Commentary
Commentary
The Rantings of a P.T.A. Mom
Sandra Tsing Loh, a writer and a performer, is the author most recently of “Mother on Fire,” a comic memoir of her struggle to find a school in Los Angeles for her child to attend. (Full biography.) As usual, Bruce Fuller and Lance Izumi , my fellow Education Watch contributors, ...
Commentary
Will law impress fast-food junkies? Fat chance.
The latest deployment in the war on obesity is upon us. SB 1420, sponsored by state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, will require California fast-food restaurants to post the amount of calories in every item on their menu boards. SB 1420’s backers believe that when we’re forced to see the ...
Commentary
On the Republican Convention: McCain Is Right About School Vouchers
In this installment of Education Watch, Bruce Fuller and Lance T. Izumi discuss John McCain’s view on education, particularly school vouchers. 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, ...
Commentary
Unnecessary scrutiny of doctors hurts valuable research
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — John Roberts’ assertion that nurse practitioners play a “key role … throughout the health care system” is spot-on (“Physicians not the only avenue for primary care,” Aug. 26). Unfortunately, the bill he lauds – the Act to Promote Cost Containment, Transparency and Efficiency in the Delivery ...
Business & Economics
Order and the Court
NJ Business Matters, September 5, 2008 New Jersey’s tort system is increasingly hostile to business. The Pacific Research Institute ranked our tort climate 49th in the nation, Atlantic County was named a Judicial Hellhole, and companies have responded by increasing costs for consumer goods. Last year, CIANJ joined the New ...
Commentary
Medi-Cal’s Fee Cutbacks are the Symptom; Medi-Cal is the Disease
Last week, I wrote about the malformation of health care financing that allows a federal judge to roll back Medi-Cal (Medicaid) fee reductions, which the governor and legislature had agreed to in order to buy some breathing room while they negotiate a budget to cover California’s out-of-control deficit. I don’t ...
Business & Economics
Why Cracking Down on Oil Speculators Will Hurt Consumers
California drivers are relieved that oil prices have retreated from record highs in July but all Americans should be concerned that the government is still scrambling to “do something” about oil prices. Proposals to curb “excessive speculation” in commodity futures enjoy bipartisan support. Yet cracking down on oil speculators will ...
Agriculture
Why McCain needs to read Goldwater
Those who aspire to elected office, and all those who hold office, would do well to heed the advice of Barry Goldwater, former Arizona senator and presidential candidate. None would benefit more than presidential nominee John McCain, Goldwater’s Arizona successor in the U.S. Senate. Goldwater’s ideas, and the principles upon ...
Commentary
It’s a “Wrap”: Brokers Harm Consumer-Driven Health Care
For months now, I’ve heard stories about a technique that insurance brokers use to sell health insurance to small businesses, which want the lower premiums that come with a consumer-directed health plan, but are nervous about convincing their employees to face a deductible of at least $2,200 for a family ...
Commentary
California Tobacco Control Program Wants More Money
I have spent (undoubtedly too much) time today struggling with a new article from the tobacconistas at the University of California, San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, a group of scholars funded by tobacco taxes, which publishes research calling for more…..(you guessed it)…..tobacco taxes. But not only ...
The Rantings of a P.T.A. Mom
Sandra Tsing Loh, a writer and a performer, is the author most recently of “Mother on Fire,” a comic memoir of her struggle to find a school in Los Angeles for her child to attend. (Full biography.) As usual, Bruce Fuller and Lance Izumi , my fellow Education Watch contributors, ...
Will law impress fast-food junkies? Fat chance.
The latest deployment in the war on obesity is upon us. SB 1420, sponsored by state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, will require California fast-food restaurants to post the amount of calories in every item on their menu boards. SB 1420’s backers believe that when we’re forced to see the ...
On the Republican Convention: McCain Is Right About School Vouchers
In this installment of Education Watch, Bruce Fuller and Lance T. Izumi discuss John McCain’s view on education, particularly school vouchers. 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, ...
Unnecessary scrutiny of doctors hurts valuable research
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — John Roberts’ assertion that nurse practitioners play a “key role … throughout the health care system” is spot-on (“Physicians not the only avenue for primary care,” Aug. 26). Unfortunately, the bill he lauds – the Act to Promote Cost Containment, Transparency and Efficiency in the Delivery ...
Order and the Court
NJ Business Matters, September 5, 2008 New Jersey’s tort system is increasingly hostile to business. The Pacific Research Institute ranked our tort climate 49th in the nation, Atlantic County was named a Judicial Hellhole, and companies have responded by increasing costs for consumer goods. Last year, CIANJ joined the New ...
Medi-Cal’s Fee Cutbacks are the Symptom; Medi-Cal is the Disease
Last week, I wrote about the malformation of health care financing that allows a federal judge to roll back Medi-Cal (Medicaid) fee reductions, which the governor and legislature had agreed to in order to buy some breathing room while they negotiate a budget to cover California’s out-of-control deficit. I don’t ...
Why Cracking Down on Oil Speculators Will Hurt Consumers
California drivers are relieved that oil prices have retreated from record highs in July but all Americans should be concerned that the government is still scrambling to “do something” about oil prices. Proposals to curb “excessive speculation” in commodity futures enjoy bipartisan support. Yet cracking down on oil speculators will ...
Why McCain needs to read Goldwater
Those who aspire to elected office, and all those who hold office, would do well to heed the advice of Barry Goldwater, former Arizona senator and presidential candidate. None would benefit more than presidential nominee John McCain, Goldwater’s Arizona successor in the U.S. Senate. Goldwater’s ideas, and the principles upon ...
It’s a “Wrap”: Brokers Harm Consumer-Driven Health Care
For months now, I’ve heard stories about a technique that insurance brokers use to sell health insurance to small businesses, which want the lower premiums that come with a consumer-directed health plan, but are nervous about convincing their employees to face a deductible of at least $2,200 for a family ...
California Tobacco Control Program Wants More Money
I have spent (undoubtedly too much) time today struggling with a new article from the tobacconistas at the University of California, San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, a group of scholars funded by tobacco taxes, which publishes research calling for more…..(you guessed it)…..tobacco taxes. But not only ...
