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March 2008
Despite a couple years of debate about network neutrality, rarely have concrete proposals emerged from those who advocate for this government control of the Internet. Typically they have limited themselves to urgent sound bites to whip others into a frenzy.
However, a few pundits have set down on paper what they think the rules actually ought to look like, as in a recent article by Howard Shelanski entitled, "Network Neutrality: Regulating With More Questions than Answers.”
Shelanski points out the free market perspective cannot show that the platform owners never benefit from discrimination against competitors. How does the free market side respond? Assuming that the pricing math is right, we must also factor in long run reputational concerns, the possibility of retaliation, and a plethora of other real world factors.
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Why Do Americans Move to Other States?
Dr. Merrill Matthews of the Institute for Policy Innovation says maybe it’s because of lower taxes.
United Van Lines produces an annual study showing which states are losing and gaining Americans.
The Wall Street Journal says a careful look at that study suggests many people are fleeing high-tax for low-tax states.
Michigan was the biggest loser, with two people leaving for every one who moved in. Michigan also has high taxes and one of the worst state economies in the country.
Other losers were New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois.
But the eight states without an income tax were net population gainers. And all except Florida are in the top 12 destination states.
If states really want to attract families, they don’t need flashy ad campaigns. They just need to recognize what most Americans want: lower taxes.
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Peter Pitts has an oped on how compulsory licensing leads to reduced R&D in medicine. One early response appeared here.
One point that is made in response is that the US issues more compulsory licenses than any other country. The US is certainly capable of hypocracy; nor would one want to start down the path of arguing that compulsory licensing is okay here but not elsewhere. It is rarely a good idea. Still, the idea that "the US does it, so everyone should" is misleading... most of the examples of compulsory licensing in the US are *not* pharmaceuticals (some are) and were issued in a quite different context. Examples include:
-copyright compulsory licenses, of which there are many. Read More...
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Maybe, just maybe, Great Britain is finally getting serious about welfare reform.
The country has certainly been talking about welfare reform for years. But talk’s cheap; welfare isn’t.
A recently released government report, the largest of its kind ever done, has quantified the extent of the problem. According to the report, illness and disability claims cost Great Britain more than £100 billion a year.
Currently, some 2.6 million Brits are on “incapacity benefit,” those determined by a doctor to be unfit to work. According to David Freud, the government’s welfare reform advisor, 1.9 million of them have no business being there.
In the Welsh town of Merthyr, just outside of the capitol Cardiff, 20 percent of the working-age population is on incapacity benefit. That’s one out every five adults, unable to work.
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In a new op/ed featured in the Houston Chronicle, IPI senior fellows Dr. Lawrence A. Hunter and George Pieler discuss what’s blocking auto insurance choice for consumers.
In “New Roadblock in Choice of Auto Insurance,” the authors outline how consumers are prevented from making their own decisions in the Texas marketplace thanks to government legislation.
An excerpt:
If you want an object lesson in how messed up our ways of regulating insurance in the United States are, just take a look at a recent Supreme Court decision — or rather, nondecision. By turning down an appeal in the case of Allstate v. Abbott, the justices de facto upheld Texas law barring linkage of insurance companies and auto repair shops. Read More...
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As an indication of how radical academia tends to be, our local Texas Christian University (TCU) has been planning to give the Rev. Wright an award at a March 29th banquet on the TCU campus.
Obviously they are scrambling now, but the truly important point in mind is that, knowing Rev. Jeremiah Wright, TCU thought he was worthy of an award.
This to me is an indication of how radically liberal public academia tends to be. Do you think a controversial conservative would have half a chance of speaking at all at TCU, much less be given an award?
That's the most important point. Developments since are funny, as TCU grasps for ways to avoid the criticism they so richly deserve.
The first thing TCU did was to try a technicality. "It's not TCU that's giving the award . . . Read More...
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France is reaching a whole new level on hypocrisy over trade and intellectual property rights.
For years the French and other EU states have pressed for limitations on naming rights for foods and wines. They succeeded in bullying the United States into restrictive labeling for California “sparkling wine,” limiting use of the term “Champagne” to wine from the historic Champagne province of France.
In trade circles, this IP issue is known as "geographic indicators," or GIs, which are similar to protections for trademarks. GI protection means that products deriving their names from certain areas, such as French Champagne, Parma ham or Swiss watches, could not be marketed under the same name by anyone from another location.
