Government Spending
Business & Economics
Ohio taxes and spends too much
What’s the biggest political myth in Ohio? Maybe it’s the idea that our state government is a model of responsibility because it “lives within its means” – that is, it pays for its spending in the present, through taxes, rather than in the future, through debt. It’s true that our ...
Business & Economics
Getting California on track
As President-elect Obama assembles his team, back here in California, the new legislature prepares to convene in less than 30 days and the governor stews about a several-billion-dollar deficit only a few weeks after the state’s supposedly balanced budget was approved. Recently, Gov. Schwarzenegger announced the formation of a task ...
Business & Economics
Where have Silicon Valley’s Republicans gone?
Calling venture capitalist Tim Draper an ardent Republican is something of an understatement. In 1999, he was enough of a fan of then-candidate George W. Bush that he chaired three fundraisers over a year before the actual election. Salon once dubbed him “George W.’s point man in Silicon Valley.” The ...
Business & Economics
Alaska ranks near bottom of economic freedom index
FAIRBANKS — High levels of welfare spending per capita and a large number of people receiving help are keeping Alaska near the bottom of an index measuring economic freedom in each of the 50 states. The bottom isn’t a good place to be, especially as companies look for competitive, solid ...
Commentary
Questions on healthcare reform
Healthcare reform will be front-and-center in the presidential debates. It’s a topic that’s full of complicated issues, so it can be hard to cut through all the rhetoric and figure out exactly what each candidate is proposing. So here’s the skinny on five questions that you’ll likely hear many times ...
Agriculture
Why McCain needs to read Goldwater
Those who aspire to elected office, and all those who hold office, would do well to heed the advice of Barry Goldwater, former Arizona senator and presidential candidate. None would benefit more than presidential nominee John McCain, Goldwater’s Arizona successor in the U.S. Senate. Goldwater’s ideas, and the principles upon ...
Commentary
New York Times’ Funny Math on Massachusetts Health Care
Only in government-run health care, or in the editorial offices of the New York Times, would it be considered a “success” to spend over $3 to solve a $1 problem. Dazzled by the lure of so-called “universal” health care, the NY Times editorial board enthuses that two thirds of the ...
Commentary
What you don’t hear about health care
Health care reform will be front-and-center in the presidential debates. It’s a topic that’s full of complicated issues, so it can be hard to cut through all the rhetoric and figure out exactly what each candidate is proposing. So here’s the skinny on five questions that you’ll likely hear many ...
Commentary
Madness of Medi-Cal Dependency; Follies of Fiscal Federalism
California’s politicians have run our state into a $17 billion deficit. For months, the governor and legislature have been wrangling over how they’ll soak us to fill the hole. Although there’s little hope that they’ll shrink government spending in the long run, they had to stop the bleeding in the ...
Commentary
Study: Md. 31st for individual health care control
A new study designed to measure the degree of control Americans have over their own health care ranks Maryland 31st in the country. The U.S. Index of Health Ownership was released Thursday by the Pacific Research Institute, a private research and policy analysis group. Study author John R. Graham, the ...
Ohio taxes and spends too much
What’s the biggest political myth in Ohio? Maybe it’s the idea that our state government is a model of responsibility because it “lives within its means” – that is, it pays for its spending in the present, through taxes, rather than in the future, through debt. It’s true that our ...
Getting California on track
As President-elect Obama assembles his team, back here in California, the new legislature prepares to convene in less than 30 days and the governor stews about a several-billion-dollar deficit only a few weeks after the state’s supposedly balanced budget was approved. Recently, Gov. Schwarzenegger announced the formation of a task ...
Where have Silicon Valley’s Republicans gone?
Calling venture capitalist Tim Draper an ardent Republican is something of an understatement. In 1999, he was enough of a fan of then-candidate George W. Bush that he chaired three fundraisers over a year before the actual election. Salon once dubbed him “George W.’s point man in Silicon Valley.” The ...
Alaska ranks near bottom of economic freedom index
FAIRBANKS — High levels of welfare spending per capita and a large number of people receiving help are keeping Alaska near the bottom of an index measuring economic freedom in each of the 50 states. The bottom isn’t a good place to be, especially as companies look for competitive, solid ...
Questions on healthcare reform
Healthcare reform will be front-and-center in the presidential debates. It’s a topic that’s full of complicated issues, so it can be hard to cut through all the rhetoric and figure out exactly what each candidate is proposing. So here’s the skinny on five questions that you’ll likely hear many times ...
Why McCain needs to read Goldwater
Those who aspire to elected office, and all those who hold office, would do well to heed the advice of Barry Goldwater, former Arizona senator and presidential candidate. None would benefit more than presidential nominee John McCain, Goldwater’s Arizona successor in the U.S. Senate. Goldwater’s ideas, and the principles upon ...
New York Times’ Funny Math on Massachusetts Health Care
Only in government-run health care, or in the editorial offices of the New York Times, would it be considered a “success” to spend over $3 to solve a $1 problem. Dazzled by the lure of so-called “universal” health care, the NY Times editorial board enthuses that two thirds of the ...
What you don’t hear about health care
Health care reform will be front-and-center in the presidential debates. It’s a topic that’s full of complicated issues, so it can be hard to cut through all the rhetoric and figure out exactly what each candidate is proposing. So here’s the skinny on five questions that you’ll likely hear many ...
Madness of Medi-Cal Dependency; Follies of Fiscal Federalism
California’s politicians have run our state into a $17 billion deficit. For months, the governor and legislature have been wrangling over how they’ll soak us to fill the hole. Although there’s little hope that they’ll shrink government spending in the long run, they had to stop the bleeding in the ...
Study: Md. 31st for individual health care control
A new study designed to measure the degree of control Americans have over their own health care ranks Maryland 31st in the country. The U.S. Index of Health Ownership was released Thursday by the Pacific Research Institute, a private research and policy analysis group. Study author John R. Graham, the ...
