Government Spending
Business & Economics
Is California Too Big To Fail?
California, the state that gave us wheatgrass, the microprocessor and the summer of love, is about to provide us with yet another first: a bailout of a failing state government. Preliminary returns on Tuesday night show that voters soundly rejected ballot measures calling for higher taxes, meaning that the not-so-Golden ...
Business & Economics
Oh Canada! … Role-Reversal in North America?
Stereotypes are often rooted in some current or past reality, but they can also become outdated. While the USA and Japan have for a long time been regarded as small-government countries, among industrial countries, Canada has long been considered more ‘socialistic’ and closer to the big-government model of Western Europe. ...
Business & Economics
Revive state’s start-up culture
Californians perceive the Golden State as a bastion of entrepreneurship and innovation, and in some ways they’re correct. Silicon Valley, after all, is a hub of researchers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and innovators. But a look at the entire state tells a different story. California’s vaunted start-up culture is under siege. ...
Business & Economics
Great Right North
Reports last week that the recession is draining Social Security and Medicare funds were just one more reminder that the United States needs to fix its finances. For inspiration, why not look to Canada? Long derided by American conservatives as “socialist” and praised by the left for its generous government ...
Climate Change
High/Low: Is There Now Reasonable Agreement on the Costs and Benefits of Waxman-Markey?
Supporters of the Waxman-Markey climate bill have not seriously disputed the extreme costs and the negligible benefits estimated by critics of the cap-and-trade proposal. I must confess that I was expecting a real fight, but some very important markers seem to have been laid down in this legislative debate. Waxman-Markey ...
Business & Economics
A swift re-tort: How to fight lawsuit abuse
America’s economy remains in terrible shape and federal lawmakers are trying to kick-start a recovery by spending money. A better strategy would be to reform the country’s inefficient tort system, which is failing to promptly compensate true victims. Instead, meritless lawsuits clog courtrooms while outsized monetary awards cripple businesses and ...
Business & Economics
Did FDR Make the Depression Great?
Robert Murphy demonstrates in this excellent book a penetrating ability to explain the essence of fallacious economic doctrines. As he notes, three theories offer competing explanations of the Great Depression: the Keynesian account, which stresses a lack of aggregate demand; Milton Friedman’s monetarism, which ascribes the severity of the early ...
Business & Economics
The Cost of Cap and Trade
Recently Congress took a break from nationalizing corporations and discussed the Waxman-Markey “cap and trade” bill in which the federal government would auction off permits to businesses giving them legal permission to emit carbon dioxide. During the four days of hearings, one of the most contentious issues was how much ...
Business & Economics
Docket Case: Pennsylvania Tort Reform Advocates V. Critics
Docket Case: Pennsylvania Tort Reform Advocates V. Critics, No. 052009, P.A. (2009). Questions: Is Pennsylvania tort reform necessary? Will the suggested tort reforms offered by the advocates save money, encourage business, and stimulate the economy? Plaintiffs’ (Advocates’) Opening Statement, Exhibits Resting on its laurels. Allowing society to shoulder excessive costs. ...
Business & Economics
Canada’s advantage
As Canada’s experience in the 1990s showed, the path to economic growth lies in shrinking government, not growing it This past weekend, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty encouraged the G20 countries to rapidly implement their stimulus packages, highlighting that his government provided a greater stimulus budget than the G20 countries agreed ...
Is California Too Big To Fail?
California, the state that gave us wheatgrass, the microprocessor and the summer of love, is about to provide us with yet another first: a bailout of a failing state government. Preliminary returns on Tuesday night show that voters soundly rejected ballot measures calling for higher taxes, meaning that the not-so-Golden ...
Oh Canada! … Role-Reversal in North America?
Stereotypes are often rooted in some current or past reality, but they can also become outdated. While the USA and Japan have for a long time been regarded as small-government countries, among industrial countries, Canada has long been considered more ‘socialistic’ and closer to the big-government model of Western Europe. ...
Revive state’s start-up culture
Californians perceive the Golden State as a bastion of entrepreneurship and innovation, and in some ways they’re correct. Silicon Valley, after all, is a hub of researchers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and innovators. But a look at the entire state tells a different story. California’s vaunted start-up culture is under siege. ...
Great Right North
Reports last week that the recession is draining Social Security and Medicare funds were just one more reminder that the United States needs to fix its finances. For inspiration, why not look to Canada? Long derided by American conservatives as “socialist” and praised by the left for its generous government ...
High/Low: Is There Now Reasonable Agreement on the Costs and Benefits of Waxman-Markey?
Supporters of the Waxman-Markey climate bill have not seriously disputed the extreme costs and the negligible benefits estimated by critics of the cap-and-trade proposal. I must confess that I was expecting a real fight, but some very important markers seem to have been laid down in this legislative debate. Waxman-Markey ...
A swift re-tort: How to fight lawsuit abuse
America’s economy remains in terrible shape and federal lawmakers are trying to kick-start a recovery by spending money. A better strategy would be to reform the country’s inefficient tort system, which is failing to promptly compensate true victims. Instead, meritless lawsuits clog courtrooms while outsized monetary awards cripple businesses and ...
Did FDR Make the Depression Great?
Robert Murphy demonstrates in this excellent book a penetrating ability to explain the essence of fallacious economic doctrines. As he notes, three theories offer competing explanations of the Great Depression: the Keynesian account, which stresses a lack of aggregate demand; Milton Friedman’s monetarism, which ascribes the severity of the early ...
The Cost of Cap and Trade
Recently Congress took a break from nationalizing corporations and discussed the Waxman-Markey “cap and trade” bill in which the federal government would auction off permits to businesses giving them legal permission to emit carbon dioxide. During the four days of hearings, one of the most contentious issues was how much ...
Docket Case: Pennsylvania Tort Reform Advocates V. Critics
Docket Case: Pennsylvania Tort Reform Advocates V. Critics, No. 052009, P.A. (2009). Questions: Is Pennsylvania tort reform necessary? Will the suggested tort reforms offered by the advocates save money, encourage business, and stimulate the economy? Plaintiffs’ (Advocates’) Opening Statement, Exhibits Resting on its laurels. Allowing society to shoulder excessive costs. ...
Canada’s advantage
As Canada’s experience in the 1990s showed, the path to economic growth lies in shrinking government, not growing it This past weekend, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty encouraged the G20 countries to rapidly implement their stimulus packages, highlighting that his government provided a greater stimulus budget than the G20 countries agreed ...
