Blog
Blog
The California High-Cost Rail
The projected cost of the California bullet train has whipsawed up and down like share prices in a volatile market. The latest forecast adds $1.3 billion to the estimated price tag. Now at $80.3 billion, it’s a long way from its humble beginnings of $33 billion, the amount voters approved ...
Blog
Would Newsom’s Climate Catalyst Action Fund Fuel Second Coming of Solyndra?
Last week, California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s office was on a roll – releasing several, often-critical analyses of some of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s high profile budget proposals. Particularly pointed was its analysis of Newsom’s proposal to create a so-called “Climate Catalyst Action Fund.” According to the administration’s budget documents, it “would ...
Agriculture
What We’re Watching – Lots of Free Market Ideas to Love on Valentine’s Day
Tim Anaya – Watch Sally Pipes on “After Words” on Saturday Night As part of the promotion of her latest book, PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy Sally C. Pipes will appear on “After Words” on C-Span 2’s “Book TV” this Saturday night at ...
Blog
Beyond the New Normal? Not.
Back in 2017, concerned over the sclerotic growth of the U.S. economy, PRI published a series of studies titled Beyond the New Normal by economist and PRI senior fellow Wayne Winegarden. Up until that point, annual real GDP growth averaged just 1.9 percent since 2001. Many economists, resigned to our ...
Blog
Bankruptcy Deadline May Not Save PG&E from State Takeover
Reeling from multiple massive state wildfires that its actions likely triggered, Pacific Gas & Electric, or PG&E, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this time last year. The investor-owned utility faces a June 30, 2020 deadline to come up with a plan to come out of bankruptcy, address the estimated $25 ...
Blog
Assembly Bill 5: Is The Worst Yet To Come?
At what point did the lawmakers who voted for, and the governor who signed, California Assembly Bill 5 realize it’s lousy policy? It should have been the moment the idea was first conceived. But that didn’t happen, the legislation became law, and now it’s being implicitly admitted that it’s a ...
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: Will California’s Ban on Freelance Work Lead to Blue State Turnaround?
The backlash over California’s Assembly Bill 5, legislation that robs workers of their freedom, was likely not expected by lawmakers. They’re accustomed to an electorate that agreeably goes along with whatever policies they impose, no matter how invasive. The response to AB5, which outlaws, with a few exceptions, freelance and ...
Blog
What We’re Watching – February 7
Tim Anaya – What You Need to Know About the Wuhan Coronavirus With all the media stories and online misinformation about the Wuhan Coronavirus, we thought it would be good to sit down with our Dr. Henry Miller to set the record straight. This week on PRI’s “Next Round” podcast, ...
Blog
A Former Speechwriter’s View of the 2020 State of the Union
PRI is fortunate to be home to several former speechwriters for Presidents and Governors, including me. Anyone who has been a speechwriter watches a big public speech like this week’s State of the Union address or Gov. Newsom’s upcoming State of the State address on Feb. 19 with great interest ...
Blog
Single-Payer Poll Watch: Single-Payer Support and Opposition Even, Iowa Caucusgoers Rate Health Care Top Issue
One of the first national health care polls of 2020 shows the continued lukewarm support for a national single-payer health care plan. Adding the January 2020 Kaiser survey to the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) Single-Payer Poll Watch brings the average support and opposition for single-payer health care to almost dead ...
The California High-Cost Rail
The projected cost of the California bullet train has whipsawed up and down like share prices in a volatile market. The latest forecast adds $1.3 billion to the estimated price tag. Now at $80.3 billion, it’s a long way from its humble beginnings of $33 billion, the amount voters approved ...
Would Newsom’s Climate Catalyst Action Fund Fuel Second Coming of Solyndra?
Last week, California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s office was on a roll – releasing several, often-critical analyses of some of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s high profile budget proposals. Particularly pointed was its analysis of Newsom’s proposal to create a so-called “Climate Catalyst Action Fund.” According to the administration’s budget documents, it “would ...
What We’re Watching – Lots of Free Market Ideas to Love on Valentine’s Day
Tim Anaya – Watch Sally Pipes on “After Words” on Saturday Night As part of the promotion of her latest book, PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy Sally C. Pipes will appear on “After Words” on C-Span 2’s “Book TV” this Saturday night at ...
Beyond the New Normal? Not.
Back in 2017, concerned over the sclerotic growth of the U.S. economy, PRI published a series of studies titled Beyond the New Normal by economist and PRI senior fellow Wayne Winegarden. Up until that point, annual real GDP growth averaged just 1.9 percent since 2001. Many economists, resigned to our ...
Bankruptcy Deadline May Not Save PG&E from State Takeover
Reeling from multiple massive state wildfires that its actions likely triggered, Pacific Gas & Electric, or PG&E, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this time last year. The investor-owned utility faces a June 30, 2020 deadline to come up with a plan to come out of bankruptcy, address the estimated $25 ...
Assembly Bill 5: Is The Worst Yet To Come?
At what point did the lawmakers who voted for, and the governor who signed, California Assembly Bill 5 realize it’s lousy policy? It should have been the moment the idea was first conceived. But that didn’t happen, the legislation became law, and now it’s being implicitly admitted that it’s a ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Will California’s Ban on Freelance Work Lead to Blue State Turnaround?
The backlash over California’s Assembly Bill 5, legislation that robs workers of their freedom, was likely not expected by lawmakers. They’re accustomed to an electorate that agreeably goes along with whatever policies they impose, no matter how invasive. The response to AB5, which outlaws, with a few exceptions, freelance and ...
What We’re Watching – February 7
Tim Anaya – What You Need to Know About the Wuhan Coronavirus With all the media stories and online misinformation about the Wuhan Coronavirus, we thought it would be good to sit down with our Dr. Henry Miller to set the record straight. This week on PRI’s “Next Round” podcast, ...
A Former Speechwriter’s View of the 2020 State of the Union
PRI is fortunate to be home to several former speechwriters for Presidents and Governors, including me. Anyone who has been a speechwriter watches a big public speech like this week’s State of the Union address or Gov. Newsom’s upcoming State of the State address on Feb. 19 with great interest ...
Single-Payer Poll Watch: Single-Payer Support and Opposition Even, Iowa Caucusgoers Rate Health Care Top Issue
One of the first national health care polls of 2020 shows the continued lukewarm support for a national single-payer health care plan. Adding the January 2020 Kaiser survey to the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) Single-Payer Poll Watch brings the average support and opposition for single-payer health care to almost dead ...
