Commentary

Commentary

Skelton previews the crock that he, the gov and Dems will push relentlessly in next budget fight

This has been a breakthrough week when it comes to math and reality at the Sacramento bureau of the L.A. Times. Evan Halper actually wrote a story that noted the compromise budget slightly increased spending instead of continuing his career-long, grossly misleading practice of describing a cut in a projected ...
Commentary

On Obama: Why the Democratic Candidate Is Wrong to Blindly Throw Money Into Schools

In this installment of Education Watch, Bruce Fuller and Lance T. Izumi discuss Barack Obama’s latest school proposals. Go to Mr. Fuller’s post. Lance T. Izumi, a senior fellow in California studies and the senior director of education studies at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, is the co-author ...
Business & Economics

Why do trial lawyers love Obama-Biden?

Richard Ward, chief executive officer of Lloyd’s of London, told USA Today recently that the rest of the world is catching up to the United States in the ignominious realm of lawsuits. He said growing litigiousness overseas is driving up costs and stifling risk-taking there, as it already has here. ...
Commentary

Audience Votes Health Coverage Should Be Government’s Responsibility in First Intelligence Squared U.S. Debate of the Season

NEW YORK, NY, Sep 17, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) — Intelligence Squared U.S., the Oxford style debate series sponsored by The Rosenkranz Foundation, announced the results of the first debate of its Fall 2008 season on the motion, “Universal health coverage should be the federal government’s responsibility.” A sold ...
Business & Economics

The Candidates’ Record on Legal Reform

ShopFloor.org (NAM), September 17, 2008 The Examiner newspaper editorializes today on the tort reform records of the presidential and vice presidential candidates, asking a question of great interest to the business community: “Will either party’s presidential ticket keep a lid on the lawyers’ greed?” The editorial uses NAM’s “Key Vote” ...
Agriculture

Brokeback Mountain: Are Health Costs Killing Ranchers, Farmers?

One of America’s health care zombies that refuses to die is the notion (created by the Commonwealth Fund) that millions of people who have health insurance are “underinsured”, largely due to policies with high co-payments and high deductibles. This results in “medical bankruptcy”, another exaggeration. The Commonwealth Fund’s conclusions have ...
Business & Economics

TIPS Have Underforecasted Inflation

Back in 2003, the Treasury began selling 5-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS. (Longer maturities were available starting in 1997.) What happens is that the government pays a fixed coupon rate, but the principal is adjusted based on increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Thus, TIPS yields are ...
Commentary

Massachusetts’ Underwhelming Health “Reform”

Massachusetts’ health care leaders continue to believe that they can solve problems by just ordering them to go away. The first step in this was the April 2006 Commonwealth Connector reform signed by Governor Romney, which simply commanded people to buy health insurance, and fined them if they did not. ...
Commentary

Questions on healthcare reform

Healthcare reform will be front-and-center in the presidential debates. It’s a topic that’s full of complicated issues, so it can be hard to cut through all the rhetoric and figure out exactly what each candidate is proposing. So here’s the skinny on five questions that you’ll likely hear many times ...
Business & Economics

The Canadianization of America

Here comes ‘no-vote’ unionism In Canada, worrying about being Americanized is a national pastime, particularly in political and media circles. It seldom occurred to me the United States could become Canadianized until I moved here, in an election year, no less, and found Americans obsessed with many Canadian ideas at ...
Commentary

Skelton previews the crock that he, the gov and Dems will push relentlessly in next budget fight

This has been a breakthrough week when it comes to math and reality at the Sacramento bureau of the L.A. Times. Evan Halper actually wrote a story that noted the compromise budget slightly increased spending instead of continuing his career-long, grossly misleading practice of describing a cut in a projected ...
Commentary

On Obama: Why the Democratic Candidate Is Wrong to Blindly Throw Money Into Schools

In this installment of Education Watch, Bruce Fuller and Lance T. Izumi discuss Barack Obama’s latest school proposals. Go to Mr. Fuller’s post. Lance T. Izumi, a senior fellow in California studies and the senior director of education studies at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, is the co-author ...
Business & Economics

Why do trial lawyers love Obama-Biden?

Richard Ward, chief executive officer of Lloyd’s of London, told USA Today recently that the rest of the world is catching up to the United States in the ignominious realm of lawsuits. He said growing litigiousness overseas is driving up costs and stifling risk-taking there, as it already has here. ...
Commentary

Audience Votes Health Coverage Should Be Government’s Responsibility in First Intelligence Squared U.S. Debate of the Season

NEW YORK, NY, Sep 17, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) — Intelligence Squared U.S., the Oxford style debate series sponsored by The Rosenkranz Foundation, announced the results of the first debate of its Fall 2008 season on the motion, “Universal health coverage should be the federal government’s responsibility.” A sold ...
Business & Economics

The Candidates’ Record on Legal Reform

ShopFloor.org (NAM), September 17, 2008 The Examiner newspaper editorializes today on the tort reform records of the presidential and vice presidential candidates, asking a question of great interest to the business community: “Will either party’s presidential ticket keep a lid on the lawyers’ greed?” The editorial uses NAM’s “Key Vote” ...
Agriculture

Brokeback Mountain: Are Health Costs Killing Ranchers, Farmers?

One of America’s health care zombies that refuses to die is the notion (created by the Commonwealth Fund) that millions of people who have health insurance are “underinsured”, largely due to policies with high co-payments and high deductibles. This results in “medical bankruptcy”, another exaggeration. The Commonwealth Fund’s conclusions have ...
Business & Economics

TIPS Have Underforecasted Inflation

Back in 2003, the Treasury began selling 5-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS. (Longer maturities were available starting in 1997.) What happens is that the government pays a fixed coupon rate, but the principal is adjusted based on increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Thus, TIPS yields are ...
Commentary

Massachusetts’ Underwhelming Health “Reform”

Massachusetts’ health care leaders continue to believe that they can solve problems by just ordering them to go away. The first step in this was the April 2006 Commonwealth Connector reform signed by Governor Romney, which simply commanded people to buy health insurance, and fined them if they did not. ...
Commentary

Questions on healthcare reform

Healthcare reform will be front-and-center in the presidential debates. It’s a topic that’s full of complicated issues, so it can be hard to cut through all the rhetoric and figure out exactly what each candidate is proposing. So here’s the skinny on five questions that you’ll likely hear many times ...
Business & Economics

The Canadianization of America

Here comes ‘no-vote’ unionism In Canada, worrying about being Americanized is a national pastime, particularly in political and media circles. It seldom occurred to me the United States could become Canadianized until I moved here, in an election year, no less, and found Americans obsessed with many Canadian ideas at ...
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