financial jobs will be gone in New York and its suburbs by mid-2010, says BusinessWeek. ...
Bay State Health Mandates Threaten Expanded Insurance Coverage
In its first year, the Bay State’s subsidized insurance plan — Commonwealth Care — was supposed to cost $472 million. The bill came in at $630 million. The $158 million overrun hasn’t phased state lawmakers, however. If anything, they seem hellbent on making the plan even more expensive. They’re interested ...
California’s High-Risk Pool Is Not Working
California’s high-risk pool for medically uninsured residents, MRMIP, is in trouble – poorly funded and lots of eligible folks are on the waiting list to enrol – according to the Los Angeles Times. The article notes that other states, with more successful progams, assess levies on health plans to fund ...
Long Gone: Why California should eliminate the post of Secretary of Education
SACRAMENTO – David Long, California’s Secretary of Education, resigned on August 10, the fourth such Secretary to resign in the past five years. California should take this opportunity to eliminate this position, which Mr. Long’s brief 18-month tenure confirms to be redundant. “I’d be less than honest if I didn’t ...
Product-Liability Law: Is “Pre-emption” the Right Question?
The media are (justifiably) interested in the Bush administration’s (or, if you prefer, the “Bush regime’s”) rushing a bunch of new rules into the Code of Federal Regulations that would “pre-empt” states’ product-liability laws. According to the Wall Street Journal, these rules “could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states.” ...
Freedom more important than climate
Most of us who live here love California — the climate, the views, the beaches, the mountains, the opportunities, the people. One of the main reasons California Democrats (and, to a lesser extent, California Republicans) have been so aggressive in pushing bad policies is they believe that we won’t leave ...
