Commentary
Commentary
Governor’s Hit List Needs More Diversity
Governor Jerry Brown wants to eliminate dozens of state panels and commissions, a good idea and long overdue. But the governor needs to be more inclusive, and stalk bigger game. His list includes the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, a typical soft landing spot for ex-legislators. They meet about once a ...
K. Lloyd Billingsley
June 8, 2011
Commentary
Single Payer Health Care Systems, Multiple Health Care Disasters
Democrats have recently seized on a novel way of reducing health care costs threats. The Obama Administrations Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that any insurance company that wants to increase premiums more than 10% will have to get approval from the government. Congress didnt pass ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 6, 2011
Commentary
Medicaid is easier to fix than entitlement programs
Congress remains gridlocked on many important issues but not every politician is afraid to challenge the unsustainable growth of Medicaid. Consider S. 1031, by Sen. Tom Coburn. This measure would increase local control over Medicaid spending and improve the incentives that have led politicians to trap ever more low-income citizens ...
John R. Graham
June 5, 2011
Business & Economics
Bureaucrats Don’t Come to the Rescue
As a tragic San Francisco fire that claimed the life of at least one firefighter Thursday has shown, public safety jobs at times can be very dangerous. But an incident from earlier in the week across the bay in Alameda has also shown, public safety agencies also can be so ...
Steven Greenhut
June 3, 2011
Business & Economics
Bashing Oil Industry is Counterproductive
In a recent speech, President Obama set a goal to reduce America’s oil imports by a third by 2025 — about 3 million to 4 million barrels a day. Unfortunately, Obama’s own energy policies undercut his goal. To reduce America’s dependence on foreign sources, domestic energy producers will need to ...
Lawrence J. McQuillan
June 3, 2011
Business & Economics
Proving the Redevelopment Rule
Doug Tessitor is the mayor of Glendora, a city in Los Angeles County. He’s a self-described conservative and dead certain that preserving California’s redevelopment agencies (RDAs) is essential to his city’s fiscal health. In a pair of recent online columns, Tessitor mounted an impassioned defense of redevelopment in response to ...
Steven Greenhut
June 3, 2011
Commentary
Look for Alternatives to Tuition Hikes
Tuition at the University of California could be going up again. At the system’s recent Board of Regents meeting, reported the Contra Costa Times, “Administrators presented four budget scenarios … to help the Board of Regents plan future budgets. Under the rosiest scenario – which is unlikely, given the state’s ...
Vicki E. Murray
May 31, 2011
California
How California Prisons Got So Bad
In the Assembly last week, legislators praised ethnic studies departments and had long-winded debates before voting to ban the trading of shark fins in California. But while state government becomes ever-more meddlesome in ever-expanding areas of private life, it’s increasingly clear that the Legislature and the state bureaucracies are incapable ...
Steven Greenhut
May 27, 2011
Governor’s Hit List Needs More Diversity
Governor Jerry Brown wants to eliminate dozens of state panels and commissions, a good idea and long overdue. But the governor needs to be more inclusive, and stalk bigger game. His list includes the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, a typical soft landing spot for ex-legislators. They meet about once a ...
Single Payer Health Care Systems, Multiple Health Care Disasters
Democrats have recently seized on a novel way of reducing health care costs threats. The Obama Administrations Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that any insurance company that wants to increase premiums more than 10% will have to get approval from the government. Congress didnt pass ...
Medicaid is easier to fix than entitlement programs
Congress remains gridlocked on many important issues but not every politician is afraid to challenge the unsustainable growth of Medicaid. Consider S. 1031, by Sen. Tom Coburn. This measure would increase local control over Medicaid spending and improve the incentives that have led politicians to trap ever more low-income citizens ...
Bureaucrats Don’t Come to the Rescue
As a tragic San Francisco fire that claimed the life of at least one firefighter Thursday has shown, public safety jobs at times can be very dangerous. But an incident from earlier in the week across the bay in Alameda has also shown, public safety agencies also can be so ...
Bashing Oil Industry is Counterproductive
In a recent speech, President Obama set a goal to reduce America’s oil imports by a third by 2025 — about 3 million to 4 million barrels a day. Unfortunately, Obama’s own energy policies undercut his goal. To reduce America’s dependence on foreign sources, domestic energy producers will need to ...
Proving the Redevelopment Rule
Doug Tessitor is the mayor of Glendora, a city in Los Angeles County. He’s a self-described conservative and dead certain that preserving California’s redevelopment agencies (RDAs) is essential to his city’s fiscal health. In a pair of recent online columns, Tessitor mounted an impassioned defense of redevelopment in response to ...
Look for Alternatives to Tuition Hikes
Tuition at the University of California could be going up again. At the system’s recent Board of Regents meeting, reported the Contra Costa Times, “Administrators presented four budget scenarios … to help the Board of Regents plan future budgets. Under the rosiest scenario – which is unlikely, given the state’s ...
How California Prisons Got So Bad
In the Assembly last week, legislators praised ethnic studies departments and had long-winded debates before voting to ban the trading of shark fins in California. But while state government becomes ever-more meddlesome in ever-expanding areas of private life, it’s increasingly clear that the Legislature and the state bureaucracies are incapable ...