Last week, the California Supreme Court heard the case Cal Fire Local 2881 v. CalPERS which challenged the 2013 law (the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act or PEPRA) that eliminated state employees’ ability to add up to five years of emp...
December 13, 2018 Rowena ItchonGovernment solutions often come with a price. For the America Invents Act (AIA), this price was an unintended impediment to medical innovation. Proposed legislation known as the Hatch-Waxman Integrity Act can reduce these costs, if Congress takes adv...
December 12, 2018 Wayne WinegardenMy last blog post discussed the risks that ESG investing creates for CalPERS and CalSTRS. If not addressed, then both taxpayers and public employees will bear unnecessary costs and risks. Unfortunately, SEC rules are making this problem even worse. T...
December 11, 2018 Wayne WinegardenI just returned from my annual Thanksgiving family trip to Hawaii where it was Day 40-something of a hotel workers’ strike at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. I had a hunch something was amiss when our Uber driver pulled into the driveway and a lone young....
December 06, 2018 Rowena Itchon
Legislating Energy Poverty Shows Market-Based Policies More Effective in Cutting Emissions...
December 05, 2018 Wayne WinegardenCalifornia’s public pensions are in trouble. While the Pew Charitable Trusts reports that California’s current unfunded liabilities are nearly $170 billion, as I recently reported in my chartbook on California’s pension crisis, the crisis is much wor...
December 05, 2018 Wayne WinegardenAs I write this article in late November of 2018, the stock market has fallen significantly from its recent highs. These losses, which have erased nearly all the gains made thus far in 2018 push us toward official correction territory for both the D...
December 04, 2018 Damon DunnWhile success still has many fathers, failure is no longer an orphan. President Obama’s recent speeches and rallies demonstrate that, now, failure is simply redefined as success. The costs from this revisionism is high. Creating false narratives enco...
November 30, 2018 Wayne WinegardenBy Bethany Blankley The latest report calling for occupational licensing reforms joins others in saying that strict licensing requirements cost millions of jobs, billions of dollars in economic costs, and reduced overall GDP . . . “All too often, the...
November 28, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteIf your holiday meals include filet mignon, rack of lamb, roast pork, or even charcuterie, you might want to reach for a second helping while you can still afford it. That’s because Oxford University researchers are proposing a tax on meat. Their go...
November 26, 2018 Rowena ItchonThere is no shortage of bad ideas when it comes to the pharmaceutical market. One such proposal would allow drugs to be imported directly from other countries, such as Canada. Then there is the Trump Administration’s proposal that would effectively a...
November 19, 2018 Wayne WinegardenIn the early 21st century, American fiscal policy must balance and prioritize two fundamental goals. First, we need to create the best possible environment for investment and innovation, setting the stage for another century of unparalleled prosperit...
November 19, 2018 Damon DunnHealth and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar just released a sweeping proposal that would drastically change how Medicare pays for advanced cancer therapies and other potent medicines. The plan relies on foreign price controls to reduce drug spendin...
November 16, 2018 Wayne WinegardenThe SEC requires all institutional investors to vote on all matters put forth in proxy statements, or the measures voted on during shareholder meetings. For most institutional investors, keeping up with all of these issues is not feasible, so they tu...
November 15, 2018 Wayne WinegardenArgues That SEC Should Ensure Shareholder Interests Are Top Priority in Investment Decisions SAN FRANCISCO – Policy reforms should be enacted to ensure that proxy advisory firms promote fund managers’ fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders and in...
November 14, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteIt’s official. Amazon has announced plans to establish its second headquarters in New York in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens and Crystal City, Virginia, which is just outside Washington, D.C. I first wrote about Amazon’s search in ...
November 13, 2018 Rowena ItchonIn some excellent reporting by Chris Reed of CalWatchdog, Reed found that more than 100 local governments in California asked voters for tax hikes on Election Day, double the 56 the Bond Buyer said it recorded in November 2016. These 100+ measures we...
November 08, 2018 Rowena ItchonThere are not enough politicians who know what it takes to run a business. Many argue that government would improve if it was run more like a business. Having been an entrepreneur and business owner, I know firsthand the blessings and challenges that...
November 07, 2018 Damon DunnWatch PRI’s Wayne Winegarden debate “the future of American retirement” with former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and others at a recent Pepperdine University School of Public Policy forum in Washington, DC....
November 01, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteListen to PRI’s senior fellow in business and economics Dr. Wayne Winegarden discuss President Trump’s drug pricing transparency proposal on the nationally-syndicated “Lars Larson Show.” The interview begins at the 54:25 mark...
October 31, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteIt’s been a rocky road for the stock market so far in October. Historically, the financial markets aren’t jittery around mid-term elections. But rising interest rates, a trade war, the mysterious death of an Arab journalist, and Central Americans o...
October 29, 2018 Rowena ItchonAt 2 pm Eastern time today, President Trump spoke at the Department of Health and Human Services where he recommended a litany of policies that would ultimately impose price controls on the pharmaceutical market. Take his proposal to force the prices...
October 25, 2018 Wayne WinegardenRarely is there bipartisan agreement that a tax cut won’t cost the federal government money. But, in the case of the medical device tax (a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices and products that was passed as part of the Affordable Care Act) this is......
October 24, 2018 Wayne WinegardenAs part of the Affordable Care Act, a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices and products was passed. The tax was levied on devices such as pacemakers, advanced imaging technologies (Cat Scan, MRI and ultrasound equipment), artificial joints, surgical gl...
October 18, 2018 Wayne WinegardenOur politics are full of paeans to small business. Regardless of one’s policy preferences or party affiliation, everyone appears rhetorically to be on the side of small business. As an entrepreneur and small business owner, I am reminded daily of the...
October 18, 2018 Damon DunnWatch PRI’s Wayne Winegarden discuss the Trump Administration proposal on drug pricing advertising on “America Talks Live” with Dr. Gina Loudon and John Cardillo on Newsmax TV....
October 17, 2018 Newsmax TVPete Constant, former San Jose City Councilman and president of the Retirement Security Initiative, joins us to share his experiences as a local elected official grappling with runaway public employee pensions, and what can be done to tame California...
October 15, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteThis essay is meant to be a simple and straight forward look at how adding specific skill sets allowed me to have socioeconomic mobility and earn wages that allow me to send my daughter to private school, own a home, and enjoy a better present......
October 04, 2018 Damon DunnWhen I was in the investment industry in the 1990s, my friend Jeannette and I observed that after meetings and conferences, the top executives – mostly men but a few women — often played a round of golf. We knew a lot of bonding took......
October 03, 2018 Rowena ItchonRegnery Publishing Vice President and Executive Editor Harry Crocker joins us to talk about his new book Armstrong, which imagines what would have if George Armstrong Custer survived the Battle of Little Big Horn. We discuss his inspiration for writ...
October 01, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteThis summer, I had the opportunity to interview Andy Puzder on PRI’s “Next Round” podcast. In chatting with him about his new book Capitalist Comeback, the former Trump nominee for Secretary of Labor and I were both astounded at the speed of the eco...
September 27, 2018 Rowena ItchonLast week, I celebrated my 42nd birthday in style – taking a few days off following our Baroness Thatcher Gala to enjoy some of the sites of Southern California. I spent a lovely afternoon at Downtown Disney, which is an entertainment district right ...
September 26, 2018 Tim AnayaAmericans are facing two very different pension outlooks. Most private sector workers contribute to 401(k) plans (which are often matched by employers), and rely on investments, savings, and Social Security for their retirement. But, their savings is...
September 20, 2018 Wayne WinegardenSacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is trying to have his cake and eat it too. He announced in June that he opposed a local ballot measure being pushed by labor unions and activist groups to impose new rent control restrictions in Sacramento. That mea...
September 19, 2018 Tim AnayaCalls for stricter environmental mandates contradict the broad public consensus on global warming. According to a 2018 report by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, seven out of ten Americans believe global warming is happening and six ...
September 18, 2018 Wayne WinegardenIt didn’t take long for a California Supreme Court decision to start claiming victims. Bottle & Barlow, a “get loose stay sharp” joint on trendy R Street in Sacramento, where a gentleman can sip whisky and also be stylishly shorn, has lost its en...
September 18, 2018 Kerry JacksonI used to tell my friends and colleagues to be sure to check out the Lord & Taylor website before they buy an outfit. Lord & Taylor doesn’t have operations in California, so the same Calvin Klein dress would be tax-free at Lord & Taylor,....
September 17, 2018 Rowena ItchonTrump, Obama spar over economy. Who’s right? By Niv Elis By many metrics, the economy is booming, and both President Trump and former President Obama want you to know that they are the one to thank. Under Trump, the stock market hit new highs, ...
September 16, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteIn this and succeeding columns, I intend to develop a new paradigm for thinking about economic progress for America in the 21st century. I believe that supporters of free markets are faced with both extraordinary opportunities and great cause for con...
September 13, 2018 Damon DunnListen to PRI’s Senior Fellow in Business and Economics Wayne Winegarden discuss his new chartbook and study on California’s $1 trillion pension monster with Carl DeMaio on “The DeMaio Report” on KOGO Radio in San Diego....
September 06, 2018 Pacific Research Institute
New PRI-Open the Books Chartbook Shows California’s Public Pension Monster Has Grown to Nearly $1 Trillion More Realistic Market Estimate Show State Pension Funds are Just 28 Percent Funded...
September 05, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteHeading into the Labor Day weekend, we thought we would take a contrarian view of the holiday by reviewing Forbes columnist John Tamny’s new book, The End of Work. Last year, we interviewed him on our podcast on his previous book, Who Needs the Fed?...
August 27, 2018 Rowena ItchonPlay everyone’s favorite game show “What Will You Bid?” to learn about the broken competitive bidding process for providing durable medical equipment to Medicare patients. Read the new study by PRI’s Wayne Winegarden to learn ...
August 24, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteDuring her recent campaign swing through California, Democratic socialist Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez visited the asparagus capital of America to meet with Mayor Michael Tubbs and explore ways to take a local universal basic income plan nationwide. “We t...
August 23, 2018 Tim AnayaWe almost never find ourselves on the same side as celebs, so when “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon, now running for governor of New York, recently railed against taxpayer subsidies for the film industry, we couldn’t help but pop the popcorn. B...
August 21, 2018 Rowena ItchonPfizer CEO Ian Read recently told investors that he believes pharmaceuticals will soon be sold without rebates. While this change, if it comes to pass, is undoubtedly positive for patients, a question naturally arises: why? After all, rebates and dis...
August 16, 2018 Wayne WinegardenJust after the New Year began, California lawmakers, sore that the Federal Communications Commission restored a stolen freedom and repealed the Obama-era net neutrality rule, introduced their own net neutrality bill. The California Internet Consumer ...
August 16, 2018 Kerry JacksonThe United States benefits every day from the policy victories won by President Reagan’s administration. Enough time has passed since his tenure in the White House that many fair-minded observers, regardless of their political orientation, recognize ...
August 08, 2018 Damon DunnThrough its purchases of durable medical equipment (DME), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) helps many patients remain in their home and out of hospitals or other long-term care settings. These purchases cover a wide array of me...
August 07, 2018 Wayne WinegardenTim and I have a little shtick on the PRI podcast where on the last question we ask each of our guests for a favorite wine recommendation. Our headquarters in San Francisco is just down the road from Wine Country and most everyone loves wine......
August 07, 2018 Rowena ItchonThis week, we celebrate what would have been Milton Friedman’s 106th birthday (he was born July 31, 1912). In celebration of Dr. Friedman’s important legacy defending free markets and free people, and the inspiration he has provided all ...
August 03, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteStep one in any recovery program is to admit that the problem exists. And, make no mistake about it, California’s public pensions are addicted to debt. Solving this debt crisis requires political courage to implement fundamental reforms, which is why...
July 31, 2018 Wayne WinegardenOh Canada, here I come! Well, not really. At least not permanently. This week I’m in Montreal and Quebec City for summer vacation. Before leaving, I decided to check out how the U.S. compares economically to Canada, and there’s no better source than ...
July 30, 2018 Rowena ItchonDownload the PDF When the Legislature declared a moratorium on cities enacting soda taxes, it felt like a win for freedom and a pushback of interventionism. But the busybodies never give up and they plow a fertile field in California, which has no ri...
July 26, 2018 Kerry JacksonNick Loris of the Heritage Foundation joins us from Vancouver to discuss why California gas prices are so much higher than the rest of the nation, and what reforms would make a real difference in giving drivers some relief at the pump....
July 24, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteWhen Andy Puzder was 10, he went with his father, a Ford salesman, to deliver a new car to a wealthy customer. “Mr. Humphrey” lived in opulence on the east side of Cleveland. Puzder marveled at the treasure before him, the enormous house, the grand.....
July 18, 2018 Kerry JacksonOn the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision on Janus, the State Controller’s Office announced that beginning in July, it would stop deducting “fair share fees” from the paychecks of state workers who are not full union members. The fair share fee, ...
July 16, 2018 Rowena ItchonExpenditures on prescription drugs grew 12.4 percent in 2014 and 8.9 percent in 2015. These eye-popping data are not representative of the long-term expenditure trend, however. Not only did the growth in prescription drugs expenditures slow to 1.3 pe...
July 12, 2018 Wayne WinegardenIf there’s one thing that unites Californians, it’s a disdain for crony capitalism. What is crony capitalism, you ask? We see it all the time. Think local elected officials throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Amazon to try and lure their se...
July 12, 2018 Tim AnayaOne of the most common themes in American politics is the emphasis on preserving or restoring our role as a land of opportunity. Across the political spectrum, there is a general sense that the intergenerational promise of upward mobility is becoming...
