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It's about free markets, not Texas
Submitted by Steven Greenhut on 6.28.2011
As California's budget battle continues, Republicans and Democrats have engaged in a rhetorical battle regarding the relative merits and demerits of our lovely state and one of the nation's other growing megastates ---- Texas.
Redevelopment Might Really be a Goner
Submitted by Steven Greenhut on 6.24.2011
Hours before the Wednesday midnight deadline for passing a state budget, legislative Democrats rammed through a ridiculous, gimmick-laden, majority-vote spending plan that failed to reform anything and failed to impress Gov. Jerry Brown, who wisely vetoed it less than a day later. The budget succeeded mainly in one area:ensuring the legislators would continue to get their paychecks, given that an initiative passed by voters last year, Proposition 25, would have denied them their pay for every day after a missed budget deadline.
Are low interest rates doing more harm than good?
Submitted by W. Lee Hoskins, Ph.D on 6.23.2011
PRI's Lee Hoskins was featured on MSNBC's Closing Bell in response to the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision to keep interest rates as they are for an extended period of time. According to Dr. Hoskins, "The Federal Reserve should shift to a program of normalizing interest rates and stick to the one thing they can control which is inflation."
New consumer bureau will be a bust - guaranteed
Submitted on 6.23.2011
In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) formally begins operations. Republicans oppose President Obama’s top choice, Elizabeth Warren, to head the new bureau, which should not have been created in the first place. The CFPB will drive up prices, but won’t actually protect consumers. Consider first the sheer implausibility of this “reform.” Consumers who feel they are being ripped off by powerful forces are looking to Washington politicians to save them? Since when does anything coming out of Washington resemble integrity and financial prudence? The CFPB’s own website makes that point.
Medicare Auctions for Durable Medical Equipment: Price Suppression and Research and Development Investment
Submitted by Benjamin Zycher, Ph.D on 6.14.2011
A new research study released by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based free-market think tank, reviews the auction design process currently established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for medical devices and equipment.
Proving the Redevelopment Rule
Submitted by Steven Greenhut on 6.6.2011
Doug Tessitor is the mayor of Glendora, a city in Los Angeles County. He’s a self-described conservative and dead certain that preserving California’s redevelopment agencies (RDAs) is essential to his city’s fiscal health. In a pair of recent online columns, Tessitor mounted an impassioned defense of redevelopment in response to my City Journal article depicting the agencies as a “secret government” that runs up debt, abuses eminent domain, and doles out subsidies to favored developers.
Bashing Oil Industry is Counterproductive
Submitted by Lawrence J. McQuillan, Ph.D on 6.3.2011
In a recent speech, President Obama set a goal to reduce America's oil imports by a third by 2025 — about 3 million to 4 million barrels a day. Unfortunately, Obama's own energy policies undercut his goal. To reduce America's dependence on foreign sources, domestic energy producers will need to increase production significantly at competitive prices to make up the difference. It's unclear how the president expects them to do this under his "less drilling, more taxes" energy policies.
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