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The Rescue Chronicles
Capital Ideas
By: Steven F. Hayward, Ph.D
11.30.1999
The SUV parked next to me at Home Depot sported a license plate frame reading: "Where the Hell is Rescue?" This must be a neighbor of mine, for "Rescue" is my new home town. For weeks I have been joking to my Beltway friends that I was returning to rescue California from my redoubt at "Rescue, California," a burgh in the Gold Rush foothill country so small that even hummingbirds miss it if they blink. I’d be tempted to say this is a commensurate metaphor about the difficulty of turning California around in the Age of Clinton, but ever since the Edmund Morris debacle, rescue metaphors have been ruined for everyone.
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The Educational Benefits of Catholic Schools
Capital Ideas
By: Lance T. Izumi, J.D.
11.23.1999
Do Catholic schools provide better quality education than public schools? Recent evidence suggests that they do. In a first of its kind study, the Heritage Foundation compared the math achievement of fourth- and eighth-graders in Washington, D.C.’s Catholic and public schools. Looking at African-American students with similar socioeconomic backgrounds, the Heritage study made some amazing discoveries.
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Not Thankful for More Regulations
Action Alerts
By: Naomi Lopez
11.23.1999
As American families carve their turkeys this Thanksgiving holiday, most will have many reasons to be thankful. In particular, most Americans are more financially secure as the economy continues to roar and most are working. But for all the good economic fortune this year, the federal government could be jeopardizing the employment of thousands of Americans this holiday season.
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Thinking Outside the Cable Box
Action Alerts
By: Jessica Melugin
11.17.1999
With loud calls for increased competition coming from proponents of "open access," as the case between AT&T and the City of Portland is pending in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, it’s time to recall a basic economic truth. A truly competitive marketplace produces incentives for innovation and falling prices, but mandating competition often leads to unintended consequences. Letting rival firms get a "free ride" on AT&T’s cable lines will distort the market and may ultimately harm the consumer.
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The Feminists Are Wrong...Again
The Contrarian
By: Jane Wiegand
11.17.1999
High-tech companies won a spectacular victory in the final days of the 105th Congress. They convinced the nation’s legislators to amend the Immigration and Naturalization Act to increase the number of H-1B (worker) visas. During the next three fiscal years, over 300,000 foreign high-tech workers will be able to enter the United States using these visas.
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Tax Biases Against Working Wives
The Contrarian
By: Helen Chaney
11.17.1999
While many are praising the modern woman’s successes at juggling work and family life, current tax biases may cause a woman to think twice before she takes on both work and marriage.
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The Money Man Takes Over California Education
Capital Ideas
By: K. Lloyd Billingsley
11.16.1999
In recent years the California State Board of Education has proved serious about reform, pushing for tougher standards and statewide testing. But now the board is sending a strong signal that it will be turning back the clock to the days when the state’s education establishment saw more spending as the answer to all problems.
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Internet Regulation in Sheep’s Clothing
Action Alerts
11.15.1999
Recently, 300 government officials, academics, and high-tech business people from all over the world gathered in Germany to discuss a proposal to rate Internet content on a global scale. If this plan is embraced, free speech and the growth of the Internet face dangerous times.
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Minimum Wage Revisited
Action Alerts
By: Joanna Elachi
11.10.1999
Congressional voting took place yesterday morning on two proposals to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 per hour. The GOP proposal, which was passed by the Senate, would implement the increase over 28 months and cut business taxes to help soften the blow. President Clinton, who endorses a quicker implementation and smaller tax cuts, has already extended his customary veto threat. But either way, it’s just two sides of the same bad coin.
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E-Myths
Action Alerts
11.10.1999
The Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, the group considering whether or not to tax the Internet, has split into opposing camps. Predictably, the debate has fallen prey to myths, such as the notion that a tax-free Internet will cause state and local governments to "lose" tax dollars.
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Industry Changes Weaken the Case Against Microsoft
Action Alerts
By: Jessica Melugin
11.8.1999
With Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson’s finding of facts filing last Friday, the Microsoft anti-trust trial has been back in the spotlight and more senseless than ever. Leaving aside serious flaws in the government’s case against the software giant, the best hope for Microsoft may be how much the software industry has changed in the 15 months since the trial began.
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Driving our Pink Caddies into the Next Millennium
The Contrarian
By: Naomi Lopez
11.4.1999
In 1963, Mary Kay Ash, $5,000 in hand, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics, an enterprise that has allowed countless women to join the American economy as independent salespeople, proudly driving their trademark pink Cadillacs as badges of prosperity. Today, the company operates in 29 international markets and Mary Kay Ash, now chairman emeritus, is a certified legend.
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Does the SAT Harm Minorities?
Capital Ideas
By: Lance T. Izumi, J.D.
11.3.1999
It is ironic that despite the current rhetoric in favor of improving the rigor of K-12 education, there has also been a drumbeat to de-emphasize or eliminate the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). The UC Regents voted to admit pools of high school students on grades alone. The U.S. Department of Education issued a draft guideline saying that colleges should rethink their use of the SAT if it results in a disparate impact on minority admissions; and PBS’s Frontline aired a segment questioning the validity and usefulness of the exam. The empirical evidence, however, clearly shows that the SAT is an effective tool in predicting the success of students in college.
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Industry Memo: Free Speech is the Path to Privacy Peace
ePolicy
By: Justin Matlick*
11.1.1999
Opponents of Internet privacy laws claim such regulations are unnecessary and would harm the Internet. As the public grows weary of this pro-business rhetoric, advocacy groups and industry organizations would be wise to embrace a forgotten but more substantial argument. New privacy laws would damage the First Amendment, and this powerful fact could permanently end the privacy regulation crusade.
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