Inflation
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 ...
Vicki E. Murray
March 31, 2009
Commentary
Pacific Research Institute and Just for the Kids—California Launches California School Finance Center Database
Sacramento, March 31, 2009 – The Pacific Research Institute and Just for the Kids – California announce the launch of the California School Finance Center database (https://schoolfinancecenter.org/). It compiles publicly-available information on public school revenue, achievement, and student demographic data from a dozen California Department of Education sources to present ...
Pacific Research Institute
March 30, 2009
Business & Economics
Blame it on the followers of Keynes
As the United States, Canada and other countries unleash trillions of dollars of economic stimulus packages on the world’s teetering financial system, it may be helpful to recall that the last time governments tried to “fix” the economy with mountains of borrowed money, it ended up making the problem worse. ...
John Greenwood
March 27, 2009
Business & Economics
FED FOCUS-Internal dissent over Fed action won’t halt policy
WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) – Some Federal Reserve insiders are breaking ranks in alarm over action by the U.S. central bank to tackle the credit crisis, but this unusually blunt display of dissent will not force a reversal in policy. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has made plain that he will ...
Alister Bull
March 13, 2009
Commentary
Don’t Blame Drugs for Health-Care Costs
In the opening pages of his recently released budget, Pres. Barack Obama describes the rising cost of health care as “one of the big drains on family budgets and on the performance of the economy as a whole.” Later in the budget, he suggests that America spends too much on ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 11, 2009
Business & Economics
Prop 1A: Interview with economist Ben Zycher, who says the measure does not deliver on a promise of real spending reform
Ben Zycher, a senior fellow with the Pacific Research Institute, thoroughly reviewed the text of Proposition 1A before the voters this May, and was underwhelmed by alleged spending reforms, and critical of tax increases in the proposal. FR Publisher Jon Fleischman interviews noted economist Ben Zycher A few weeks ago, ...
Jon Fleischman
March 6, 2009
Commentary
California Students Should be Free to Choose
Two years ago Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed January 29 Milton Friedman Day to honor the late Nobel laureate, his “intellectual hero,” whose Free to Choose book and documentary proved “life changing.” The governor and the legislature, unfortunately, have not allowed Milton Friedman’s ideas to change the lives of California parents ...
Vicki E. Murray
February 5, 2009
Business & Economics
“Do You Austrians Have a Better Idea?”
A lot of people get annoyed with Austrian economists because they tend to be so dogmatic (we prefer the term consistent) and because they cloak their strictly economic claims with self-righteousness (we prefer the term morality). After a good Austrian bashing of the latest call to steal taxpayer money and ...
Robert P. Murphy
February 2, 2009
Commentary
Jindal Proposes Sweeping Medicaid Overhaul
Health Care News – Heartland Institute (Chicago, IL), February 1, 2009 Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has unveiled a proposal for overhauling the state’s Medicaid program, altering both its funding and delivery. “It is time for us to do something different, and dramatically different,” said the state’s Health and Hospitals ...
Joe Emanuel
February 1, 2009
Business & Economics
Some Stimulating Reading
Some Stimulating Reading With the bloated, ramshackle, pork-laden, grotesque corruption of a “stimulus bill” now headed to the U.S. Senate, here’s a handy list of arguments and sources as we debate America’s new lurch towards European-style social democracy: The Pacific Research Institute’s Robert Murphy explains the economic-policy mistake that underlies ...
John Hood
January 29, 2009
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 ...
Pacific Research Institute and Just for the Kids—California Launches California School Finance Center Database
Sacramento, March 31, 2009 – The Pacific Research Institute and Just for the Kids – California announce the launch of the California School Finance Center database (https://schoolfinancecenter.org/). It compiles publicly-available information on public school revenue, achievement, and student demographic data from a dozen California Department of Education sources to present ...
Blame it on the followers of Keynes
As the United States, Canada and other countries unleash trillions of dollars of economic stimulus packages on the world’s teetering financial system, it may be helpful to recall that the last time governments tried to “fix” the economy with mountains of borrowed money, it ended up making the problem worse. ...
FED FOCUS-Internal dissent over Fed action won’t halt policy
WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) – Some Federal Reserve insiders are breaking ranks in alarm over action by the U.S. central bank to tackle the credit crisis, but this unusually blunt display of dissent will not force a reversal in policy. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has made plain that he will ...
Don’t Blame Drugs for Health-Care Costs
In the opening pages of his recently released budget, Pres. Barack Obama describes the rising cost of health care as “one of the big drains on family budgets and on the performance of the economy as a whole.” Later in the budget, he suggests that America spends too much on ...
Prop 1A: Interview with economist Ben Zycher, who says the measure does not deliver on a promise of real spending reform
Ben Zycher, a senior fellow with the Pacific Research Institute, thoroughly reviewed the text of Proposition 1A before the voters this May, and was underwhelmed by alleged spending reforms, and critical of tax increases in the proposal. FR Publisher Jon Fleischman interviews noted economist Ben Zycher A few weeks ago, ...
California Students Should be Free to Choose
Two years ago Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed January 29 Milton Friedman Day to honor the late Nobel laureate, his “intellectual hero,” whose Free to Choose book and documentary proved “life changing.” The governor and the legislature, unfortunately, have not allowed Milton Friedman’s ideas to change the lives of California parents ...
“Do You Austrians Have a Better Idea?”
A lot of people get annoyed with Austrian economists because they tend to be so dogmatic (we prefer the term consistent) and because they cloak their strictly economic claims with self-righteousness (we prefer the term morality). After a good Austrian bashing of the latest call to steal taxpayer money and ...
Jindal Proposes Sweeping Medicaid Overhaul
Health Care News – Heartland Institute (Chicago, IL), February 1, 2009 Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has unveiled a proposal for overhauling the state’s Medicaid program, altering both its funding and delivery. “It is time for us to do something different, and dramatically different,” said the state’s Health and Hospitals ...
Some Stimulating Reading
Some Stimulating Reading With the bloated, ramshackle, pork-laden, grotesque corruption of a “stimulus bill” now headed to the U.S. Senate, here’s a handy list of arguments and sources as we debate America’s new lurch towards European-style social democracy: The Pacific Research Institute’s Robert Murphy explains the economic-policy mistake that underlies ...