Commentary
Agriculture
Is the ‘Non-GMO’ butterfly an endangered species?
You may have noticed the Non-GMO Project’s butterfly label on foods you buy at the grocery store. Created a little over a decade ago by anti-GMO activists, the label is carried today on some 55,000 different products, from food products such as breakfast cereal to non-food products such as salt and cat litter. ...
California
Going Medieval in California’s Streets
California, to some people’s way of thinking, is the most modern state in the country, if not the most cutting-edge place on earth. It’s progressive, hip, innovative—a bellwether, filled with pioneers and opinion-makers. It’s also unique for its constant battles against biblical catastrophes—earthquakes, droughts, landslides, and floods are all part ...
Blackouts
The problem with government-protected utility monopolies
Just a few months back it was noted that California was suffering through a resurgence of medieval diseases. Another plague of premodern times now threatens to visit the state this summer: darkness. Bloomberg News reported that “California may go dark this summer.” Pacific Gas & Electric plans to cut power ...
Business & Economics
Worker Freedom at Risk in California
When the state Supreme Court issued a ruling last year threatening workers’ ability to operate as independent contractors, it sent a chill through the gig economy. The temperature dropped a few more degrees recently when the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined the standards outlined by the California court ...
Business & Economics
Are ESG Funds A Good, Long-Term Investment?
One of the hottest investment trends promises to do well while by doing good. This investment trend is called environmental, social, and governance investing, or ESG funds. Not all ESG funds have similar investment strategies. Some ESG funds actively invest in companies that meet specific environmental or social criteria. These ...
Commentary
Trump order could cut your cost of health care and drugs
President Trump is expected to issue an executive order soon that could require insurers and hospitals to disclose the prices they’ve negotiated for various services. He hopes such transparency will increase competition and drive down health spending. The health care industry is less supportive. The nation’s top health insurance lobby, ...
Commentary
Don’t Legislate Away Biopharmaceutical Innovation
The U.S. economy thrives on innovation. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, industries that intensively rely on intellectual property (IP) protections, which includes the biopharmaceutical industry, account for nearly 40 percent of the U.S. economy and are responsible for an outsized share of our overall economic growth. Beyond the ...
Commentary
Electronic Health Records Are Broken
A team of investigative reporters recently released a scathing analysisof the Obama administration’s decade-old push to digitize patient health records. The report, conducted by Fortune Magazine and Kaiser Health News, revealed that electronic health records were responsible for thousands of serious, even fatal, medical errors. Needless to say, this wasn’t what the Obama ...
Commentary
‘Medicare-for-all’ is worse than the CBO says it is (much worse)
This week, the House Budget Committee hosted three representatives from the Congressional Budget Office to discuss their new report analyzing the prospects for a single-payer health care system in America. Democrats used the CBO report as an excuse to plug their preferred plans for reform. “It’s not a question of if, it’s a question ...
Commentary
Common Core Has Failed America’s Students
Bill Gates, a key godfather of the Common Core subject-matter standards, wrote five years ago that the national standards “will improve education for millions of students,” but a groundbreaking new study shows that Common Core has actually decreased the level of student achievement. With irresistible prodding by Gates and then-President Obama, the ...
Is the ‘Non-GMO’ butterfly an endangered species?
You may have noticed the Non-GMO Project’s butterfly label on foods you buy at the grocery store. Created a little over a decade ago by anti-GMO activists, the label is carried today on some 55,000 different products, from food products such as breakfast cereal to non-food products such as salt and cat litter. ...
Going Medieval in California’s Streets
California, to some people’s way of thinking, is the most modern state in the country, if not the most cutting-edge place on earth. It’s progressive, hip, innovative—a bellwether, filled with pioneers and opinion-makers. It’s also unique for its constant battles against biblical catastrophes—earthquakes, droughts, landslides, and floods are all part ...
The problem with government-protected utility monopolies
Just a few months back it was noted that California was suffering through a resurgence of medieval diseases. Another plague of premodern times now threatens to visit the state this summer: darkness. Bloomberg News reported that “California may go dark this summer.” Pacific Gas & Electric plans to cut power ...
Worker Freedom at Risk in California
When the state Supreme Court issued a ruling last year threatening workers’ ability to operate as independent contractors, it sent a chill through the gig economy. The temperature dropped a few more degrees recently when the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined the standards outlined by the California court ...
Are ESG Funds A Good, Long-Term Investment?
One of the hottest investment trends promises to do well while by doing good. This investment trend is called environmental, social, and governance investing, or ESG funds. Not all ESG funds have similar investment strategies. Some ESG funds actively invest in companies that meet specific environmental or social criteria. These ...
Trump order could cut your cost of health care and drugs
President Trump is expected to issue an executive order soon that could require insurers and hospitals to disclose the prices they’ve negotiated for various services. He hopes such transparency will increase competition and drive down health spending. The health care industry is less supportive. The nation’s top health insurance lobby, ...
Don’t Legislate Away Biopharmaceutical Innovation
The U.S. economy thrives on innovation. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, industries that intensively rely on intellectual property (IP) protections, which includes the biopharmaceutical industry, account for nearly 40 percent of the U.S. economy and are responsible for an outsized share of our overall economic growth. Beyond the ...
Electronic Health Records Are Broken
A team of investigative reporters recently released a scathing analysisof the Obama administration’s decade-old push to digitize patient health records. The report, conducted by Fortune Magazine and Kaiser Health News, revealed that electronic health records were responsible for thousands of serious, even fatal, medical errors. Needless to say, this wasn’t what the Obama ...
‘Medicare-for-all’ is worse than the CBO says it is (much worse)
This week, the House Budget Committee hosted three representatives from the Congressional Budget Office to discuss their new report analyzing the prospects for a single-payer health care system in America. Democrats used the CBO report as an excuse to plug their preferred plans for reform. “It’s not a question of if, it’s a question ...
Common Core Has Failed America’s Students
Bill Gates, a key godfather of the Common Core subject-matter standards, wrote five years ago that the national standards “will improve education for millions of students,” but a groundbreaking new study shows that Common Core has actually decreased the level of student achievement. With irresistible prodding by Gates and then-President Obama, the ...
