Subsidy Could Harm Consumers and May Not Save Energy
 
President Obama has signed into a law a program to stimulate new car purchases and take old gas guzzlers off the road.  The program, referred to as Cash for Clunkers, would give new car buyers a rebate worth thousands per vehicle, when they trade in an old fuel [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Who’s Watching the Watchdog?
There was a time when consumers regularly depended on private insurance coverage to protect our cars and homes against the unexpected occurrence of a major loss. But, there has been a growing threat to consumers. That consumer threat, however, is not posed by private insurance carriers, who are demonized as price-gougers, profiteers [...]

We can all understand and appreciate the importance of conserving energy, saving gasoline and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  One suggestion has been to increase the use of hybrids.  However, in terms of cost-effectiveness, hybrids can cost a lot more than they save in gasoline.
We developed a “calculator” that looks at all major vehicles sold in the U.S. and found that [...]

A handful of leading politicians claim that financial deregulation was responsible for the U.S. financial calamity.  But, informed consumers should take pause and look at the facts.  As Dr. Darby pointed out in a recent blog, there has been a lot of meddling going on to promote special interests at the expense of consumers and at the expense [...]

Read Dr. Darby’s assessment of the recent collapse and how it is tied to legislation that ignores the risks of moral hazard and, instead respresents politically popular causes that impose hidden taxes.  It was published in the Washington Times on September 30, 2008 at  
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/30/the-financial-market-collapse/?page=2
 
 FINANCIAL COLLAPSE?
 
Complex events never have single causes or simple fixes. A [...]

In this season of political fervor and contention, consensus on anything of substance is rare.  Standing out is the virtually unanimous view that we as a nation should be taking all reasonable measures to spur development of broadband telecommunications networks.  The consensus is partially grounded in concerns about US broadband development vis-à-vis other countries, but [...]

While there are some holdout forecasters, the consensus is that the U.S. economy is in or on the threshold of serious recession that promises to halt the long trend of job creation, productivity gains, and per capita income growth Americans have enjoyed in recent years.  The prospect of economic distress has set off discussions of [...]