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Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have proposed Americans should be able to enroll in the same health care plans as offered to members of Congress, known as the Federal Employees Heath Benefits Program (FEHBP). A similar plan has just been introduced in the House. But how much would that cost taxpayers?
In a new op/ed featured today in the Washington Times, IPI Resident Scholar and Health Care expert Dr. Merrill Matthews discusses the price tag for the plan and asks, “Is it reasonable to ask taxpayers to pay for it?”
An excerpt:
The Democratic presidential candidates are suggesting that Americans should have access to health insurance just like members of Congress, and propose allowing them to enroll in the lawmakers' program, known as the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). Read More...
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Tired of Politicians Talking About the Poor?
The Institute for Policy Innovation’s Dr. Merrill Matthews says they may not be telling the whole story.
Politicians like to talk about differences in income, while economists often ask about differences in spending.
The average household in the top 20 percent of income makes about $150,000 and spends nearly $70,000 on goods and services. The bottom 20 percent makes just $10,000, but spends more than $18,000.
That’s right, according to economists Michael Cox and Richard Alm of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, the average low-income family spends nearly twice what it makes.
How can that be? Well, some have income they don’t report. Others may be seniors with other resources available to them.
And that distinction could affect the country’s response. Read More...
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An article appearing today in CongressNow, “White House Willing to Deal on Colombia Trade Agreement; Skeptics Say It Might Not Be Enough to Secure Passage,” discusses the current debate in Washington over the Colombian Free Trade Agreement, and cites IPI Adjunct Fellow Susan Finston. Susan Finston, an adjunct fellow with the free-market Institute for Policy Innovation, believes a failure to pass the deal would could hurt the ability of the U.S. to negotiate future agreements. "To have put the other side through the kind of lengthy negotiations - the comprehensive negotiations we went through with Colombia and then turn it down - I think it would certainly not help the credibility of the U.S. as a trading partner," she said. "There have been consultations with Congress throughout. That's the way it always works. Read More...
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Here's what I think is the political significance of Obama's "Rev. Wright problem."
As far as most voters are concerned:
-If Obama was aware of Rev. Wright's views and implicitly endorse them through church membership, attendance and giving, Obama is too radical to be president.
-If Obama was aware of Rev. Wright's views and didn't think they were problem enough to change churches over, Obama doesn't have good enough judgment to be president.
-If Obama was aware of Rev. Wright's views and is trying to finesse the issue to preserve his political viability, Obama is too dishonest to be president.
-If Obama attended Rev. Wright's church for 20 years and wasn't aware of Wright's positions, Obama is too stupid not observant enough to be president.
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Expanding free trade agreements (FTAs) became more difficult when the Democratic Party took over control of Congress. And with both Democratic presidential candidates expressing skepticism over free trade, there is little immediate optimism about continuing to advance the liberalization of trade policy.
Even opponents of free trade grant that trade liberalization benefits the "poorer" country or countries involved. The key question is whether free trade helps or hurts the richer, or in this case, the U.S. economy. The answer is: Increased trade helps ANY economy because free trade encourages the most efficient use of workers’ time and skills.
Here’s why:
You have a skill, let’s say accounting, that you do well. But you find your ability to do even more work is limited by other demands on your time: obtaining food, taking care of the yard, cleaning the house, maintaining the car, and on and on. Read More...
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Last January, when the goal of an Easter Ministerial for the WTO was announced, the joke was: whose Easter (Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox)? Now that we are approaching mid-March with 150 differences remaining in agriculture alone, no one is laughing.
And now Sebastian Mallaby, citing Obama trade advisor Dan Tarullo, says it is because there are too many WTO members. IMHO, this ignores history and is off the mark.
But when the United States negotiated the Uruguay Round, the trade round leading from the GATT into the WTO, it didn’t matter if there were 50, 100, or 150 countries engaged in the talks. Read More...
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The most serious disease that afflicts public officials is arrested development.
Want proof? A recent survey by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) on the impact of state video services legislation on communities and subscribers makes it clear.
The survey focused on franchised cable television issues and totally ignores the multiplicity of video availability from other sources like web streaming, wireless phones, and satellite delivery. To their credit NATOA’s Executive Director Liddy Beaty stated, “this legislation is very new in many places and only time will tell whether, once implementation is complete, it will prove to have benefited consumers . . . ”
But Beaty also said, “State legislation . . . is not resulting in price reduction, the primary reason used to justify state over local regulation.” Read More...
