Six Months ago, I commented about the problems with the Economic Stimulus Package and how it would not provide any immediate benefit, be largely ineffective and create more long term costs than benefits.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released its latest employment situation report and showed that the economy lost nearly one-half million jobs [...]

On Tuesday, the American Consumer Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institue Co-hosted a Hill Briefing on recent activity on Financial oversight.  With the new administration and the changing economic environment, an expert panel discussed why the case for a federal systemic regulator was stronger than ever.

This investigative report finds that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) may be overcharging insurance companies who pass these costs along to consumers in the form of higher prices.  State laws require companies to electronically file financial and rate information with the NAIC, who set filing fees without state approval or review.  Effectively, states have given away their [...]

Dr. Joseph P. Fuhr, “Why Biosimilars Will Have a Smaller Competitive Edge Than Generics,” presented at CBI’s Second Annual Summit on Biosimilars and Follow-on biologics, Baltimore, based on an article coauthored by Dr. Erwin A. Blackstone and published in the Journal of Health Care Finance, Winter 2008, pp. 84-95. Slides available.
Steve Pociask, “Why Solvency Matters,” Property [...]

The very organization entrusted to protect consumers against involvency, the Florida Insurance Commission, is leading the industry to solvency and leaving consumers wondering “who will pay their claims?”  The Tampa Bay Tribune quotes Steve Pociask of the Institute on Florida’s solvency problems, click here for the news.

Florida’s onerous regulations are pushing insurance carriers out of the state.  Pociask and Fuhr explain why is this editorial published in the Orlando Sentinel.

While solvency protection, better consumer information and consumer protections are very important aspects of private automobile insurance regulation, a wide range of price regulations – such as prior approval, “file and use” and “use and file” – have persisted across the states with questionable results and benefits for consumers. The concern this raises is whether [...]

If the stimulus plan is passed, the U.S. deficit will approach $1.7 trillion dollars.  Whatever the economic benefits of the plan, the cost of the plan will eventually need to be paid back.  Whether this payment comes in the form of increased taxes on consumers and/or business, because businesses will pass these costs along to consumers in the form of higher [...]

Economic Stimulus Plan is Not a Panacea
 
As 2009 begins, I reflect back on how the last bailout performed and reminisce about how all the money that was already wasted bailing out corporations at the expense of American taxpayers, and now it looks like more waste could be coming under the heading of an “economic [...]