Commentary
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 ...
Commentary
SCHIP: Big Pharma Falls Into Line with Big Government
The Wall Street Journal confirms the depressing news that the brand-name pharmaceutical industry has been “collaborating” with advocates of a government take-over of health care. Apparently, it has given $13.2 million to an “astroturf” outfit, “America’s Agenda: Health Care for Kids”, to produce and run advertisements stroking 28 Congressmen (of ...
Business & Economics
Medical Lawsuits Put Health At Risk
On Nov. 3, a day before the election, the U.S. Supreme Court hears Wyeth v. Levine, a case with profound implications for the health of all Americans. In 2000, plaintiff Diane Levine was given Wyeth’s anti-nausea drug Phenergan, then on the market for 45 years. In rare instances, as the ...
California
Los Angeles Times’ Campaign for Government Health Care
Lisa Girion and Michael A. Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times have relieved themselves of a feature-focus of three stories about how awful private health plans are. They managed to interview key leaders of the campaign for government-mandated health insurance, such as Bruce Bodaken of Blue Shield of California and ...
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 ...
SCHIP: Big Pharma Falls Into Line with Big Government
The Wall Street Journal confirms the depressing news that the brand-name pharmaceutical industry has been “collaborating” with advocates of a government take-over of health care. Apparently, it has given $13.2 million to an “astroturf” outfit, “America’s Agenda: Health Care for Kids”, to produce and run advertisements stroking 28 Congressmen (of ...
Medical Lawsuits Put Health At Risk
On Nov. 3, a day before the election, the U.S. Supreme Court hears Wyeth v. Levine, a case with profound implications for the health of all Americans. In 2000, plaintiff Diane Levine was given Wyeth’s anti-nausea drug Phenergan, then on the market for 45 years. In rare instances, as the ...
Los Angeles Times’ Campaign for Government Health Care
Lisa Girion and Michael A. Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times have relieved themselves of a feature-focus of three stories about how awful private health plans are. They managed to interview key leaders of the campaign for government-mandated health insurance, such as Bruce Bodaken of Blue Shield of California and ...
