Commentary
Business & Economics
Why Brown should strengthen state transparency laws
At a recent California community colleges board meeting, Gov. Jerry Brown said transparency is key to increasing voter trust in government and would help pass his tax-extension plan. He’s right, but national sunshine week slipped by without Brown proposing any reforms to strengthen state sunshine laws. Instead, he worked to ...
Commentary
Choice Foes, Including President Obama, Seek to Block DC Students from SOARing to Better Schools
Today the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act. Last month a strong bi-partisan coalition in Congress introduced the act reauthorizing the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, which bolsters a burgeoning movement for education choice nationwide. Powerful opponents of school choice, ...
Commentary
What Explains Sebelius’ Ignorance of Health Law?
As I’ve written about previously, most of the so-called consumer protections that she touts were actually legislated back in 1996. The 1996 law resulted in dramatic increase in federal regulation of health care, but no sigificant positive outcomes. But Secretary Sebelius won’t quit trafficking scare-stories about denial of coverage that ...
Commentary
Piping Up: The Ulterior Motive Behind Rising ObamaCare Premiums
Last week, proponents of ObamaCare celebrated the one-year anniversary of the passage of the landmark health care law with several hundred events across the country. They have little reason to cheer, according to a sobering new study. In the report, former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin calculates that health ...
Commentary
A Mandate Is Not A Solution to Medical-Malpractice Crisis
First, Professor Avraham goes the way of many clever people who have a good idea, but become frustrated that society does not immediately adopt it: He proposes that the federal government mandate that physicians purchase (or license) appropriate guidelines from for-profit companies! If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Obamacare, ...
Business & Economics
Deal with it: We’ll need oil, gas for decades
Oil prices climbed back over $100 per barrel last week. When news like this breaks, pundits and policy wonks on both sides of the political spectrum argue we should depend less on oil and natural gas. But nobody has a believable plan to get there because of economic realities. If ...
Commentary
Price of compassion for cancer patients
There was a time in this country when European-style health care served as a cautionary tale. Today it is beginning to look like something to envy. Future generations wishing to identify the moment the shift took place should look to Dec. 16, 2010. That was the day the U.S. Food ...
Commentary
How to Raise the Status of Teachers
Supply and Demand Raising the status of teachers in America requires not only improvements on the teacher supply side, but also recognition of the parents’ preferences on the demand side. High quality usually equates to high status, so its unsurprising that a recent report on international education reforms cites Finland, ...
Business & Economics
California GOP the party of numbskulls
California Republicans love to talk about limiting government, fighting bureaucracy and keeping taxes low, but March 17 they proved that this is nothing more than a rhetorical device. Given the opportunity to rein in the size and power of government in a tangible way, Assembly Republicans – with a sole ...
Commentary
Investigate CARBifornia
In early April, UCLA will decide whether to fire epidemiologist James Enstrom, a fixture in the UCLA Department of Public Health since the 1970s. If UCLA does give him the boot, Assemblyman Dan Logue has threatened to hold hearings. Whatever happens to Enstrom, legislators have good reason to investigate. Enstrom ...
Why Brown should strengthen state transparency laws
At a recent California community colleges board meeting, Gov. Jerry Brown said transparency is key to increasing voter trust in government and would help pass his tax-extension plan. He’s right, but national sunshine week slipped by without Brown proposing any reforms to strengthen state sunshine laws. Instead, he worked to ...
Choice Foes, Including President Obama, Seek to Block DC Students from SOARing to Better Schools
Today the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act. Last month a strong bi-partisan coalition in Congress introduced the act reauthorizing the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, which bolsters a burgeoning movement for education choice nationwide. Powerful opponents of school choice, ...
What Explains Sebelius’ Ignorance of Health Law?
As I’ve written about previously, most of the so-called consumer protections that she touts were actually legislated back in 1996. The 1996 law resulted in dramatic increase in federal regulation of health care, but no sigificant positive outcomes. But Secretary Sebelius won’t quit trafficking scare-stories about denial of coverage that ...
Piping Up: The Ulterior Motive Behind Rising ObamaCare Premiums
Last week, proponents of ObamaCare celebrated the one-year anniversary of the passage of the landmark health care law with several hundred events across the country. They have little reason to cheer, according to a sobering new study. In the report, former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin calculates that health ...
A Mandate Is Not A Solution to Medical-Malpractice Crisis
First, Professor Avraham goes the way of many clever people who have a good idea, but become frustrated that society does not immediately adopt it: He proposes that the federal government mandate that physicians purchase (or license) appropriate guidelines from for-profit companies! If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Obamacare, ...
Deal with it: We’ll need oil, gas for decades
Oil prices climbed back over $100 per barrel last week. When news like this breaks, pundits and policy wonks on both sides of the political spectrum argue we should depend less on oil and natural gas. But nobody has a believable plan to get there because of economic realities. If ...
Price of compassion for cancer patients
There was a time in this country when European-style health care served as a cautionary tale. Today it is beginning to look like something to envy. Future generations wishing to identify the moment the shift took place should look to Dec. 16, 2010. That was the day the U.S. Food ...
How to Raise the Status of Teachers
Supply and Demand Raising the status of teachers in America requires not only improvements on the teacher supply side, but also recognition of the parents’ preferences on the demand side. High quality usually equates to high status, so its unsurprising that a recent report on international education reforms cites Finland, ...
California GOP the party of numbskulls
California Republicans love to talk about limiting government, fighting bureaucracy and keeping taxes low, but March 17 they proved that this is nothing more than a rhetorical device. Given the opportunity to rein in the size and power of government in a tangible way, Assembly Republicans – with a sole ...
Investigate CARBifornia
In early April, UCLA will decide whether to fire epidemiologist James Enstrom, a fixture in the UCLA Department of Public Health since the 1970s. If UCLA does give him the boot, Assemblyman Dan Logue has threatened to hold hearings. Whatever happens to Enstrom, legislators have good reason to investigate. Enstrom ...
