Commentary
Business & Economics
True Hollywood Scandals: The Courtroom Legacy of Anna Nicole Smith with Horace Cooper.
Anna Nicole Smith’s life was a tabloid’s dream. Even though she passed away almost one year ago, her saga lives on in the media through battles ranging from paternity disputes to prescription drug abuse to disputed legal fees. As the 9th Circuit gets ready to take up her case again, ...
Commentary
PRI’s Lance Izumi Named President of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges
San Francisco – On Tuesday, January 15, Pacific Research Institute’s director of Education Studies Lance T. Izumi succeeded Kay Albiani as president of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. The Board sets policy and provides guidance for the 72 districts and 109 colleges within the system. It ...
Business & Economics
Amazon Leads La Résistance Against Protectionism
The French Booksellers’ Union launched its case against Amazon in 2004, alleging that the company’s ‘free shipping’ policy constitutes an illegal discount on books. According to a 1981 law designed to protect France’s independent publishers and bookstores, no discount on books can exceed five percent off the publisher’s recommended price. ...
Commentary
Mitt’s Mythical “Mass. Miracle”
Michigan is like the canary in the mine shaft,” Republican White House contender Willard Mitt Romney told voters in Warren Friday. “What happens in Michigan is going to happen to the rest of the country.” He also claims in a campaign commercial, “I understand how the economy works. There’s a ...
Business & Economics
When Web 2.0 Meets Politics
Hillary Clinton is my friend. On MySpace, that is. If I were going to vote for the first candidate that responded to my social networking “friend” request, it would be her. Of course, that’s a silly idea, but with all the hoopla over politicians using new technologies, one might ask: ...
Business & Economics
The Writers Strike and Jay Leno’s Monologue
I am an economist, not a lawyer, and so I won’t comment on the validity of the union claim. Leno is a member of the Guild, and could very well be contractually bound in such matters (though NBC predictably challenges this claim). On the other hand, even if something might ...
Business & Economics
California Lights the Way: Legislature Could Become Global Internet Regulator
Last week Governor Schwarzenegger created a new state agency to help Californians protect their personal information online. With more than one million cases of identity theft reported in California last year, the Office of Information Security and Privacy Protection will serve as a valuable educational resource to help residents stem ...
Commentary
Wal-Mart Increases Employee Health Benefits
Beset by threats of tailor-made state and local laws intended to force it to increase workers’ health care benefits, retail giant Wal-Mart is providing health coverage to more of its employees. In 2008, Wal-Mart will provide employees with $4 co-payments for 2,400 generic drugs and will offer health insurance with ...
California
Healthy San Francisco raises costs for everyone
Two years ago, our family moved from San Francisco to Marin County, motivated partly by high prices in San Francisco restaurants. Now we mostly dine north of the Golden Gate Bridge and for 2008 we were prepared to give up on San Francisco entirely. The reason? San Francisco’s Health Access ...
California
California’s Public Retiree Health Care Liabilities
Although we have no time for Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Health Deforminator Model ABX1 1, we’re sure glad he struck a commission to get a handle on the state’s public sector retiree health benefits. You know all that talk about how retiree health benefits are sinking the Big 3 Detroit automakers, ...
True Hollywood Scandals: The Courtroom Legacy of Anna Nicole Smith with Horace Cooper.
Anna Nicole Smith’s life was a tabloid’s dream. Even though she passed away almost one year ago, her saga lives on in the media through battles ranging from paternity disputes to prescription drug abuse to disputed legal fees. As the 9th Circuit gets ready to take up her case again, ...
PRI’s Lance Izumi Named President of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges
San Francisco – On Tuesday, January 15, Pacific Research Institute’s director of Education Studies Lance T. Izumi succeeded Kay Albiani as president of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. The Board sets policy and provides guidance for the 72 districts and 109 colleges within the system. It ...
Amazon Leads La Résistance Against Protectionism
The French Booksellers’ Union launched its case against Amazon in 2004, alleging that the company’s ‘free shipping’ policy constitutes an illegal discount on books. According to a 1981 law designed to protect France’s independent publishers and bookstores, no discount on books can exceed five percent off the publisher’s recommended price. ...
Mitt’s Mythical “Mass. Miracle”
Michigan is like the canary in the mine shaft,” Republican White House contender Willard Mitt Romney told voters in Warren Friday. “What happens in Michigan is going to happen to the rest of the country.” He also claims in a campaign commercial, “I understand how the economy works. There’s a ...
When Web 2.0 Meets Politics
Hillary Clinton is my friend. On MySpace, that is. If I were going to vote for the first candidate that responded to my social networking “friend” request, it would be her. Of course, that’s a silly idea, but with all the hoopla over politicians using new technologies, one might ask: ...
The Writers Strike and Jay Leno’s Monologue
I am an economist, not a lawyer, and so I won’t comment on the validity of the union claim. Leno is a member of the Guild, and could very well be contractually bound in such matters (though NBC predictably challenges this claim). On the other hand, even if something might ...
California Lights the Way: Legislature Could Become Global Internet Regulator
Last week Governor Schwarzenegger created a new state agency to help Californians protect their personal information online. With more than one million cases of identity theft reported in California last year, the Office of Information Security and Privacy Protection will serve as a valuable educational resource to help residents stem ...
Wal-Mart Increases Employee Health Benefits
Beset by threats of tailor-made state and local laws intended to force it to increase workers’ health care benefits, retail giant Wal-Mart is providing health coverage to more of its employees. In 2008, Wal-Mart will provide employees with $4 co-payments for 2,400 generic drugs and will offer health insurance with ...
Healthy San Francisco raises costs for everyone
Two years ago, our family moved from San Francisco to Marin County, motivated partly by high prices in San Francisco restaurants. Now we mostly dine north of the Golden Gate Bridge and for 2008 we were prepared to give up on San Francisco entirely. The reason? San Francisco’s Health Access ...
California’s Public Retiree Health Care Liabilities
Although we have no time for Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Health Deforminator Model ABX1 1, we’re sure glad he struck a commission to get a handle on the state’s public sector retiree health benefits. You know all that talk about how retiree health benefits are sinking the Big 3 Detroit automakers, ...
