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A predisposition to overregulate
Business and Economics Op-Ed
By: Lance T. Izumi, J.D.
12.30.2005
When Ronald Reagan inveighed against Big Government the American people nodded their heads in strong agreement. Not only had government become too intrusive in people's lives, it had become arrogant and drunk with power and pride.
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Insurance Gap
Health Care Op-Ed
By: Sally C. Pipes
12.29.2005
I thoroughly enjoyed the editorial commentary on how to cure America's health-care system ("Shooting the Moon," Dec. 12). But I would like to add a bit of clarification. There are 45 million uninsured in America, but the vast majority of these people are uninsured for only a short period. If we look at people who go without insurance for two years, the number drops to 8 million.
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Price Controls Can Be A Killer
Health Care Op-Ed
By: Sally C. Pipes
12.23.2005
Every newspaper is abuzz with stories of bewilderment as 40 million elderly Americans begin signing up for one of the largest government entitlement programs in history. There has been plenty to complain about regarding the new Medicare prescription drug benefit: It’s expensive, it’s confusing, and nobody knows what results it will bring.
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Health care: Verdict still out on new plans
Health Care Op-Ed
By: Sally C. Pipes
12.19.2005
Your report, "Consumer-driven health plans get mixed reviews" (Dec. 9), rightly noted that consumer-driven health plans [which offer workers a fixed amount of money each year for health care] encourage smart shopping, as opposed to the all-you-can-use mentality of traditional health insurance
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Schools Need Reform, Not More Tax Dollars
PRI in the News
By: Jennifer Nelson
12.17.2005
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s top education advisor, Alan Bersin, thinks it is time to raise taxes to give more money to the state's K-12 school system. According to the California School Boards Association website, Bersin recently gave a speech to the group in which he called for an end to the “gridlock” between the anti-tax forces and “those of us on the district level (who) are faced with absolute requirements for additional resources."
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San Francisco Cops Exposed by Digital Village
Technology Op-Ed
12.16.2005
Those who claim that racism, sexism, and homophobia run rampant in the San Francisco Police Department got some high-powered ammunition last week. Videos posted on the Web showed police officers participating in outrageous acts -- an embarrassment for the city and a strong demonstration of how technology is reshaping society.
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Straighten Out K-12 Before Conscripting 4-year-olds
PRI in the News
By: Tom Mulhern
12.15.2005
Recently, we've seen a new wave of ads supporting state-funded mandatory preschool. Without directly saying so, the idea behind running the ads now is to subtly infuse the notion in our heads over the next several months or year until we vote on a ballot initiative.
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Education failures of 2005
Education Op-Ed
By: Xiaochin C. Yan
12.14.2005
In 2005 California increased its education budget by $3 billion and poured $50 billion into schools at the rate of more than $10,000 per pupil. Yet there is little to show for these efforts. Student achievement remains low and the dropout rate is high. Teacher quality varies widely from school to school and the state lacks an accurate way to measure student progress. Throughout this past year, California missed crucial opportunities to enhance accountability and boost achievement:
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Study: Wage gap grew in Bay Area
PRI in the News
By: Jocelyn Wiener
12.13.2005
The gap between the haves and have-nots widened more quickly in the Bay Area than elsewhere in the state during the past quarter century, and especially during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, according to a report released today by the California Budget Project.
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Shady Bidding Process Tarnishes Capitol Security Project
By: Kevin Dayton
12.12.2005
One of California’s most visible new construction projects is the $6.8 million State Capitol security fence. No law requires this project to be done by contractors with unionized workers. But legislators are rigging it that way behind a veil of secrecy.
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Tech's New Advocate in the California Capitol
Technology Op-ed
12.9.2005
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rocked the political world this week with the appointment of Susan Kennedy, a Democrat and Public Utilities Commissioner (PUC) as his chief of staff. Republicans might feel snubbed, but Kennedy's appointment is good for the technology sector.
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Google in the Air
PRI in the News
12.5.2005
Google has dropped another of its seemingly endless supply of bombshell announcements: The company has submitted a plan to cover 95 percent of San Francisco with 300kpbs wireless Internet access, at no charge either to users or to the city. I'm thrilled with the plan, both because I live in San Francisco and because SBC is obviously terrified at the idea.
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Businesses, consumers optimistic
PRI in the News
By: Tamara Grippi
12.5.2005
The recent good news on the U.S. economy’s growth in jobs and gross domestic product is being echoed by a survey released by the National Federation of Independent Business showing business people are feeling increasingly positive about the economy.
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Rooting Out Spyware: Sony's Lesson
Technology Op-Ed
12.2.2005
When it comes to poor actors in the marketplace, the Sony story shows that a free and open society will respond quickly and effectively. Sony has already issued a recall for all the offending CDs, and a private company has come up with a self-regulation plan for industry.
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"Leave My Child Alone"
Business and Economics Op-Ed
By: K. Lloyd Billingsley
12.2.2005
To the casual web surfer, Leave My Child Alone appears to be a site for soccer moms, with friendly imagery and platitudes about child welfare. But slip below these surfaces and things changes. The name of the organization is an angry pun on the No Child Left Behind Act, which LMCA describes as "notorious." But the problem with the Act has nothing to do with education per se, but with a provision of the Act that allows recruiters from the United States military access to schools and to data about students. Leave My Child Alone, which began last April in San Francisco, doesn't like the military and wants recruiters to leave all students alone. It is a key part of an anti-military campaign that has targeted the nation’s schools as part of a long range strategy to undercut support for the war in Iraq and the War on Terror generally.
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Show Me The Metrics!
Health Care Op-Ed
By: Peter Pitts
12.1.2005
Winston Churchill said that Americans always strive do the right thing – after they have tried everything else. Today we have the opportunity to devise a system wherein DTC advertising is designed in equal parts as a savvy marketing strategy and powerful public health tool – which are not, incidentally, mutually exclusive concepts. But in doing so, we must learn from our mistakes.
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FDA, the Internet, and Medical Devices
PRI in the News
12.1.2005
In all of the excitement about the online consumer marketplace for medical device companies, FDA compliance is a question that continually arises. Understanding of exactly which regulations apply specifically to online consumer advertising by device companies has been somewhat elusive. This is justifiable, for it is an intriguing, if not murky, subject, and, on the part of FDA, very definitely a work in progress.
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