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, Harvard geneticist George Church and Stanford biologist Chris Somerville asked themselves which natural chemical makes the most efficient fuel. Their answer? Oil.
Funded by private capital, they founded LS9, Inc. in 2005. Using synthetic biology, LS9 has modified bacteria to turn plant sugars into . . . Read more!
“Why Not Portland?” This is the question raised by supporters of a health insurance initiative for the roughly 9,000 uninsured students in Portland public schools. Proponents of the initiative plan to use taxpayers’ money to make basic healthcare available to children whose family incomes are too high to qualify for the Oregon Health Plan, but too low to afford health insurance. The program would cost the City of Portland and the school districts serving Portland an estimated 4.05 million dollars annually.
If included and passed in the . . . Read more!
Summary
Before Oregonians are asked to approve any expansion of state-sponsored health care, we deserve to know how existing state programs are working. Transparency is crucial to government accountability for tax dollars spent. . . . Read more!
Why do many Oregonians think we should take the profit motive out of health care? At a public meeting in Portland last week, this theme was repeated and applauded over and over again.
Yet, when participants were asked about the recent trend toward $4 generic drug prescriptions, their views began to change. Why is . . . Read more!
Summary
The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program enjoys broad bipartisan support, yet Congress is about to end this life-saving chance for a better future for 1,900 District children. Educational opportunity for all students, especially for the most disadvantaged, should not be allowed to be a partisan issue. . . . Read more!
Imagine you want to start a business, but the government says you can’t unless your competitors approve. If you want to start a moving company in Oregon, that’s the gauntlet you have to run. Not surprisingly, existing movers haven’t let a new kid onto their block in the last two years.
It’s this onerous requirement that caused Pacific Legal Foundation to file a federal lawsuit against the state of Oregon last week on the grounds that . . . Read more!
Summary
Demographically benchmarking Oregon spending goes an important step beyond simply making government spending transparent. Without knowing how our spending compares to demographically similar states, we cannot even begin to answer the question “does Oregon spend too much?” . . . Read more!
Summary
This study updates past research to benchmark Oregon’s spending (Pozdena and Fruits 2004). Revenue and expenditure data are from the U.S. Census Bureau’s census of state and local governments for 2004–05 (Tables 1 and 2). Demographic data are from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. . . . Read more!
A recent report published by the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis discusses the importance of state-level asset-building coalitions in triggering public policies that support greater asset-building opportunities for people of all incomes.
Such coalitions call for diverse representation from around the state and inclusion of . . . Read more!
Summary
The Salem-area Ready to Learn-Ready to Work program helps high school students meet career-related learning standards and develop skills they need to succeed in the workforce or in college. This private-sector-led project is the kind of successful workforce training solution parents, employers, colleges and communities statewide are all looking for. . . . Read more!
My name is John Charles, president and CEO of Cascade Policy Institute. Cascade is a nonpartisan policy research center working to promote economic opportunity in Oregon. I have been involved professionally with environmental policy for the past 30 years and am familiar with the politics of climate change. In recent months I have focused a fair amount of time examining claims made about carbon offset projects in the Pacific Northwest. My comments today reflect that work.
I have been asked to speak about two conceptual approaches to global warming legislation: a carbon tax, and a regulatory limit on greenhouse gases (GHGs). Before I begin, however, I would like to place this issue in the context of the GHG reduction goals embodied in HB 3543. . . . Read more!
In three weeks Portland State University will proudly host the annual “Towards Carfree Cities” conference. This is certainly appropriate, given that Portland plans to build a new bridge over the Willamette River for light rail, the streetcar, cyclists, pedestrians and skateboarders – but not motorists.
However, as seductive as pedestrian malls are in the abstract, they don’t work in the United States. For instance, in 1971 . . . Read more!
Summary
Sustainability advocates believe that a free-market economy is “unsustainable,” but free societies have the “intangible capital” needed to create more wealth with less pollution and less consumption of natural resources. . . . Read more!
Last week Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed legislation enacting a new school choice program for Georgia children. The new law provides for education tax credits on both personal and corporate income taxes for donations made to privately run non-profit Student Scholarship Organizations.
Unlike some other school choice programs nationwide, Georgia’s new law has . . . Read more!
Summary
Portland’s population is expanding, but our highway and bridge network is crumbling. Market-based road pricing and de-regulated transit are the only sustainable solution, financially and environmentally, to Portland’s transportation crisis. . . . Read more!
The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice recently released a poll of 1,000 likely voters in Idaho. If they “could select any type of school,” a whopping 12% would choose a “regular public school,” little more than half the number who would choose homeschooling (21%). Private schools were most popular, at 39%, followed by charter schools (25%).
According to the Friedman Foundation, only 4% of . . . Read more!
Summary
A federal review found Oregon’s Child Welfare program to be in “substantial conformity” with NONE of the national standards for seven client outcome measures. The most important mission of DHS is protecting children from harm. Government transparency requires that DHS meet the benchmarks demanded by Governor Kulongoski and release relevant proof to the public. . . . Read more!
Does planning have to work to be successful?
We Oregonians believe many myths about ourselves that just don’t happen to be true. As a visioning group created by the Governor put it not too long ago: We Love Dreamers!
For instance, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently came to town and congratulated Portland on reducing its carbon emissions to 1990 levels. Portland has asked for and received world-wide recognition for . . . Read more!
Summary
Why has Governor Ted Kulongoski left at-risk and abused kids waiting during six years of his administration? His rallying cry is “Kids can’t wait,” but a close look at Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) Child Welfare programs uncovers the troubling fact that his administration certainly has allowed many children to wait. . . . Read more!