July 10, 2018 Damon DunnMarlo Lewis of the Competitive Enterprise Institute joins us in Vancouver for a discussion on how the free-market is a more effective way to achieve a global, clean energy future than new clean energy laws or excess regulations....
July 09, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteTax Calculator Part 2 In my last blog, I ran some numbers on the Tax Foundation’s new tax calculator to show the average tax cut for California households by congressional district under the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. But I thought what would be......
July 04, 2018 Rowena ItchonDownload the PDF California’s “bullet” train to nowhere keeps going — nowhere. Unless tearing down a bridge just to rebuild it is somewhere. Construction of an overpass near Fresno was scrapped late last year—yes, we’re learning about this just...
June 27, 2018 Kerry JacksonLeave it to the Tax Foundation to come with this cool online calculator to figure out how much you will save in taxes from the Trump tax cuts. The calculator asks you to plug in your AGI, your filing status (single or married), even details......
June 27, 2018 Rowena ItchonLast week, the Supreme Court issued a major decision in a case about online retailers collecting sales taxes, South Dakota v. Wayfair. As PRI’s Bartlett Cleland recently wrote in Fox and Hounds, “the case is centered around the notion that an entity ...
June 25, 2018 Tim AnayaIn June of 1930 President Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Act. This Act imposed steep tariffs on over 20,000 different goods that Americans imported from other countries. As of its time, it was one of the largest tax increases in history. It was also ...
June 21, 2018 Wayne WinegardenThere are plenty of similarities between Italy and California. Both are similar in size and have wonderful wine countries and picturesque coastlines. They also share high taxes, a challenging regulatory landscape, and a growing gap between their rich...
June 21, 2018 Ben SmithwickOur guest in this podcast is Todd Gaziano of the Pacific Legal Foundation. As director of the newly created PLF Center for the Separation of Powers, Todd is working on a long-term project to roll back the power of unelected government administrators...
June 18, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteNo one should wonder why executives keep saying California is the worst state to do business in. Too many politicians see businesses as nothing more than vessels available to be drained of their substance for the funding of foolish ideas. The most re...
June 18, 2018 Kerry Jackson
The business guru Peter Drucker is credited with the notion that “if you can’t measure something you can’t manage it”. Using this logic in reverse, perhaps the best way to thwart the misplaced attempts to manage global economic trade is to stop measu...
June 12, 2018 Wayne WinegardenA Supreme Court case to be decided by the end of June could require California residents to pay taxes to a variety states, counties, cities and even mosquito abatement districts across the country. South Dakota v. Wayfair is a case that asks whether ...
June 12, 2018 Bartlett Cleland“Pension risk includes lava,” said Keli’i Akina, president of the Grassroot Institute, a sister free-market think tank in Hawaii. Recently, the Grassroot Institute hosted an event titled “Navigating risk at Hawaii’s public pension system.” Thom Will...
June 12, 2018 Rowena ItchonPublic-sector employees who want to be freed of forced unionization are hoping that the Supreme Court will release them from their yoke when it issues its impending ruling in the case of a government worker who sued the union that claims to represent...
June 08, 2018 Kerry JacksonTax-Cut-Fueled Stock Buybacks Retard Emergence of Trump’s ‘Greatest’ Economy By Bradley Keoun President Donald Trump’s tax cuts have prompted corporate executives use the cash windfall to reward their own investors instead of ...
June 07, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteThe U.S. economy has generated more wealth for more people than any other economic system in human history, and it’s not even close. What began as a small group of colonies clustered near the eastern seaboard of a mostly empty continent founded by po...
June 07, 2018 Damon DunnIn 2017, there were 46 new novel drug innovations, including new treatments for cancers, Parkinson’s disease, and serious skin infections. These innovations are essential for improving the quality of health care in the U.S. However, innovation is not...
June 05, 2018 Wayne WinegardenNew Study: Patients, Employers and Taxpayers Could Save Significantly if Barriers to Biosimilars Removed Case Study: Increasing Use of Infliximab Biosimilar Could Lower Costs Up to $465 Million Annually...
June 05, 2018 Wayne WinegardenThe great investor Warren Buffett once said, “Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” UC President Janet Napolitan...
June 04, 2018 Rowena ItchonWithout a hint of irony, while announcing the 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and the 10 percent tariffs on imported aluminum on May 31st, Commerce Secretary Ross proclaimed that “we take the view that without a strong economy, you cannot have s...
May 31, 2018 Wayne WinegardenBy Brendan Pringle This afternoon some 8,000 Starbucks stores in the United States shut down for “racial-bias education” to prevent discrimination in its stores. Starbucks remains under fire after the arrest of two black men after they refused to lea...
May 30, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteBy Rowena Itchon and Tim Anaya This week, the Assembly and Senate face a key deadline. All bills originating must pass their “house of origin” by the end of the week (i.e., bills introduced in the Assembly must pass the Assembly). The Appropriation...
May 30, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteThat sound you hear is the rush of California politicians and various moneyed interests racing to try and take advantage of a recent Supreme Court ruling paving the way for sports betting in every state. On May 14, the Court struck down a federal law...
May 23, 2018 Tim AnayaBusinesses in California could use some good news, but one wonders when — and sometimes if — any will ever come. At the same time, there seems to be no end to the bad news, at least when government authorities are involved. The most recen...
May 22, 2018 Kerry JacksonIncentives drive all economic activity. Unfortunately, far too many of the incentives that underlie the U.S. health care sector discourage quality and encourage excessive costs. Our current health insurance system exemplifies this problem. The disinc...
May 21, 2018 Wayne WinegardenDue to its national implications, last week’s introduction of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) blueprint on drug prices is garnering all the attention. Despite its importance, HHS’ blueprint should not overshadow the many poor, and ...
May 17, 2018 Wayne WinegardenCutting, styling, shampooing, and curling hair properly takes some practice. But how much before a person is skilled enough to obtain a license to perform those tasks in California? The state says at least 1,500 hours of training are needed. Common-s...
May 17, 2018 Kerry JacksonWe’re all hearing it: the bull market is “long on the tooth,” and the market volatility we’ve seen so far this year is a sign that a big correction, or even a bear market, may be around the corner. Interest rate fears, trade wars, and......
May 16, 2018 Rowena ItchonIt’s not news that the federal government spends too much. This year, the federal government will spend about $30,000 per taxpayer. That doesn’t count the public debt — every taxpayers’ share is over $145,000 — or unfunded liabiliti...
May 15, 2018 Wayne WinegardenCalifornia Policy Center head Will Swaim joins us to discuss the effort to increase worker freedom in California. We explore the Janus case pending before the Supreme Court, efforts to expand pension reform and government transparency, and the 2018 ...
May 14, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteWealth gap grows in San Diego, report says By Phillip Molnar Also published in Los Angeles Times If you feel left behind in San Diego’s economy, you’re not alone. The gap between the have and have-not’s in San Diego was the ninth-highest out of 100 c...
May 14, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteLess than 32 percent of California voters who went to the polls on Election Day in 2016 pulled the lever for Donald Trump. These “deplorables” are probably delighted that Hillary Clinton isn’t president and pleased in general with how Trump has gover...
May 14, 2018 Kerry JacksonCalifornia’s economy has now surpassed that of United Kingdom, making it the fifth-largest in the world if it were its own country. Despite this growth, and in contrast to the perception that all is well in California because the economy looks so rob...
May 09, 2018 Kerry JacksonHealth care is becoming less affordable every year. Over the past 10 years, national healthcare expenditures have grown 45 percent, but our economy has grown only 28 percent. This isn’t sustainable; and, solving this problem should be a top pol...
May 08, 2018 Wayne WinegardenAs the sharing economy has grown in California, we’re changing how we approach many common life transactions. When we’re looking for a repair person to fix a broken toilet, now we might look to Thumbtack to bid out of the job when before we would......
May 08, 2018 Tim AnayaBy Gil Weinreich More than two decades ago, I actually held a government job for a period of three years. It was a good job – I learned a lot and got to do interesting work, for which I remain grateful to this day.......
May 04, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteBy Jill Sederstrom Patients would save both time and money if neighborhood pharmacies could administer more adult vaccines. However, state-level regulations remain a significant barrier to achieving this goal. According to the study released by the P...
May 03, 2018 Pacific Research Institute
In the aftermath of a record $1.3 trillion federal spending deal, the latest report in the Pacific Research Institute’s Beyond the New Normal series makes the case that such record spending levels hurts economic growth and American prosperity. The ne...
May 02, 2018 Wayne WinegardenIf you want to handicap a man for the rest of his life, deny him an education. This is manifestly true in America, as the disadvantages associated with a poor education tend to multiply in a free society and a free economy. It is our......
May 02, 2018 Damon DunnIt should be no surprise that the Trump tariffs are not having their intended effect. Consider the impact on California farmers as documented by Bloomberg.com: More than half of Dan Vincent’s projected 2018 profit was wiped out with a stroke of Presi...
April 26, 2018 Wayne Winegarden“April is the cruelest month,” wrote T.S. Eliot. It’s especially cruel for Californians because today, April 23, is the day when California taxpayers have collectively earned enough money to pay their federal, state, and local tax bill for the year,...
April 23, 2018 Rowena ItchonIs he, or isn’t he? That’s the big question when it comes to the $100 billion in tariffs that President Trump has threatened to impose on China. Many supporters of these threatened tariffs would claim that the answer is: he isn’t; or more accurately,...
April 16, 2018 Wayne WinegardenLast week, the California Chamber of Commerce came out with its annual list of Job Killer bills. In putting together this list, the Chamber wanted to call attention to the negative impact these 21 bills have on the state’s job climate and economy sh...
April 12, 2018 Rowena ItchonThe Administration’s call to impose billions of dollars of tariffs on Americans who consume goods and services made in China is economic folly. Nevertheless, the Administration incorrectly touts that these tariffs will benefit the economy. Such claim...
April 11, 2018 Wayne WinegardenNew research indicates that coffee might help cut the risk of heart disease. Apparently, that was taken as good news everywhere — except California. Four days after that study was published, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge issued a prelimina...
April 10, 2018 Kerry JacksonSalim Furth and Emily Hamilton, research fellows with the free-market Mercatus Center at George Mason University, join us to discuss their new research brief on Senate Bill 827, one of this year's highest-profile housing bills, and other ways that th...
April 02, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteLast week, Tesla analysts at Goldman Sachs reiterated their sell rating of the stock, citing decreased delivery projections of its Models S and X, and slower production of its mass market Model 3 (see: that’s what I want!). Goldman analyst David Tam...
March 28, 2018 Rowena Itchon“Have you heard about Flippy?” That’s what my colleague and fellow Right By the Bay contributor Rowena Itchon asked me recently. I hadn’t…so I Googled it. Flippy is a burger-flipping robot designed to operate alongside human workers in commercial kit...
March 23, 2018 Ben SmithwickBy Matt D’Angelo The recent tax legislation mean small businesses everywhere are getting a break on their taxes. The legislation, which is one of the most significant tax overhauls passed in decades, provides pass-through businesses and corpora...
March 21, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteUber and Lyft have generated billions in gross revenue in California. It’s a dazzling data point that has caught the eyes of some politicians who are unable to resist the covetous urges that arise when they watch commercial enterprises thrive. Electe...
March 20, 2018 Kerry JacksonDOWNLOAD THE PDF California has a deserved reputation for losing businesses to states where companies believe their commercial prospects are more promising. At the same time, businesses that stay are too often reluctant to expand in-state while many ...
March 19, 2018 Kerry JacksonJared Meyer of the Foundation for Government Accountability joins us to discuss his book on how progressive cities like San Francisco are defending the status quo by fighting innovation and the sharing economy, and gives his thoughts on how policymak...
March 18, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteStriking the right regulatory balance for pharmaceuticals is no easy task. On the one hand, policy should promote drug affordability by encouraging robust competition. On the other hand, policy should encourage future innovations by granting these dr...
March 14, 2018 Wayne WinegardenThe Pacific Research Institute has extensively documented California’s public employee pension crisis through a comprehensive study, as well as a collection of op-eds and blog posts. But PRI is not alone. The California Policy Center has been coverin...
March 13, 2018 Kerry JacksonJohn Kabateck, longtime advocate for NFIB and California’s small businesses, joins us to discuss the results of PRI’s new survey on California’s business climate and explore why highly-coveted industries are still not coming to the Golden State despi...
March 12, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteWe’ve heard it again and again, declarations from California’s progressive politicians on the need to attract “favored” industries to the state. And what are those favored industries? It’s an easy guess — tech, biotech, “clean” manufacturing, e...
March 09, 2018 Rowena ItchonLawyers recently finished arguing a potentially historic workers’ free speech case before the U.S. Supreme Court and pundits are buzzing about Justice Neil Gorsuch’s silence during the proceedings. However, Gorsuch’s views on individual liberty are ...
March 08, 2018 Lance IzumiSurvey: Biz Execs Down on CA A survey of business executives in highly sought after industries such as clean tech and research & development conclude that California has a number of problems that prevent businesses from locating or expanding in ...
March 06, 2018 Joel FoxCalifornia lawmakers have made it clear. They want clean tech, R&D, manufacturing, energy, and other highly-desired industries to set up shop in California and create jobs in the Golden. State. Yet, despite introducing legislation offering tax cr...
March 05, 2018 Tim AnayaThe long-term consequences of irresponsible government spending – federal, state, and local – are quickly becoming near-term realities. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the worst of these consequences can still be avoided if politicians and...
