The Heritage Insider: Obama again finds the Constitution inconvenient, unions attack gig economy, why Epi-Pens became expensive, governors graded on fiscal fitness, does your brand need work?

October 15, 2016

 

 

The Obama administration has yet another scheme avoiding the Constitution in order to enforce a treaty. Trial lawyers and unions want to make work less convenient for gig-economy workers. Epi-Pens are expensive because the government mandates rebates that end up not benefiting some consumers. Some governors are better on fiscal issues than others. Does your brand need work?

 

 

Is globalism beating Americanism? The Obama administration has a plan to skirt the Constitution in order to bind the United States to a treaty it signed but never ratified—the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. This scheme, write John Fonte and John Yoo, is just the latest advance of transnational progressivism against the idea that American government should be accountable to voters. [Hudson Institute]

Making the future the enemy. The gig economy—i.e., personalized services (such as Uber and Lyft) arranged through the Internet and smartphones—has given great value to consumers while allowing many workers to set their own schedules. The value of this flexibility, writes James Sherk, is under attack: “Trial lawyers and labor unions have recently filed lawsuits attempting to reclassify gig workers as employees.” Sherk says Congress can address the threat by clarifying that under federal law “individuals who decide when and where to work using their own equipment, and are free to work for other companies, are independent contractors.” [The Heritage Foundation]

 

Why did Epi-Pens become so expensive recently? One reason, writes Scott Gottlieb, is that mandatory rebates in government health care programs such as Medicaid create “pressure to raise the list prices on drugs in order to provide fiscal room for accommodating the mandatory kickbacks.” Underinsured consumers, he explains, “can end up paying the full list price, not the post-rebate price.” Gottlieb goes on to note a number of other ways government policies interfere with price competition in drugs. [American Enterprise Institute]

 

Governors graded on fiscal fitness. The five governors who did the most to cut taxes and spending in 2014 were Paul LePage of Maine, Pat McCrory of North Carolina, Rick Scott of Florida, Doug Ducey of Arizona, and Mike Pence of Indiana. Those governors received As from the latest edition of the Cato Institute’s Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors. “Ten governors,” says the report card, “were awarded an “F”: Robert Bentley of Alabama, Peter Shumlin of Vermont, Jerry Brown of California, David Ige of Hawaii, Dan Malloy of Connecticut, Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota, Brian Sandoval of Nevada, Kate Brown of Oregon, Jay Inslee of Washington, and Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania.” [Cato Institute]

 

Toolkit: Does your brand need work? A brand is a reason to choose. Are you giving potential customers a reason to choose you? Start with what your brand means, not what it does or is, and then find your best story about yourself to communicate that idea. [The Insider]

 

 

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