Unemployment
Blog
Coronavirus Chronicles: A Small Business Recession Could Turn into a Depression
Year to date, the Dow Index of the U.S.’s 30 largest companies is down 14 percent; the S&P 500, which tracks 500 large-cap companies, is down 8 percent; and the NASDAQ, an electronic system that trades many of the world’s fastest growing companies, is up more than 4 percent. Clearly, ...
California
Is there any way to escape punishment of AB5?
Roughly two months into the pandemic lockdown, and deep into what looks to be a historic economic wreck, Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to refuse to do anything about Assembly Bill 5, a law likely to kill more jobs than any public policy enacted in California’s history. What will it take ...
Commentary
COBRA subsidies would constrict the economy
Last week, the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, a $3 trillion follow-up to the first three coronavirus relief packages. Among other things, the package would have the government fund nine months of premiums for COBRA, the federal program that lets unemployed workers pay premiums in order to remain on their employers’ ...
Blog
Governor’s May Revise: Everything Old is New Again
Gov. Gavin Newsom released his May Revise budget plan on Thursday – a dramatically different budget from his January plan that anticipated a $5.6 billion surplus. California now faces a $54.3 billion deficit. In a press conference that lasted more than an hour (brief for Newsom), I was reminded of ...
Commentary
ICER’s Cost Model Is Not Only Wrong It’s Also Dangerous
There they go again. In the midst of the race for an effective COVID-19 treatment the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has performed an incomplete analysis of remdesivir in order to produce a cost estimate that is, by definition, precisely wrong. Remdesivir, produced by Gilead Sciences Inc., is ...
Blog
And The Damage From AB 5 Begins
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has officially filed suit against Uber and Lyft for violating Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5). The action is a clear signal that the state’s policy leaders are determined to maximize the economic damage from this ill-considered policy at a time when millions have been furloughed ...
California
Universal Basic Income — Just Another Welfare Program That Will Fail
Earlier this year, a universal basic income bill was introduced in the California Assembly. Should it become law, every resident 18 and over would receive $1,000 a month from the public fisc. Now U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is talking about including a guaranteed minimum income in the next round of coronavirus ...
Blog
Coronavirus Chronicles: Why for Some Workers, Unemployment Makes More Sense
Roughly 30 million people have filed for unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the nation’s economy. Economists estimate that the unemployment rate now ranges from 15 to 20 percent – numbers not seen since the Great Depression nearly a century ago. How H How quickly the economy bounces ...
California
How will big government California recover from the COVID-19 shutdowns?
Running a business in California, particularly a small one, is hard enough in ordinary times. Now the task has become impossible for many. If lawmakers don’t start making wholesale policy changes soon, the future will be more grim than the present. California is on its way to a $15 an ...
Blog
The Chinese Version of a Coronavirus Economic Stimulus Plan
The United States and China are engaged in a no-holds barred attempt to salvage their economies during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re all familiar with the actions taken in the recent weeks by the United States. The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury have led the largest economic response in American history ...
Coronavirus Chronicles: A Small Business Recession Could Turn into a Depression
Year to date, the Dow Index of the U.S.’s 30 largest companies is down 14 percent; the S&P 500, which tracks 500 large-cap companies, is down 8 percent; and the NASDAQ, an electronic system that trades many of the world’s fastest growing companies, is up more than 4 percent. Clearly, ...
Is there any way to escape punishment of AB5?
Roughly two months into the pandemic lockdown, and deep into what looks to be a historic economic wreck, Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to refuse to do anything about Assembly Bill 5, a law likely to kill more jobs than any public policy enacted in California’s history. What will it take ...
COBRA subsidies would constrict the economy
Last week, the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, a $3 trillion follow-up to the first three coronavirus relief packages. Among other things, the package would have the government fund nine months of premiums for COBRA, the federal program that lets unemployed workers pay premiums in order to remain on their employers’ ...
Governor’s May Revise: Everything Old is New Again
Gov. Gavin Newsom released his May Revise budget plan on Thursday – a dramatically different budget from his January plan that anticipated a $5.6 billion surplus. California now faces a $54.3 billion deficit. In a press conference that lasted more than an hour (brief for Newsom), I was reminded of ...
ICER’s Cost Model Is Not Only Wrong It’s Also Dangerous
There they go again. In the midst of the race for an effective COVID-19 treatment the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has performed an incomplete analysis of remdesivir in order to produce a cost estimate that is, by definition, precisely wrong. Remdesivir, produced by Gilead Sciences Inc., is ...
And The Damage From AB 5 Begins
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has officially filed suit against Uber and Lyft for violating Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5). The action is a clear signal that the state’s policy leaders are determined to maximize the economic damage from this ill-considered policy at a time when millions have been furloughed ...
Universal Basic Income — Just Another Welfare Program That Will Fail
Earlier this year, a universal basic income bill was introduced in the California Assembly. Should it become law, every resident 18 and over would receive $1,000 a month from the public fisc. Now U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is talking about including a guaranteed minimum income in the next round of coronavirus ...
Coronavirus Chronicles: Why for Some Workers, Unemployment Makes More Sense
Roughly 30 million people have filed for unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the nation’s economy. Economists estimate that the unemployment rate now ranges from 15 to 20 percent – numbers not seen since the Great Depression nearly a century ago. How H How quickly the economy bounces ...
How will big government California recover from the COVID-19 shutdowns?
Running a business in California, particularly a small one, is hard enough in ordinary times. Now the task has become impossible for many. If lawmakers don’t start making wholesale policy changes soon, the future will be more grim than the present. California is on its way to a $15 an ...
The Chinese Version of a Coronavirus Economic Stimulus Plan
The United States and China are engaged in a no-holds barred attempt to salvage their economies during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re all familiar with the actions taken in the recent weeks by the United States. The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury have led the largest economic response in American history ...