March 01, 2018 Wayne WinegardenFor centuries, America has worked because of free enterprise: Millions of individuals communicate their preferences and producers respond with changes in products, services and prices. Free enterprise operates silently, efficiently and effectively to...
March 01, 2018 Damon Dunn
New PRI Survey: Housing, Education, Business Climate Top Reasons Why Highly-Desired Industries Aren’t Moving to California Survey Gives Insight into Location Decisions of R&D, Clean Tech, Manufacturing Execs ...
February 28, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteWhen it comes to the U.S. health insurance market, the adage about communist economics is apropos. In this instance, instead of being “they pretend to pay us, we pretend to work”, it is “they pretend to sell insurance, we pretend to buy it”. What we....
February 28, 2018 Wayne WinegardenThe two red-letter days on labor union calendars are May Day and Labor Day. After today, though, February 26 might appear as a black-letter day, marking the downfall of once-mighty organized labor. The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments today in...
February 26, 2018 Kerry JacksonDamon Dunn, former college and pro football player, successful entrepreneur, and former Hoover Institution fellow joins us to discuss his new “Right by the Bay” column, Free Markets 101, where he will make often complex economic trends more understan...
February 26, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteBy Glenn Minnis Despite support from a few Republicans, a measure championed by Sen. Pat Leahy, D-VT, targeting health care costs did not make its way into the budget passed by Congress earlier this month. The exclusion of the Creating and Restoring ...
February 23, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteThis past week, PRI filed an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court on the closely watched case Cal Fire v. CalPERS and the State of California. In 2012, the legislature passed, and Governor Brown signed into law, the Public Employees’ Pension ...
February 23, 2018 Rowena ItchonPerhaps no area of the world better serves as a reminder of the importance of copyright protections as Southern California. Movie studios, music companies and video game developers make Los Angeles a copyright company town. Such industries are built ...
February 19, 2018 Bartlett ClelandPRI's Senior Fellow in Business and Economics Wayne Winegarden joins us to discuss his new study on the barriers in state licensing laws that hinder the ability of natural disaster victims to get their claims processed quickly, and hurt consumers. H...
February 19, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteAcross the country, state and local pension systems have not amassed enough assets (stocks, bonds, and other financial investments) to cover the retirement benefits promised to current and retired state and local employees. This gap is referred to as...
February 15, 2018 Wayne WinegardenWhen it comes to choosing vendors and making other business decisions, we’ve all had our secret preferences – the tax attorneys who saved our competitors a lot of money, the website developers from our old firm, the office space next to our favorite ...
February 14, 2018 Rowena ItchonIan Adams of the R Street Institute joins us to talk about the legislative response to California's recent devastating wildfires and the role the free market can play in helping people to rebuild their lives and avoid experiencing a future catastroph...
February 12, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteBy Tracey Walker The 340B Drug Discount program, designed to give discounted prescription drugs to poor Americans, has not been effective in serving its targeted population, according to a new report. The report, “Addressing the Problems of Abuse in ...
February 12, 2018 Pacific Research Institute
Generous, taxpayer-funded subsidies for electric car purchases have become just another costly subsidy benefitting the rich, finds a new study released today by the California-based free-market think tank, the Pacific Research Institute. Click here t...
February 12, 2018 Wayne WinegardenWatch our new animated video to learn how breaking down barriers in state insurance adjuster licensing could speed up response times for disaster claims and everyday claims, lower costs, and provide job opportunities. It’s based off of Wayne Wi...
February 12, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteDOWNLOAD THE PDF In Gov. Jerry Brown’s California, all is nearly well. He led off his State of the State address with an assurance that “California is prospering.” He bragged about jobs created and personal income growth on his watch, and congratulat...
February 07, 2018 Kerry JacksonTech Crunch COO Ned Desmond joins us to discuss the rapid changes in the news business, the fight over so-called fake news, and the future that new online media sources will play in keeping the public informed....
February 05, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteJust six years after declaring bankruptcy due to a 15-year spending binge, Stockton is now exploring creative new ways of spending again. This time, it’s a one-year experiment to give several dozen Stockton families $500 a month, with no strings att...
February 05, 2018 Rowena ItchonAs President Reagan famously noted, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” The expanding reach of occupational licensing regulations exemplify this maxim. People in a growing number of o...
February 01, 2018 Wayne WinegardenSupply Side Economics works. This isn’t a political statement, nor should it be a particularly controversial one either, unless you believe I am referring to the mythical “trickle down” straw man conjured up by some in the political establishment. By...
February 01, 2018 Damon Dunn
According to a new study released today, victims of the recent natural disasters in the United States could face long rebuilding delays unless reforms removing insurance marketplace regulatory barriers are adopted to fix a broken system. Click here t...
January 31, 2018 Wayne WinegardenPolitical journalist and Washington Examiner columnist Tom Rogan gives his take on America's foreign policy challenges, what's going on in Trump's Washington, and his new role as moderator in the return of the iconic TV debate program, "The McLaughli...
January 29, 2018 Pacific Research Institute
PRI’s Senior Fellow in Business and Economics Wayne Winegarden discusses the raises that Starbucks employees will be receiving thanks to the Trump Tax Cuts with Aleksandra Michalska of Reuters....
January 25, 2018 Wayne Winegarden
Just when hundreds of thousands of Californians have begun to enjoy their bonuses and raises thanks to the new tax law, the progressives in Sacramento are working on ways to crush workers’ newfound prosperity. Just last week, Democratic Assemblymen ...
January 24, 2018 Rowena ItchonKerry Jackson, senior fellow with PRI’s Center for California Reform, joins us to discuss how California’s government anti-poverty programs aren’t delivering, how the private sector can do more to lift people out of poverty, and other findings from h...
January 15, 2018 Pacific Research InstituteOnce again, budget negotiators in Washington D.C. are scrambling to put together a cogent spending plan for the federal government. And, once again, as part of this last-minute scramble, Congress is considering ad-hoc budget gimmicks to pay for spend...
January 10, 2018 Wayne WinegardenMy fellow blogger Tim Anaya wrote a blog earlier this week on the latest scheme from Sacramento to game the new tax law. Senate Bill 227 would allow taxpayers to make charitable donations to the state and receive a tax credit for the full amount......
January 10, 2018 Rowena ItchonEditor’s Note: Damon Dunn breaks down what are often-confusing economic concepts and makes free market economics more relatable to our everyday lives in his new Right by the Bay column, ‘Free Markets 101’. We are pleased to present his debut column...
January 09, 2018 Damon Dunn
Brief Says State Policymakers Should Make Pro-Jobs Policies a Priority, And Turn Over More Responsibility to Private Charities That Turn Lives Around...
January 08, 2018 Kerry JacksonAfter spending the holiday season consulting liberal academics, State Senate Democrats on Thursday unveiled their answer to President Donald Trump’s tax cut law. Calling their proposal an effort to “protect California residents” from the federal tax ...
January 08, 2018 Tim AnayaAn oft-cited survey from 1994 found that one out of every three respondents age 18 and 34 said they were more likely to see a UFO than receive a Social Security check. Fast forward 23 years later — last November, the U.S. reached a record......
January 05, 2018 Rowena ItchonThe negative impacts of setting — and increasing — minimum wages should be beyond debate by now. The economic science is settled. Yet California policymakers continue to believe in unicorn economic fantasies. For example, more than a doze...
January 04, 2018 Kerry JacksonLast week, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said in an interview that tech companies are already beginning an exodus away from expensive coastal areas such as Silicon Valley and Los Angeles toward more affordable cities in America’s heartland. He said that th...
January 03, 2018 Tim AnayaBy Danielle Paquette Employers nationwide are grappling with a problem that threatens to stall economic growth: vacancies — and lots of them. In Maine, where flurries can fall as late as April, the state transportation department is struggling to fin...
December 28, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteLooking back on 2017, perhaps the most under-reported story of the year has been President Trump’s success in cutting back regulations. Back in January at the start of his administration, Mr. Trump signed an executive order requiring agencies to cut...
December 27, 2017 Rowena ItchonBy Matt D’Angelo The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act aims to spur economic growth across the United States by adjusting tax structures for small businesses and corporations. The bill has officially been passed by both the House of Representatives and the...
December 20, 2017 Pacific Research InstitutePRI’s Senior Fellow in Business and Economics Wayne Winegarden joins us to talk about his new study on the 340B program, a well-meaning yet very important government program designed to help the needy afford prescription drugs that, in practice, is b...
December 18, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteBy Stephen Collinson In decades to come, people will talk about the Trump tax cuts as they now reminisce over the Reagan, Bush and Kennedy giveaways. Barring a last-minute cataclysm on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump is set to savor a major tax ...
December 14, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteListen to PRI’s Senior Fellow in Business and Economics Wayne Winegarden discuss the latest developments in the debate over tax reform in Washington with host Tim Farley on the Sirius XM POTUS channel’s “Morning Briefing”. Cli...
December 14, 2017 Wayne Winegarden
A new study released today by the Pacific Research Institute finds that a program to give discounted prescription drugs to poor Americans is riddled with abuse, has created a perverse incentive for providers to profit instead of effectively serve the...
December 13, 2017 Wayne Winegarden
Much like the old lady who swallowed a fly, the federal government has swallowed a fly over a well-meaning program designed to help the poor afford prescription drugs called 340B. Instead of ensuring the poor have low-cost drugs, 340B has created an ...
December 13, 2017 Wayne WinegardenBy Jason Margolis “The Word”/Public Radio International In the late 1970s, Ireland’s economy was struggling. So they decided to cut business taxes dramatically while also increasing individual taxes including on the middle class. The idea...
December 12, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteThe most recent estimate says that California Public Employees Retirement System, the largest public employee pension fund in the nation with about 1.8 million beneficiaries, has an unfunded liability of roughly $138 billion with total obligations of...
December 12, 2017 Kerry JacksonLast week, I had the great pleasure of attending the annual California Hall of Fame ceremony. Every year, the Governor presents our state’s highest honor to a group of Californians past and present who have made a lasting contribution to the fabric o...
December 11, 2017 Tim AnayaIf you’re thinking about giving a robot to someone this Christmas, on Amazon.com you’ll find 290,991 choices. I bought my brother a robot for Christmas last year when he announced that he will be retiring from his job as a computer engineer after 35...
December 07, 2017 Rowena Itchon
Over the weekend, I made the rounds of various bipartisan holiday parties filled with California politicos. The late-night vote on the Senate GOP tax plan was certainly the conversation du jour. My liberal friends decried the harried, last-minute na...
December 06, 2017 Tim AnayaTwo-time Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Michael Ramirez joins us to discuss his approach to cartooning, some of his favorite and noteworthy cartoons from over the years, and the important role that political cartoons play in shaping publ...
December 05, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteOn Saturday, the Senate joined the House in passing its version of tax reform known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. While the two versions are very similar, there are 18 major differences that still need to be discussed between the two chambers in......
December 05, 2017 Ali MeyerUnions have long had government-protected privileges that no other institution or organization has. They hold monopolies as exclusive collective bargaining units; can collect dues before paychecks are even issued (government is the only other institu...
December 05, 2017 Kerry JacksonOn Friday, the Senate achieved the nearly-impossible and passed long-overdue tax reform legislation. While the legislation will surely be changed in the conference committee, whatever final legislation emerges will provide tax relief for many America...
December 04, 2017 Tim AnayaWayne Winegarden discusses the Senate vote on tax reform legislation and its impact on California with Larry Mantle on “Air Talk” on Southern California Public Radio/KPCC. Click here to listen to the interview....
December 01, 2017 Larry MantleWe are often critical of the way Gov. Jerry Brown governs and the ideas that he proposes. He too often leans on the progressive playbook. But we’ve not been afraid to say that he’s right when he’s right, and today he’s right. The governor is......
December 01, 2017 Kerry JacksonSkimming is not a union practice that went out when the closing credits for “On The Waterfront” first rolled in 1954. It’s still alive today. And it’s hurting some of California’s most vulnerable residents, while at the same time stuffing the treasur...
November 29, 2017 Kerry Jackson
This week, the U.S. Senate is slated to vote on comprehensive tax reform. But some fiscal hawks are worried about the bill’s impact on the deficit. In the short term, these lawmakers are right to worry. Contrary to the analyses of some optimist...
November 29, 2017 Wayne WinegardenWashington D.C.’s city government is nationally known for its anti-business bias. A law enacted late last year and scheduled to take effect on New Year’s Day 2018 shows why. The ordinance regulates the labeling of — hold onto your seat — moist flusha...
November 28, 2017 Sally C. PipesClick here to download the brief Nerves are apparently raw in union halls across California. Labor leaders are waiting in dread over a coming Supreme Court ruling. The decision could cost them members, and more importantly to the union bosses, money....
November 28, 2017 Kerry JacksonThe California Legislative Analyst’s Office is projecting a $19 billion budget surplus for the 2018-19 fiscal year which begins next July 1. The media wonder if lawmakers should spend it or save it. There’s a third option, though, that is going unmen...
November 21, 2017 Kerry JacksonPRI’s Wayne Winegarden talks with Pimm Fox and Lisa Abramowicz of Bloomberg Radio about the latest developments with the GOP tax plan, whether cutting corporate taxes stimulates economic growth, and the effort to repeal the individual mandate a...
November 17, 2017 Wayne WinegardenTax reform has taken center stage in Washington. Just last week, the House Ways and Means Committee approved the House’s tax reform proposal, while the Senate released its own tax reform proposal. If you picked up a newspaper in California, you would...
