Pacific Research Institute

Teacher Unions Reap What They Sow With Unsustainable Pensions

July 20, 2018

The unions that represent California teachers have demanded, and received, platinum retirements for their members. But the good days at someone else’s expense cannot last forever. California teachers are beginning to feel the pain that they inflicted on themselves. “Schools are laying off employees and slashing...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Has Terrible Ideas on Healthcare

July 18, 2018

Healthcare

When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat 10-term veteran Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., in the New York's 14th Congressional District primary, she instantly became a national celebrity, and the Democratic Party took another big step towards embracing socialized medicine. The 28-year-old Bronx native ran as an unapologetic socialist, a protege...

A way out of California’s water crisis

July 16, 2018

California’s chronic water problems were once again national news when Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation establishing a code of water-use restrictions that would be more fitting for an undeveloped nation. As usual, policymakers chose the austerity of coercive public policy over the voluntary, cooperative agreements...

It’s Generics Not PBMs That Keep Pharmaceuticals Affordable

July 12, 2018

Expenditures 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 percent in 2016, longer-term (between 2009 and 2016),...

Sacramento lying in wait for worker freedom movement after Janus ruling

July 12, 2018

California

Public employee unions are rubbing a purple bruise, inflicted by the U.S. Supreme Court when it ruled in Janus vs. AFSCME that government workers don’t have to pay unions to keep their jobs. But the unions and their partners in Sacramento aren’t going to let...

Why Does the Left Want Universal Health Care? Britain’s Is on Its Deathbed

July 10, 2018

Healthcare

The U.K.’s government-run healthcare system, the National Health Service, turns 70 this month. There’s not much to celebrate. The NHS is collapsing. Patients routinely face treatment delays, overcrowded hospitals, and doctor shortages. Even its most ardent defenders admit that the NHS is in crisis. Yet American progressives...

Choking on the Cost of ‘Medicare for All’

July 09, 2018

Healthcare

Last month, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an outspoken socialist, beat 10-term Congressman Joe Crowley, the fourth-highest-ranking House Democrat, in the primary election for New York's 14th congressional district. Ocasio-Cortez is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and a former organizer for Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign....

The Wisdom of Trump’s Plan to Merge the Departments of Education and Labor

July 09, 2018

Education

While his efforts in these regard haven’t received many headlines, President Trump has put forward proposal after proposal to make the federal government’s work on education policy less costly, less intrusive, more logical, and more effective. His latest idea — a proposal to merge the...

For Californians, Rejecting Single-Payer Means Transcending Party Politics

July 06, 2018

Healthcare

Last month, Republican businessman John Cox comfortably coasted to a second-place finish in California's gubernatorial primary. But his emergence as the runner-up to Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom was no sure thing. California's unique open primary rules allow the two candidates with the most votes...

Could Decades of Big Government Be Why Bay Area Residents Want to Leave?

July 03, 2018

California

Between 1850 and 1860, California’s population grew by 410 percent – a rapid expansion fueled by the Gold Rush. The rush today, though, is more outbound than inbound. From 2007 to 2016, 6 million people left the state while only 5 million moved in. One could argue...