Commentary
California
City still reeling from court blocking 2012 pension reform
San Diego voters tried to rein in the city’s runaway public employee pension obligations when they approved a 2012 measure that would change the system. Union bosses and the courts had other ideas, though, and the results were scrapped by the California Supreme Court. The ripples of that ruling have ...
Kerry Jackson
March 26, 2025
California
Giving Ventures Podcast: California Thinking
California’s decisions often ripple across the nation, influencing policies from coast to coast. This episode features interviews with leaders from two influential think tanks—Pacific Research Institute—about their efforts to counteract detrimental policies and promote free-market solutions in the Golden State. These organizations are not only tackling local issues but are ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 26, 2025
Commentary
Democrats in Calif. Put Healthcare of Illegal Residents First
Free healthcare doesn’t come cheap. That’s one lesson Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., is learning the hard way. Since Newsom officially extended the state’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, to all undocumented immigrants last year, the entitlement’s costs have ballooned. Read the op-ed here.
Sally C. Pipes
March 26, 2025
Business & Economics
Trade Wars Hurt Farmers
Before promising to impose tariffs on our nearest trade partners — Mexico and Canada — President Donald Trump told American farmers that they should get ready to sell more of their products domestically. The trouble with that optimism is that most farms are not corporate giants, but family operations that ...
Pam Lewison
March 24, 2025
Commentary
Big savings can be found in improper Medicare spending
Republicans are searching for ways to eliminate “fraud, waste, and abuse” in Medicaid, the federal-state entitlement created to provide health coverage for low-income, pregnant, homeless, and disabled people. It’s long past time. According to a new report from the Paragon Health Institute’s Brian Blase and the Economic Policy Innovation Center’s ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 24, 2025
Commentary
Social Needs-Based Medicaid a Costly, Useless ATM
Earlier this month, the Trump administration rescinded the Biden-era guidance for states on how to get the federal government to pay for “health-related social needs” via Medicaid. The guidance stretched the definition of “healthcare” to absurd lengths. Are carpet replacement and tenant-rights education healthcare? The Biden administration thought so. Read ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 21, 2025
California
Podcast listeners should pay attention to what Newsom does, not what he says
California’s governor has launched another podcast, this one called “This is Gavin Newsom.” Listeners who haven’t followed Mr. Newsom much should beware. Although you may like what you hear, what he does is far more important than what he says. Read the entire op-ed here.
Tim Anaya
March 21, 2025
Business & Economics
When it comes to presidential use of autopen, is the pen mightier than the sword?
As we settle into the second Trump era, we’re also seeing the return of the strangest things becoming a controversy thanks to a presidential post on Truth Social. The latest of these is a post declaring that a batch of pardons signed by President Biden during his final days in ...
Tim Anaya
March 19, 2025
Commentary
The Future of Healthcare Under Donald Trump
On this episode of All Things, Sally Pipes–healthcare aficionado and author of “The World’s Medicine Chest”–lays out the risks of Joe Biden’s coming drug price controls, the need to cut billions in waste and fraud from Medicaid, the fading chances for replacing ObamaCare, and the upsides and downsides of some ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 19, 2025
Commentary
California parents must be able to choose the education that best suits their child
When public school advocates argue against giving parents and their children more educational choices, one is reminded of the Boston Tea Party, a revolt against Britain’s tea monopoly and the taxes levied as a result of it. Now, as then, Americans are not buying the pro-monopoly claims. We are demanding ...
Lance Izumi
March 18, 2025
City still reeling from court blocking 2012 pension reform
San Diego voters tried to rein in the city’s runaway public employee pension obligations when they approved a 2012 measure that would change the system. Union bosses and the courts had other ideas, though, and the results were scrapped by the California Supreme Court. The ripples of that ruling have ...
Giving Ventures Podcast: California Thinking
California’s decisions often ripple across the nation, influencing policies from coast to coast. This episode features interviews with leaders from two influential think tanks—Pacific Research Institute—about their efforts to counteract detrimental policies and promote free-market solutions in the Golden State. These organizations are not only tackling local issues but are ...
Democrats in Calif. Put Healthcare of Illegal Residents First
Free healthcare doesn’t come cheap. That’s one lesson Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., is learning the hard way. Since Newsom officially extended the state’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, to all undocumented immigrants last year, the entitlement’s costs have ballooned. Read the op-ed here.
Trade Wars Hurt Farmers
Before promising to impose tariffs on our nearest trade partners — Mexico and Canada — President Donald Trump told American farmers that they should get ready to sell more of their products domestically. The trouble with that optimism is that most farms are not corporate giants, but family operations that ...
Big savings can be found in improper Medicare spending
Republicans are searching for ways to eliminate “fraud, waste, and abuse” in Medicaid, the federal-state entitlement created to provide health coverage for low-income, pregnant, homeless, and disabled people. It’s long past time. According to a new report from the Paragon Health Institute’s Brian Blase and the Economic Policy Innovation Center’s ...
Social Needs-Based Medicaid a Costly, Useless ATM
Earlier this month, the Trump administration rescinded the Biden-era guidance for states on how to get the federal government to pay for “health-related social needs” via Medicaid. The guidance stretched the definition of “healthcare” to absurd lengths. Are carpet replacement and tenant-rights education healthcare? The Biden administration thought so. Read ...
Podcast listeners should pay attention to what Newsom does, not what he says
California’s governor has launched another podcast, this one called “This is Gavin Newsom.” Listeners who haven’t followed Mr. Newsom much should beware. Although you may like what you hear, what he does is far more important than what he says. Read the entire op-ed here.
When it comes to presidential use of autopen, is the pen mightier than the sword?
As we settle into the second Trump era, we’re also seeing the return of the strangest things becoming a controversy thanks to a presidential post on Truth Social. The latest of these is a post declaring that a batch of pardons signed by President Biden during his final days in ...
The Future of Healthcare Under Donald Trump
On this episode of All Things, Sally Pipes–healthcare aficionado and author of “The World’s Medicine Chest”–lays out the risks of Joe Biden’s coming drug price controls, the need to cut billions in waste and fraud from Medicaid, the fading chances for replacing ObamaCare, and the upsides and downsides of some ...
California parents must be able to choose the education that best suits their child
When public school advocates argue against giving parents and their children more educational choices, one is reminded of the Boston Tea Party, a revolt against Britain’s tea monopoly and the taxes levied as a result of it. Now, as then, Americans are not buying the pro-monopoly claims. We are demanding ...