November 16, 2017 Tim AnayaAs he celebrated Democrats’ November election wins, California’s overwrought Tom Steyer took a moment to sound a bit like someone from the other party — before he reverted back to form. “When we think about what a more prosperous, healthy...
November 15, 2017 Kerry JacksonBy Jeff Ostrowski If there’s one thing that’s certain to mobilize the nation’s largest trade group, it’s any talk of reining in tax breaks for homeowners with mortgages. House Republicans on Thursday passed a tax plan that caps at $500,000 the amount...
November 15, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteEconomist John Tamny of RealClearMarkets and Forbes.com joins us to talk about the ongoing battle over the national debt, the debate over monetary policy and tax reform under President Trump, the future of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, and his upcomin...
November 14, 2017 Dana Beigel
Listen to Wayne Winegarden, Senior Fellow in Business & Economics at the Pacific Research Institute, talk with Libertarian Party Chairman Nicholas Sarwark about the big things tripping up the tax reform debate on Sirius XM “Patriot Tonight...
November 09, 2017 Wayne WinegardenThe Tax Cuts and Jobs Act aims to spur economic growth across the United States by adjusting tax structures for small businesses and corporations. Though the bill is still being debated, amended and adjusted, if it passes, it may have serious implica...
November 09, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteWith the release of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the long-awaited tax bill has been released. The most pro-growth aspects would change the U.S. corporate income tax system. Corporate income taxes have become a large economic disincentive against...
November 08, 2017 Wayne Winegarden
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the new legislation introduced by the House last week, would create nearly one million new jobs and increase gross domestic product by 3.9 percent, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. The bill cuts...
November 08, 2017 Ali MeyerThe clock is ticking for trucking companies in the U.S. to comply with a federal mandate requiring drivers to stop logging their hours on the road with paper logs and switch to electronic logging devices (ELD) – and not everyone is happy about the ch...
November 07, 2017 Ben SmithwickClark Judge is the chairman of the Pacific Research Institute, founder of The White House Writers Group and a former Reagan speechwriter. He joins us to discuss President Trump’s communications style, his effectiveness in advocating for his agenda, ...
November 06, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteWhen I was a junior speechwriter working in Governor Schwarzenegger’s administration, one of the great pleasures I had was working with and getting to know David Crane. David was the Governor’s advisor on economic issues and his office was right nex...
November 03, 2017 Tim AnayaThis week, Republicans are preparing to unveil the details of a tax reform proposal that would deliver tax relief to individuals and businesses, as well as simplify the tax filing process. How to “pay for” the tax cuts will be the big debate in the.....
October 31, 2017 Rowena Itchon
A clean energy advocate in the California Legislature wants internal combustion vehicles to sputter out of existence on the state’s roads and highways. “The cars that we drive today are based on technology that’s 100 years old,” said Assembly member ...
October 31, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteDavid Crane of Govern for California and Stanford University talks about California’s public pension crisis, how more public money spent on pensions takes away funding for key state priorities, and how we can break through the logjam to enact meaning...
October 30, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteEveryone wants a piece of Amazon. A city in Georgia has even offered to rename itself “Amazon” if only the web sales giant would locate its second headquarters there. Jerry Brown is making a pitch, too. The governor, according to the Mercury News, “i...
October 27, 2017 Kerry JacksonIt’s “Basic Economics” that residential rent control is harmful housing policy. So it makes perfect sense that we’re beginning to hear about commercial rent control in California. Why not heap more destructive laws on the pile? San Jose Inside report...
October 26, 2017 Kerry JacksonNorthern California is a hotbed of modern, global technological innovation, particularly internet innovation. Yet, increasingly Washington, D.C. dictates the direction and velocity of innovation, often abetted by the very companies that gained from t...
October 24, 2017 Bartlett ClelandBartlett Cleland, PRI’s senior fellow in Tech and Innovation, talks with us about whether California’s innovation luster is wearing off, how poor government policy is impacting the sharing economy, autonomous vehicles, and innovation companies, and t...
October 23, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteFrom California to Washington D.C. legislators continue to confirm Abraham Kaplan’s famous insight that if you, “give a small boy a hammer, he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.” In the case of our legislators, that hammer is pri...
October 17, 2017 Wayne WinegardenCalifornia Manufacturing and Technology Association President Dorothy Rothrock joins us to discuss the state of manufacturing in California today and how this year’s legislative session will impact manufacturers, and what can be done to bring back ma...
October 16, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteWe’ve all heard the negative economic and budget stories coming out of Sacramento in recent years. But as a Connecticut native, the headlines coming out of my home state are equally concerning, and offer a lesson for Golden State policymakers. Conne...
October 13, 2017 Ben SmithwickDavid Crane of Govern for California discusses California’s public pension time bomb at a PRI Young Leaders Circle meeting in San Francisco....
October 12, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteAbraham Kaplan famously noted that if you, “give a small boy a hammer, he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.” Put differently, solving problems requires the right tool, not the convenient tool. Congress should remember this wisdo...
October 12, 2017 Wayne Winegarden
Fox News contributor and National Review contributing editor Deroy Murdock joins us to discuss America’s growing debt problem, the upcoming debt ceiling vote, and how Washington’s out-of-control spending priorities hurt our economy and threaten our l...
October 10, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteThe U.S. health care system needs systemic reforms that comprehensively address the problems of declining quality and rising costs. Alas, beneficial systemic reforms will not be implemented any time soon. There are still opportunities for Congress to...
October 10, 2017 Wayne Winegarden
Washington D.C. has turned its sights on tax reform. Critics, almost reflexively, oppose the effort based on claims that tax reform will increase the deficit. A little perspective is in order, consequently. The chart below presents data on total fede...
October 04, 2017 Wayne WinegardenColumnist and longtime political observer Steven Greenhut of the R Street Institute gives his thoughts on the housing package, the cap-and-trade deal, bills that were overlooked, and the impact of Prop. 54 in Part 2 of our 2017 end-of-session wrap-up...
October 02, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteOne of the many flaws with our current health care system is that, too often, health insurance coverage fails people precisely when they need it the most. It’s as if your car insurance has been paying the cost for your oil changes for years, but......
September 28, 2017 Wayne WinegardenRecently, Gilbert Hyatt presented his side of a tax dispute case to the voter-elected Board of Equalization. The state has been pursuing Mr. Hyatt for 26 years, alleging that he owes millions in back taxes and penalties from capital gains from a comp...
September 27, 2017 Tim AnayaImagine a pharmaceutical market designed by Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter. In contrast to almost every other market, he might begin by charging wholesale prices that are higher than retail prices. He would then make sure that the higher wholesale price ...
September 20, 2017 Wayne WinegardenEvery weekend, I like to listen to the Car Pro guys on the radio when I’m driving around town. In case you’ve never heard the show, the Car Pro – whose real name is Jerry Reynolds – is a former big-time car dealer in Texas.......
September 20, 2017 Tim AnayaLate last month, U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta challenged state legislators to abolish one of the most noxious barriers to work: occupational licensing. If Sacramento lawmakers followed through, hundreds of thousands of Californians would be ...
September 19, 2017 Kerry JacksonPRI’s Senior Fellow in Business and Economics Wayne Winegarden joins us to explore how various tax reform ideas could impact the tax burdens of Californians. He also discusses his study on how to move America’s economy “Beyond The New Normal” of low...
September 18, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteT.J. Rodgers, formerly the outspoken CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, once warned that the tech industry should not “normalize relations with Washington, D.C.” He wrote, “A normalized relationship between Washington and Silicon Valley ...
September 15, 2017 Bartlett ClelandIt seems that Seattle is no longer evergreen for Amazon. Last week, the company announced that it’s on the hunt for a second headquarters. There wasn’t a clear explanation for why the online retail giant is seeking a new habitat. But even climate cha...
September 14, 2017 Rowena ItchonEffective health care reforms must reduce the excessive costs imposed by frivolous lawsuits. Studies have shown that medical tort reform could reduce total health care premiums between 1 and 3 percent. As estimated by the American Action Forum, this ...
September 13, 2017 Wayne WinegardenRecently, a friend of mine told me how much she and her husband enjoyed subscribing to a home meal prep delivery service. Instead of having to go to the grocery story, they deliver all the fresh ingredients you need to make a gourmet recipe right......
September 13, 2017 Tim AnayaPresident Trump just rescinded an Obama administration policy aimed at closing the economic gap between men and women. The measure would have required companies to collect data on pay differences between genders and races. It’s tempting to see ...
September 12, 2017 Sally C. PipesCNN contributor and noted free-market economist Steve Moore joins us to talk about the Trump effect on the U.S. economy, and what the prospects look like for achieving tax reform and federal spending cuts this year....
September 11, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteA California governor who went on to greater things was known to say that if government sees something move, it will tax it. Ronald Reagan’s words, spoken more than 30 years ago, are being played out today by a lawmaker who wants to enact a......
September 07, 2017 Kerry JacksonTax hikes, especially in the state known for its extraordinarily heavy tax burden, should not be easily enacted. Yet the California Supreme Court has made the job much easier. California law previously required a two-thirds majority for the passage o...
September 01, 2017 Kerry JacksonThe other day, a freshman from Santa Clara University called me to inquire about internships at PRI. She had just heard Sally Pipes give a talk on health care. She was also familiar with the work of Arthur Laffer. As an economics student, she thought...
September 01, 2017 Rowena ItchonFor the 30 nations that comprise the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which promotes policies to improve the well-being of people around the world, pharmaceutical spending comprised, on average, 16.9 percent of total heal...
August 30, 2017 Wayne WinegardenCalifornia’s $100,000 Club has grown to an all-time high. And it’s not a particularly exclusive institution. This one has more than 61,000 members, all of them retired government employees, raking in pension benefits many in the private sector would ...
August 24, 2017 Kerry JacksonThere is little doubt that the U.S. needs comprehensive tax reform. The corporate income tax system is globally uncompetitive; the personal income tax system is so complicated that even the IRS can’t answer taxpayers’ questions. The right reform impl...
August 24, 2017 Wayne WinegardenCalifornians harboring dystopian fears would have us believe that the state is sowing the seeds of its own destruction by leading in the development of artificial intelligence. Consider state legislation introduced this year that would fine companies...
August 23, 2017 Bartlett ClelandThe drama of “repeal and replace” resembled an unfunny version of a Monty Python skit, continuously claiming that it was “not dead yet”, and even that it was “getting better” only to be put out of its misery in the end. The end of repeal......
July 31, 2017 Wayne WinegardenCalifornia is called earthquake country for good reason. There are nearly 2,000 known fault lines crisscrossing the state, and scientists continue to discover new fault lines all the time. Nearly every Californian lives within 30 miles of an active f...
July 28, 2017 Wayne WinegardenDisincentives plague the U.S. health care system, driving costs higher and the quality of care lower. Improving health outcomes requires reforms that remove these disincentives. With respect to health insurers, this means returning payers to their pr...
July 26, 2017 Wayne WinegardenJoe Quirk of the Seasteading Institute joins us in San Francisco to talk about the audacious vision of building floating cities, where everyone is creative, prosperous and free. Ben Smithwick also joins us to talk about PRI’s Young Leaders Circle....
July 25, 2017 Pacific Research Institute
For Samsung, it was the Galaxy Note 7; for Microsoft, it was the Zune; and for Coke, it was New Coke. These famous flops exemplify that failures are a part of life – even for multi-billion-dollar companies. In the private sector, successful companies...
July 19, 2017 Wayne Winegarden
Californians would face $1.9 billion in higher insurance costs if Congress passes a border adjustment tax as part of federal tax reform, according to a new study released today by the R Street Institute and the Pacific Research Institute. This tax wo...
July 12, 2017 Lars PowellAnyone worried about an earthquake plunging California into the sea should be more concerned about what is really sinking the state: the cost of public-employee pensions. In the just-enacted 2017-18 state budget, about $8 billion of the state governm...
July 07, 2017 Kerry JacksonBy some measures, the competition among the states to attract business and new residents has never been more robust. With easier and less expensive travel options, increasingly ubiquitous high-speed broadband and more flexible work conditions, compan...
June 30, 2017 Bartlett ClelandIf you believe the civil engineers, then on top of current planned expenditures, the U.S. needs an additional $5.2 trillion in investment into the nation’s roads, water systems, electric grids, ports & waterways, and airports between now and 204...
June 29, 2017 Wayne WinegardenThe average credit card debt in 2016 was $16,048 per household that carries a balance. Paying off this debt is an important financial goal. Obviously, this beneficial goal would be more difficult to meet if the Legislature imposed arbitrary restricti...
June 23, 2017 Wayne WinegardenThey were warned and they knew better but they did it nonetheless. It’s become the California Way. Continually legislate, never bother to contemplate. In 1992, economists David Card and Alan B. Krueger published a National Bureau of Economic Research...
June 20, 2017 Kerry JacksonBig government policies and political constraints are the primary causes for rising California home prices and lack of supply, according to the findings of a new “California Ideas in Action” issue brief released today by the non-partisan Pacific Rese...
June 14, 2017 Kerry JacksonCultures from biblical times to the ancient Chinese have all expressed some form of the wisdom that the best form of charity is to prevent poverty in the first place. This wisdom is lacking today, particularly with respect to the U.S. health care sec...
June 13, 2017 Wayne Winegarden10-years of economic stagnation has taken its toll on Puerto Rico. Unemployment is skyrocketing, infrastructure is degrading, and the exodus away from the island is accelerating. Structural reforms that will stabilize the financial crisis in the shor...
June 08, 2017 Wayne WinegardenTweaks do not turn bad regulatory proposals into good ones. Yet, with only minor modifications, Congress is once again considering the CREATES Act (Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act of 2017), and its close cousin, the FAST...
