In his State of the Union address, President Obama announced his proposal for mandatory paid sick leave. He is proposing that businesses be required to provide seven days of paid sick leave per year to each employee. Currently, many people are forced to choose between going to work sick and forgoing a much needed paycheck. … Continue reading
A World Free of Nuclear Weapons? More like a World Full of Nuclear Weapons.
The use of nuclear weapons is perhaps the most dangerous threat one state can make against another. Dropping a single bomb can kill millions of civilians, destroy cities and cause massive economic damage. When the U.S. dropped the Atom bomb on Nagasaki, it destroyed approximately 40 percent of the buildings in the city. In Hiroshima, … Continue reading
Why the “Open Internet Order” is Unconstitutional
Now that the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) so-called Open Internet Order (OIO) has finally been released, we can begin to assess where we go from here. Besides the numerous reasons why the FCC’s decision is bad policy, it is also unconstitutional. The OIO is a violation of the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment. The … Continue reading
Issues in 340B
What is it? The 340B Drug Pricing Program requires drug manufacturers to provide outpatient drugs to eligible health care organizations at substantially discounted prices ranging from 25 to 50 percent off a drug’s average wholesale price. Who’s eligible? In order to be eligible for 340B, a provider must either be a nonprofit with particular federal … Continue reading
Little Innovation with Sequestration
“It hangs over us like a dark cloud,” noted National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Francis Collins Tuesday, March 10 at a Senate Committee meeting on “Continuing America’s Leadership in Medical Innovation for Patients,” in reply to a question regarding the impact of sequestration on the NIH. The sequestration was a serious blow to the NIH, … Continue reading
The Debt Ceiling: Good Politics, Not Policy
As of this past week, our federal government has managed to clear the hurdle of fully funding the Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, this is only one of the many vitally important budget issues on the horizon, including Medicare payments to doctors, funding for the Highway Trust Fund and our crumbling infrastructure, and the prospect … Continue reading
Let the Spectrum Market Work
In modern America the airwaves are continuously flooded with waves that we cannot see. Radio waves carry signals for everything from smartphones to televisions using bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. The use of spectrum for communication has a long and thorny history going back to the first radio broadcasters. Like any form of communication, the … Continue reading
Choosing between Marriage and Welfare
You may have noticed that you seem to be receiving fewer wedding invitations in recent years. Before you panic about whether or not you are a good dancer or eat too much cake, there may be another explanation for the lack of invitations. It simply turns out that fewer people are getting married today. According … Continue reading
Rooftop Solar Needs Sustainable Policies
The solar industry boasted huge job growth last year, mostly due to the increase in solar installations on homes and businesses. Rooftop solar is growing across the U.S., and so are confrontations between traditional utility providers and the solar industry. The controversy centers on net metering (the technical term that describes how large utility companies … Continue reading
America’s Number One
The United States is number one! The youth are first in the United States. We rank 27 in math among developed countries. We rank 17 in reading among developed countries. Unfortunately, the United States’ youth are not number one in education. The youth in the United States are number one for incarceration. This rank of … Continue reading
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