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In a new article today, "What Matters to Voters: The Price of Health Care," Forbes’ Carl Lavin reports on the campaign trail, discussing concerns held by voters about the costs of universal health care and citing yesterday’s op/ed by IPI senior fellow Lawrence A. Hunter, “A Price Control By Any Other Name.”
An excerpt: “The 3 AM call that rings loudly for most Americans isn't about national security, it's about a sick child or an elderly relative with an urgent health problem. In November, swing voters will be deciding whether the Democratic candidate's plan for universal health care provides needed relief or imposes too much government involvement. Read More...
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The next big issue is going to be the federal bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We better start getting prepared. Read More...
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Dr. Merrill Matthews of the Institute for Policy Innovation says it sure didn’t reduce the role of money in campaigns.
Conventional wisdom says that money corrupts political campaigns. And so the three major presidential candidates have supported campaign finance reform to reduce money’s influence, at least until now.
They need cash to get their message out, and so their views have, well, mellowed.
- Barack Obama had pledged that as the Democratic nominee he would use government-provided money in the general election. But he’s raising so much cash he’s waffling on that commitment.
- Hillary Clinton’s wealthy friends want to start an organization so they can spend millions promoting her.
- And cash-starved John McCain used his donor list as collateral for a campaign loan.
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In a new op/ed featured today on Forbes.com, IPI Senior Fellow Dr. Lawrence A. Hunter discusses how prescription drug “price negotiation” policies promised by the current presidential candidates may cost patients more than they think.
An excerpt:
In recent weeks, the presidential candidates have been competing with each other to see who can be toughest with the nation's drug companies. "I'm running on having taken on the drug companies and the health insurance companies," Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., declared during a New Hampshire debate. At the same debate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., vowed to bring drug companies to the table to "negotiate" lower prices for prescription drugs. Read More...
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If you like taxes, you should love the wireless phone industry!
One of IPI’s fundamental principles of tax reform is transparency. In a nontransparent system, politicians can slip in lots of taxes and regularly increase the rates without individuals ever knowing they are getting dinged.
And your wireless service is subject to one of the most nontransparent tax systems we know.
According to a new study published in State Tax Notes, the combined federal, state and local taxes and fees (as of July, 2007) on wireless service range from 22.54 percent in Nebraska to 5.85 percent in Oregon.
Do Nebraska wireless-service consumers know that they are paying the highest wireless taxes in the country? Of course not.
Do Oregon consumers know they are paying the lowest rates? Of course not.
No one knows. And trying to wade through all of those tax inputs in the monthly bill is daunting.
Read More...
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Just when you think politicians can’t get any wackier, one comes up with a new doozey. Back on November 30, 2007, we published an opinion piece on Forbes.com entitled “Great New Idea: Sub-prime Insurance” in which we suggested that a prominent scheme being bandied about in the U.S. Congress to “spread insurance risk” has strikingly similar characteristics of exotic financial derivatives collateralized by sub-prime mortgages:
“[Federal] Legislation is supposed to empower Florida and other states similarly situated (risk-prone and averse to letting market forces do their job) pool their collective risks as backing for marketable bonds and reinsurance. Those instruments would get federal (i.e., American taxpayer) guarantees to back them up.
“Gosh. Read More...
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In a new oped featured today in the American Spectator entitled, “Is This What Our Economy Needs?”, IPI Director of Budget and Entitlement Policy Peter Ferrara discusses the "enormous" and "unprecedented" taxing and spending plans Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are currently promising from the campaign trail.
An Excerpt:
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both campaigning on economic policy platforms promising enormous, unprecedented, historic increases in runaway government spending, to be financed with huge, record setting, historic tax increases. Is this what our economy needs, just when it may be tipping into recession, and facing the stiffest world competition in decades?
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There's a story in the news today that a California appeals court has ruled that children can't be home-schooled unless the parent has a teaching credential.
I could go on and on about what's wrong with that kind of thinking, but what's interesting to me about the story is not so much the anti-home school decision, which surprises me not the least from the State of California. No, my Big Government antennae were activated by a stunning Nanny State assertion made at the end of the news story.
Heimov said her organization's chief concern was not the quality of the children's education, but their "being in a place daily where they would be observed by people who had a duty to ensure their ongoing safety."
