Commentary
Commentary
Think-tank forum weighs merits of health-care solutions
Tallahassee Democrat, February 8, 2008 Ideas about fixing the American health-care system, including market-based answers for providing services, were the focus Thursday at a forum on the campus of Florida State University. Sponsored by The James Madison Institute, a Tallahassee think tank, the event attracted speakers from across the country. ...
Business & Economics
Big Brother eyes racial makeup of foundations, nonprofits
In January, the Assembly Judicial Committee held a hearing on AB 624, a measure billed as an aid to philanthropy. It’s actually a hindrance. The bill, introduced by Assemblyman Joe Coto, a San Jose Democrat, wants all private foundations in California with assets of more than $250 million to collect ...
Business & Economics
Body 2.0: Changing the Nature of Genetic Data
The next generation of parents is set to embrace genetic testing of kids for diseases that may occur later in life, according to a study published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics. This is big news given that many medical professionals oppose the practice and there is a movement ...
Agriculture
I’m fat, you’re fat and your kids probably are, too
If you want the government, federal, state and local, to tell you what you can and cannot eat, please raise your hand. Apparently no one does except the various politicians who think they were elected to determine what you should eat and drink. Let’s get something straight, however. I’m fat. ...
Commentary
Massachusetts Health Reform: Rewriting History
On January 31, Shikha Dahlia of the Reason Foundation wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, “Saying No to Coercive Care”. It was great to see someone from Reason Foundation have a swing at the piñata: after all, it was back in November 2004 that Ronald Bailey wrote a ...
Business & Economics
California’s Broadband Bridge to Nowhere
The California Broadband Task Force, convened by Governor Schwarzenegger, concluded last month that high-speed Internet access should be a public investment, much like roads and power lines. The CBTF proposes “state-issued broadband bonds” to bring ultra-fast connections to the state’s most desolate reaches. Without public subsidies, however, California already ranks ...
Commentary
Thrills, Chills and Hospital Bills: Maybe They’re Not So Crazy After All
The other day, I examined the pointlessness of a class-action lawsuit ordering Scripps Health hospitals in San Diego to give post facto discounts to uninsured patients who had been charged “too much”, even though most of them had not paid their bills anyway! Today, we learn the overall payment to ...
Commentary
Losing by ‘Saving’
To help close New York’s $4.4 billion budget deficit, Gov. Spitzer has put prescription drugs on the chopping block. His budget proposal for the next fiscal year would axe drug spending by $172 million from the $1.9 billion otherwise expected. The governor describes this as a way “to control the ...
Business & Economics
Defying Depression Stereotypes
Readers will recall that, in September, the Contrarian reviewed The Forgotten Man, by Amity Shlaes, a history of the Depression that charts the massive growth in government dating from the New Deal. For that reason alone we considered Amity’s book a valuable work, and quite suitable for “women’s studies,” as ...
Commentary
Another CON Bites the Dust?
In some late-breaking news, Florida Governor Charlie Crist has proposed repealing the state’s certificate-of-need (CON) law for acute-care hospitals to “increase competition and efficiency in the healthcare marketplace,” according to a plan included in the governor’s fiscal 2009 budget. The proposal suggests licensing as an alternative to Florida’s CON law, ...
Think-tank forum weighs merits of health-care solutions
Tallahassee Democrat, February 8, 2008 Ideas about fixing the American health-care system, including market-based answers for providing services, were the focus Thursday at a forum on the campus of Florida State University. Sponsored by The James Madison Institute, a Tallahassee think tank, the event attracted speakers from across the country. ...
Big Brother eyes racial makeup of foundations, nonprofits
In January, the Assembly Judicial Committee held a hearing on AB 624, a measure billed as an aid to philanthropy. It’s actually a hindrance. The bill, introduced by Assemblyman Joe Coto, a San Jose Democrat, wants all private foundations in California with assets of more than $250 million to collect ...
Body 2.0: Changing the Nature of Genetic Data
The next generation of parents is set to embrace genetic testing of kids for diseases that may occur later in life, according to a study published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics. This is big news given that many medical professionals oppose the practice and there is a movement ...
I’m fat, you’re fat and your kids probably are, too
If you want the government, federal, state and local, to tell you what you can and cannot eat, please raise your hand. Apparently no one does except the various politicians who think they were elected to determine what you should eat and drink. Let’s get something straight, however. I’m fat. ...
Massachusetts Health Reform: Rewriting History
On January 31, Shikha Dahlia of the Reason Foundation wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, “Saying No to Coercive Care”. It was great to see someone from Reason Foundation have a swing at the piñata: after all, it was back in November 2004 that Ronald Bailey wrote a ...
California’s Broadband Bridge to Nowhere
The California Broadband Task Force, convened by Governor Schwarzenegger, concluded last month that high-speed Internet access should be a public investment, much like roads and power lines. The CBTF proposes “state-issued broadband bonds” to bring ultra-fast connections to the state’s most desolate reaches. Without public subsidies, however, California already ranks ...
Thrills, Chills and Hospital Bills: Maybe They’re Not So Crazy After All
The other day, I examined the pointlessness of a class-action lawsuit ordering Scripps Health hospitals in San Diego to give post facto discounts to uninsured patients who had been charged “too much”, even though most of them had not paid their bills anyway! Today, we learn the overall payment to ...
Losing by ‘Saving’
To help close New York’s $4.4 billion budget deficit, Gov. Spitzer has put prescription drugs on the chopping block. His budget proposal for the next fiscal year would axe drug spending by $172 million from the $1.9 billion otherwise expected. The governor describes this as a way “to control the ...
Defying Depression Stereotypes
Readers will recall that, in September, the Contrarian reviewed The Forgotten Man, by Amity Shlaes, a history of the Depression that charts the massive growth in government dating from the New Deal. For that reason alone we considered Amity’s book a valuable work, and quite suitable for “women’s studies,” as ...
Another CON Bites the Dust?
In some late-breaking news, Florida Governor Charlie Crist has proposed repealing the state’s certificate-of-need (CON) law for acute-care hospitals to “increase competition and efficiency in the healthcare marketplace,” according to a plan included in the governor’s fiscal 2009 budget. The proposal suggests licensing as an alternative to Florida’s CON law, ...
