Studies
Business & Economics
Analyze This: Unelected Regulatory Zealots Don’t Need More Power
California’s Legislative Analyst (LAO) is a nonpartisan body “providing fiscal and policy advice to the Legislature for more than 70 years,” according to its website. Some of its recent advice is seriously misguided, such as a proposal to expand the power of an unelected body, headed by regulatory zealots, that ...
Business & Economics
Redevelopment is Redistribution
Nine of Californias big-city mayors met recently with Gov. Jerry Brown in an attempt to talk him out of eliminating redevelopment agencies (RDAs) as part of his budget-balancing proposal. The mayors support keeping RDAs intact because they believe it is through redevelopment that cities create jobs. Without redevelopment agencies, several ...
Health Care
There Is No Real Difference Between an “Individual Mandate” to Buy Health Insurance and the Health Benefits We Have Today
Key Points Opponents of the federal government takeover of peoples access to health care have focused on the unconstitutionality of the so-called individual mandate. Two federal judges have recently determined that Obamacares mandate violates the U.S. Constitution, which rightly encourages hope that the Supreme Court will invalidate Obamacare. Economically, the ...
Commentary
Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile
San Francisco—Many policies aiming to “green” the American car culture may do just the opposite, according to a new study from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based free market think tank. Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile, by Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., PRI ...
Business & Economics
Why California Should Not Follow New York’s Internet Tax Plan
California is facing budget problems yet again, and once again state lawmakers are hoping to shake down Internet retailers as a fast source of revenue. A bill introduced by Democratic Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (AB 153) proposes to force out-of-state businesses to collect tax if they use an in-state company to ...
Business & Economics
A War That Has Ended
On any trip to the United Kingdom one must allow for the element of surprise. Last month I discovered a new perspective on what we might call womens studies. Womens aspiration to marry up, if they can, to a man who is better-educated and higher-earning, persists in most European countries, ...
Education
NEW BOOK! Short-Circuited: The Challenges Facing the Online Learning Revolution in California
Government red tape and inertia, plus union opposition, have prevented widespread student access to K-12 online learning according to the new book Short-Circuited San Francisco—Government red tape and inertia, plus union opposition, have prevented widespread student access to K-12 online learning according to the new book Short-Circuited: The Challenges Facing ...
Commentary
Lessons for California from National School Choice Week
National School Choice Week kicks off on January 23, and California should be leading the country in student-centered, parent-driven reform. In the Golden State, unfortunately, system-centered education prevails, and parents empowered to choose their children’s schools are the exception, not the rule. Last year, California adopted the “parent trigger.” If ...
Health Care
In the Nick of Time: Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver Shows How States Can Save Their Budgets from Obamacare’s Assault
Key Points On the last day of the Bush Administration, Rhode Island won a federal waiver to reduce federal control and increase patient choice in the states Medicaid program. In 18 months following the waiver, Rhode Islands Medicaid spending was almost one-third less than budgeted: $2.7 billion versus $3.8 billion. ...
Commentary
Why Retiring Baby Boomers Will find Medi-Cal a Bust on Long-Term Care
The new administration of Jerry Brown faces many challenges, including a tough one that will get worse on July 1, 2011. That’s when the federal funds that have propped up California’s troubled Medi-Cal system will disappear. That is bad news for retirees, including baby boomers, who in 2011 will be ...
Analyze This: Unelected Regulatory Zealots Don’t Need More Power
California’s Legislative Analyst (LAO) is a nonpartisan body “providing fiscal and policy advice to the Legislature for more than 70 years,” according to its website. Some of its recent advice is seriously misguided, such as a proposal to expand the power of an unelected body, headed by regulatory zealots, that ...
Redevelopment is Redistribution
Nine of Californias big-city mayors met recently with Gov. Jerry Brown in an attempt to talk him out of eliminating redevelopment agencies (RDAs) as part of his budget-balancing proposal. The mayors support keeping RDAs intact because they believe it is through redevelopment that cities create jobs. Without redevelopment agencies, several ...
There Is No Real Difference Between an “Individual Mandate” to Buy Health Insurance and the Health Benefits We Have Today
Key Points Opponents of the federal government takeover of peoples access to health care have focused on the unconstitutionality of the so-called individual mandate. Two federal judges have recently determined that Obamacares mandate violates the U.S. Constitution, which rightly encourages hope that the Supreme Court will invalidate Obamacare. Economically, the ...
Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile
San Francisco—Many policies aiming to “green” the American car culture may do just the opposite, according to a new study from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based free market think tank. Car-tastrophe: How federal policy can help, not hinder, the greening of the automobile, by Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., PRI ...
Why California Should Not Follow New York’s Internet Tax Plan
California is facing budget problems yet again, and once again state lawmakers are hoping to shake down Internet retailers as a fast source of revenue. A bill introduced by Democratic Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (AB 153) proposes to force out-of-state businesses to collect tax if they use an in-state company to ...
A War That Has Ended
On any trip to the United Kingdom one must allow for the element of surprise. Last month I discovered a new perspective on what we might call womens studies. Womens aspiration to marry up, if they can, to a man who is better-educated and higher-earning, persists in most European countries, ...
NEW BOOK! Short-Circuited: The Challenges Facing the Online Learning Revolution in California
Government red tape and inertia, plus union opposition, have prevented widespread student access to K-12 online learning according to the new book Short-Circuited San Francisco—Government red tape and inertia, plus union opposition, have prevented widespread student access to K-12 online learning according to the new book Short-Circuited: The Challenges Facing ...
Lessons for California from National School Choice Week
National School Choice Week kicks off on January 23, and California should be leading the country in student-centered, parent-driven reform. In the Golden State, unfortunately, system-centered education prevails, and parents empowered to choose their children’s schools are the exception, not the rule. Last year, California adopted the “parent trigger.” If ...
In the Nick of Time: Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver Shows How States Can Save Their Budgets from Obamacare’s Assault
Key Points On the last day of the Bush Administration, Rhode Island won a federal waiver to reduce federal control and increase patient choice in the states Medicaid program. In 18 months following the waiver, Rhode Islands Medicaid spending was almost one-third less than budgeted: $2.7 billion versus $3.8 billion. ...
Why Retiring Baby Boomers Will find Medi-Cal a Bust on Long-Term Care
The new administration of Jerry Brown faces many challenges, including a tough one that will get worse on July 1, 2011. That’s when the federal funds that have propped up California’s troubled Medi-Cal system will disappear. That is bad news for retirees, including baby boomers, who in 2011 will be ...