June 06, 2017 Wayne WinegardenAs Milton Friedman famously noted, there are four ways to spend money; the fourth being spending somebody else’s money on somebody else. And, when people spend money this way, they tend to disregard both the costs and the outcomes. Simply put, people...
May 30, 2017 Wayne WinegardenThree problems, exemplified by the crises afflicting the public pension systems in Houston and Dallas, plague state and local pension systems across the country. First, state and local governments have only contributed 88 percent of the required annu...
May 26, 2017 Wayne WinegardenNo state needs to reform the relationship that governments have with public-employee unions more than California. Yet lawmakers keep going in the wrong direction. Contract negotiations between government and the labor unions who represent the public ...
May 24, 2017 Kerry Jackson
Download the Brief Nearly half of California isn’t actually California. It’s an extension of Washington, D.C. Almost 46 percent of the state’s land mass is owned by the federal government, according to the Congressional Research Service. This means b...
May 22, 2017 Kerry JacksonIn a unanimous and bipartisan vote, Arizona’s legislature passed the Free Speech in Medicine Act, which was signed into law about two months ago. Passing anything with bipartisan support is noteworthy in today’s hyper-partisan environment. Passing a ...
May 17, 2017 Wayne Winegarden
It’s easy for politicians and consumers to rage about the high price of prescription drugs, but Wayne Winegarden, Pacific Research Institute’s senior fellow in business and economics, said those prices are not to blame for the high cost of healthcare...
May 16, 2017 Wayne H WinegardenDue to inefficiencies in the current regulatory framework, pharmacy benefit managers can add cost to the healthcare system and impose burdens on both consumers and market competition, according to a new study released by the Pacific Research Institut...
May 16, 2017 Jeff LagasseGovernments tend to target innovative industries that are too new to be regulated and single them out for punitive taxes and nasty abuse. As Art Laffer once put it, governments aren’t happy when business pioneers enjoy “success without the benevolent...
May 12, 2017 Kerry JacksonAn obscure institute that most people have never heard of threatens to impose unwarranted restrictions on medically-advised treatments for patients. The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, or ICER as it is commonly known, assesses whether med...
May 11, 2017 Wayne WinegardenClick here to read PRI’s new issue brief, The Economic Costs of Pharmacy Benefit Managers Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) in the nation, is discovering just how much customer service matters. It may also be discoveri...
May 09, 2017 Wayne WinegardenCalifornia has a grim housing problem and nearly everyone in the state, whether they have tried to buy or rent a home or not, is aware of it. Apparently, though, some in Sacramento haven’t noticed and hope to mix in more of the poison that......
April 30, 2017 Kerry Jackson
California is home to six of the 10 cities with the worst air pollution in the country. This seems inconceivable, given that the state has the strictest environmental rules in the nation. Clearly, policymakers have been making the wrong choices. Of c...
April 27, 2017 Kerry JacksonThe growing problem of health care affordability requires prompt and effective policy solutions. However, just as the wrong medical diagnosis will not cure a patient, and may make the patient even sicker, the wrong policy solution will not address th...
April 27, 2017 Wayne WinegardenA more realistic evaluation of U.S. prescription drug prices shows that high drug prices are not actually driving up health care costs overall, and reflect the higher U.S. health care costs compared to the rest of the world, according to a new report...
April 25, 2017 Wayne WinegardenAmerica’s economy can return to the days of 3 percent and higher annual growth rates if Washington embraces pro-growth economic policies, concludes the latest installment of Pacific Research Institute’s Beyond the New Normal series released today. “N...
April 19, 2017 Wayne WinegardenSound judgment, which is too rare in the halls of California officialdom, won a round on Tuesday when the state’s Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that San Diego’s pension cutbacks for city workers were indeed lawful. The case was the appeal of ...
April 17, 2017 Kerry JacksonThis spring marks the first anniversary of the announcement that Carl’s Jr., a California burger icon for more than six decades, was relocating its headquarters to Nashville. It’s yet another business that has quit California in what was once an almo...
April 07, 2017 Kerry JacksonThe “Golden Skirts,” Norway’s New Quota QueeI can’t think of too many items I use that are manufactured in Norway, though perhaps some of their seafood finds its way to San Francisco restaurants. The Scandinavian nation, howev...
April 06, 2017 Sally C. PipesPRI’s Wayne Winegarden talks about President Trump’s executive action to repeal the Clean Power Plan with Todd Zwillich on “The Takeaway.” Click here to listen to the interview. Last year, PRI released “The Clean Power P...
March 28, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteIn a flurry of activity during its waning hours, the Obama administration hastily approved far too many ill-conceived regulations that will affect the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Americans. In this rush to regulate, the outgoing administr...
March 24, 2017 Wayne WinegardenDownload the Brief Click here to watch PRI’s panel discussion on California’s housing crisis from the State Capitol in Sacramento. The most unaffordable city in the world in which to rent a home is not New York or Tokyo or Hong Kong. The ...
March 24, 2017 Kerry JacksonDespite the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate increase last week, interest rates remain low by historical standards. While rising interest rates are an indication that the economic outlook is improving, the slow climb back to normal rates is a s...
March 22, 2017 Wayne WinegardenCalifornia’s business climate is more predictable than its weather. It’s always one storm after the other. Companies relocate to states where they are welcomed rather than vilified and preyed upon. Capital is moved to more jobs-friendly states. Produ...
March 22, 2017 Kerry Jackson
California leads the nation in manufacturing jobs with nearly 1.3 million. But this doesn’t mean all’s well with manufacturing in the state. Job growth in the sector is miserable. We rank 24th in growth out of the 32 states that have more than 100,00...
March 10, 2017 Kerry JacksonImagine if you never had to directly pay for your morning cup of coffee again. Instead, a coffee insurer guaranteed that, for a small co-pay, you could enjoy a cup of coffee every morning. Sounds good? The catch, and there is always a catch, is......
March 07, 2017 Wayne WinegardenClick here to read Part 1 of the New Normal series Click here to read Part 2 of the New Normal series Click here to read Part 3 of the New Normal series For too long, our economy has been growing unnecessarily slow. Since 2000,......
March 03, 2017 Wayne Winegarden
PRI Study Proposes New Look at Impact of Government Policy on Nation’s Long-Term Economic Problems The Pacific Research Institute today released the latest installment of its Beyond the New Normal series, proposing a reorganization of current economi...
March 01, 2017 Wayne WinegardenDownload the Brief Sacramento’s response to President Trump’s Inauguration Day was to release the latest version of its heavy-handed plan to stop global warming. The state’s updated approach to environmental policy will be about as effective in stopp...
February 21, 2017 Kerry Jackson
Does More Government Spending Boost the Economy? New PRI Study Finds Overspending Doesn’t Create Jobs, Takes Away Investment in Private-Sector Also published in Utah Standard News Challenging the status quo thinking that more government spending boos...
February 03, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteClick here to read part 1 of “Beyond the New Normal” by Wayne Winegarden and Niles Chura For more than a decade federal policy has re-shaped the economy through a variety of activist policies. Taxes have risen, spending has increased, and...
January 26, 2017 Wayne WinegardenPresident Trump’s extraordinary Inaugural Address was at once familiar and surprising, combining echoes from a forgotten past with notes that are entirely new. The echoes were to a president who was viewed with as much alarm by the official Washingto...
January 23, 2017 Clark S. JudgeIn his first Inaugural Address, President Andrew Jackson said that the election that brought him to office “inscribes on the list of Executive duties, in characters too legible to be overlooked, the task of ‘reform.’” With this election, ...
January 20, 2017 Clark S. JudgeCountering the narrative that slow economic growth is “the new normal” for America’s economy, the Pacific Research Institute today released the first in a series of reports from its new study, Beyond the New Normal, which makes the case that future U...
January 18, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteCountering the narrative that slow economic growth is “the new normal” for America’s economy, the Pacific Research Institute today released the first in a series of reports from its new study, Beyond the New Normal, which makes the case that future U...
January 18, 2017 Pacific Research InstituteGov. Jerry Brown released his budget Tuesday amid what the media called an “uncertainty” in Washington that will could an effect on the state’s finances. The fear is that the Republican White House and Congress will punish California for its politica...
January 13, 2017 Kerry JacksonLast month, the Army Corps of Engineers, pursuant to political pressure, reversed its prior decision and denied the final permit needed to complete construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pretext: that the pipeline company, after years of pla...
January 12, 2017 Dean McGrath
Download the Brief California is destined for yet another energy crisis, which, like the drought that’s been scorching the state, will be man-made. Shortages can be avoided, but that will require lawmakers to think in ways that few have engaged in in...
January 10, 2017 Kerry JacksonThe imminent repeal of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is garnering most of the health care headlines, and rightly so. But, the focus on Obamacare should not overshadow other health care modifications that may be considered during the 115th C...
January 05, 2017 Wayne WinegardenType “California housing crisis” into a web search engine and the results come gushing out. Dozens of stories from just the past year highlight a crunch that’s “way past a problem,” a “middle-class” disaster, “drowning renters” and “California’s most...
January 01, 2017 Kerry JacksonMore and more Oklahomans today are living in energy poverty.Energy poverty is defined as spending more than 10 percent of your income on electricity, natural gas, and other household energy costs. More than half of those surveyed in a 2011 poll said ...
December 31, 2016 Wayne WinegardenThe deaths of two patients at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in early 2015 were blamed in part on a drug-resistant superbug. Two years earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted that a “nightmare” was coming in the form ...
December 19, 2016 Kerry JacksonCutting wasteful government spending would be much easier if it were properly labeled. But, wasteful expenditures are never properly categorized as duplicitous, unnecessary, or unwarranted spending. Instead, wasteful government expenditures masquerad...
December 19, 2016 Wayne WinegardenDonald Trump hasn’t wasted time moving to revive America’s economic growth, with an emphasis on manufacturing. Critics may say the recent Carrier deal, which will save 800 American jobs, is small potatoes, but Mr. Trump’s pledge to reduce regulation ...
December 18, 2016 Clark S. Judge
Read the Magazine This edition of IMPACT includes a special feature on our new study The Clean Power Plan’s Economic Impact by PRI Senior Fellow Dr. Wayne Winegarden – released on November 1st. This important study confirms that big federal governmen...
December 05, 2016 Pacific Research InstituteSan Diego, California lawmakers are appealing a ruling by the state’s labor relations board that rolls back pension entitlement reforms approved by voters four years ago. The California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) ruled in December 2015 ...
December 02, 2016 D. Brady NelsonEnergy poverty is on the rise across Arizona today. If you spend more than 10 percent of your income on electricity, natural gas, and other household energy costs, then you are afflicted by energy poverty. It is a tragedy that forces some families to...
November 18, 2016 Wayne WinegardenIf you spend more than 10 percent of your income on electricity, natural gas, and other household energy costs, then you are afflicted by energy poverty. It is a tragedy that forces some families to choose between keeping the lights on, or putting fo...
November 16, 2016 Wayne WinegardenEnergy poverty is a growing problem in San Diego’s working-class communities, and across California. If you spend more than 10 percent of your income on electricity, natural gas, and other household energy costs, then you are afflicted by energy pove...
November 04, 2016 Wayne WinegardenEven with the 2016 Presidential campaign mercifully coming to an end, there is more drama to come. While there will be many epicenters, perhaps none will impact the daily lives of more citizens than the impending drama in the health care industry. Wh...
November 01, 2016 Wayne WinegardenWith only a few months left in office, President Barack Obama’s administration seeks to step up climate change disclosure, raising implications for corporations and asset owners. National Economic Council Director Jeffrey Zients and White House...
October 31, 2016 Wayne WinegardenStudy Shows Some Will See Power Costs Equal More Than 10 Percent of Income Interactive Map Shows Consumers How Much Local Electricity Costs Will Rise SACRAMENTO – Low-income communities nationwide could face higher electricity expenditures under the ...
October 28, 2016 Wayne WinegardenPRI Senior Fellow Dr. Wayne Winegarden appeared on The Ethan Bearman Show on KGO-AM to discuss the fiscal consequences of California’s Proposition 55 — the state ballot initiative that would extend the “temporary” personal inc...
October 21, 2016 KGOGrocery shopping in California isn’t what it used to be. Traditionally, customers carried their items away in paper bags provided by the store through an unspoken, but well-established and always understood, contract between seller and buyer. But the...
September 28, 2016 Kerry JacksonAs documented in a September 18, 2016 story in the L.A. Times, the problem of California’s unfunded public pensions has reached crisis proportions. The state controller’s office estimates that the total unfunded liabilities of the state and local pub...
September 26, 2016 Wayne WinegardenCalifornia has a state pension problem that defies partisan politics. It’s not about Hillary vs. Donald, it’s about math. Past pension promises may exceed the potential for pension asset growth. Whether we are currently or were former Cal...
September 26, 2016 Dr. Arthur LafferCalifornia governments owe their current and future retirees maybe as much as $600 billion. But the governments aren’t going to pay. Taxpayers will be handed the bill, and in some cities, each household is on the hook for more than $50,000. In at lea...
August 30, 2016 Kerry JacksonIt seems there is a never-ending war on “sin” and a desire by some to try and tax it away. This includes higher taxes on snacks and cigarettes, among other items. As to the latter item, California voters will weigh in with a November ballot......
August 23, 2016 Kerry JacksonIn January 2013, Gov. Jerry Brown bragged about the state’s new commitment to fiscal responsibility. He talked about “living within our means and not spending what we don’t have.” A year later, in his State of the State address, Brown insisted that “...
