Minimum Wage
Commentary
Obama the populist?
From his State of the Union to follow-up speeches in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Tennessee, Barack Obama is playing the populist on issues ranging from the minimum wage to unemployment benefits to retirement savings. He sides rhetorically with the little guy, victimized by big forces and big institutions. Yet, when ...
Commentary
Beware of a Forestry Standard Monopoly
Before any policy is changed, the potential economic consequences that they can cause should be considered. The Community Reinvestment Act and other affordable housing regulations, for instance, were supposed to increase loan availability to under-served communities. Unintentionally, these regulations played an important role in creating the housing boom and bust ...
Business & Economics
Startup Business Are America’s Best Job Creators
‘Small business” is the recipient of much official love (as well as heavy regulatory intrusion), but it receives its loudest applause as the supposed source of most employment growth. Alas, that conventional wisdom is incorrect: The modern scholarly literature finds that it is new (not small) businesses startups ...
Business & Economics
New Study Finds Startup Business Increases Growth of Real SGP
A new study examining the effect of net employment creation by startup businesses on state gross product was released today. Startup Businesses and the Growth of Real State Gross Product is authored by PRI senior fellow Benjamin Zycher, Ph.D. Dr. Zycher uses a sample of 49 states for the period ...
Commentary
Employer mandate a recipe for unemployment
Walmart just announced that it will not offer health insurance to new employees who work less than 30 hours a week. Its reserved the right to do the same for existing workers. For these new policies, Walmarts employees can thank Obamacare. The federal health reform laws employer mandate requires companies ...
Commentary
Thanks To ObamaCare, Many Will Lose Health Coverage
Wal-Mart just announced that it will not offer health insurance to new employees who work less than 30 hours a week. It’s reserved the right to do the same for existing workers. For these new policies, Wal-Mart’s employees can thank ObamaCare. The federal health reform law’s “employer mandate” requires companies ...
California
Professors at legislative hearing push more government
The rich are getting richer and everyone else is losing wealth. This phenomenon supposedly would justify more aggressive government policies redistributing wealth. At an Assembly hearing Wednesday about whether the state of California should be actively pursuing additional wealth redistribution policies, Legislators and academics said that the highest degree of ...
Business & Economics
The Best States For Jobs
The Texas jobs miracle has received a lot of attention since Rick Perry announced his candidacy for president in August. The numbers are impressive. Texas added 1.2 million net jobs since Perry took office as Texas Governor in December 2000, while the U.S. as a whole lost 1.1 million jobs ...
Business & Economics
Get in line, and take a number
SACRAMENTO – I’ve experienced several months where, for one reason or another, I’ve been stuck wrestling with various bureaucracies, of the governmental and corporate variety. It’s a frustrating, time-consuming and, ultimately, dehumanizing process. You’re always a number. Most everyone at the other end of those darned customer “service” lines is ...
Commentary
Bye Bye ‘Cadillac’ Tax?
As congressional negotiators wrangle this morning over whether to soften the potential blow of the so-called “Cadillac” tax or kill it altogether, health care insiders on National Journal’s Health Care Expert Blog are discussing the plan’s effect on controlling skyrocketing costs. When congressional Democrats meet with President Obama today, the ...
Obama the populist?
From his State of the Union to follow-up speeches in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Tennessee, Barack Obama is playing the populist on issues ranging from the minimum wage to unemployment benefits to retirement savings. He sides rhetorically with the little guy, victimized by big forces and big institutions. Yet, when ...
Beware of a Forestry Standard Monopoly
Before any policy is changed, the potential economic consequences that they can cause should be considered. The Community Reinvestment Act and other affordable housing regulations, for instance, were supposed to increase loan availability to under-served communities. Unintentionally, these regulations played an important role in creating the housing boom and bust ...
Startup Business Are America’s Best Job Creators
‘Small business” is the recipient of much official love (as well as heavy regulatory intrusion), but it receives its loudest applause as the supposed source of most employment growth. Alas, that conventional wisdom is incorrect: The modern scholarly literature finds that it is new (not small) businesses startups ...
New Study Finds Startup Business Increases Growth of Real SGP
A new study examining the effect of net employment creation by startup businesses on state gross product was released today. Startup Businesses and the Growth of Real State Gross Product is authored by PRI senior fellow Benjamin Zycher, Ph.D. Dr. Zycher uses a sample of 49 states for the period ...
Employer mandate a recipe for unemployment
Walmart just announced that it will not offer health insurance to new employees who work less than 30 hours a week. Its reserved the right to do the same for existing workers. For these new policies, Walmarts employees can thank Obamacare. The federal health reform laws employer mandate requires companies ...
Thanks To ObamaCare, Many Will Lose Health Coverage
Wal-Mart just announced that it will not offer health insurance to new employees who work less than 30 hours a week. It’s reserved the right to do the same for existing workers. For these new policies, Wal-Mart’s employees can thank ObamaCare. The federal health reform law’s “employer mandate” requires companies ...
Professors at legislative hearing push more government
The rich are getting richer and everyone else is losing wealth. This phenomenon supposedly would justify more aggressive government policies redistributing wealth. At an Assembly hearing Wednesday about whether the state of California should be actively pursuing additional wealth redistribution policies, Legislators and academics said that the highest degree of ...
The Best States For Jobs
The Texas jobs miracle has received a lot of attention since Rick Perry announced his candidacy for president in August. The numbers are impressive. Texas added 1.2 million net jobs since Perry took office as Texas Governor in December 2000, while the U.S. as a whole lost 1.1 million jobs ...
Get in line, and take a number
SACRAMENTO – I’ve experienced several months where, for one reason or another, I’ve been stuck wrestling with various bureaucracies, of the governmental and corporate variety. It’s a frustrating, time-consuming and, ultimately, dehumanizing process. You’re always a number. Most everyone at the other end of those darned customer “service” lines is ...
Bye Bye ‘Cadillac’ Tax?
As congressional negotiators wrangle this morning over whether to soften the potential blow of the so-called “Cadillac” tax or kill it altogether, health care insiders on National Journal’s Health Care Expert Blog are discussing the plan’s effect on controlling skyrocketing costs. When congressional Democrats meet with President Obama today, the ...
