California

California

The Perils of Regulating Drugs by Sound Bite

There is a legal adage that “hard cases make bad law.” California may soon rediscover this wisdom. Assembly member Jim Wood has introduced a bill (AB 824) with the intention of discouraging “pay-for-delay” tactics. “Pay-for-delay” practices refer to a situation when a manufacturer of a patented drug pays the manufacturer ...
Blog

Workers Of California Unite . . . Against Minimum Wage Hikes

They were warned. They wouldn’t listen. But they should have. A university study confirms what so many of us already knew — and what several other studies have corroborated: Minimum wage hikes kill jobs. Scholars at the University of California, Riverside, looked at the labor market and found that job ...
Blog

CAPITAL IDEAS: Cracking Down on Fracking in California—Is it The Smart Thing to Do?

DOWNLOAD THE PDF Jerry Brown left office in January as one of the most popular governors in California history. He also left successor Gavin Newsom with a few headaches. Among the more prominent unresolved issues are the high-speed rail project, the housing and homeless crises, and runaway public-employee pension obligations. ...
Blog

California “Data Dividend” Plan Would Hurt Consumers, Increase Government Power

Earlier this year, Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a so-called “data dividend” because, he says, “California’s consumers should also be able to share in the wealth that is created from their data…” The Governor provided almost no details then, and few to none since, but the idea seems to suffer from ...
California

Mark Cunningham – Politics with a New York State of Mind

New York Post editorial page editor Mark Cunningham joins us to discuss what’s going on in the Big Apple, including the push for single-payer, rent control, and criminal justice reform that are also hot issues in California. He also gives us the local view on AOC – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – ...
Blog

Gov. Newsom to May Revise Winners – “You Get a Billion!”

Years ago, in perhaps one of the most well-known episodes of her long-running talk show, Oprah Winfrey gave away shiny-red Pontiacs to all of the unsuspecting members of her studio audience. Uttering a phrase that has gone down in pop culture history, Winfrey told the shrieking audience, “You get a ...
Charter Schools

SoCal NAACP Chapters Break with Unions Because Charter Schools Work

While a powerful front of liberal lawmakers and groups push for a moratorium on the creation of new charter schools in California, individual chapters of the NAACP have broken ranks to support charters that are improving the education for thousands of African-American children. To end teacher strikes in Los Angeles and Oakland, local school ...
Agriculture

A Scientist’s Week at the Vatican

Ten years ago this month, I had the experience of a lifetime. I was one of a small group of scholars from around the world who were convened by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences for a “study week.” Our subject was “Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context ...
Blog

What We’re Watching – How Entrepreneurship Can Alleviate Poverty in Africa

Ben Smithwick – How Entrepreneurship Can Alleviate Poverty in Africa Magatte Wade is one of the most prominent female African entrepreneurs. In this TED Talk, Wade discusses the challenges of doing business in her native Senegal and shares her vision for how entrepreneurship can help alleviate poverty in Africa. Tim ...
Blog

Helping More Americans Climb the Economic Ladder by Encouraging More Savings

A central theme of my previous columns has been the importance and primacy of the individual. Economic policymakers cling to their blackboard models but forget that even for unambiguously “net-positive” interventions, there are millions of people being actively punished by their supposedly representative government. Government does not legislate prosperity. Achieving ...
California

The Perils of Regulating Drugs by Sound Bite

There is a legal adage that “hard cases make bad law.” California may soon rediscover this wisdom. Assembly member Jim Wood has introduced a bill (AB 824) with the intention of discouraging “pay-for-delay” tactics. “Pay-for-delay” practices refer to a situation when a manufacturer of a patented drug pays the manufacturer ...
Blog

Workers Of California Unite . . . Against Minimum Wage Hikes

They were warned. They wouldn’t listen. But they should have. A university study confirms what so many of us already knew — and what several other studies have corroborated: Minimum wage hikes kill jobs. Scholars at the University of California, Riverside, looked at the labor market and found that job ...
Blog

CAPITAL IDEAS: Cracking Down on Fracking in California—Is it The Smart Thing to Do?

DOWNLOAD THE PDF Jerry Brown left office in January as one of the most popular governors in California history. He also left successor Gavin Newsom with a few headaches. Among the more prominent unresolved issues are the high-speed rail project, the housing and homeless crises, and runaway public-employee pension obligations. ...
Blog

California “Data Dividend” Plan Would Hurt Consumers, Increase Government Power

Earlier this year, Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a so-called “data dividend” because, he says, “California’s consumers should also be able to share in the wealth that is created from their data…” The Governor provided almost no details then, and few to none since, but the idea seems to suffer from ...
California

Mark Cunningham – Politics with a New York State of Mind

New York Post editorial page editor Mark Cunningham joins us to discuss what’s going on in the Big Apple, including the push for single-payer, rent control, and criminal justice reform that are also hot issues in California. He also gives us the local view on AOC – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – ...
Blog

Gov. Newsom to May Revise Winners – “You Get a Billion!”

Years ago, in perhaps one of the most well-known episodes of her long-running talk show, Oprah Winfrey gave away shiny-red Pontiacs to all of the unsuspecting members of her studio audience. Uttering a phrase that has gone down in pop culture history, Winfrey told the shrieking audience, “You get a ...
Charter Schools

SoCal NAACP Chapters Break with Unions Because Charter Schools Work

While a powerful front of liberal lawmakers and groups push for a moratorium on the creation of new charter schools in California, individual chapters of the NAACP have broken ranks to support charters that are improving the education for thousands of African-American children. To end teacher strikes in Los Angeles and Oakland, local school ...
Agriculture

A Scientist’s Week at the Vatican

Ten years ago this month, I had the experience of a lifetime. I was one of a small group of scholars from around the world who were convened by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences for a “study week.” Our subject was “Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context ...
Blog

What We’re Watching – How Entrepreneurship Can Alleviate Poverty in Africa

Ben Smithwick – How Entrepreneurship Can Alleviate Poverty in Africa Magatte Wade is one of the most prominent female African entrepreneurs. In this TED Talk, Wade discusses the challenges of doing business in her native Senegal and shares her vision for how entrepreneurship can help alleviate poverty in Africa. Tim ...
Blog

Helping More Americans Climb the Economic Ladder by Encouraging More Savings

A central theme of my previous columns has been the importance and primacy of the individual. Economic policymakers cling to their blackboard models but forget that even for unambiguously “net-positive” interventions, there are millions of people being actively punished by their supposedly representative government. Government does not legislate prosperity. Achieving ...
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