July 07, 2016 Kerry JacksonThe federal government has taken over the student loan market and currently guarantees (or directly holds) about 90 percent of the 40 million student loans valued in excess of $1.2 trillion. The millions of people at risk of defaulting on this huge s...
June 30, 2016 Wayne WinegardenPRI Releases New Brief on the Benefits of Improving Incentives for Health Care Innovations San Francisco, June 22, 2015 – The Pacific Research Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit think tank based in San Francisco, today announced the release of a n...
June 22, 2016 Pacific Research Institute“Keep Austin Weird” is a slogan dreamed up by the Texas city’s independent business alliance to promote local businesses and to keep national corporations out of the city. By recently regulating ride-sharing companies out of business, Austin be...
June 13, 2016 Arthur LafferSwift and merciless. That was the apparent effect the U.S. Treasury’s April 4 regulatory package had on what was poised to be the largest inversion in history. But several pending inversions have emerged relatively unscathed, and experts are predicti...
May 16, 2016 Amanda AthanasiouThis legislative session, California could take an important step toward creating a true water market to meet the needs of cities, farmers and the environment with the Open and Transparent Water Data Act (Assembly Bill 1755). It’s hard to solve a pro...
May 13, 2016 Arthur LafferRead Full Study New Study: State Regulations Have Outsized Impact on Energy Industry’s Health SAN FRANCISCO (May 31) — Natural resources don’t respect state boundaries. Consequently, states’ energy regulations are among the pr...
May 12, 2016 Wayne WinegardenState and local public pension systems are in deep financial trouble. The latest comprehensive assessment by Joshua Rauh of the Hoover Institution, which captured 97 percent of public pension assets, found that the unfunded liabilities of public pens...
April 28, 2016 Wayne WinegardenIn response to several high profile corporate restructurings known as corporate inversions, politicians have been looking for ways to punish any company considering such a restructuring. Hillary Clinton’s ill-conceived exit tax exemplifies the types ...
February 24, 2016 Wayne WinegardenMany were the benefits promised by supporters of the Affordable Care Act. If you like your doctor and health plan, you will be able to keep them. Health insurance premiums will fall by an average of $2500 per year for a typical family, even as......
February 11, 2016 Benjamin ZycherPresident Barack Obama proposed a tax Thursday of $10 for every barrel of oil produced in the U.S. to fund new spending on “green” infrastructure programs. Republican Governor of Ohio and current presidential candidate John Kasich, however, beat him ...
February 08, 2016 Wayne WinegardenUnfunded public pensions threaten the fiscal solvency of states and localities across the country. And California is not immune. Back in 2012, San Diego voters recognized the threat and overwhelmingly supported Proposition B, a set of pension reforms...
February 08, 2016 Wayne WinegardenAs Ronald Reagan might say upon hearing Hillary Clinton’s latest tax proposal, “there she goes again.” Secretary Clinton wants to impose a 4 percent “fair share surcharge” on people earning more than $5 million annually in order to get the “wealthy a...
January 19, 2016 Wayne WinegardenThe Pacific Research Institute released a new study on California’s pension crisis. “California’s Pension Crowd-Out,” authored by PRI senior fellow Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D., is part of PRI’s California Prosperity Agenda, a 12-point plan to address Cal...
January 08, 2016 Wayne WinegardenOver the past five years, North Carolina has become a more attractive place to work, live, invest, and do business. The state tax burden is lower — by hundreds of millions of dollars a year — and restructured in a way that reduces the double-taxation...
December 21, 2015 John HoodIt’s a mixed bag for small businesses in Indiana. On one hand, there’s very little red tape, which experts say enables small businesses to get off the ground, expand and thrive. The rub, however, is that those businesses don’t receive the lion’s shar...
December 21, 2015 Kris TurnerBloomberg News It’s a mixed bag for small businesses in Indiana. On one hand, there’s very little red tape, which experts say enables small businesses to get off the ground, expand and thrive. The rub, however, is that those businesses do...
December 21, 2015 Kris TurnerThe Environmental Protection Agency recently issued new rules dictating that 18 billion gallons of biofuels must be blended into America’s 2016 transportation fuel supply. This mandate, referred to as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), has been a dis...
December 21, 2015 Wayne WinegardenThought leaders on the left believe we can save federal government dollars by making employers pay more to their employees. Ralph Nader’s recent blog on the Huffington Post cites a Center for American Progress study that welfare rolls would drop by 6...
December 07, 2015 Tom FowlerMany claims about the prospective effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)—positive, negative, and sometimes both—were made before and after its enactment on March 23,2010. Those assertions sometimes were based upon...
November 20, 2015 Benjamin ZycherIn 1979, the Pacific Research Institute opened its doors in San Francisco. Jimmy Carter was President; Diane Feinstein was mayor; and Brian Chesky, the founder of home-sharing platform Airbnb, was still two years away from being born. San Francisco v...
November 16, 2015 Sally C. PipesThe regulatory burden in California continues to grow. Minimum wage increases—which simultaneously raise costs on businesses and harms many low-wage workers and consumers—have passed in Los Angeles and San Francisco. California is also pursuing regul...
November 12, 2015 Wayne WinegardenForbes Magazine ranked Indiana eighth in its annual Best States for Business list, and ranked the state’s regulatory environment as second best in the country. The Pacific Research Institute also placed Indiana No. 1 in the nation for its small...
October 27, 2015 Wayne WinegardenAddressing the problem of abusive lawsuits remains a necessary, yet unrealized, state and federal reform. Perhaps nowhere are the costs from abusive lawsuits more evident than in the health care industry. The risk of frivolous medical malpractice lit...
October 27, 2015 Wayne WinegardenRegulation: Hillary Clinton claimed that California’s paid family leave mandate hasn’t hurt business and job growth, and ought to be expanded nationwide. But a recent study shows that she’s living in a statist dream world. Clinton m...
October 26, 2015 IBD EditorialWe’re doing a lot of things right. A new study by the Pacific Research Institute ranks Texas No. 3 in the nation for small business. Low taxes and limited regulations make Texas a great place for small businesses to start and to grow. “Small business...
October 26, 2015 Wayne WinegardenPRO: The U.S. economy has been plagued with unacceptably slow growth since the 2007-09 recession — so slow that six years into our supposed recovery, policymakers still talk about the need for economic stimulus. It should not be this way. Spurring ec...
October 08, 2015 Wayne WinegardenImagine two companies that sell the same product across the globe and directly compete against one another. Further imagine that both companies earn the same gross profit. However, the first company is located on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Canadian bo...
October 08, 2015 Wayne WinegardenLast month, the Legislature sent 600 bills to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature (or veto). Senator Bob Hertzberg’s SB 8 was not among them. Hertzberg created a buzz when he introduced his proposal in late 2014. Los Angeles Times columnist George...
October 08, 2015 Joe RodotaGovernor Jeb Bush’s proposed pro-growth tax reform, mimicked by Donald Trump, is an important step forward. The U.S. economy has been plagued with unacceptably slow growth since the 2007-09 recession — so slow that six years into our supposed recover...
October 08, 2015 Wayne WinegardenA tax reform plan by PRI authors Art Laffer and Wayne Winegarden is the subject of a new research brief by Forward Observer, a prominent research and strategy firm with offices in California and Washington, DC. The research brief compares the tax ref...
September 20, 2015 Pacific Research InstituteA new study from the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute has ranked the regulatory climate for small businesses in California the worst out of all 50 states — and the Bay Area is a prime example of why. The reasons? Costly regulations on s...
August 27, 2015 Wayne WinegardenA new study from the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute has ranked the regulatory climate for small businesses in California the worst out of all 50 states — and the Bay Area is a prime example of why. The reasons? Costly regulations on s...
August 27, 2015 Wayne WinegardenThe federal and state governments continue to impose ever-more burdensome regulations on businesses across the country. Overall, in 2014 alone, the Obama Administration imposed an estimated $181.5 billion in proposed and final regulatory costs on the...
August 07, 2015 Wayne WinegardenFlorida is no Texas when it comes to the amount of regulations its small businesses face. But at least it’s not New Jersey. The Sunshine State placed sixth in the Pacific Research Institute’s 50-State Index of Small Business Regulation, released in J...
August 07, 2015 Wayne WinegardenPacific Research Institute Ranks Small Business Regulation in the 50 States Indiana Ranks Best for Small Businesses; California Ranks Worst San Francisco, July 24, 2015 – The Pacific Research Institute (PRI) a non-partisan, non-profit think tank base...
July 24, 2015 Wayne WinegardenIn a study examining regulatory burden more than tax burden, Wyoming ranked No. 20 for small-business friendliness. This stands in contrast to other studies where Wyoming has been ranked No. 1 and No. 2 for business. The 124-page study, which develop...
July 13, 2015 Mark WilcoxToo frequently politics trumps sound policy. Fast track trade negotiating authority, also known as trade promotion authority (TPA), presents an opportunity for our lawmakers and the executive branch to illustrate that good policy can still prevail. I...
May 26, 2015 Wayne WinegardenIf forecasts predicting another brutally cold winter are correct, Americans’ furnaces will soon be working overtime. Last year’s frigid temperatures significantly increased heating bills across the country. For instance, the cost to heat ...
January 12, 2015 Wayne WinegardenThe Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) proposed new rules on carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) for existing power plants will significantly increase electricity prices, especially in states such as Ohio that rely on coal-powered electricity. The hi...
December 10, 2014 Wayne WinegardenA prosperous economy is created via good economic policy and then getting out of the way to let Americas amazing companies and citizens work, produce and invest. The perfect pro-growth agenda includes: a low rate flat tax, spending restraint, sound ...
December 03, 2014 Arthur LafferUnfunded government pensions are driving municipalities across the country into bankruptcy from Detroit, Michigan (the largest municipal bankruptcy ever) to Vallejo, California. Despite the need for states and municipalities to have contributed lar...
November 17, 2014 Wayne WinegardenThe Pacific Research Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit think tank, today released a study on the effects of Prop. 30 on the states economy. The Seven Lean Years: The Economic and Fiscal Consequences from Californias Proposition 30 was authore...
November 17, 2014 Wayne WinegardenCalifornia’s Proposition 30, officially titled “Temporary Taxes to Fund Education,” is celebrating its second anniversary this November. The greatest anniversary gift would be to repeal it. California needs sustainable and robust ec...
November 03, 2014 Wayne WinegardenPacific Research Institute Brief Reveals Flaws with San Franciscos Transportation Task Force Report Today PRI released a brief reviewing San Francisco Mayor Ed Lees Transportation Task Force Report: 2030. The brief is a supplement to PRIs earlier ...
October 21, 2014 Wendell CoxOn Nov. 4 San Francisco voters are being asked to approve Proposition J, a measure which increases the minimum wage in San Francisco to $15 per hour by 2018 from the current city rate of $10.74. San Franciscans should think carefully before approving...
October 21, 2014 Sally C. PipesA new study commissioned by Governor John Kitzhaber underscores the need for competitive, rather than restrictive, markets for wood and timber products harvested in Oregon. Existing building policies for sustainable wood products stifle, rather than ...
September 23, 2014 Wayne WinegardenNew Yorkers are paying far too much for the essentials of modern life. For evidence, look no further than the gas pump: State taxes add about 50 cents to each gallon of gas and diesel, the second-highest gas tax in the country. And New Yorks......
September 19, 2014 Wayne WinegardenWith an unpopular president in office and many congressional seats up for grabs, the Democratic high command is fundraising with a vengeance, hoping to swamp the 2014 midterms with dollars and attack ads to retain control of the Senate. So what shoul...
September 08, 2014 Clark S. Judge
The 50 State Index of Energy Regulation measures the regulatory climate for energy consumption, production, and distribution and which states are more economically efficient. Alabama, Alaska, South Dakota, and Texas tied for the best (#1), while Cali...
August 07, 2014 Wayne WinegardenAnyone who has ever watched Animal Planet should be familiar with migrations. Geese do it, wildebeests and whales do it, turtles do it and, yes, people do it too. To migrate is a natural phenomenon. What’s interesting about most migrations is t...
May 12, 2014 Arthur C. LafferThe U.S. became the worlds largest economy, in part, because its policies supported innovation and entrepreneurship. From Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs, U.S. entrepreneurs invented many of the innovations that drove the 20th century global economy, wi...
May 09, 2014 Wayne WinegardenThere is no doubt that an effective broadband infrastructure is essential for the 21st century U.S. economy. This is why the misinterpretations of a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report are so problematic. The policy recommendations t...
March 31, 2014 Wayne WinegardenAs 2014 dawns, ObamaCare’s most disruptive changes to the health care system are just now getting under way. For American businesses, that means a raft of new taxes that will pose devastating consequences for their employees and the broader eco...
January 14, 2014 Sally C. PipesMunicipalities have rarely defaulted on their debt. As a consequence, municipal debt is regarded as having an extremely low risk for investors. There are disconcerting trends developing that may change this historical view. The combination of the wea...
January 10, 2014 Wayne H WinegardenCreating the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was never a good idea. Now that the Bureau is up and running, its actions are removing all doubt. New auto-lending rules stand out as the latest example of the CFPB’s shortcomings...
December 31, 2013 Wayne WinegardenAmerican officials are currently negotiating a free-trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership with their counterparts in Japan and 11 other Pacific Rim countries. If successful, the benefits to American consumers and producers would be signif...
October 31, 2013 Wayne WinegardenBack in April 1977, President Carter warned that “the oil and natural gas we rely on for 75% of our energy are running out.” In response to the perceived energy supply shortages, he wanted to limit the annual growth in overall U.S. energy...
