|
Two Cheers for Climate Change?
Capital Ideas
By: Steven F. Hayward, Ph.D
1.29.2003
Another two inches of snow fell in Washington Sunday night, and today's high temperature might reach 20 degrees. As the East Coast enters into its eighth week of temperatures more than 15 degrees below normal, skeptics of global warming are starting to change their mind and say that, whatever their doubts, they now hope global warming is indeed true. Another anomaly of recent days is the news that U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases (particularly CO2) declined by 1.2 percent in 2002, the largest decline in more than a decade.
Read more
|
|
|
Too many wireless regulations
ePolicy
1.29.2003
ANYONE who uses wireless phone services will be interested to know that a new move by California officials threatens to raise prices, slow service, quash improvements and increase hassles.
Read more
|
|
|
Life in the Underground
Capital Ideas
By: K. Lloyd Billingsley
1.23.2003
Those looking for ways to fix California's budget deficit of nearly $35 billion have made a startling discovery. The state's underground economy is thriving, to the tune of $60-140 billion per year according to one study. That is a lot of money and one can understand why state bagmen want to get their hands on it. But first they ought to ask why the underground economy grew to such proportions.
Read more
|
|
|
Quiet Threats to Liberty
ePolicy
1.16.2003
In an effort to better protect America's security, the federal government has proposed a number of schemes to keep track of everyone in the United States. While of concern, these proposals are unfortunately not the only or largest threats to individual liberty and privacy.
Read more
|
|
|
Reforming Categorical Spending
Captial Ideas
By: Lance T. Izumi, J.D.
1.16.2003
When Governor Gray Davis released his proposed 2003-04 state budget last week, there was lots to complain about, such as job-killing tax increases. That having been said, Davis correctly recommends that a slew of special-interest education spending programs be consolidated into a large block grant that will allow greater funding flexibility for local schools.
Read more
|
|
|
California Coastal Conniption
Captial Ideas
By: Steven F. Hayward, Ph.D
1.8.2003
The big news around these parts of California's central coast is the state appeals court ruling that the California Coastal Commission is unconstitutional. The ruling is long overdue. The Coastal Commission, for you non-Californians, is one of those modern administrative agencies that combine bureaucratic ideology of near-Stalinist zeal with corruption of the worst kind. One commissioner, Mark Nathanson, served five years in prison for selling favors. But the Coastal Commission is merely the tip of the bureaucratic iceberg that has been sinking development in California for more than a generation.
Read more
|
|
|
Lingering Double Standards for Women in Leadership
By: Sally C. Pipes
1.1.2003
Women can no longer claim, at least with a straight face, that they don't get to show their leadership ability. Both senators from California, for example, are women, and Nancy Pelosi just became the leader of the House Democrats. Hillary Clinton is being touted as presidential timber. Margaret Thatcher took the helm in Britain, Indira Ghandi in India, and Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, of all places.
Read more
|
|
|
How Health-Care Reform Will Spur the Economy
Health Policy Prescriptions
By: Chris Middleton
1.1.2003
The federal government released data this month showing the United States spent $1.4 trillion on health care in 2001, or $5,035 per capita. This year, spending will increase to nearly $1.7 trillion. Yet all around us the health-care system is falling into chaos. The headlines tell the story.
Read more
|
|
|
California by the Numbers - 2003
PRI Study
By: Lawrence J. McQuillan, Ph.D, Andrew Gloger, Derek Fears
1.1.2003
PRI’s California by the Numbers: Assessing the Governor’s 2003 State of the State Address and Budget is an effort to hold California’s executive branch accountable for its statements and its policies by looking at California’s ranking in 13 national indices. By presenting a non-partisan, rigorous, statistically-based “state of the state,” this evaluation provides policymakers with a roadmap for change based on the successes and failures of other states. With a budget deficit of $34.6 billion, more than the combined budgets of 26 states, it is essential that Californians have a clear view of what went wrong and how to get the state back on track.
Read more
|
|
|
Telecrisis: How Regulation Stifles High-Speed Internet Access
PRI Study
By: Thomas W. Hazlett, Edward D. Hearst, Randolph J. May, Adam D. Thierer
1.1.2003
Broadband, or high-speed Internet access, has the potential to make a dramatic and rapid transformation in the daily lives of all Americans. It will make it easier for consumers to use many new services such as real-time distance learning, interactive health care, and on-demand entertainment. It will also make it easier for businesses to deliver these services and for workers to telecommute, expanding efficiency in the marketplace.
Read more
|
|
|
