Commentary
Business & Economics
Fined if You Do, Fined if You Don’t
The European Union recently slapped Microsoft with a penalty of $1.3 billion, the largest fine ever levied against a single company. The timing is curious because the penalty was issued just a week after Microsoft posted on the Internet over 30,000 pages of its most closely held trade secrets. This ...
Commentary
Education Reform Leaves out Choice
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared 2008 would be “The Year of Education Reform.” Now, more than halfway through the year, California parents continue to wait for promised relief. If the governor’s blueprint for reform is any indication, they may be waiting for a long time. Gov. Schwarzenegger unveiled “Students First: Renewing ...
California
Healthy San Francisco
California Catholic Daily, July 23, 2008 Two Catholic hospitals join program to give “free” medical care to city’s 73,000 uninsured Three private hospitals in San Francisco – two of them Catholic – this month agreed to participate in the city’s ambitious plan to provide health care, free of charge or ...
Commentary
Remedial education costs billions
The poor performance of California’s public schools costs Californians up to $14 billion in remedial education programs, rivaling the state’s current budget deficit of $15 billion. “The High Price of Failure in California: How Inadequate Education Costs Schools, Students, and Society,” released Tuesday by the Pacific Research Institute, calculates the ...
Business & Economics
Phoenix: Not so free, not so unfree
July 24, 2008 Disloyal Opposition Blog, Phoenix isn’t a terrible place when it comes to personal freedom. It’s not so great either, despite Arizona’s overstated Wild-West reputation. Reason magazine’s Radley Balko raised a fuss in Chicago with his column in the Chicago Tribune taking that city to task for “treating ...
Business & Economics
Speaker criticizes N.J. climate for firms facing suits
New Jersey’s legal environment is one of the worst in the nation for a business defending itself against a tort lawsuit, and the climate can stunt a state’s job creation and economic growth, a trade group heard. The claim was made at a New Brunswick forum organized by the Trenton-based ...
Business & Economics
Partisan election of judges doesn’t help
Kudos to David Ridenour for highlighting many problems with West Virginia’s dysfunctional tort system in his July 15 column, “The state should pursue tort reform.” I’d like to add one more problem – the state’s partisan judicial elections. Litigation awards tend to be higher in states with an elected judiciary. ...
Business & Economics
Soaking the rich won’t solve boom-and-bust cycles
California’s Democratic legislators just proposed to slap $8.2 billion in tax hikes on “the rich.” This might raise some quick cash, but it’s a recipe for recession and more of the revenue roller coaster that will only make the next budget crisis worse. The Golden State’s most productive citizens already ...
Commentary
Let Energy Technologies Stand Alone
Late last month, the California Energy Commission and Public Utility Commission touted “feed-in tariffs” as yet another approach to spur development of renewable electricity sources. These “renewables” remain a favorite of government despite dismal economics and poor performance. Government favoritism toward renewables includes subsidies, mandatory purchases such as renewable portfolio ...
Commentary
Wonder why Universal Health Care is Nothing but Smoke and Mirrors?
American Alliance Training Network Corp., July 27, 2008 MASSACHUSETTS’S UNIVERSAL health care law turned one in April. To survive, its guardians have had to make many changes, each of which has increased current and future government spending, increased the government’s role in regulating the healthcare market, decreased individual responsibility to ...
Fined if You Do, Fined if You Don’t
The European Union recently slapped Microsoft with a penalty of $1.3 billion, the largest fine ever levied against a single company. The timing is curious because the penalty was issued just a week after Microsoft posted on the Internet over 30,000 pages of its most closely held trade secrets. This ...
Education Reform Leaves out Choice
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared 2008 would be “The Year of Education Reform.” Now, more than halfway through the year, California parents continue to wait for promised relief. If the governor’s blueprint for reform is any indication, they may be waiting for a long time. Gov. Schwarzenegger unveiled “Students First: Renewing ...
Healthy San Francisco
California Catholic Daily, July 23, 2008 Two Catholic hospitals join program to give “free” medical care to city’s 73,000 uninsured Three private hospitals in San Francisco – two of them Catholic – this month agreed to participate in the city’s ambitious plan to provide health care, free of charge or ...
Remedial education costs billions
The poor performance of California’s public schools costs Californians up to $14 billion in remedial education programs, rivaling the state’s current budget deficit of $15 billion. “The High Price of Failure in California: How Inadequate Education Costs Schools, Students, and Society,” released Tuesday by the Pacific Research Institute, calculates the ...
Phoenix: Not so free, not so unfree
July 24, 2008 Disloyal Opposition Blog, Phoenix isn’t a terrible place when it comes to personal freedom. It’s not so great either, despite Arizona’s overstated Wild-West reputation. Reason magazine’s Radley Balko raised a fuss in Chicago with his column in the Chicago Tribune taking that city to task for “treating ...
Speaker criticizes N.J. climate for firms facing suits
New Jersey’s legal environment is one of the worst in the nation for a business defending itself against a tort lawsuit, and the climate can stunt a state’s job creation and economic growth, a trade group heard. The claim was made at a New Brunswick forum organized by the Trenton-based ...
Partisan election of judges doesn’t help
Kudos to David Ridenour for highlighting many problems with West Virginia’s dysfunctional tort system in his July 15 column, “The state should pursue tort reform.” I’d like to add one more problem – the state’s partisan judicial elections. Litigation awards tend to be higher in states with an elected judiciary. ...
Soaking the rich won’t solve boom-and-bust cycles
California’s Democratic legislators just proposed to slap $8.2 billion in tax hikes on “the rich.” This might raise some quick cash, but it’s a recipe for recession and more of the revenue roller coaster that will only make the next budget crisis worse. The Golden State’s most productive citizens already ...
Let Energy Technologies Stand Alone
Late last month, the California Energy Commission and Public Utility Commission touted “feed-in tariffs” as yet another approach to spur development of renewable electricity sources. These “renewables” remain a favorite of government despite dismal economics and poor performance. Government favoritism toward renewables includes subsidies, mandatory purchases such as renewable portfolio ...
Wonder why Universal Health Care is Nothing but Smoke and Mirrors?
American Alliance Training Network Corp., July 27, 2008 MASSACHUSETTS’S UNIVERSAL health care law turned one in April. To survive, its guardians have had to make many changes, each of which has increased current and future government spending, increased the government’s role in regulating the healthcare market, decreased individual responsibility to ...
