Commentary
Commentary
Public Option May Get Cut from Health Care Bill
As congressional Democrats work on the final version of sweeping health care legislation, it remains unclear which provisions will survive the complex bill-making process. Top aides to President Barack Obama say he may not require creation of a government-run health care system, known as the public option, as part of ...
Business & Economics
Eyes on the Prize
Next week the 2009 year’s Nobel winners receive their prizes. They include two women who deserved their awards but are not likely to draw cheers from feminist celebrities. This year, for the first time, the Nobel committee awarded the prize in economics to a woman. Elinor Ostrom was not picked ...
Business & Economics
Lawsuits hurt taxpayers
We’ve all read and laughed at the stories of ludicrous lawsuits and the runaway juries who decide on multi-million judgments. Unfortunately, fellow New Yorkers, the joke is on us. A recent independent economic study conducted for New Yorkers for Lawsuit Reform — a statewide coalition of large and small businesses, ...
Commentary
New Yorker Would Have Done Better With Individual Insurance To Start
Laurie Rippon notes that (s)he lost his job after being hit by a car while crossing the street, which resulted in traumatic brain injury. After timing out of COBRA coverage, he would not have been able to buy an individual policy because he would not have passed underwriting. Mr. Rippon ...
Business & Economics
New Yorkers pay a high price for liability litigation
High taxes help make New York an expensive place to do business. A new report argues convincingly that costly malpractice litigation and insurance also kill jobs and drive away business. The report from the conservative Pacific Research Institute notes that from an economic perspective, New York state ranks near the ...
Commentary
Awful school funding formula plagues Alameda County
CALIFORNIA’S FISCAL outlook continues to worsen. Concern is mounting over the impact the state’s budget deficit will have on education funding. The California Teachers Association (CTA), along with state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, claims California’s per-pupil funding now ranks 47th nationally. In reality, most experts agree California is ...
Business & Economics
Frosting on an already-sweet pension deal
When people have an entitlement mentality, enough is never enough. Even though government employees enjoy absurdly generous defined-benefit pensions that often allow them to retire with 80 percent to 90 percent of their final year’s pay guaranteed forever, employees game the system by taking advantage of various pension-spiking schemes. A ...
Business & Economics
Giving Thanks for Leading Health Technology Advances
While Congress debates an US$850 billion healthcare bill with questionable benefits, leaders in the technology industry are quietly creating products and services that will truly reform healthcare. This Thanksgiving, for example, Americans can be appreciative of the incredible price decline in genome sequencing, one of the most important health advances. ...
Charter Schools
Who’s Afraid of Charter Schools?
On November 12, parents of children at Gratts Elementary in Los Angeles received a flier, in Spanish, warning that if they signed a petition to convert their neighborhood school into a charter school they would be deported. This threat, though bogus, teaches parents and policy makers a lesson about the ...
Commentary
Cutting Medicare Benefits Will Not Protect Taxpayers
While much of the “savings” promoted by the deficit chicken-hawks are delusional (waste, fraud, abuse, and no longer “fixing” doctors’ Medicare Part B reimbursement), one is very real: Cutting actual Medicare benefits by reducing seniors’ choices of Medicare Advantage plans. Traditional Medicare Part A (hospital) and Part B (outpatient) benefits ...
Public Option May Get Cut from Health Care Bill
As congressional Democrats work on the final version of sweeping health care legislation, it remains unclear which provisions will survive the complex bill-making process. Top aides to President Barack Obama say he may not require creation of a government-run health care system, known as the public option, as part of ...
Eyes on the Prize
Next week the 2009 year’s Nobel winners receive their prizes. They include two women who deserved their awards but are not likely to draw cheers from feminist celebrities. This year, for the first time, the Nobel committee awarded the prize in economics to a woman. Elinor Ostrom was not picked ...
Lawsuits hurt taxpayers
We’ve all read and laughed at the stories of ludicrous lawsuits and the runaway juries who decide on multi-million judgments. Unfortunately, fellow New Yorkers, the joke is on us. A recent independent economic study conducted for New Yorkers for Lawsuit Reform — a statewide coalition of large and small businesses, ...
New Yorker Would Have Done Better With Individual Insurance To Start
Laurie Rippon notes that (s)he lost his job after being hit by a car while crossing the street, which resulted in traumatic brain injury. After timing out of COBRA coverage, he would not have been able to buy an individual policy because he would not have passed underwriting. Mr. Rippon ...
New Yorkers pay a high price for liability litigation
High taxes help make New York an expensive place to do business. A new report argues convincingly that costly malpractice litigation and insurance also kill jobs and drive away business. The report from the conservative Pacific Research Institute notes that from an economic perspective, New York state ranks near the ...
Awful school funding formula plagues Alameda County
CALIFORNIA’S FISCAL outlook continues to worsen. Concern is mounting over the impact the state’s budget deficit will have on education funding. The California Teachers Association (CTA), along with state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, claims California’s per-pupil funding now ranks 47th nationally. In reality, most experts agree California is ...
Frosting on an already-sweet pension deal
When people have an entitlement mentality, enough is never enough. Even though government employees enjoy absurdly generous defined-benefit pensions that often allow them to retire with 80 percent to 90 percent of their final year’s pay guaranteed forever, employees game the system by taking advantage of various pension-spiking schemes. A ...
Giving Thanks for Leading Health Technology Advances
While Congress debates an US$850 billion healthcare bill with questionable benefits, leaders in the technology industry are quietly creating products and services that will truly reform healthcare. This Thanksgiving, for example, Americans can be appreciative of the incredible price decline in genome sequencing, one of the most important health advances. ...
Who’s Afraid of Charter Schools?
On November 12, parents of children at Gratts Elementary in Los Angeles received a flier, in Spanish, warning that if they signed a petition to convert their neighborhood school into a charter school they would be deported. This threat, though bogus, teaches parents and policy makers a lesson about the ...
Cutting Medicare Benefits Will Not Protect Taxpayers
While much of the “savings” promoted by the deficit chicken-hawks are delusional (waste, fraud, abuse, and no longer “fixing” doctors’ Medicare Part B reimbursement), one is very real: Cutting actual Medicare benefits by reducing seniors’ choices of Medicare Advantage plans. Traditional Medicare Part A (hospital) and Part B (outpatient) benefits ...
