Commentary
Business & Economics
Housing Bill Amendment Requires Reporting of Consumer Purchases to the Federal Government
Housing Bill Amendment Requires Reporting of Consumer Purchases to the Federal Government San Francisco, June 27, 2008 – In an open letter to Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Pacific Research Institute technology policy fellow Daniel R. Ballon, Ph.D., called to their attention an amendment to the housing bill that ...
Commentary
Who Should Pay for Health Care?
We’ve all heard the statistic “47 million Americans do not have health insurance” as an underlying argument for massive health care reform. But did you know that 57 percent of the 47 million uninsured have annual incomes above $50,000? Or that two-thirds of the 47 million are between the ages ...
Commentary
How California can graduate more students
On June 5, Education Week magazine released “Diplomas Count 2008: School to College.” The report finds that three in 10 students who enroll in California public high schools fail to graduate. The statistics mask a more dismal reality, but there is a way the Golden State can improve. The results ...
Business & Economics
Genomics Meets Sacramento
Personalized medicine is touted as the wave of the future, but recent government action points to problems for Americans looking to join the health revolution. Last week, California’s Department of Public Health issued cease-and-desist letters to 13 genetic testing startups, threatening to deny service to consumers curious about their DNA. ...
Commentary
California’s Health Care Elites Rally for Government Handouts
California’s budget crisis has caused Gov. Schwarzenegger to propose putting the brakes on Medi-Cal’s out-of-control, autopilot, growth. Of course, the governor is only doing it because California law requires him to close the deficit. Once he’s patched it for this year, he’ll be back on the bandwagon, selling his intrusive ...
Business & Economics
Tennessee ranked best for business in tort liability study
Tennessee is the most business-friendly state when it comes to litigation, according to a new study. In its annual boardroom guide to state litigation climates, the American Justice Partnership Foundation listed Tennessee as the state with the lowest risks of lawsuits against business. The foundation, a group that advocates litigation ...
Commentary
Government-Monopoly Health Care in California: Legislative Analyst Concludes That Taxes Must Be Hiked One-Third More Than Anticipated
California’s non-partisan Legislative Analyst has weighed in on the costs of government-monopoly health care. Backers of such systems are rushing to the barricades, but the revelations serve as welcome enlightenment for all Californians. Last year, Governor Schwarzenegger, former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, and an unlikely alliance of business and union ...
Business & Economics
Network Neutrality – Michael Dresser Show
PRI’s Technology Studies Policy Fellow, Daniel Ballon, PhD., discussed the issue of net neutrality and why it is so important to avoid excessive regulation of the internet. Service providers need to be free to implement new technology and that is what net neutrality regulations would take away from them. The ...
Commentary
Today’s Commentary on the News – CA SB 1313
Today’s Commentary on the News As if things aren’t expensive enough… Let’s regulate cooking utensils, food packaging and more… Good grief! Trying to write about particularly stupid legislation that is moving forward in the State Legislature is a sport akin to shooting fish in a barrel (see the video). That ...
Commentary
Has the Autism Mandate Avalanche Hit A Roadblock?
Last August, I wrote an op-ed in the Philadelphia Business Journal decrying the Commonwealth’s rush to impose a mandate for autism treatment costing $36,000 per patient. (Note: this is a specific, new, treatment, not autism treatment that health plans already cover.) I figured the annual cost of the treatment would ...
Housing Bill Amendment Requires Reporting of Consumer Purchases to the Federal Government
Housing Bill Amendment Requires Reporting of Consumer Purchases to the Federal Government San Francisco, June 27, 2008 – In an open letter to Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Pacific Research Institute technology policy fellow Daniel R. Ballon, Ph.D., called to their attention an amendment to the housing bill that ...
Who Should Pay for Health Care?
We’ve all heard the statistic “47 million Americans do not have health insurance” as an underlying argument for massive health care reform. But did you know that 57 percent of the 47 million uninsured have annual incomes above $50,000? Or that two-thirds of the 47 million are between the ages ...
How California can graduate more students
On June 5, Education Week magazine released “Diplomas Count 2008: School to College.” The report finds that three in 10 students who enroll in California public high schools fail to graduate. The statistics mask a more dismal reality, but there is a way the Golden State can improve. The results ...
Genomics Meets Sacramento
Personalized medicine is touted as the wave of the future, but recent government action points to problems for Americans looking to join the health revolution. Last week, California’s Department of Public Health issued cease-and-desist letters to 13 genetic testing startups, threatening to deny service to consumers curious about their DNA. ...
California’s Health Care Elites Rally for Government Handouts
California’s budget crisis has caused Gov. Schwarzenegger to propose putting the brakes on Medi-Cal’s out-of-control, autopilot, growth. Of course, the governor is only doing it because California law requires him to close the deficit. Once he’s patched it for this year, he’ll be back on the bandwagon, selling his intrusive ...
Tennessee ranked best for business in tort liability study
Tennessee is the most business-friendly state when it comes to litigation, according to a new study. In its annual boardroom guide to state litigation climates, the American Justice Partnership Foundation listed Tennessee as the state with the lowest risks of lawsuits against business. The foundation, a group that advocates litigation ...
Government-Monopoly Health Care in California: Legislative Analyst Concludes That Taxes Must Be Hiked One-Third More Than Anticipated
California’s non-partisan Legislative Analyst has weighed in on the costs of government-monopoly health care. Backers of such systems are rushing to the barricades, but the revelations serve as welcome enlightenment for all Californians. Last year, Governor Schwarzenegger, former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, and an unlikely alliance of business and union ...
Network Neutrality – Michael Dresser Show
PRI’s Technology Studies Policy Fellow, Daniel Ballon, PhD., discussed the issue of net neutrality and why it is so important to avoid excessive regulation of the internet. Service providers need to be free to implement new technology and that is what net neutrality regulations would take away from them. The ...
Today’s Commentary on the News – CA SB 1313
Today’s Commentary on the News As if things aren’t expensive enough… Let’s regulate cooking utensils, food packaging and more… Good grief! Trying to write about particularly stupid legislation that is moving forward in the State Legislature is a sport akin to shooting fish in a barrel (see the video). That ...
Has the Autism Mandate Avalanche Hit A Roadblock?
Last August, I wrote an op-ed in the Philadelphia Business Journal decrying the Commonwealth’s rush to impose a mandate for autism treatment costing $36,000 per patient. (Note: this is a specific, new, treatment, not autism treatment that health plans already cover.) I figured the annual cost of the treatment would ...
