Studies
Health Care
Deciphering the Polls: How to Win Health Reform
There was a bit of a flap in the liberal media this month when someone leaked a copy of a presentation on health reform that Dr. Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster and strategist, delivered to the Republican congressional caucus.1 In the Huffington Post, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) wrote an ...
Business & Economics
Is the CIRM Good Medicine for California?
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) turns five in 2009, a good occasion for a report card, beginning with the “medicine” part. Here we have a problem. “The California program has yet to produce cures,” explains John M. Simpson, stem cell director of Consumer Watchdog, in a recent Sacramento ...
Business & Economics
Nanny Government Plays from the Rough
As readers of the Contrarian know from the recent piece on Billie Jean King, my game is tennis. I’m not much of a golfer, but I can recognize a wild tee shot that lands deep in the rough. That is especially true when the shot comes from a politically correct ...
Fossil Fuels
California’s CARBon Conjecture
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Air Resources Board (CARB) last week passed the world’s first low carbon mandate for transportation fuels. Instead of treating all fuels equally, these regulations continue the state’s reliance on dubious science to pick winners and losers in the rapidly evolving and extremely complex market for ...
Business & Economics
Tort Law Tally
San Francisco – The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, released Tort Law Tally, a new report identifying which state tort reforms reduce tort losses and tort insurance premiums the most. The analysis identifies 18 reforms to state civil-justice systems that significantly reduce tort losses ...
Health Care
Is Health Care A “Right”? Not According to Governments Who Run Health Care
The advocates of government-run medicine base their claims on the notion that health care is a “right.” They thus attempt to occupy the moral high ground over those who advocate reforms based on the principle of individual choice. For example, lobbyists in favor of California’s SB-840, a bill that has ...
Environment
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators: 2009 Report
San Francisco – The Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) released the 2009 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, an annual report highlighting the significant environmental developments and milestones in the United States and worldwide. The 2009 edition marks the anniversary of key moments in environmental history, ...
Health Care
Government Health Care Competition: The Audacity of Hope Against Experience
One key item on President Obama’s health care agenda is to “establish a National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of private insurance options as well as a new public plan based on benefits available to members of Congress that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health ...
Business & Economics
That Voodoo That You Do So Well
Before the Motion Picture Academy handed out its latest awards, and before the legislature passed the alleged budget fix, the reviews were already coming in on California. They are less than stellar but well worth attention. “California makes Washington, DC, look like a model of fiscal probity,” ran the sub-head ...
Education
Citizen’s Guide to California Public School Finance
In any given state, legislatures spend more on elementary and secondary education than any other major program, including healthcare, higher education, social services, and the criminal justice system. California is no exception. At $40 billion, K–12 education represents the largest share of the state general-fund budget. Yet few people comprehend ...
Deciphering the Polls: How to Win Health Reform
There was a bit of a flap in the liberal media this month when someone leaked a copy of a presentation on health reform that Dr. Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster and strategist, delivered to the Republican congressional caucus.1 In the Huffington Post, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) wrote an ...
Is the CIRM Good Medicine for California?
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) turns five in 2009, a good occasion for a report card, beginning with the “medicine” part. Here we have a problem. “The California program has yet to produce cures,” explains John M. Simpson, stem cell director of Consumer Watchdog, in a recent Sacramento ...
Nanny Government Plays from the Rough
As readers of the Contrarian know from the recent piece on Billie Jean King, my game is tennis. I’m not much of a golfer, but I can recognize a wild tee shot that lands deep in the rough. That is especially true when the shot comes from a politically correct ...
California’s CARBon Conjecture
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Air Resources Board (CARB) last week passed the world’s first low carbon mandate for transportation fuels. Instead of treating all fuels equally, these regulations continue the state’s reliance on dubious science to pick winners and losers in the rapidly evolving and extremely complex market for ...
Tort Law Tally
San Francisco – The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, released Tort Law Tally, a new report identifying which state tort reforms reduce tort losses and tort insurance premiums the most. The analysis identifies 18 reforms to state civil-justice systems that significantly reduce tort losses ...
Is Health Care A “Right”? Not According to Governments Who Run Health Care
The advocates of government-run medicine base their claims on the notion that health care is a “right.” They thus attempt to occupy the moral high ground over those who advocate reforms based on the principle of individual choice. For example, lobbyists in favor of California’s SB-840, a bill that has ...
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators: 2009 Report
San Francisco – The Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) released the 2009 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, an annual report highlighting the significant environmental developments and milestones in the United States and worldwide. The 2009 edition marks the anniversary of key moments in environmental history, ...
Government Health Care Competition: The Audacity of Hope Against Experience
One key item on President Obama’s health care agenda is to “establish a National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of private insurance options as well as a new public plan based on benefits available to members of Congress that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health ...
That Voodoo That You Do So Well
Before the Motion Picture Academy handed out its latest awards, and before the legislature passed the alleged budget fix, the reviews were already coming in on California. They are less than stellar but well worth attention. “California makes Washington, DC, look like a model of fiscal probity,” ran the sub-head ...
Citizen’s Guide to California Public School Finance
In any given state, legislatures spend more on elementary and secondary education than any other major program, including healthcare, higher education, social services, and the criminal justice system. California is no exception. At $40 billion, K–12 education represents the largest share of the state general-fund budget. Yet few people comprehend ...
