Executive Summary Insurance of last resort is a program meant to cover individuals living in high-risk areas prone to natural disasters. These programs are meant to supplement the private market, but overregulation of the private insurance market has prompted them to grow at an unsustainable rate. Many insurers of last resort are bleeding money at … Continue reading
Executive Overview – There is a recurring practice of firms failing to disclose upfront mandatory charges in the advertised price of their goods or services, leading to an unexpected higher final cost for consumers (e.g. “resort fees” in hotel bookings and “processing fees” in ticket purchases). – Misleading pricing threatens competition in the market, as … Continue reading
Executive Summary The 2023: A historic year of U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters | NOAA Climate.gov indicates the increasingly detrimental costs of the growing occurrence of natural disasters as the total cost of U.S. billion-dollar disasters over the last 5 years (2019-2023) is $603.1 billion, with a 5-year annual cost average of $120.6 billion, … Continue reading
Executive Summary: • ISIS released an Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated misinformation video following a bombing attack on a Russian concert venue, which prompted fears about the depth of AI use in terrorist activities. • Generative AI has cut time, automated recruitment and information dissemination, as well as decreased the need for highly skilled members in … Continue reading
Executive Summary The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) pillar two proposal includes three crucial tax rules intended to work with current tax laws worldwide. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) and the Tax Foundation made predictions of the effect on US revenue given the adoption of pillar two both internationally and nationally. The … Continue reading
Executive Summary: On January 8th, 2024 the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) sent letters to the CEOs of the four largest manufacturers of inhalers sold in the United States (AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Teva) launching an investigation into the high price of inhalers used for Asthma and Chronic Obstructive … Continue reading
Executive Summary The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has proposed an international tax agreement consisting of two pillars, aimed at taxing digital companies and preventing double taxation. The United Nations (UN) has proposed a potentially legally binding international tax code that rivals the OECD tax code. The implementation of one or both tax … Continue reading
Executive Summary: The Biden administration has encouraged states to use Medicaid funds to alleviate the homelessness crisis with around 20 states directing billions of dollars from their Medicaid program to provide short-term housing for those experiencing homelessness, with some states devoting anywhere from six to fifteen percent of its Medicaid spending to such programs. In … Continue reading
The game of politics. Some wish they could win it; everyone wishes they could understand it. Naturally, the game involves playing. (It is a game, after all.) So, it comes as no surprise when, during this political season, “Fact Checkers” pop up left and right. We laypeople need the plain truth, not the politicized version … Continue reading
