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New Vermont Law and Lawsuits Target Patent Trolls
Tweet Share on Facebook May 31, 2013 CommentDavid Balto is a former policy director of the Federal Trade Commission, attorney-adviser to Chairman Robert Pitofsky, and antitrust lawyer at the U.S. Department of Justice. He has been a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and has worked with the International Center on Law and Economics, both of which receive funding from many organizations including Google. Mr. Balto has also published research and authored scholarship for Google on technology policy topics, but the opinions here are his own.
Justice Brandeis called the states "laboratories of democracy" and it was an astute observation, because some of the most effective regulation comes first from the states. And perhaps we have an excellent example with Vermont's efforts to rein in patent trolls.
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It's a Scandal That the IRS Has a Staff Shortage
Tweet Share on Facebook May 30, 2013 CommentKenneth P. Thomas is professor of Political Science and fellow in the Center for International Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is the author of "Competing for Capital: Europe and North America in a Global Era" and "Investment Incentives and the Global Competition for Capital." He blogs at Middle Class Political Economist.
Ever wonder why you have to wait so long on the phone when you call the Internal Revenue Service? A big part of the reason is that IRS staffing levels have fallen sharply over the last 20 years, even as the number of returns has risen substantially.
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Young Graduates Need to Care About Social Security
Tweet Share on Facebook May 30, 2013 CommentAspen Gorry is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Sita Nataraj Slavov is a resident scholar at AEI.
With graduation season nearly finished, another cohort of young workers is set to enter the labor force. Members of this cohort confront an immense challenge in planning for retirement: There is a great deal of uncertainty about the Social Security taxes and benefits they will face.
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North Dakota Looks to Pioneer Portable Oil Refineries
Tweet Share on Facebook May 29, 2013 CommentGregg Laskoski is a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.
Unconventional thinking just might advance the U.S. energy boom and the nation's economy despite all the conventional thinking that Washington deploys to stall it.
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The High Cost of the Complex U.S. Tax Code
Tweet Share on Facebook May 28, 2013 CommentJason Fichtner is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Jacob Feldman is a research analyst at the Mercatus Center.
Washington has long used the federal tax code to advance objectives ranging from increasing "fairness" to granting a competitive advantage to favored businesses or industries. But riddling the code with special provisions has a price beyond the revenue lost from the tax breaks themselves.
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CEO Pay Provision Comes Under Corporate Fire
Tweet Share on Facebook May 28, 2013 CommentJim Lardner is the communications director at Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of more than 250 civil rights, consumer, labor, business, investor and other groups working for a strong, stable and ethical financial system.
There is one good thing to be said for Michigan Representative Bill Huizenga's bill to spare U.S. companies from disclosing how their CEO pay compares with their median-employee pay. It reminds us that companies were supposed to be doing that.
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Pew Poll Shows Voters Want Action On Jobs, Not Inequality
Tweet Share on Facebook May 24, 2013 CommentDavid Brodwin is a cofounder and board member of American Sustainable Business Council. Follow him on Twitter at @davidbrodwin.
Recent polling by Pew Research Center shows profound, lingering weakness in the world's economies. In most of the 39 countries Pew visited, respondents believe their economies remain in worse shape now than in 2007, before the Great Recession began. Many see their national economy as still deteriorating rather than recovering. They report rising inequality and reduced opportunity.
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Fed Chairman Bernanke on the Economy: Jobs Are the Priority
Tweet Share on Facebook May 24, 2013 CommentChad Stone is chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
In recent congressional testimony, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke clearly explained what's still wrong with the economy, outlined the Fed's thinking on monetary policy and strongly implied that fiscal policy is still off base. His account and policy recommendations reflect mainstream economic thinking – and, thus, run counter to much of the economic doctrine that's driving Republican budget policies.
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Google, Europe, and How Antitrust Is Like Football
Tweet Share on Facebook May 23, 2013 CommentDavid Balto is a former policy director of the Federal Trade Commission, attorney-adviser to Chairman Robert Pitofsky, and antitrust lawyer at the U.S. Department of Justice. He has been a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and has worked with the International Center on Law and Economics, both of which receive funding from many organizations including Google. Mr. Balto has also published research and authored scholarship for Google on technology policy topics, but the opinions here are his own.
"Football" means two very different sports depending upon what side of the pond you are on. And in either sport you need to have a referee to make sure the game is fair, either team has a chance to win and spectators can enjoy the battle. We want a referee to be unobtrusive, to call penalties only when necessary, not favor any team and recognize the game is played best when there are no limits to competition.
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How the Private Sector Can Ease Memorial Day Traffic
Tweet Share on Facebook May 23, 2013 CommentR. Richard Geddes is an associate professor at Cornell University and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute where Brad Wassink researches domestic policy.
The AAA Memorial Day travel forecast released yesterday estimates that about 31 million Americans will drive 50 miles or more to reach their destinations this weekend.
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