Commentary
Commentary
Government-Monopoly Health Care in California: Legislative Analyst Concludes That Taxes Must Be Hiked One-Third More Than Anticipated
California’s non-partisan Legislative Analyst has weighed in on the costs of government-monopoly health care. Backers of such systems are rushing to the barricades, but the revelations serve as welcome enlightenment for all Californians. Last year, Governor Schwarzenegger, former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, and an unlikely alliance of business and union ...
John R. Graham
June 25, 2008
Business & Economics
Network Neutrality – Michael Dresser Show
PRI’s Technology Studies Policy Fellow, Daniel Ballon, PhD., discussed the issue of net neutrality and why it is so important to avoid excessive regulation of the internet. Service providers need to be free to implement new technology and that is what net neutrality regulations would take away from them. The ...
Pacific Research Institute
June 25, 2008
Commentary
Today’s Commentary on the News – CA SB 1313
Today’s Commentary on the News As if things aren’t expensive enough… Let’s regulate cooking utensils, food packaging and more… Good grief! Trying to write about particularly stupid legislation that is moving forward in the State Legislature is a sport akin to shooting fish in a barrel (see the video). That ...
Pacific Research Institute
June 24, 2008
Commentary
Has the Autism Mandate Avalanche Hit A Roadblock?
Last August, I wrote an op-ed in the Philadelphia Business Journal decrying the Commonwealth’s rush to impose a mandate for autism treatment costing $36,000 per patient. (Note: this is a specific, new, treatment, not autism treatment that health plans already cover.) I figured the annual cost of the treatment would ...
John R. Graham
June 24, 2008
Business & Economics
Group Says Illinois Has Worst Litigation Climate
Among the 50 states, Illinois has the worst litigation climate for business and the highest risk for lawsuits, according to a non-profit business coalition. The rankings for best and worst states were produced by the American Justice Partnership Foundation (AJP), in collaboration with the Directorship publication. According to the group’s ...
Daniel Hays
June 24, 2008
California
California Health Plans’ Success
Like other bloggers here, I’m no fan of employer-sponsored health care. I wish those who benefit from it would embrace real, consumer-driven reform. Nevertheless, I am always amazed at how the mainstream media covers stories of health insurers’ “denial of care”. It’s kind of like watching Michael Moore’s grotesquely misleading ...
John R. Graham
June 23, 2008
Business & Economics
Rising Demand, Weak Dollar Cause Pain at the Pump
The price of oil just soared above $130 per barrel. Consumers want to know why oil prices are so high and what they can do about it. Politicians claim that greedy oil companies are hiking prices to fatten profits. But weren’t oil companies greedy in 2002, when the price was ...
Robert P. Murphy
June 23, 2008
Business & Economics
Tort reform would spark lagging local economy
The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen more than 1,500 points since last year. Bear Stearns has gone belly up. Every week talking heads point to a different blue-chip company supposedly teetering on the brink of financial ruin. It seems as if things couldn’t get worse for Wall Street and ...
Lawrence J. McQuillan
June 23, 2008
Commentary
Opinion column ignored real concerns about GMOs
The Eureka Reporter, June 21, 2008 Dear Editor, The opinion column by Amy Kaleita of the Pacific Research Institute reads as if it was written by and for the benefit of Monsanto Corp. Many consumers are concerned about the effects of GMOs on food security and believe that GMOs are ...
David Lippman
June 21, 2008
Commentary
New York’s Discount Prescription Drug Plan: Medicaid Hammer With A Twist?
A bill to provide discounts on prescription drugs to low-income New Yorkers recently passed the Assembly and has moved over to the Senate. A03848 seeks to give the state the power to “negotiate” discounts for prescription drugs for Empire Staters who earn up to 350% of the Federal Poverty Line, ...
John R. Graham
June 20, 2008
Government-Monopoly Health Care in California: Legislative Analyst Concludes That Taxes Must Be Hiked One-Third More Than Anticipated
California’s non-partisan Legislative Analyst has weighed in on the costs of government-monopoly health care. Backers of such systems are rushing to the barricades, but the revelations serve as welcome enlightenment for all Californians. Last year, Governor Schwarzenegger, former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, and an unlikely alliance of business and union ...
Network Neutrality – Michael Dresser Show
PRI’s Technology Studies Policy Fellow, Daniel Ballon, PhD., discussed the issue of net neutrality and why it is so important to avoid excessive regulation of the internet. Service providers need to be free to implement new technology and that is what net neutrality regulations would take away from them. The ...
Today’s Commentary on the News – CA SB 1313
Today’s Commentary on the News As if things aren’t expensive enough… Let’s regulate cooking utensils, food packaging and more… Good grief! Trying to write about particularly stupid legislation that is moving forward in the State Legislature is a sport akin to shooting fish in a barrel (see the video). That ...
Has the Autism Mandate Avalanche Hit A Roadblock?
Last August, I wrote an op-ed in the Philadelphia Business Journal decrying the Commonwealth’s rush to impose a mandate for autism treatment costing $36,000 per patient. (Note: this is a specific, new, treatment, not autism treatment that health plans already cover.) I figured the annual cost of the treatment would ...
Group Says Illinois Has Worst Litigation Climate
Among the 50 states, Illinois has the worst litigation climate for business and the highest risk for lawsuits, according to a non-profit business coalition. The rankings for best and worst states were produced by the American Justice Partnership Foundation (AJP), in collaboration with the Directorship publication. According to the group’s ...
California Health Plans’ Success
Like other bloggers here, I’m no fan of employer-sponsored health care. I wish those who benefit from it would embrace real, consumer-driven reform. Nevertheless, I am always amazed at how the mainstream media covers stories of health insurers’ “denial of care”. It’s kind of like watching Michael Moore’s grotesquely misleading ...
Rising Demand, Weak Dollar Cause Pain at the Pump
The price of oil just soared above $130 per barrel. Consumers want to know why oil prices are so high and what they can do about it. Politicians claim that greedy oil companies are hiking prices to fatten profits. But weren’t oil companies greedy in 2002, when the price was ...
Tort reform would spark lagging local economy
The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen more than 1,500 points since last year. Bear Stearns has gone belly up. Every week talking heads point to a different blue-chip company supposedly teetering on the brink of financial ruin. It seems as if things couldn’t get worse for Wall Street and ...
Opinion column ignored real concerns about GMOs
The Eureka Reporter, June 21, 2008 Dear Editor, The opinion column by Amy Kaleita of the Pacific Research Institute reads as if it was written by and for the benefit of Monsanto Corp. Many consumers are concerned about the effects of GMOs on food security and believe that GMOs are ...
New York’s Discount Prescription Drug Plan: Medicaid Hammer With A Twist?
A bill to provide discounts on prescription drugs to low-income New Yorkers recently passed the Assembly and has moved over to the Senate. A03848 seeks to give the state the power to “negotiate” discounts for prescription drugs for Empire Staters who earn up to 350% of the Federal Poverty Line, ...