Summary

Nearly 100 college presidents from around the nation have asked lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. Could lowering the drinking age have a positive effect on college-age drinking? Some say yes, others say no. . . . Read more!

Summary

Gore has challenged the nation to rely on 100% renewable energy sources within 10 years. Not only would this be one of the most capital-intensive construction projects in human history, but the plan is logistically unachievable and would not have any effect on global climate. . . . Read more!

Looking for more tax revenue wherever they can find it, some legislators and special interest groups want to raise Oregon’s corporate income tax. But raising corporate taxes will have hidden, yet very real, detrimental effects, especially on Oregon’s poor.

The Tax Foundation recently launched the . . . Read more!

If you haven’t heard of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) yet, you soon will. WCI is a collaboration launched in 2007 by the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington that now also includes Utah, Montana and parts of Canada. WCI’s stated purpose is to develop a regional strategy to address climate change. The strategy is to force costly greenhouse gas reductions that may not address global warming at all.

WCI is designing a cap and trade regulatory policy which . . . Read more!

Summary

Critics of Oregon’s so-called “double majority” rule say it isn’t democratic because a simple majority of those voting may not be able to pass a tax measure. But in reality, just 25% of registered voters can raise taxes under “double-majority.” “Double majority” is a sensible taxpayer safeguard that should be kept, and even strengthened. . . . Read more!

Summary

Clark County’s new hybrid buses are costing lots of green for local taxpayers. The hybrids offer neither significant fuel efficiency gains nor significant emissions reductions but cost about 45% more. Over the lifetime of the buses, taxpayers will pay an additional $4.7 million dollars without any environmental benefit. . . . Read more!

Green and red are the Christmas colors. It’s just like Christmas for hundreds of Oregon businesses looking to cash in on “green energy” tax credits. Oregon’s Business Energy Tax Credit is designed to encourage companies to initiate “renewable” and “alternative” energy projects. Two days before the Oregon Legislative Session adjourned in June, legislators passed a . . . Read more!

Summary

Because employer-sponsored health insurance coverage is not taxable, the health insurance of 60% of covered Americans is tied to their job. Government should level the playing field in the tax code between employer-sponsored and individually purchased health insurance, eliminating a substantial bias for employer-sponsored health care which encourages employees to stake both their income and their health care on their job. . . . Read more!

Rob Kremer gave the following address at the Milton Friedman “Legacy of Freedom” luncheon at McMenamin’s Kennedy School on July 31, one of 50 events nationwide honoring the late Dr. Friedman on his 96th birthday.

I can’t tell you what an honor it is to be here today, and have the chance to pay tribute, on what would have been his 96th birthday, to a man who had a profound effect on my life. Though I never met him, I always felt as if my life and career was somehow steered by the power of Milton Friedman’s ideas.

Milton Friedman is my hero. . . . Read more!

Imagine an industry where two companies control 75% of the market, price-competition is non-existent, and new firms are prohibited from entering. While economists refer to this as an oligopoly, taxi customers in Portland know it best as high prices and long wait times.

On April 9, 2008, the Private for Hire Transportation Review Board voted down a proposal to end the long-standing moratorium on . . . Read more!

Summary

Low-income Americans hear two contradictory messages: “Save” and “Don’t Save.” Converting some defined-benefit entitlements to asset accounts owned by individuals could include the poor in the trend toward asset ownership illustrated by the rise of IRAs and Health Savings Accounts. . . . Read more!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Joe DiLaura
Tel.: 317-229-2128

INDIANAPOLIS (July 28, 2008) – Fifty events in 41 states and the District of Columbia will take place on Thursday of this week (July 31, 2008) honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Milton Friedman.

The Friedman Legacy for Freedom campaign is sponsored by the Indianapolis-based Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, who is partnering with groups throughout the country to celebrate his birthday and honor his impact on free markets and individual liberties. . . . Read more!

Summary

Governor Kulongoski recently unveiled a new plan for creating “green” jobs in Oregon. While many people will focus on the “green” part of the governor‟s plan, it may be more instructive to challenge the concept that our goal should be to create jobs at all. . . . Read more!

Summary

African-Americans support school choice at a rate higher than any other ethnic group. A recent Harvard poll showed 67% of blacks support school choice for low-income students and 52% support vouchers for all children in failing public schools. Yet, presidential candidate Barack Obama recently refused to stand up for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program as Congress threatened to end it. . . . Read more!

I drive a car. Odds are, you do too. In fact, given the choice between the MAX, bus or car, 97% of Portland residents choose to drive every day. Why then did Metro unanimously vote to extend the MAX to Milwaukie at a cost of $1.4 billion, including a new $340 million downtown bridge without car lanes?

Even granting TriMet’s very generous estimate of . . . Read more!

Our Governor envisions an “Innovation State” that leverages new technologies and attracts investment, yet the Oregon Liquor Control Commission has blocked that vision from becoming a reality for small business owners in the heart of Oregon’s wine country.

John Stuart, founder of the Agri-Vino Wine Center in Carlton, invested in a new wine preservation and dispensing technology, called Enomatic, to launch . . . Read more!

Many private banks and financial institutions are in trouble because they supplied the market with too many sub-prime mortgages. However, what has not been well understood is the Federal government’s mechanism for over stimulating sub-prime lending through government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together now back $5.3 trillion of mortgage debt.

Sub-prime mortgages became a viable financial tool in the US due to . . . Read more!

As children, our parents have absolute responsibility for our lives. Without their willingness to constantly supervise and direct us we simply could not survive. However, once we attain a certain degree of economic self-sufficiency and maturity it simply becomes unacceptable to let anyone but ourselves take control of our lives. How many of us would . . . Read more!

Review of Lessons from the Poor: Triumph of the Entrepreneurial Spirit, edited by Alvaro Vargas Llosa, The Independent Institute (2008).

There is a growing mass of literature discussing various facets of private industry becoming an involved and effective player in the realm of poverty alleviation. The poor have been considered the constituency of the government for a long time, but now that perception is changing. For example, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus’ autobiography, Banker to the Poor, takes commercial banks to a clientele base they have never really served before. C.K. Prahalad’s The Future at the Bottom of the Pyramid is a rallying cry for big business to position serving the world’s four billion poorest people at the heart of their profit-making strategies. Lessons from the Poor: Triumph of the Entrepreneurial Spirit, edited by Alvaro Vargas Llosa, is one of the latest books in this category, adding one more dimension to this discussion. . . . Read more!

Three years ago, two prominent scientists asked themselves which natural chemical makes the most efficient fuel. Their answer? Oil.

Using synthetic biology, LS9, Inc. has modified bacteria to turn plant sugars into . . . Read more!