Unemployment
Business & Economics
The Golden State’s Golden Tax Opportunity
Next month, California legislators may have the opportunity for a long-term solution to the Golden State’s notorious boom-bust cycle, currently in its “bust” stage. A state commission launched by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may recommend a flat tax on income, which would stabilize revenue and help launch a recovery. If so, ...
Business & Economics
Santa Is a Hoosier
For Barack Claus, if it’s Wednesday, this must be Indiana. The state’s recreational-vehicle industry is hurting badly — the local unemployment rate is around 17 percent — and his empathy knows no bounds, particularly since the land of the Hoosiers is a swing state. But what sort of gifts should ...
Business & Economics
How California Can Avoid a Sequel of the Budget Crisis
At long last Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed the budget, but Californians may want to hold off on any celebration. The blockbuster $84.6 billion deal is packed with accounting tricks that virtually guarantee a sequel of the crisis. A long-term solution could be at hand, but only if legislators come ...
Business & Economics
Obama’s Big Spending Fallacy Could Ruin the US Economy: A History Lesson
I’m inclined to the view that the Great Depression was a seminal turning point in the history of economic thought. Thanks to that politically-induced tragedy something like 150 years of sound economic reasoning was overturned by two mercantilist fallacies that we now call Keynesianism, the first of which was the ...
Commentary
Healthcare 101: Congressional ‘reform’ measures are bad news
With public support for his healthcare reform plan eroding fast, President Obama has attempted to cut a higher profile on the issue, most recently during a televised primetime news conference and at Town Hall meetings now taking place around the country. Less than half of Americans approve of the president’s ...
Environment
California Says No Thanks to $100 Million; Never Mind to $4 Billion
Even after all the spending cuts and state worker furlough days, the state continues to be short on cash. The Assembly’s vote against the offshore drilling lease is troubling because it seems to lack any acknowledgment of California’s dire position both today and in the long term. Offshore drilling in ...
Business & Economics
Cut the Budget, Arnold
Could things get any worse for California’s economy? State unemployment in June jumped to 11.6 percent — the highest rate on record, and among the top six nationally. Frantic negotiations between Governor Schwarzenegger and Sacramento lawmakers have yielded a deal to meet the government’s $26-billion budget shortfall, but as of ...
Commentary
Not Ready for the Big Leagues
Obamacare would look like Obama’s first pitch. Ideally, our health-care system would remind one of a major-league fastball: crisp, efficient in its delivery, on-target, hitting the catcher’s mitt with a pop. Our current health-care system, burdened with too many middlemen and too little competition and choice, is more like a ...
California
California Counts the Cost on Climate Change Legislation
Last week, an investment management and advisory firm comprised of professors from California State University, Sacramento, released a report attempting to estimate the costs to small businesses – and therefore to California’s economy – of implementing Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. While the Varshney & ...
Business & Economics
Staggering Statistics Scream for Dramatic Policy Changes
New unemployment statistics are the latest in a seemingly endless series of reminders of Michigan’s economic woes and policy miscalculations. The state’s unemployment rate leapt to 15.2 percent in June, the 40th consecutive month Michigan has had the highest unemployment rate in the nation. To put things in even greater ...
The Golden State’s Golden Tax Opportunity
Next month, California legislators may have the opportunity for a long-term solution to the Golden State’s notorious boom-bust cycle, currently in its “bust” stage. A state commission launched by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may recommend a flat tax on income, which would stabilize revenue and help launch a recovery. If so, ...
Santa Is a Hoosier
For Barack Claus, if it’s Wednesday, this must be Indiana. The state’s recreational-vehicle industry is hurting badly — the local unemployment rate is around 17 percent — and his empathy knows no bounds, particularly since the land of the Hoosiers is a swing state. But what sort of gifts should ...
How California Can Avoid a Sequel of the Budget Crisis
At long last Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed the budget, but Californians may want to hold off on any celebration. The blockbuster $84.6 billion deal is packed with accounting tricks that virtually guarantee a sequel of the crisis. A long-term solution could be at hand, but only if legislators come ...
Obama’s Big Spending Fallacy Could Ruin the US Economy: A History Lesson
I’m inclined to the view that the Great Depression was a seminal turning point in the history of economic thought. Thanks to that politically-induced tragedy something like 150 years of sound economic reasoning was overturned by two mercantilist fallacies that we now call Keynesianism, the first of which was the ...
Healthcare 101: Congressional ‘reform’ measures are bad news
With public support for his healthcare reform plan eroding fast, President Obama has attempted to cut a higher profile on the issue, most recently during a televised primetime news conference and at Town Hall meetings now taking place around the country. Less than half of Americans approve of the president’s ...
California Says No Thanks to $100 Million; Never Mind to $4 Billion
Even after all the spending cuts and state worker furlough days, the state continues to be short on cash. The Assembly’s vote against the offshore drilling lease is troubling because it seems to lack any acknowledgment of California’s dire position both today and in the long term. Offshore drilling in ...
Cut the Budget, Arnold
Could things get any worse for California’s economy? State unemployment in June jumped to 11.6 percent — the highest rate on record, and among the top six nationally. Frantic negotiations between Governor Schwarzenegger and Sacramento lawmakers have yielded a deal to meet the government’s $26-billion budget shortfall, but as of ...
Not Ready for the Big Leagues
Obamacare would look like Obama’s first pitch. Ideally, our health-care system would remind one of a major-league fastball: crisp, efficient in its delivery, on-target, hitting the catcher’s mitt with a pop. Our current health-care system, burdened with too many middlemen and too little competition and choice, is more like a ...
California Counts the Cost on Climate Change Legislation
Last week, an investment management and advisory firm comprised of professors from California State University, Sacramento, released a report attempting to estimate the costs to small businesses – and therefore to California’s economy – of implementing Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. While the Varshney & ...
Staggering Statistics Scream for Dramatic Policy Changes
New unemployment statistics are the latest in a seemingly endless series of reminders of Michigan’s economic woes and policy miscalculations. The state’s unemployment rate leapt to 15.2 percent in June, the 40th consecutive month Michigan has had the highest unemployment rate in the nation. To put things in even greater ...