That's right--California thinks your children are safer in school than they are--at home. The state has a duty to make sure your children are out of your home and in the charge of state-approved professionals, so that the state can make sure your children are safe. Read More...
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Anyone who thinks insurance is an industry apart, admittedly with its own special set of problems and challenges, should carefully watch what's going on in New York State. Insurance Commissioner Eric Dinallo wants to split up mortgage bond insurer MBIA into two parts, one virtually guaranteed for success (based on investments in government-backed instruments), the other decidedly higher risks (yes, some of those subprime mortgages could be lurking behind the paper).
Why? Ostensibly to build market confidence in the mortgage backed securities market and prevent the "problem" paper from leaching its problems into the rest of the market. But wait...isn't market competition based on assuming risks, eyes open, and having to suffer the consequences of bad judgment?
Dinallo's moves may be driven by a case of Wall Street jitters. For that matter, so does much of what the Fed does these days. Read More...
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Yesterday I read a very interesting paper by Francois Leveque and Yann Meniere, entitled "Patents and Innovation: Friends or Foes?" It included the following thoughtful foreword describing the trends in economic thinking about patents over recent decades, and how these have given rise to the perception that patents do not support innovation:
Economists are not innocent for this change in perception. 50 years ago they established (Nordhaus, 1969) that patent law tends to stimulate R&D too much in organizing races to patent first with too many firms. By contrast, during the 1990s, they pointed out that patents hinder innovation in reducing incentives for secondary inventors when research is cumulative and in raising an anticommons problem whereby patents are allotted to a multitude of small owners. For people unfamiliar with how economic theory goes, it may seem that economists also changed their mind and burnt today what they incensed over the past. Read More...
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IPI's offices have closed today due to an unexpected (and very pretty) snowstorm.
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Are You Happy?
Dr. Merrill Matthews of the Institute for Policy Innovation says if not, maybe it has to do with your political party.
National Public Radio’s Eric Weiner cites a 2006 Pew Research Poll saying that 45 percent of Republicans describe themselves as “very happy,” as opposed to only 30 percent of Democrats.
It’s not hard to see why.
- Most Republicans support tax cuts; most Democrats support tax increases.
- Most Republicans think the U.S. health care system, with a few changes, works pretty well; most Democrats think it’s broken, threatening our health and well-being.
- And most Republicans think they can build a better future for themselves and their families; while most Democrats think the future looks bleak without major government intervention.
One group embraces the politics of optimism; the other, the politics of pessimism. Read More...
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| In a new oped featured today on Forbes.com, IPI Senior Fellow George Pieler and International Affairs Forum editor-in-chief Jens Laurson assess the overall impact made by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra during last week’s appearance in North Korea. In “When A Concert Isn’t Just A Concert,” the authors state, “[m]ore North Korean faces smiling to music made by Americans won't end the nuclear impasse, but they are a welcome enough step in the right direction.” An excerpt: The New York Philharmonic's decision to play in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, provoked commentary--both positive and negative--with a decidedly excited ring to it. Read More...
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We’ve been trying to keep up with all of the new spending programs Senator Barack Obama promises to implement if he is elected president and, well, it hasn’t been easy. Because there are so many of them.
Here are some of them, taken from his campaign material:
1. “Obama will provide a $500 ‘Making Work Pay’ tax credit to almost every worker in America . . .”
Of course, the government doesn’t make money, it only transfers it. So before you can “give” the vast majority of Americans a $500 tax credit, you have to take it from them first.
2. “The Obama middle class tax plan will also provide 10 million homeowners a new mortgage interest credit that directly lowers the interest rate homeowners pay on their mortgages . . .”
3. “[E]liminate federal income taxes for all seniors making under $50,000 per year.”
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The Fort Worth Star-Telegram features a new report discussing IPI’s membership of the Online Safety Task Force created by MySpace.
An excerpt:
The Institute for Policy Innovation, a Lewisville-based nonprofit public-policy organization, has been chosen as a member of the industry-wide Online Safety Task Force organized by the social networking site MySpace.com The organization hopes to ensure that policymakers find ways to protect children while also allowing the fair and free use of technology, said Bartlett Cleland, director of the institute's Center for Technology Freedom. "These issues are difficult, but we must begin to find effective, balanced solutions to this puzzle," he said in a statement Friday. Read More...
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Author: TechBytes || Location: Lewisville, Texas, USA