Commentary

Business & Economics

To dig out of the hole, N.Y. must expand economic freedom

The economic misery caused by the nation’s financial meltdown has hit New York especially hard. Since September 2007, the city’s financial sector has lost 13,400 jobs, according to the state Labor Department. An additional 65,000 financial jobs will be gone in New York and its suburbs by mid-2010, says BusinessWeek. ...
Commentary

Bay State Health Mandates Threaten Expanded Insurance Coverage

In its first year, the Bay State’s subsidized insurance plan — Commonwealth Care — was supposed to cost $472 million. The bill came in at $630 million. The $158 million overrun hasn’t phased state lawmakers, however. If anything, they seem hellbent on making the plan even more expensive. They’re interested ...
California

California’s High-Risk Pool Is Not Working

California’s high-risk pool for medically uninsured residents, MRMIP, is in trouble – poorly funded and lots of eligible folks are on the waiting list to enrol – according to the Los Angeles Times. The article notes that other states, with more successful progams, assess levies on health plans to fund ...
Commentary

Long Gone: Why California should eliminate the post of Secretary of Education

SACRAMENTO – David Long, California’s Secretary of Education, resigned on August 10, the fourth such Secretary to resign in the past five years. California should take this opportunity to eliminate this position, which Mr. Long’s brief 18-month tenure confirms to be redundant. “I’d be less than honest if I didn’t ...
Business & Economics

Product-Liability Law: Is “Pre-emption” the Right Question?

The media are (justifiably) interested in the Bush administration’s (or, if you prefer, the “Bush regime’s”) rushing a bunch of new rules into the Code of Federal Regulations that would “pre-empt” states’ product-liability laws. According to the Wall Street Journal, these rules “could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states.” ...
Business & Economics

Freedom more important than climate

Most of us who live here love California — the climate, the views, the beaches, the mountains, the opportunities, the people. One of the main reasons California Democrats (and, to a lesser extent, California Republicans) have been so aggressive in pushing bad policies is they believe that we won’t leave ...
Commentary

SCHIP: Big Pharma Falls Into Line with Big Government

The Wall Street Journal confirms the depressing news that the brand-name pharmaceutical industry has been “collaborating” with advocates of a government take-over of health care. Apparently, it has given $13.2 million to an “astroturf” outfit, “America’s Agenda: Health Care for Kids”, to produce and run advertisements stroking 28 Congressmen (of ...
Business & Economics

Medical Lawsuits Put Health At Risk

On Nov. 3, a day before the election, the U.S. Supreme Court hears Wyeth v. Levine, a case with profound implications for the health of all Americans. In 2000, plaintiff Diane Levine was given Wyeth’s anti-nausea drug Phenergan, then on the market for 45 years. In rare instances, as the ...
California

Los Angeles Times’ Campaign for Government Health Care

Lisa Girion and Michael A. Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times have relieved themselves of a feature-focus of three stories about how awful private health plans are. They managed to interview key leaders of the campaign for government-mandated health insurance, such as Bruce Bodaken of Blue Shield of California and ...
Business & Economics

Californians Voting with Their Feet

The state government’s stifling economic policies are worsening the downturn and driving citizens elsewhere. With the implosion of its storied investment banks and the future of Wall Street in doubt, New York will suffer the effects of the financial crisis more acutely than many states. But the crisis reaches epicenters ...
Business & Economics

To dig out of the hole, N.Y. must expand economic freedom

The economic misery caused by the nation’s financial meltdown has hit New York especially hard. Since September 2007, the city’s financial sector has lost 13,400 jobs, according to the state Labor Department. An additional 65,000 financial jobs will be gone in New York and its suburbs by mid-2010, says BusinessWeek. ...
Commentary

Bay State Health Mandates Threaten Expanded Insurance Coverage

In its first year, the Bay State’s subsidized insurance plan — Commonwealth Care — was supposed to cost $472 million. The bill came in at $630 million. The $158 million overrun hasn’t phased state lawmakers, however. If anything, they seem hellbent on making the plan even more expensive. They’re interested ...
California

California’s High-Risk Pool Is Not Working

California’s high-risk pool for medically uninsured residents, MRMIP, is in trouble – poorly funded and lots of eligible folks are on the waiting list to enrol – according to the Los Angeles Times. The article notes that other states, with more successful progams, assess levies on health plans to fund ...
Commentary

Long Gone: Why California should eliminate the post of Secretary of Education

SACRAMENTO – David Long, California’s Secretary of Education, resigned on August 10, the fourth such Secretary to resign in the past five years. California should take this opportunity to eliminate this position, which Mr. Long’s brief 18-month tenure confirms to be redundant. “I’d be less than honest if I didn’t ...
Business & Economics

Product-Liability Law: Is “Pre-emption” the Right Question?

The media are (justifiably) interested in the Bush administration’s (or, if you prefer, the “Bush regime’s”) rushing a bunch of new rules into the Code of Federal Regulations that would “pre-empt” states’ product-liability laws. According to the Wall Street Journal, these rules “could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states.” ...
Business & Economics

Freedom more important than climate

Most of us who live here love California — the climate, the views, the beaches, the mountains, the opportunities, the people. One of the main reasons California Democrats (and, to a lesser extent, California Republicans) have been so aggressive in pushing bad policies is they believe that we won’t leave ...
Commentary

SCHIP: Big Pharma Falls Into Line with Big Government

The Wall Street Journal confirms the depressing news that the brand-name pharmaceutical industry has been “collaborating” with advocates of a government take-over of health care. Apparently, it has given $13.2 million to an “astroturf” outfit, “America’s Agenda: Health Care for Kids”, to produce and run advertisements stroking 28 Congressmen (of ...
Business & Economics

Medical Lawsuits Put Health At Risk

On Nov. 3, a day before the election, the U.S. Supreme Court hears Wyeth v. Levine, a case with profound implications for the health of all Americans. In 2000, plaintiff Diane Levine was given Wyeth’s anti-nausea drug Phenergan, then on the market for 45 years. In rare instances, as the ...
California

Los Angeles Times’ Campaign for Government Health Care

Lisa Girion and Michael A. Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times have relieved themselves of a feature-focus of three stories about how awful private health plans are. They managed to interview key leaders of the campaign for government-mandated health insurance, such as Bruce Bodaken of Blue Shield of California and ...
Business & Economics

Californians Voting with Their Feet

The state government’s stifling economic policies are worsening the downturn and driving citizens elsewhere. With the implosion of its storied investment banks and the future of Wall Street in doubt, New York will suffer the effects of the financial crisis more acutely than many states. But the crisis reaches epicenters ...
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