Studies
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 ...
Health Care
Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?
San Francisco—The continuous expansion of Medi-Cal long-term care benefits could cause a financial catastrophe in California according to a new report by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based think tank, in cooperation with the Center for Long-Term Care Reform. Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?, by Stephen A. ...
Health Care
The End of the “Individual Mandate” Is Not the End of Obamacare
Last month Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli successfully argued that the so-called individual mandate in Obamacare was outside congressional competence. Advocates of individual choice in health care cheered a significant victory, but this is not the final judicial word on Obamacare. U.S. District judge Henry E. Hudson ruled that the ...
Health Care
Medi-Cal Long-Term Care
Executive Summary Download Full Study Here. Watch the Video Here.* Long-term care is very expensive, whether provided in a nursing home, an assisted living facility, or in someone’s home. Medi-Cal pays for most professional long-term care in California. It covers 65 percent of nursing home residents and ranks third in ...
Business & Economics
Going Down Swinging in 2010
Here at the Contrarian we would be lax in our duties if we ignored the sporting world. Our readers will recall that we took notice of Billy-Jean King, still crowing about her 1973 win over Bobby Riggs, a washed-up player old enough to be her father. We also noted that ...
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 ...
Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?
San Francisco—The continuous expansion of Medi-Cal long-term care benefits could cause a financial catastrophe in California according to a new report by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based think tank, in cooperation with the Center for Long-Term Care Reform. Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?, by Stephen A. ...
The End of the “Individual Mandate” Is Not the End of Obamacare
Last month Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli successfully argued that the so-called individual mandate in Obamacare was outside congressional competence. Advocates of individual choice in health care cheered a significant victory, but this is not the final judicial word on Obamacare. U.S. District judge Henry E. Hudson ruled that the ...
Medi-Cal Long-Term Care
Executive Summary Download Full Study Here. Watch the Video Here.* Long-term care is very expensive, whether provided in a nursing home, an assisted living facility, or in someone’s home. Medi-Cal pays for most professional long-term care in California. It covers 65 percent of nursing home residents and ranks third in ...
Going Down Swinging in 2010
Here at the Contrarian we would be lax in our duties if we ignored the sporting world. Our readers will recall that we took notice of Billy-Jean King, still crowing about her 1973 win over Bobby Riggs, a washed-up player old enough to be her father. We also noted that ...
