Commentary
Commentary
Commonwealth Fund’s Count of “Underinsured”: Lifting the Carpet
Once again, the scholars at the Commonwealth Fund have scared the bejayzus out of the mainstream media with their latest reckoning that over 25 million Americans are “underinsured”. While the 2007 numbers look worse than the previous ones from 2003 (when the estimate was only 15.6 million), the problems with ...
Business & Economics
Proposition 13 turns 30
Thirty years last ago Friday, on June 6, 1978, Californians passed Proposition 13, the “People’s Initiative to Limit Property Taxation.” It helped California homeowners, but is now blamed for many of the state’s woes. Owning a home has always been part of the American dream. During the latter part of ...
Business & Economics
California lawmakers must help economy with tort reform
The United States saw 324,000 jobs disappear in the first five months of the year – more evidence of a shaky economy. The news will surely prompt legislation intended to bolster jobs with “temporary” government programs. But the best jobs program for California is not more spending we can’t afford. ...
Commentary
Schwarzenegger Supporter Advocates Government Monopoly Health Care
One of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s reasons for his Health Care Deforminator ABX1 1, which would have imposed a massive tax hike to fund “universal” private health care, was that it would short circuit calls for single-payer, government-monopoly, “universal” health care. Indeed, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a single-payer bill, SB-840, in September 2006. ...
Commentary
There’s a price for subsidizing wind energy with taxpayer dollars
Much has been written about the merits or demerits of wind energy as a viable source of electricity generation for meeting the growing needs of electricity consumption in the United States. No matter which side of the debate one comes down on, one issue is crystal clear. Trillions of taxpayer ...
Business & Economics
Adopt a flax tax to avoid chronic budget crises
Tax time has come and gone, and California finds itself in yet another fiscal crisis. Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed 10 percent across-the-board spending cuts to help close the state’s now-$15 billion projected budget deficit through June 2009. These budget crunches hit the Golden State because of its highly graduated tax code. ...
Commentary
A Primer for Follow-On Biologics
Generic drugs are chemically identical to their brand-name counterparts. And they cost about 70 percent less. That’s why, with healthcare costs escalating, policymakers want to expand the use of generics. As part of that effort, the Senate is considering a measure that would allow the generic drug industry to produce ...
California
Cultural Revolution in San Francisco’s Health Access Plan!
Being Friday, I thought I’d lay off the heavy analysis and have some fun with my old bugaboo, San Francisco’s pointless and expensive Health Access Plan. As discussed before, I am at a loss to understand what this program achieves, other than levying a “pay or play” tax on employers ...
Commentary
Waiting Lists? Hospital Closures? Too Few Doctors? …Canada? No: Los Angeles
An appalling job of reporting in today’s New York Times, about the consequences to Los Angeles’ poorest residents of closing the county-run Martin Luther King, Jr.-Harbor Hospital almost a year ago. As I’ve written before, the county had plenty of opportunity over the last few months to let private operators ...
Commentary
Plastic or paper? The jury’s still out
The Eureka Reporter, June 5, 2008 It began as a breeze, but soon took on the power of a gale. We’re referring to the campaign intended to replace plastic bags used by many stores with paper ones. The argument was and is that plastic bags will take hundreds of years ...
Commonwealth Fund’s Count of “Underinsured”: Lifting the Carpet
Once again, the scholars at the Commonwealth Fund have scared the bejayzus out of the mainstream media with their latest reckoning that over 25 million Americans are “underinsured”. While the 2007 numbers look worse than the previous ones from 2003 (when the estimate was only 15.6 million), the problems with ...
Proposition 13 turns 30
Thirty years last ago Friday, on June 6, 1978, Californians passed Proposition 13, the “People’s Initiative to Limit Property Taxation.” It helped California homeowners, but is now blamed for many of the state’s woes. Owning a home has always been part of the American dream. During the latter part of ...
California lawmakers must help economy with tort reform
The United States saw 324,000 jobs disappear in the first five months of the year – more evidence of a shaky economy. The news will surely prompt legislation intended to bolster jobs with “temporary” government programs. But the best jobs program for California is not more spending we can’t afford. ...
Schwarzenegger Supporter Advocates Government Monopoly Health Care
One of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s reasons for his Health Care Deforminator ABX1 1, which would have imposed a massive tax hike to fund “universal” private health care, was that it would short circuit calls for single-payer, government-monopoly, “universal” health care. Indeed, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a single-payer bill, SB-840, in September 2006. ...
There’s a price for subsidizing wind energy with taxpayer dollars
Much has been written about the merits or demerits of wind energy as a viable source of electricity generation for meeting the growing needs of electricity consumption in the United States. No matter which side of the debate one comes down on, one issue is crystal clear. Trillions of taxpayer ...
Adopt a flax tax to avoid chronic budget crises
Tax time has come and gone, and California finds itself in yet another fiscal crisis. Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed 10 percent across-the-board spending cuts to help close the state’s now-$15 billion projected budget deficit through June 2009. These budget crunches hit the Golden State because of its highly graduated tax code. ...
A Primer for Follow-On Biologics
Generic drugs are chemically identical to their brand-name counterparts. And they cost about 70 percent less. That’s why, with healthcare costs escalating, policymakers want to expand the use of generics. As part of that effort, the Senate is considering a measure that would allow the generic drug industry to produce ...
Cultural Revolution in San Francisco’s Health Access Plan!
Being Friday, I thought I’d lay off the heavy analysis and have some fun with my old bugaboo, San Francisco’s pointless and expensive Health Access Plan. As discussed before, I am at a loss to understand what this program achieves, other than levying a “pay or play” tax on employers ...
Waiting Lists? Hospital Closures? Too Few Doctors? …Canada? No: Los Angeles
An appalling job of reporting in today’s New York Times, about the consequences to Los Angeles’ poorest residents of closing the county-run Martin Luther King, Jr.-Harbor Hospital almost a year ago. As I’ve written before, the county had plenty of opportunity over the last few months to let private operators ...
Plastic or paper? The jury’s still out
The Eureka Reporter, June 5, 2008 It began as a breeze, but soon took on the power of a gale. We’re referring to the campaign intended to replace plastic bags used by many stores with paper ones. The argument was and is that plastic bags will take hundreds of years ...
