Commentary
Business & Economics
Card check – U.S. moving in wrong direction
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a likely hot button for the Obama administration, would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the U.S. labor market and impose enormous costs on workers. Ironically, as America moves to fundamentally change the way unions are certified, other countries, like Canada, are moving ...
Business & Economics
Keep an eye on the Obama administration
The Boston Globe (MA), February 17, 2009 PETER FUNT raises serious privacy concerns about Google’s use of surveillance technologies (“Google is watching,” Op-ed, Feb. 9), but unlike George Orwell’s Big Brother, the Internet giant does not function as an arm of the government. This could soon change, however, if the ...
Commentary
Our View: State’s cure is original cause of ills
Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, CA), February 17, 2009 California’s regulations on health care raise the costs for its citizens Often government tries to fix what’s wrong by imposing more of what caused the problem in the first place. Nowhere is this more apparent than health care. A new analysis by the advocacy ...
Business & Economics
True cost of stimulus? Higher taxes
President Barack Obama is scheduled to place his signature Tuesday on the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. Unfortunately, the cost of debt and future taxes required to finance the stimulus largesse have largely been ignored to date. Putting aside the issues of whether you support a stimulus, whether any stimulus ...
Business & Economics
Don’t hold drugmakers liable for competitors’ generics
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision not to review Conte vs. Wyeth leaves name-brand drug manufacturers liable for harm caused by another manufacturer’s generic version of its drug. This unprecedented and unfair extension of product liability spells bad news for innovators and consumers alike. Plaintiff Elizabeth Conte took a generic ...
Commentary
Taxes bite into Health Savings Accounts
In an article full of left-handed compliments, the San Francisco Business Times noted that Kaiser Permanente, the mother of all HMOs, has 12 percent of its members in “deductible plans” at the end of 2008 (“New health for HSAs,” Jan. 16-22 issue). The traditional Kaiser Permanente deductible is zero. Of ...
California
How Federal Health “Reform” Will Devastate California’s Budget
Last June California politicians claimed to have “fixed” the budget but according to a November 18 report from the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) California now faces a budget deficit of $20.7 billion from the present until 2010-2011. Unfortunately, something’s coming down the pike that will make today’s budget shenanigans ...
Business & Economics
California Supreme Court Decision Quashes Innovation, Threatens Health, and Encourages Costly Lawsuit Abuse
Traditional tort law holds that manufacturers are responsible only for their own products, not those made by competitors. The California Supreme Court changed that in late January by declining to review Conte v. Wyeth, which leaves name-brand drug manufacturers liable for harm caused by another manufacturer’s generic version. This unprecedented ...
Agriculture
Bank Bailout Blues
Undeterred by the failure of the last injection of taxpayer dollars into a bloated banking system, our financial crusaders in DC are scratching their heads over the best way to flush another few hundred billion away. The latest scheme involves the creation of a “bad bank” that would purchase the ...
Commentary
Prevention pays in big ways: Longer, healthier lives
Guest Column A Register editorial last month called attention to an important Congressional Budget Office report on health-care reform proposals. The CBO report found that preventive care will not reduce health costs significantly. The report infers that, if people live longer, they may increase costs by receiving more in Medicare ...
Card check – U.S. moving in wrong direction
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a likely hot button for the Obama administration, would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the U.S. labor market and impose enormous costs on workers. Ironically, as America moves to fundamentally change the way unions are certified, other countries, like Canada, are moving ...
Keep an eye on the Obama administration
The Boston Globe (MA), February 17, 2009 PETER FUNT raises serious privacy concerns about Google’s use of surveillance technologies (“Google is watching,” Op-ed, Feb. 9), but unlike George Orwell’s Big Brother, the Internet giant does not function as an arm of the government. This could soon change, however, if the ...
Our View: State’s cure is original cause of ills
Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, CA), February 17, 2009 California’s regulations on health care raise the costs for its citizens Often government tries to fix what’s wrong by imposing more of what caused the problem in the first place. Nowhere is this more apparent than health care. A new analysis by the advocacy ...
True cost of stimulus? Higher taxes
President Barack Obama is scheduled to place his signature Tuesday on the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. Unfortunately, the cost of debt and future taxes required to finance the stimulus largesse have largely been ignored to date. Putting aside the issues of whether you support a stimulus, whether any stimulus ...
Don’t hold drugmakers liable for competitors’ generics
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision not to review Conte vs. Wyeth leaves name-brand drug manufacturers liable for harm caused by another manufacturer’s generic version of its drug. This unprecedented and unfair extension of product liability spells bad news for innovators and consumers alike. Plaintiff Elizabeth Conte took a generic ...
Taxes bite into Health Savings Accounts
In an article full of left-handed compliments, the San Francisco Business Times noted that Kaiser Permanente, the mother of all HMOs, has 12 percent of its members in “deductible plans” at the end of 2008 (“New health for HSAs,” Jan. 16-22 issue). The traditional Kaiser Permanente deductible is zero. Of ...
How Federal Health “Reform” Will Devastate California’s Budget
Last June California politicians claimed to have “fixed” the budget but according to a November 18 report from the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) California now faces a budget deficit of $20.7 billion from the present until 2010-2011. Unfortunately, something’s coming down the pike that will make today’s budget shenanigans ...
California Supreme Court Decision Quashes Innovation, Threatens Health, and Encourages Costly Lawsuit Abuse
Traditional tort law holds that manufacturers are responsible only for their own products, not those made by competitors. The California Supreme Court changed that in late January by declining to review Conte v. Wyeth, which leaves name-brand drug manufacturers liable for harm caused by another manufacturer’s generic version. This unprecedented ...
Bank Bailout Blues
Undeterred by the failure of the last injection of taxpayer dollars into a bloated banking system, our financial crusaders in DC are scratching their heads over the best way to flush another few hundred billion away. The latest scheme involves the creation of a “bad bank” that would purchase the ...
Prevention pays in big ways: Longer, healthier lives
Guest Column A Register editorial last month called attention to an important Congressional Budget Office report on health-care reform proposals. The CBO report found that preventive care will not reduce health costs significantly. The report infers that, if people live longer, they may increase costs by receiving more in Medicare ...