July 25, 2013 Wayne WinegardenYou may have heard that lawmakers in Washington struck a deal last week to preserve the current low student-loan rates for at least another year. You may not have heard that for fiscal year 2013 the federal government booked $32 million in revenuesp...
July 22, 2013 Wayne WinegardenThe Pacific Research Institute released a new study on the proposed Plan Bay Area. The study describes the proposals regulatory overreach and its detrimental consequences for Bay Area residents and the metropolitan economy. In addition, the study ...
June 25, 2013 Wendell CoxThe four leaders of Barack Obamas second-term Green Team are nearly all in place: John Kerry has been confirmed as Secretary of State, Sally Jewell has been confirmed as Secretary of the Interior, Ernest Moniz has been confirmed as Secretary of En...
June 07, 2013 Ken GreenMost Americans swipe their credit cards in the checkout line without thinking twice. But our ability to do so is under attack. Seven years ago, a group of stores launched a lawsuit alleging that credit card issuers unfairly dictate the so-called swip...
May 29, 2013 Wayne Winegarden‘Small business” is the recipient of much official love (as well as heavy regulatory intrusion), but it receives its loudest applause as the supposed source of most employment growth. Alas, that conventional wisdom is incorrect: The moder...
May 20, 2013 Benjamin ZycherA new study examining the effect of net employment creation by startup businesses on state gross product was released today. Startup Businesses and the Growth of Real State Gross Product is authored by PRI senior fellow Benjamin Zycher, Ph.D. Dr. Zyc...
May 14, 2013 Benjamin ZycherThe U.S. corporate tax code is ripe for bipartisan reformthe U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate of any OECD country but collects some of the lowest federal corporate tax revenues as a share of GDP. A low-rate flat tax on the broad base of......
May 13, 2013 Arthur LafferBy some measures, New Yorks decline in smoking incidence, particularly youth smoking incidence, was even less flattering. The percentage of 9th through 12th graders in the U.S. who smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day fell from 13.8 percent in 199...
May 08, 2013 Wayne WinegardenMost Americans swipe credit cards without thinking twice. But our ability to do so is under attack. Seven years ago, a group of retailers launched a lawsuit alleging that card issuers unfairly dictate merchant credit card fees. Although the parties a...
May 07, 2013 Wayne WinegardenFlaresun Fire Group is an innovative start-up that makes equipment designed to help first responders rescue people trapped underground or down steep embankments. Flaresun is also notable because its one of the latest companies to flee California tha...
April 14, 2013 Arthur LafferNew Analysis of Orange County Toll Roads Reveals Unsustainable Debt Levels, Cost Overruns, Financial Mismanagement, and an est. $1.7 Billion in Taxpayer Subsidies Proposed refinancing plans will add hundreds of millions in debt without addressing fun...
April 09, 2013 Donna ArduinCities and other municipalities falling on hard financial times is nothing new, but it is rare that any such entity files for bankruptcy as a way of addressing its massive debts. Out of nearly 89,500 municipalities in the country, there were just 239...
April 05, 2013 Pacific Research InstituteThe federal government continues to envision itself as Saint Michael, whose role is to save failing industries from the horrors of the market’s cruel discipline. At least it would seem so from its recent actions. Government bailouts for investm...
March 26, 2013 Wayne WinegardenA corporate tax cut would produce higher revenues for Dems and lower rates for GOP. Democrats and Republicans in Washington are at loggerheads over what to do about the deficit, the national debt, and the automatic spending cuts, which took effect la...
March 10, 2013 Arthur LafferOn Election Day, Californias voters approved Prop. 30 by a margin of more than 700,000 votes. Championed by Gov. Jerry Brown, this ballot initiative will ratchet up income and sales tax rates over the next few years. Its expected to pull in some $6...
January 26, 2013 Arthur LafferCalifornia has been a leader in Renewable Energy production, in part due to federal and state level policies that provide incentives for producers of renewable power. However, a new report found that Californias Energy policies will raise state powe...
January 24, 2013 Benjamin ZycherSan Francisco The Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, released a new report today that finds that Californias 33 percent renewable portfolio standard (RPS) will impose upon the state in 2020 an aggregate ma...
January 22, 2013 Benjamin ZycherCharities and other nonprofit institutions perform a vast array of altruistic works yielding benefits for both the direct beneficiaries and for society writ large. Most such activities are obvious: medical services for the indigent, educational servi...
January 15, 2013 Benjamin ZycherSan Francisco The Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in San Francisco today released the new report Policy Analytics of the Tax Treatment of Charitable Contributions authored by economist and PRI senior fellow Benjamin Z...
January 03, 2013 Benjamin ZycherA “neighborhood” dispute between Oklahoma and Texas could upset decades of water agreements that have facilitated the nation’s urban, agricultural and industrial growth. At issue in Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann is Okl...
December 24, 2012 Wendell CoxWhen the government increases tax rates, it assumes that it will collect more tax revenue dollars. Generally, this is the case. But there may well be an important exception that occurs because of the elasticity of taxation. Despite the presence of ma...
December 12, 2012 Arthur LafferTo paraphrase Samuel Johnson, nothing focuses the mind like a crisis. And, perhaps that is why the political class continually manufactures fiscal crises. The manufactured crises can be used to focus the collective political mind and help solve the u...
December 10, 2012 Wayne WinegardenThe California Air Resources Board (CARB) wants car companies to install metallic reflective windows, which regulators believe will reduce energy use and fight global warming. Though possibly well intentioned this plan amounts only to window dressing...
December 09, 2012 K. Lloyd BillingsleyKEY POINTS An ever-growing number of municipalities are instituting bans on plastic grocery bags in the name of environmental protection; Studies are mixed regarding whether or not such bans offer significant environmental benefits, but claims of ram...
November 30, 2012 Kenneth P. GreenNew Report on Controlling Rising Government Compensation Costs The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, today released a new report providing policy reforms to help control the rising compensation costs o...
November 05, 2012 Wayne WinegardenCalifornia’s voters will soon consider two ballot initiatives that aim to reduce the state’s unsustainable spending on prisons. The cost of jail is punishing and not just for the prisoners. Incarcerating an inmate runs an average of $47...
October 21, 2012 Arthur LafferCalifornia’s state and local politicians are failing their fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers. As the taxpayers’ agents, California’s politicians should be establishing compensation policies that are generous enough to attrac...
October 16, 2012 Wayne WinegardenAs a prominent analyst of the local economy, Stephen S. Fuller of George Mason Universitys Center for Regional Analysis attracted plenty of attention when he estimated that the mandatory budget cuts coming in January could cost more than 2 million j...
October 14, 2012 Benjamin ZycherThe Golden State continues to lead the nation in accumulating public debt, a race where being in first place isn’t the same thing as winning. “California again trumped other states with a $617 billion debt,” reported State Budget So...
September 28, 2012 Arthur LafferHave you ever watched a football game in which a team runs the ball seemingly at will and wins in a rout? And then, in a rematch, that same team for no good reason throws the ball repeatedly, with little success? Meet Team Republican. In......
September 25, 2012 Jeffrey H. AndersonLaffer Study of TX Medicaid Claims Shows DSOs Treat Patients More Conservatively, Contrary to Claims by Detractors of the Dental Business Model Nashville, Tenn. — An in-depth study of state reimbursement claims data conducted by economist Arthu...
September 19, 2012 Arthur LafferFacebooks stock price is currently hovering just above its all-time low. Shares have lost nearly half their value since they hit the market in May. The social networks executives, employees and investors arent the only ones disappointed by the sto...
August 29, 2012 Arthur LafferIn the spirit of Jimmy Carter, an economic malaise plagues the country. Rather than being the product of a fundamental flaw in our economic system, though, the current stagnation is mainly the result of the nations misguided economic policies. The...
August 08, 2012 Wayne WinegardenGov. Jerry Brown just signed bills finalizing California’s budget and closing the Golden State’s $16 billion budget deficit. But the governor’s budget is contingent on voters approving a proposed $8.5 billion tax hike at the ballot ...
July 15, 2012 Arthur LafferGov. Jerry Brown just enacted a $91.3 billion budget measure to close California’s $16 billion deficit. After pleading with legislators to approve billions of dollars in spending cuts, he’s asking voters to approve major tax increases in ...
July 14, 2012 Arthur C. LafferThe problem in the public sector is that government never is allowed to fail. There never is a day of reckoning no matter how poorly government provides its so-called services I recently documented how the state’s pro-union attorney general, Ka...
February 24, 2012 Steven GreenhutOnce upon a time buying a municipal bond was considered a safe bet. A decent rate of return with little risk – just the thing for junior’s college fund and grandma’s retirement account. But that was before Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. ...
February 23, 2012 Dave RobertsState of the Union addresses provide insight into the vision of America embraced by the president, and in that regard Tuesday’s address by President Barack Obama didn’t disappoint. He envisions a country where the federal government prote...
January 25, 2012 Steven GreenhutDuring the State of the Union, President Obama called for a new era of responsibility, and declared that there will be “no bailouts,” yet he offered a supposed solution for the ongoing mortgage crisis that rewards irresponsibility by promising even m...
January 25, 2012 Steven GreenhutThe American people are in a restive state resembling the mood of their ancestors two 60 new Representatives in the largest election wave since 1948. In a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released on October 13, 2011, 74% of Americans believe the na...
December 05, 2011 Robert J CristianoI can’t forgive myself for voting for Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor during the 2003 recall. I selected a “winnable” loser rather than Tom McClintock, a principled conservative who knew what policies to pursue to right Californi...
November 23, 2011 Steven GreenhutThe Texas jobs miracle has received a lot of attention since Rick Perry announced his candidacy for president in August. The numbers are impressive. Texas added 1.2 million net jobs since Perry took office as Texas Governor in December 2000, while th...
November 22, 2011 Pacific Research InstituteWhat I intend to contribute at The Apothecary is somewhat different than what you’ll read in my other media, because I’ll be bringing financial analysis to bear on the healthcare space (although not ignoring what the politicians and burea...
November 17, 2011 John R. GrahamPresident Obama’s plan to change federal lending rules so people who are under water in their mortgages can refinance will make a political point about Republican intransigence on his jobs package but won’t sway many voters. The truth: the housing ma...
October 25, 2011 Steven GreenhutGov. Jerry Brown wants to increase sales and income taxes in a quest to “find another $10 billion” in revenue. He will have to craft a plan soon to get it on the 2012 ballot. To help California’s struggling economy, any tax proposals should be......
October 17, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanDuring this week’s GOP presidential debate, Michele Bachmann twice said the federal government is spending about “40 percent more” than what it takes in. If only we were in such good shape. The federal government has actually been spending about 75 p...
October 13, 2011 Jeffrey H. AndersonThe nation’s two largest pension funds, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, have been plagued by myriad fiscal problems, and even a corruption scandal in the case of CalPERS, and ye...
October 09, 2011 Steven GreenhutElected officials have powerful incentives to spend, and the administrators of government agencies — always seeking to increase their budgets — are happy to oblige. But the federal budget is finite. There are equally-powerful incentives t...
October 09, 2011 Benjamin ZycherSolyndra, the Fremont solar-panel manufacturer that went belly up last week, was the subject of a hearing Wednesday all the way in the nation’s capital. Lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Committee on Oversight and Investigations...
September 18, 2011 Joseph PerkinsIn my years writing for newspapers, I’ve always hated the commemoration ritual. What new insight can we offer about Thanksgiving? What words can still capture the essence of D-Day? And, this weekend, what can we really say that ameliorates the horror...
September 11, 2011 Steven GreenhutIts gut and amend season in the California Legislature. More like shuck and jive and obfuscate. Last week, I received information that another bill had been gutted of its original intent, and new language added to greatly benefit labor unions. By ...
September 08, 2011 Katy GrimesThe article “Study: Only 1 in 5 medical malpractice cases pay” (Tribune, Aug. 17) reported that “most physicians and virtually every surgeon will face at least one malpractice lawsuit in their careers.” This alarming statistic is an important driver ...
September 04, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanCalifornia’s “Jobs Gap” with the rest of America jumped to a record high, according to new calculations. In 2010, I devised the “Jobs Gap” to measure how much worse unemployment is in California than the rest of America....
September 01, 2011 John SeilerWhen the taxpayer is backing up the entire liability for the massive pensions received by public employees who are part of the California Public Employees Retirement System, then CalPERS officials are exuberant about the stock market. They insist tha...
August 28, 2011 Steven GreenhutWhen the taxpayer is backing up the entire liability for the pensions received by members of the California Public Employees Retirement System, then CalPERS officials are exuberant about the stock market. They insist that a predicted rate of return o...
August 26, 2011 Steven GreenhutNew York City doled out an astounding $6 billion in judgments and settlements in 10 years, some for bizarre claims of injury resulting from biting in a kindergarten classroom, tripping in a Lincoln Center parking lot, and slipping on bus steps, accor...
August 22, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanLos Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s speech Tuesday at the Sacramento Press Club left many reporters wondering what the mayor is doing and what he is running for next. It seems odd for an L.A. mayor to fly to Sacramento, give a speech detai...
August 19, 2011 Steven GreenhutAt about $75 billion annually, U.S. private-sector investment in medical technology is substantial, and a large body of research demonstrates that the economic returns to these investments are enormous. But emerging federal policies are likely to cre...
August 18, 2011 Benjamin ZycherResearchers at MIT recently forecast that natural gas production from five American shale reserves would double in five years and triple in 20. These U.S. sources of gas can transform America’s energy outlook, provided lawmakers don’t int...
