Commentary
Business & Economics
Town leaders knew of rising trash fees
Americans pay a “tort tax” of $865 billion a year, according to last year’s estimate by the Pacific Research Institute. This figure represents money taken out of the economy via awards, settlements, lawsuit-avoidance tactics and price inflation of products and services provided by litigation-prone industries. The scholarship is challenging, but ...
Commentary
Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Connector’s Compliance Confusion
Advocates of so-called “universal” health care often cite the “fragmentation” of the status quo as reason enough to increase taxes and fines so that everybody has health insurance – whether we like what’s offered or not. And, they have a point: the employer-based health care system lets a lot of ...
Commentary
We’re No. 8: decoding the Advanced Placement spin
Recently, the College Board released the results of Advanced Placement tests placing California eighth in the nation, with nearly one in five public school students scoring a college-credit-earning three or better on at least one 2007 AP exam. The news came with a positive spin, but there is a lot ...
Business & Economics
On Those Oil Profits
When it comes to public hatred of big business, there’s no better target than oil companies. This hatred has been all the more intense since Exxon Mobil announced last year’s net income at $40.6 billion, the largest-ever profit for a publicly-traded company. With the threat of recession looming, many policymakers ...
Commentary
Forced health coverage unhealthy
In 1949, Pennsylvania became the first state to impose benefit mandates on health insurance, requiring plans to pay for osteopathy and dentistry services. It was a watershed event that led to a flood of legal requirements in other states. Unfortunately, it also laid the groundwork for today’s bloated health care ...
Commentary
No more Homeschooling in CA?
Boy am I lucky I got orders to Okinawa instead of California. It was really a choice between the two. If you haven’t read by now, “The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have ...
Commentary
Health 2.0: A Promising Prescription
Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) recent announcement that it is creating a home for personal health records online is a natural outgrowth of Silicon Valley’s Web 2.0 consumer Internet focus. The question this raises is whether a market-driven system is better for keeping health records than one run by the government. Groups ...
California
State should look east for affordable health insurance
One of Sacramento’s great laments is the number of Californians without health insurance. The predictable bad solution has been to propose billions in additional taxes. California has been spared so far from this counterintuitive, costly “solution.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators ought to look eastward for a better idea. But ...
Commentary
Innovation Incentives in Danger from Congress
U.S. patents have fostered American innovation ever since George Washington signed the first one in 1790. By protecting the rights of inventors, the patent system has spurred the development of everything from the light bulb to lifesaving medicines. You wouldn’t think Congress would want to mess with such a winning ...
Business & Economics
There’s Gold in That Net: Golden State’s Legislators Could Let Special Interests Mine the Internet
On February 22, the last day to introduce new legislation in the 2007-2008 session, California’s lawmakers unleashed more than 650 bills. In this barrage, legislators seek to derail one of the state’s thriving industries: the technology sector. This bipartisan agenda targets e-commerce, arming bureaucrats with vast new authority to monitor, ...
Town leaders knew of rising trash fees
Americans pay a “tort tax” of $865 billion a year, according to last year’s estimate by the Pacific Research Institute. This figure represents money taken out of the economy via awards, settlements, lawsuit-avoidance tactics and price inflation of products and services provided by litigation-prone industries. The scholarship is challenging, but ...
Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Connector’s Compliance Confusion
Advocates of so-called “universal” health care often cite the “fragmentation” of the status quo as reason enough to increase taxes and fines so that everybody has health insurance – whether we like what’s offered or not. And, they have a point: the employer-based health care system lets a lot of ...
We’re No. 8: decoding the Advanced Placement spin
Recently, the College Board released the results of Advanced Placement tests placing California eighth in the nation, with nearly one in five public school students scoring a college-credit-earning three or better on at least one 2007 AP exam. The news came with a positive spin, but there is a lot ...
On Those Oil Profits
When it comes to public hatred of big business, there’s no better target than oil companies. This hatred has been all the more intense since Exxon Mobil announced last year’s net income at $40.6 billion, the largest-ever profit for a publicly-traded company. With the threat of recession looming, many policymakers ...
Forced health coverage unhealthy
In 1949, Pennsylvania became the first state to impose benefit mandates on health insurance, requiring plans to pay for osteopathy and dentistry services. It was a watershed event that led to a flood of legal requirements in other states. Unfortunately, it also laid the groundwork for today’s bloated health care ...
No more Homeschooling in CA?
Boy am I lucky I got orders to Okinawa instead of California. It was really a choice between the two. If you haven’t read by now, “The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have ...
Health 2.0: A Promising Prescription
Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) recent announcement that it is creating a home for personal health records online is a natural outgrowth of Silicon Valley’s Web 2.0 consumer Internet focus. The question this raises is whether a market-driven system is better for keeping health records than one run by the government. Groups ...
State should look east for affordable health insurance
One of Sacramento’s great laments is the number of Californians without health insurance. The predictable bad solution has been to propose billions in additional taxes. California has been spared so far from this counterintuitive, costly “solution.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators ought to look eastward for a better idea. But ...
Innovation Incentives in Danger from Congress
U.S. patents have fostered American innovation ever since George Washington signed the first one in 1790. By protecting the rights of inventors, the patent system has spurred the development of everything from the light bulb to lifesaving medicines. You wouldn’t think Congress would want to mess with such a winning ...
There’s Gold in That Net: Golden State’s Legislators Could Let Special Interests Mine the Internet
On February 22, the last day to introduce new legislation in the 2007-2008 session, California’s lawmakers unleashed more than 650 bills. In this barrage, legislators seek to derail one of the state’s thriving industries: the technology sector. This bipartisan agenda targets e-commerce, arming bureaucrats with vast new authority to monitor, ...
