Unemployment
Business & Economics
Union Bosses, Corporate Lobbyists, and Maybe Even A Secretary of Health
Within three weeks of his inauguration, President Obama made a “down payment” on health reform that would put any used-car buyer to shame. Last month, we noted that President Obama had increased the fragmentation, bureaucracy, and cost of health care in at least three ways. Mr. Obama’s kids’ health program ...
Business & Economics
U. S. moving in wrong direction with card check
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a likely hot button for the Obama administration, would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the U. S. labor market and impose enormous costs on workers. Ironically, as America moves to fundamentally change the way unions are certified, other countries, like Canada, are ...
Business & Economics
Turning America into a Blue State; Bad Idea?
Some of the right-wing blogs I read are convinced that President Obama sincerely wants to destroy entrepreneurship in this country. This is nonsense. Obama loves entrepreneurship, but he would like to make a few changes to it. It’s the nature of the changes that worries me. If these changes worry ...
Climate Change
CA Nightmare: Worsening State’s Fiscal Crisis Through Bad Climate Policy
I have spent my entire 35 year professional life developing and implementing energy policies vital to our state. So it pains me to now see California taking an unfortunate misstep: embracing participation in the Western Climate Initiative. WCI, developed by seven U.S. states (California is joined by Oregon, Washington, Utah, ...
Business & Economics
The stimulus bill and American health care
Orange County Register, March 1, 2009 Tom Daschle’s nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services misfired, but that has not stopped President Barack Obama from loading billions of dollars onto the wagon of government-run health care. And he wants to shovel them in as fast as possible. On ...
Business & Economics
Will the Employee Free Choice Act aid or undo labor’s gains?
President Obama is committed to pragmatism and reforms that “work” for the improvement of the economy. The president’s commitment faces a tough test in one congressional proposal now on the horizon. The bill, known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) represents one of the most fundamental and sweeping changes ...
Business & Economics
Card check – U.S. moving in wrong direction
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a likely hot button for the Obama administration, would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the U.S. labor market and impose enormous costs on workers. Ironically, as America moves to fundamentally change the way unions are certified, other countries, like Canada, are moving ...
Business & Economics
Expand Economic Freedom in 2009
The onset of 2009, with a new president taking office, is a good time to reconsider the benefits of economic freedom. Contrary to what partisans of big government claim, the empirical case for economic freedom has grown much stronger in the last 10 years, due to the development of objective ...
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 ...
Environment
Perpetuating a myth
The myth of green jobs being a “savior” is same as the myth of the Phoenix: it always rises from the ashes. As I wrote here, it just isn’t so. As written here more recently, even the green industry in California is suffering setbacks. The NextTen authors take pains to ...
Union Bosses, Corporate Lobbyists, and Maybe Even A Secretary of Health
Within three weeks of his inauguration, President Obama made a “down payment” on health reform that would put any used-car buyer to shame. Last month, we noted that President Obama had increased the fragmentation, bureaucracy, and cost of health care in at least three ways. Mr. Obama’s kids’ health program ...
U. S. moving in wrong direction with card check
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a likely hot button for the Obama administration, would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the U. S. labor market and impose enormous costs on workers. Ironically, as America moves to fundamentally change the way unions are certified, other countries, like Canada, are ...
Turning America into a Blue State; Bad Idea?
Some of the right-wing blogs I read are convinced that President Obama sincerely wants to destroy entrepreneurship in this country. This is nonsense. Obama loves entrepreneurship, but he would like to make a few changes to it. It’s the nature of the changes that worries me. If these changes worry ...
CA Nightmare: Worsening State’s Fiscal Crisis Through Bad Climate Policy
I have spent my entire 35 year professional life developing and implementing energy policies vital to our state. So it pains me to now see California taking an unfortunate misstep: embracing participation in the Western Climate Initiative. WCI, developed by seven U.S. states (California is joined by Oregon, Washington, Utah, ...
The stimulus bill and American health care
Orange County Register, March 1, 2009 Tom Daschle’s nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services misfired, but that has not stopped President Barack Obama from loading billions of dollars onto the wagon of government-run health care. And he wants to shovel them in as fast as possible. On ...
Will the Employee Free Choice Act aid or undo labor’s gains?
President Obama is committed to pragmatism and reforms that “work” for the improvement of the economy. The president’s commitment faces a tough test in one congressional proposal now on the horizon. The bill, known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) represents one of the most fundamental and sweeping changes ...
Card check – U.S. moving in wrong direction
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a likely hot button for the Obama administration, would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the U.S. labor market and impose enormous costs on workers. Ironically, as America moves to fundamentally change the way unions are certified, other countries, like Canada, are moving ...
Expand Economic Freedom in 2009
The onset of 2009, with a new president taking office, is a good time to reconsider the benefits of economic freedom. Contrary to what partisans of big government claim, the empirical case for economic freedom has grown much stronger in the last 10 years, due to the development of objective ...
“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 ...
Perpetuating a myth
The myth of green jobs being a “savior” is same as the myth of the Phoenix: it always rises from the ashes. As I wrote here, it just isn’t so. As written here more recently, even the green industry in California is suffering setbacks. The NextTen authors take pains to ...