August 16, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanInvestors around the world are rattled at the recent plunges in the U.S. stock market. Keynesian pundits predictably blamed our economic woes on the (nonexistent) austerity measures in the recent budget compromise, saying we just need more deficits a...
August 14, 2011 Robert P. MurphyThe latest cheesy TV cop series, “Against The Wall,” is about a Chicago woman from a family of police officers who becomes a detective in the department’s internal-affairs unit. This causes outrage among her police brothers and dad,...
August 14, 2011 Steven GreenhutAn investigation last month by CalWatchDog.com, which I edit, revealed that at least one of the 14 commissioners in charge of drawing new district lines for California’s elected representatives had made multiple political campaign contributions to De...
August 12, 2011 Steven GreenhutOn June 23, the Obama administration, in conjunction with other governments, announced a plan to release a total of 60 million barrels of oil from strategic oil reserves in the U.S. and other countries, at a rate of 2 million barrels per day for 30.....
August 09, 2011 Robert P. Murphy(San Francisco) The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a nationally recognized free-market think tank located in San Francisco, has named Christine Hughes as its new Vice President. Ms. Hughes had formerly served on the Board of Directors at the Pacif...
August 08, 2011 Pacific Research InstituteLast year, a Los Angeles Times investigation revealed that California welfare “clients” were using their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards to spend millions at casinos and on cruise ships to hardship destinations such as Rio de Janeiro. Califo...
August 07, 2011 Ali MeyerAs someone who chronicles the political goings-on in California, I rarely offer encouraging news for those who believe in the principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility and individual freedom. Nevertheless, readers frequently implore me ...
August 05, 2011 Steven GreenhutLast year a Los Angeles Times investigation revealed that California welfare “clients” were using their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards to spend millions at Las Vegas casinos and on cruise ships to hardship destinations such as Rio de Janeir...
August 03, 2011 Ali MeyerLike many national capitals, Washington, D.C., is often accused of being insulated from the economic realities of the rest of the country. In colloquial terms, it is frequently referred to as a bubble city. If Washington is indeed sheltered from the ...
August 02, 2011 Michael NoffsingerGov. Jerry Browns decision to nominate Berkeley Law Professor Goodwin Liu to Californias Supreme Court is a highly partisan poke in the eye at Republicans, given that GOP congressional criticisms led Liu, in May, to withdraw his name from contentio...
July 31, 2011 Steven GreenhutGov. Jerry Brown’s decision to nominate UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the California Supreme Court is a highly partisan poke in the eye at Republicans, given that GOP congressional criticisms led Liu, in May, to withdraw his name fro...
July 29, 2011 Steven GreenhutCalifornia, a left-coast state, shows its isolation from common sense in many ways, including the latest developments at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state’s taxpayer-funded institute for stem cell research. Created ...
July 27, 2011 K. Lloyd BillingsleyNever has it been more evident that California is in a downward spiral on the verge of economic, social and political collapse San Francisco is now pushing to make convicted criminals a protected class so that prospective employers cannot inquire a...
July 25, 2011 Katy GrimesSacramento – Last year, one of my reporters and her adult son were walking in downtown Sacramento when a couple of young toughs tried grabbing her purse. She pulled back her purse, and the robbers lunged at the two of them, leaving the son’s fa...
July 22, 2011 Steven GreenhutOn Memorial Day, a suicidal man waded into San Francisco Bay outside the city of Alameda and stood there for about an hour, neck deep in chilly water, as about 75 bystanders watched. Local police and firefighters were dispatched to the scene after th...
July 20, 2011 Steven GreenhutThe California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has chosen financier Jonathan Thomas as its new boss — but it matters little who runs the state stem-cell agency. The focus should be on results, and by that standard, Californians do no...
July 17, 2011 K. Lloyd BillingsleyThanks to a little-discussed California Supreme Court decision, the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against “unreasonable searches and seizures” don’t necessarily apply in California anymore. Yet few of our fe...
July 15, 2011 Steven GreenhutAmerica’s largest oil and natural gas companies recently reported quarterly earnings, and as expected, profits were up. But the caricature of fat-cat energy executives lining their pockets at the expense of the everyman doesn’t hold up to...
July 13, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanPlease read the entire column at Forbes.com: The Apothecary....
July 13, 2011 John R. GrahamA series of bills pending in California’s state legislature would severely curtail the use of voters’ initiatives and referenda—and have already sparked a long-overdue debate about the virtues of direct democracy. Advocates for reform make some valid...
July 12, 2011 Steven GreenhutCalifornia has the most educated legislators, according to a recent Chronicle of Higher Education study. Those stellar academic credentials, unfortunately, have not lifted the state from its economic malaise. California’s unemployment rate, as of May...
July 06, 2011 Alison MeyerThe Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council recently surveyed 304 small business owners about how satisfied they were with the new healthcare reform laws tax credits. Nearly 90% had not applied for the credits. Some had no idea they existed, oth...
July 04, 2011 Sally C. PipesCalifornia legislators —- who seem unable to come up with an honest balanced budget, who always seek tax increases, and who won’t pass even modest reforms to the state’s unfunded pension system or to anything else, for that matter &...
July 03, 2011 Steven GreenhutWith the California legislature having just passed a flawed budget full of accounting tricks, budget gimmicks and money grabs, one area of small business is about to be taxed right out of business – just so that the state can fill a budget hole...
June 29, 2011 Katy GrimesAs 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. This de...
June 26, 2011 Steven GreenhutFederal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announce that the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision would be to keep interest rates as they are for an extended period of time. PRI’s Lee Hoskins, Robert Heller, SDR Capital Market and William ...
June 22, 2011 W. Lee HoskinsThe California Legislature just passed a budget. Less than 24 hours later, the governor vetoed it, leaving many scratching their heads why Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a budget from his own party. For the first time in history, the state budget has been ...
June 22, 2011 Katy GrimesIn 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...
June 21, 2011 Robert P. MurphyHours 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 v...
June 19, 2011 Steven GreenhutThe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) would not have passed without the support of business interests in the health sector. Stock prices of for-profit health plans have significantly outperformed the broader stock market since Pres...
June 15, 2011 John R. GrahamAn appeals court has ruled that a public agency must hand over pension data to a newspaper. This is a welcome development but a recent case confirms that California remains far behind the curve on government transparency. The Sacramento Bee has been ...
June 15, 2011 K. Lloyd BillingsleySan Francisco (June 13, 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...
June 14, 2011 Benjamin ZycherGov. Jerry Brown’s recent talk to the California State Association of Counties was more meandering and disjointed than usual, but the governor stuck to his talking points: Unless California voters approve tax extensions, they must get used to greatly...
June 12, 2011 Steven GreenhutAs a tragic San Francisco fire that claimed the life of at least one firefighter Thursday has shown, public safety jobs at times can be very dangerous. But an incident from earlier in the week across the bay in Alameda has also shown, public safety.....
June 03, 2011 Steven GreenhutIn 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 depend...
June 03, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanDoug 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 ...
June 03, 2011 Steven GreenhutThe Social Networking Privacy Act (SB 242), authored by state senator Ellen Corbett‚ a San Leandro Democrat‚ would force any social networking site to make new users choose their privacy settings when they register and make the default settings priva...
May 25, 2011 Sonia ArrisonWhen California governor Jerry Brown announced details last month of a two-year contract that he’d negotiated with California’s prison guards’ union, you could practically hear the sighs of disappointment from stalwarts who had hoped that the 73-year...
May 24, 2011 Steven GreenhutThe city of Bell pay scandal highlighted serious flaws in California’s open-government laws. Now a proposed constitutional change wants the people to guarantee more sunshine to the Golden State. That’s how government openness was achieved...
May 13, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanCalifornia has become such a basket case that outsiders are starting to parachute in and report on the tales of woe from our deficit-racked, economically stagnant and politically dysfunctional state. It makes for good reading for a broader audience, ...
May 07, 2011 Steven GreenhutTwo weeks ago, Standard and Poor’s kept the U.S. government’s AAA debt rating, but downgraded its future outlook from “stable” to “negative.” The announcement roiled stock markets and underscored the need for tea party activists to keep legislators’ ...
May 03, 2011 Pacific Research InstituteMore than 500 CEOs considered a wide range of criteria, from taxation and regulation to workforce quality and living environment, in our annual ranking of the best states for business. The charts and articles in this special report show how each stat...
May 03, 2011 J.P. DonlonUnion arguments in favor of their members’ lush pensions are falling by the wayside as the public examines the facts. For instance, union officials argue that the average public-sector pension benefit in California is “only” $30,000...
April 29, 2011 Steven GreenhutWhen I lived in Iowa, I was an average citizen, and, one day, I had a question for the governor’s office for an article I was writing for a small newsletter. I called the Capitol number and was transferred to an aide, who responded with......
April 14, 2011 Steven GreenhutLast month Jerry Nickelsburg, senior economist with the UCLA Anderson Project, held forth at the University of California Sacramento Center on key themes involving recession and recovery. Nickelsburg agrees that we are in a “deep recession,” in contr...
April 12, 2011 K. Lloyd BillingsleyCalifornians sweating to complete tax returns by April 15 may be unaware that another milestone occurs the very next day. California’s Tax Freedom Day will arrive on April 16. This should trouble Californians for a number of reasons. For the na...
April 12, 2011 Jason ClemensRepublicans in the state Assembly, still high-fiving each other for stopping Jerry Brown’s one proposal that actually made sense (ending redevelopment agencies), congratulated themselves last week for their tough stand on illegal immigration, a...
April 11, 2011 Steven GreenhutThe city of San Diego has long been the poster child for pension abuse, but now it has a chance to become the statewide poster child for pension reform thanks to a ballot measure that top officials are circulating. San Diego’s efforts should be heart...
April 11, 2011 Steven GreenhutHave you ever watched one of those predictable, boring movies where you wish you could just skip the obligatory chase and romance scenes and get to the “I see it coming” ending already? That’s what I feel like as I watch the unfoldi...
April 04, 2011 Steven GreenhutAt a recent California community colleges board meeting, Gov. Jerry Brown said transparency is key to increasing voter trust in government and would help pass his tax-extension plan. He’s right, but national sunshine week slipped by without Bro...
March 30, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanOil prices climbed back over $100 per barrel last week. When news like this breaks, pundits and policy wonks on both sides of the political spectrum argue we should depend less on oil and natural gas. But nobody has a believable plan to get there......
March 28, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanCalifornia Republicans love to talk about limiting government, fighting bureaucracy and keeping taxes low, but March 17 they proved that this is nothing more than a rhetorical device. Given the opportunity to rein in the size and power of government ...
March 25, 2011 Steven GreenhutThe Oscars may be over but the prize has yet to go out for the lamest statement regarding the battle between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and government-employee unions. The competition is fierce, with filmmaker Michael Moore a leading contender. Mr. ...
March 22, 2011 K. Lloyd BillingsleyCalifornia has changed dramatically since 1941, when Carl and Margaret Karcher scraped together about 325 bucks to start a hot dog cart in Los Angeles – a precursor to a drive-through restaurant they opened in Anaheim and which grew into the CarlR...
March 18, 2011 Steven GreenhutDuring National Sunshine Week, the public continues to be outraged by the lavish salaries taken by former city officials in Bell. Fortunately, the city can teach important lessons on how to improve California’s transparency laws. The Bell scand...
March 17, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanTo counter the powerful incentives facing elected and appointed public-sector officials and government employees to conceal information and operations, “sunshine laws” have been enacted to open the doors of government so the public can view the debat...
March 16, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanStudy looks at the history, strengths, and weaknesses of open-government laws and practices in California and recommends more than two dozen reforms based on a comparative assessment of California’s laws and practices with those in the other 49 state...
March 16, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanState Democrats are again trying to eliminate the secret-ballot vote for union certification. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg describes his latest measure as the alternative electoral method for choosing collective bargaining representati...
March 16, 2011 Katy GrimesForced to choose between funding public schools and subsidizing ritzy golf courses, many California officials prefer the latter. That’s become painfully clear in the past few weeks as Golden State politicians have fiercely opposed Gov. Jerry Br...
March 11, 2011 Steven GreenhutRepublican efforts to trade a tax vote for a fiscal reform vote are going nowhere fast, as Gov. Jerry Brown continues to prove that he is the best $30 million investment that the state’s public employee unions ever could have made. That’s the amount ...
March 10, 2011 Steven GreenhutAs conflicts rage across the Midwest between state governments intent on solving their budget crises and public-sector unions trying to protect the status quo, there has been a worrisome calmness in Sacramento. This is a sure sign that California lea...
March 03, 2011 Jason ClemensCalifornia’s Legislative Analyst (LAO) is a nonpartisan body “providing fiscal and policy advice to the Legislature for more than 70 years,” according to its website. Some of its recent advice is seriously misguided, such as a proposal to expand the ...
March 02, 2011 K. Lloyd BillingsleySAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission issued its finding that the devastating economic events of the past few years were “preventable.” The FCIC heaped the blame on many parties, but drew the wrong conclusion when it f...
February 25, 2011 Robert P. MurphyAfter a bruising battle over cap and trade last year, President Obama has set his sights on another target — oil and natural gas companies. Vilifying “big oil” might be good politics, but it’s bad policy. If we’re going to get serious about energy so...
February 25, 2011 Lawrence J. McQuillanSACRAMENTO – If a real battle over union reform can take place in Wisconsin and spread to other liberal rust-belt, union-dominated states, then it could perhaps happen in California – although it might take some time, given the political dynamic here...
February 25, 2011 Steven Greenhut
