Commentary
Commentary
Massachusetts Businesses Joining Health Care Coalition to Deal With Costs of Connector
Olympia Business Watch, August 13, 2008 Washington lawmakers need to take a real close look at what is happening in Massachusetts on health care. With the cost over runs for the “Connector”, Massachusetts businesses are joining a national coalition to slow premium growth and ease the financial burden on employers. ...
Don Brunell
August 13, 2008
Business & Economics
Neo-Prohibitionism, Alcohol Taxes, and Central Planning in California
The last time I had a critical look at the neo-prohibitionists, it was via a pamphlet opposing a tobacco tax hike in California. Now, the Marin Institute has completed a “landmark” study suggesting that we need to hike alcohol taxes in the Golden State. And landmark it certainly is: the ...
John R. Graham
August 12, 2008
Commentary
Florida Low-Income and Minority Students Outperform Average California Students
San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released a report showing that a disadvantaged socio-economic background does not necessarily consign students to poor academic performance. According to Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps, low-income students in Florida ...
Pacific Research Institute
August 12, 2008
California
Unbalanced Billing in California Hospitals: the Sacramento Bee Weighs In
The Sacramento Bee, our, our fair capital’s daily newspaper, has editorialized on the issue of “balance billing”, whereby ER doctors and hospitals which are not in a patient’s health plan’s network, send high-priced (and unexpected) bills to patients. Interestingly, although the editorial leans against the health plans, it approves of ...
John R. Graham
August 11, 2008
Business & Economics
Verizon, Alltel Merger Brings Questions About Worker Health
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers wants the Federal Communications Commission to require Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Alltel Corp. (AT) to adopt a nationwide safety program protecting people from harmful radio frequencies as a condition of their proposed merger. At issue is the health of electricians, ...
Fawn Johnson
August 11, 2008
Business & Economics
Sing a Song of Freedom
The Singing Revolution. Mountain View Productions, unrated. Running time 96 minutes. www.singingrevolution.com The small nation of Estonia, strategically placed at the east end of the Baltic, had been prey for conquerors for centuries. It acquired a serious existential problem in 1939, when Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin divvied up Europe ...
K. Lloyd Billingsley
August 11, 2008
Business & Economics
Lessons for Sacramento from San Francisco’s high-tech heist
For nine days last month, San Francisco’s state-of-the-art new computer network was held hostage by a convicted felon. Even a team of Silicon Valley’s best and brightest engineers working around the clock could not crack his code. Finally, in a secret midnight meeting at the Hall of Justice, the mayor ...
Daniel R. Ballon
August 10, 2008
Commentary
Nursing Home Evictions: Another Problem of Government Dependency
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal ran a feature article about nursing homes evicting frail residents. Spokespeople for the nursing homes claimed that these evictions were in accord with federal law, which allows evictions for only a few reasons, such as non-payment of bills, danger to others, or the nursing homes’ inability ...
John R. Graham
August 8, 2008
Business & Economics
Political Gain and Net Neutrality
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) came under fire for making a ruling that many consider outside its authority. Without levying a fine, it charged that Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSK) violated federal policy when it interfered with a file-sharing application used by consumers. This new plot twist in the Net ...
Sonia Arrison
August 8, 2008
Business & Economics
New Chinese Antitrust Law Threatens America’s High-Tech Leadership
As athletes from around the world gather in Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the Chinese government has its eyes on the gold. The gold that China wins on the field of play, however, will pale in comparison to the riches it plunders from America’s most successful innovators. Armed ...
Daniel R. Ballon
August 8, 2008
Massachusetts Businesses Joining Health Care Coalition to Deal With Costs of Connector
Olympia Business Watch, August 13, 2008 Washington lawmakers need to take a real close look at what is happening in Massachusetts on health care. With the cost over runs for the “Connector”, Massachusetts businesses are joining a national coalition to slow premium growth and ease the financial burden on employers. ...
Neo-Prohibitionism, Alcohol Taxes, and Central Planning in California
The last time I had a critical look at the neo-prohibitionists, it was via a pamphlet opposing a tobacco tax hike in California. Now, the Marin Institute has completed a “landmark” study suggesting that we need to hike alcohol taxes in the Golden State. And landmark it certainly is: the ...
Florida Low-Income and Minority Students Outperform Average California Students
San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released a report showing that a disadvantaged socio-economic background does not necessarily consign students to poor academic performance. According to Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps, low-income students in Florida ...
Unbalanced Billing in California Hospitals: the Sacramento Bee Weighs In
The Sacramento Bee, our, our fair capital’s daily newspaper, has editorialized on the issue of “balance billing”, whereby ER doctors and hospitals which are not in a patient’s health plan’s network, send high-priced (and unexpected) bills to patients. Interestingly, although the editorial leans against the health plans, it approves of ...
Verizon, Alltel Merger Brings Questions About Worker Health
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers wants the Federal Communications Commission to require Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Alltel Corp. (AT) to adopt a nationwide safety program protecting people from harmful radio frequencies as a condition of their proposed merger. At issue is the health of electricians, ...
Sing a Song of Freedom
The Singing Revolution. Mountain View Productions, unrated. Running time 96 minutes. www.singingrevolution.com The small nation of Estonia, strategically placed at the east end of the Baltic, had been prey for conquerors for centuries. It acquired a serious existential problem in 1939, when Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin divvied up Europe ...
Lessons for Sacramento from San Francisco’s high-tech heist
For nine days last month, San Francisco’s state-of-the-art new computer network was held hostage by a convicted felon. Even a team of Silicon Valley’s best and brightest engineers working around the clock could not crack his code. Finally, in a secret midnight meeting at the Hall of Justice, the mayor ...
Nursing Home Evictions: Another Problem of Government Dependency
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal ran a feature article about nursing homes evicting frail residents. Spokespeople for the nursing homes claimed that these evictions were in accord with federal law, which allows evictions for only a few reasons, such as non-payment of bills, danger to others, or the nursing homes’ inability ...
Political Gain and Net Neutrality
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) came under fire for making a ruling that many consider outside its authority. Without levying a fine, it charged that Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSK) violated federal policy when it interfered with a file-sharing application used by consumers. This new plot twist in the Net ...
New Chinese Antitrust Law Threatens America’s High-Tech Leadership
As athletes from around the world gather in Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the Chinese government has its eyes on the gold. The gold that China wins on the field of play, however, will pale in comparison to the riches it plunders from America’s most successful innovators. Armed ...