Focus Point – Keeping the College
You can bet there will be agitation to get rid of the electoral college because Al Gore won the popular vote but George W. Bush won the presidency.
Focus Point – The Tax Cut
was glad to see president-elect Bush is sticking to his plan for a $1.3 trillion tax cut over ten years, despite the pooh-poohing of the chattering classes.
Focus Point – EPA Strikes Again
Well, the Environmental Protection Agency is at it again, this time trying to fine business hundreds of millions of dollars and damaging the environment in the process. Even for this bunch, that's pretty impressive.
Focus Point – Election Final
The electoral college endorsement of George W. Bush should have been an afterthought, but sore losers wouldn't let it be. Al Gore had already conceded, but democratic operatives were still at work.
Focus Point – Christmas
It's christmas, and I hope it's a glorious day for you and yours. At some point during the Christmas Season, you've probably heard the famous "Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus" letter – but probably only that line. The whole thing is much more.
Focus Point – Unintended Consequences
Today, a lesson in unintended consequences. In the 1970s, anti-corporate activists organized a worldwide boycott of the Nestle Corporation to stop them from distributing free samples of infant formula in developing nations. They claimed women in third world countries were being pressured by advertising not to breast feed.
Focus Point – The Optimists' Century
As the end of the year approaches, it's nice to reflect on where we've come from and how we've prospered. A new study from the CATO Institute offers a road map.
Focus Point – Throwing Money at Schools
people assume making education just means throwing more money at it. But according to an article in the American Economist, it doesn't work that way.
Cooling Overheated Global Warming Rhetoric
The November 2000 negotiations at the Hague, Netherlands, on implementing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change took place against a backdrop of lobbying by environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These NGOs used selective science and inaccurate news reports to demand that the United States accede to international demands for drastic, immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, a closer look at the evidence shows that they downplayed uncertainties in the studies that they cited, and ignored other studies that cast doubts on the need for immediate emission cuts.
Focus Point – George W. 2
Today, more free advice to George W. Bush, starting with his cabinet. First, find an Attorney General of the highest integrity, and have him assist local authorities in the prosecution of vote fraud in Florida. Select an outstanding Treasury Secretary; your administration (and all of us) will rise or fall on the economy.
Focus Point – George W. 1
Memo to George W. Bush. Ok, finally, barring a last Gore kamikaze attack, congratulations. Now, to business.
Opinion: Tobacco Lawyers Target HMOs, and Kids Still Smoke
BOSTON–A lasting legacy of the Clinton administration will be its legal battles against the nation's four largest tobacco companies. As with almost all of his other "legacies," it's not likely to garner rave reviews from future historians.
Focus Point – The Phony Digital Divide
"Digital Divide" is how some people describe the underrepresentation of blacks and hispanics in top technical positions, supposedly because they didn't have early Internet access. They see racism at work.
Focus Point – Legal Euthanasia
The Dutch parliament recently passed a bill allowing doctors to carry out euthanasia. They built in a number of safeguards.
Focus Point – Springing MSAs
Since it's looking like a Bush presidency is finally a done deal, let's consider one of his campaign promises — and how it might be made more palatable.
Focus Point – New Thoughts on Health Care
Employers are shifting to a new, market-friendly system that will give workers more freedom and initiative — assuming some Federal Laws can be gotten around.
Focus Point – Al's End
If I'd heard Al Gore's every-vote-counts pontificating one more time, I'd have screamed. So, for the last time:
Focus Point – Elections (finale)
During the long, contentious presidential post election, it became commonplace for the chattering classes to talk about the chaos and crisis resulting from the close count.
Myths about Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance
For more than 50 years, America has relied on employers as the primary source of health insurance coverage. For the most part, this has been a successful approach, providing coverage in 1998 to 155 million people, compared to only 15.5 million who purchase their own coverage.
Focus Point – Drug Prices
During the election, both major candidates touted prescription drug spending plans with the fervor of cold war warriors urging more money for national defense. But before the next administration goes crazy, it should check out a story in the November 6 Business Week.
Focus Point – Big Deals in Baseball
Might we have reached the point where even baseball's nutty owners will say no to a salary demand. If so, Alex Rodriguez has taken us there.
Starving off a Recession
The second most discussed subject in recent days – after who is going to be president – seems to be whether an economic recession is imminent. And the answer is … your guess and mine are as good as anybody's.
Focus Point – The Transition
When you think about it, ten weeks is not a lot of time to get ready to run a government. That's why the transition is so important. And bush — and as we go to press, it's still bush — as leader of the out party has it tougher than Gore would have.
Focus Point – The Election
At this moment, George Bush is still the declared winner in Florida, and Al Gore is still in a snit. I can't fault him. He lost the presidency of the United States. I've lost elections, and it's not a good feeling.
10 Resolutions for Congress this New Year
2000 featured one of the most contentious and controversially close elections in our history. As 2001 dawns, it's time to take stock and resolve to do better in the coming year. Here are ten resolutions that Congress should consider this year.