safeway property insurance

FTCR Commentary

• The wrong way to reform term limits; There's a reason special interests are bankrolling Proposition 93.
  California's elected officials have failed this year to take care of any pressing state problems -- except their own. No healthcare reform. No prison reform. No solution to the multibillion-dollar budget deficit. Instead, this year's principal public policy result is a ballot measure to extend legislators' current terms in office. The biggest beneficiaries are the most powerful: Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate leader Don Perata, who otherwise would be forced out of office next year by term limits.
• Mandatory health insurance? No sale
  Forcing citizens to buy an expensive, unregulated private product is nothing less than taxation without representation. If California were to follow the Massachusetts model for mandatory private insurance purchase (the only one in the United States), Californians would have to prove on their tax returns that they were insured or face tax penalties.
• Mandatory health care won't curb costs
  Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton laid out her plan for health care yesterday, which includes mandatory health insurance. But commentator Jamie Court says demanding more cost-effective coverage would be a better solution.
• Share the fruits of state-funded research with taxpayers
  When venture capitalists provide money to companies they require clearly spelled out conditions and expectations. There is no reason it should be any different when Wisconsin's taxpayers put their hard-earned dollars on the line to fund research. They are entitled to insist upon maximum public benefit for their investment.
• Stem cell grant picks ill-served by secrecy
  The stem cell committee should direct that scientific review of building projects be handled like the facilities review -- in public. As it stands now, the two-step process is apparently premised on the notion that it's unwise to risk embarrassing an institution for its lack of scientific ability, but it's all right to say it doesn't know how to construct a decent building. That approach serves neither scientist nor architect, but especially not the public.
• California group turns up heat on WARF stem cell patents
  The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and the Public Patent Foundation have filed our formal comments with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office supporting its rejection of human embryonic stem cell patent claims asserted by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation because the claimed advances are obvious in the light of previous stem cell research.
• 'Sicko' could cure American apathy
  "Sicko" is the latest film from Michael Moore. It's about how the U.S. health system leaves millions uninsured and allows insurance companies to profit by selectively denying care. It's scheduled for release this Friday. Commentator Jamie Court thinks this may be the beginning of something.
• Sue the banks
  President Bush has stated that the job of recovering shareholders' money from banks involved in the Enron scandal should be left to SEC attorneys. But commentator Jamie Court contends the best path to justice is through the private sector.
• Restrict Big Oil's effort to green-wash image through UC
  If BP and the University of California system decide upon a partnership, some minimum standards must be met: The University of California should control the direction and the results of the research. Any patented discoveries should be licensed to all comers on a non-exclusive basis. Secret proprietary research should not be allowed on campus. Any BP marketing efforts using the UC name should be approved on a case-by-case basis by the regents themselves.
• Expose state's stem cell funding to sunlight
  Stem cell research is such a potentially contentious field, so fraught with political minefields, that it is imperative the public funding process be completely transparent. For the long-term benefit of the research, every opportunity to build public faith in the Maryland commission's procedures must be taken.
• Big Oil buys Sacramento;
  Why you're not hearing a peep from California politicians on record-high gas prices.; Who's afraid of Big Oil? Apparently, California's elected officials. Gasoline prices are stuck well above last year's record highs and about 50 cents above the national average. Yet state politicians are not saying or doing a thing, except for raking in political cash from the oil companies and flying around the world on their dime.
• THE MARKET'S THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTH CARE
  There are two things you can mention to almost any CEO in this country that will provoke an immediate response, one is global warming and how to balance protecting the environment with protecting the economy. The other is health care and how companies can protect their bottom lines. Safeway CEO Steve Burd launched a health care reform effort this week. Burd and three-dozen other Fortune 500 CEOs are calling for a market solution. Commentator and consumer advocate Jamie Court says that's great, but the market is the problem.
• How green is Chevron?
  Is Chevron really going green? Shareholders, who partook in Chevron's record $17 billion petroleum profit last year, may only want their company to appease the new environmentally sensitive Congress with green puffery. If the company is going to talk the talk, though, it needs to walk the walk.
• Patent ruling isn't a blow to UW's research leadership
  Wisconsin will remain a leader in the field because of Thomson and his colleagues' work, and research firms will continue to locate near UW because of the proximity to its vibrant scientific community. But officials from a self-serving foundation with its own narrow agenda cannot be allowed to elbow their way to the table by waving undeserved patents that are ultimately detrimental to researchers everywhere.
• FUEL PRICES A HOT TOPIC
  One thing you didn't hear President Bush or the car company CEO's pointing out this morning, is that right about the time they were talking, oil was hitting $63 a barrel. Or that gas prices are up sharply as well, more than a nickel in the past two weeks. $2.61 is the average for a gallon of self-serve regular now. Part of that's geopolitical. Tensions in the Middle East and supply problems in Nigeria rarely make prices to go down. But commentator and consumer advocate Jamie Court suggests there are some sleight of hand behind those rising gas prices, too.
• Universal Health Plans Take Wrong Approach
  The state legislature is considering proposals by the Governor and legislative leaders to provide health insurance for all Californians. Commentator Jamie Court says unfortunately the debate is less about what Sacramento can do for us, than about what politicians can do for their biggest contributors.
• Beware what the medical-industrial complex loves
  The "shared burden" proposals of both Schwarzenegger and Perata would require Californians who don't have health insurance through an employer or incomes low enough to qualify for government subsidies to buy it on the open market, or face punishment at tax time. Yet the yearly income cutoff for a subsidy would be $52,000 to $60,000 for a family of four, and the average annual cost of market-rate insurance for that family today is about $11,000, not counting co-pays and deductibles. Mom could take a night job, but there's no other way to squeeze almost an extra $1,000 a month from an already tight family budget.
• Clout vs. outrage in California's insurance wars
  The Legislature also needs to examine itself. As soon as a member is appointed to one of the insurance committees, insurance industry funding follows. This necessarily taints decisions on insurance matters. If lawmakers on these committees were to refuse industry contributions, perhaps voters could feel more confident that they are in good hands.
• There's More Than Meets the Eye to an Early Primary
  Jamie Court, president of the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, says California politicians have an ulterior motive for supporting a February presidential primary.
• 'Gold-plated' is i