Commentary
Business & Economics
California Budget Revision Proves It: You Can’t Trust the State With Health Care
As California struggles to get control of its budget deficit, Governor Schwarzenegger (who as recently as January collaborated with Democrats to almost wrangle a $15 billion health care tax and spending increase through the legislature) has been forced to propose cutting $2 billion (5 percent) from the state budget for ...
Business & Economics
Limiting lawsuit abuses lowers costs from litigation, creates jobs in long run
The nation is going through difficult economic times, which will prompt calls to “bolster jobs” with “temporary” government spending programs. The best long-term jobs program for America, however, is not more spending we can’t afford. If we want results, we need meaningful legal reform. University of California-Berkeley economist Lisa Kimmel ...
Commentary
Investigate Grand Theft Education
SACRAMENTO – Last month the California Department of Education (CDE) paid out $4.6 million to settle the longstanding case of CDE employee James Lindberg. Though previously addressed in this column, the case remains rich in lessons for legislators, educators, taxpayers, and even law enforcement. Mr. Lindberg got in trouble not ...
Business & Economics
WBYS 1560-AM News for 5/13/2008
(Washington D.C.) — A new report by the Pacific Research Institute — a California think tank — compares the legal climates of all 50 states. According to this year’s U.S. Tort Liability Index, Florida ranked the worst in terms of tort costs, while North Dakota ranked the best. But the ...
Business & Economics
Flat state income tax shows promise
San Jose Mercury News (CA), May 12, 2008 Flat state income tax shows promise How can anyone disagree with the Pacific Research Institute’s report (Opinion, May 9) that a flat state income tax (3 percent) would be simpler, more fair and much less subject to cheating than our current, complicated ...
Business & Economics
New speaker’s agenda
SACRAMENTO — Assembly Speaker-elect Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, sounds as if she wants to continue the good working relationship with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger forged by outgoing Speaker Fabian Nunez, also a Los Angeles Democrat. Bass, who takes office Tuesday, said at a news conference today that Schwarzenegger has talked to ...
Business & Economics
Designing the Market’s Mechanisms
LAST YEAR, THREE AMERICANS WON THE NOBEL MEMORIAL PRIZE in Economics for laying the foundations of “mechanism design” theory. The work of Leonid Hurwicz, Roger Myerson and Eric Maskin was cited for its help in implementing efficient voting, trading and regulatory schemes. In the laureates’ terms, a mechanism is a ...
Business & Economics
How a flat income tax can help California
Californians may have paid their federal and state taxes last month, but the Golden State remains in a fiscal crisis, with a projected 2008-2009 fiscal year budget deficit as high as $20.2 billion, according to the governor’s estimate on April 29. Such budget crunches hit California because of its highly ...
Commentary
Advocate of State-Monopoly Health Care: “We Are Winning”
Commenting on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s recent musing that he would like to re-launch last year’s failed tax-hiking, choice-limiting, health “reform”, State Senator Sheila Kuehl delivered a chilling post-mortem: “We are winning.” “We” are the advocates for government-monopoly health care. Ms. Kuehl has been leading a gang of militant trade unionists and ...
Business & Economics
Mississippi’s Tort Reform Triumph
For most of the past 30 years, Mississippi has ranked as one of the poorest as well as one of the most litigious states. The two statistics are related. I met with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour recently, and this politician, best known for helping his state rebuild after Hurricane Katrina ...
California Budget Revision Proves It: You Can’t Trust the State With Health Care
As California struggles to get control of its budget deficit, Governor Schwarzenegger (who as recently as January collaborated with Democrats to almost wrangle a $15 billion health care tax and spending increase through the legislature) has been forced to propose cutting $2 billion (5 percent) from the state budget for ...
Limiting lawsuit abuses lowers costs from litigation, creates jobs in long run
The nation is going through difficult economic times, which will prompt calls to “bolster jobs” with “temporary” government spending programs. The best long-term jobs program for America, however, is not more spending we can’t afford. If we want results, we need meaningful legal reform. University of California-Berkeley economist Lisa Kimmel ...
Investigate Grand Theft Education
SACRAMENTO – Last month the California Department of Education (CDE) paid out $4.6 million to settle the longstanding case of CDE employee James Lindberg. Though previously addressed in this column, the case remains rich in lessons for legislators, educators, taxpayers, and even law enforcement. Mr. Lindberg got in trouble not ...
WBYS 1560-AM News for 5/13/2008
(Washington D.C.) — A new report by the Pacific Research Institute — a California think tank — compares the legal climates of all 50 states. According to this year’s U.S. Tort Liability Index, Florida ranked the worst in terms of tort costs, while North Dakota ranked the best. But the ...
Flat state income tax shows promise
San Jose Mercury News (CA), May 12, 2008 Flat state income tax shows promise How can anyone disagree with the Pacific Research Institute’s report (Opinion, May 9) that a flat state income tax (3 percent) would be simpler, more fair and much less subject to cheating than our current, complicated ...
New speaker’s agenda
SACRAMENTO — Assembly Speaker-elect Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, sounds as if she wants to continue the good working relationship with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger forged by outgoing Speaker Fabian Nunez, also a Los Angeles Democrat. Bass, who takes office Tuesday, said at a news conference today that Schwarzenegger has talked to ...
Designing the Market’s Mechanisms
LAST YEAR, THREE AMERICANS WON THE NOBEL MEMORIAL PRIZE in Economics for laying the foundations of “mechanism design” theory. The work of Leonid Hurwicz, Roger Myerson and Eric Maskin was cited for its help in implementing efficient voting, trading and regulatory schemes. In the laureates’ terms, a mechanism is a ...
How a flat income tax can help California
Californians may have paid their federal and state taxes last month, but the Golden State remains in a fiscal crisis, with a projected 2008-2009 fiscal year budget deficit as high as $20.2 billion, according to the governor’s estimate on April 29. Such budget crunches hit California because of its highly ...
Advocate of State-Monopoly Health Care: “We Are Winning”
Commenting on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s recent musing that he would like to re-launch last year’s failed tax-hiking, choice-limiting, health “reform”, State Senator Sheila Kuehl delivered a chilling post-mortem: “We are winning.” “We” are the advocates for government-monopoly health care. Ms. Kuehl has been leading a gang of militant trade unionists and ...
Mississippi’s Tort Reform Triumph
For most of the past 30 years, Mississippi has ranked as one of the poorest as well as one of the most litigious states. The two statistics are related. I met with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour recently, and this politician, best known for helping his state rebuild after Hurricane Katrina ...
