Media Hit

Medical malpractice laws in Iowa and other states would be nullified under a measure in Congress that could be voted on this week. Conservative writer and public policy consultant Dean Clancy says he’s concerned the measure would cancel out any state level malpractice laws. Opponents of HR 1215 include the Institute for Policy Innovation, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and the American Bar Association.

Claims about the economic impact of piracy are hotly contested. 

This weekend the Trib has devoted a generous amount of ink and paper to differing views on President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate accord. Those opinions range widely, from Washington Post journalist Ben Adler’s concern for both environment and economy, increasingly dependent on renewable energy and green initiatives, to conservative Texas scholar Merrill Matthews’ fears that the accord made too many demands of developed nations for environmental change, which he suggests (and with strong evidence) is already being positively affected by free-market forces. 

"The U.S. has a trade deficit because consumers have money to spend — and they spend it," said Merrill Matthews, IPI resident scholar, in a recent post. "Moreover, when U.S. consumers buy foreign goods and services (the current account), that money returns in the form of investment (the capital account). In other words, the accounts balance."

Merrill Matthews of the Institute for Policy Innovation examined state high-risk pools and determined what made certain state pools successful. 

The American Health Care Act is now in the Senate’s hands, and Wednesday’s score will inform senators’ work as they draft their own version of the bill, experts say.

A tax compromise that Trump could claim credit for isn’t hard to imagine. Business would be pleased. “A quarter of a loaf is better than none,” says Tom Giovanetti, president of the center-right Institute for Policy Innovation in Irving, Texas.

Merrill Matthews, resident scholar at the Institute for Policy Innovation, said Wednesday that "Republicans will think they dodged the bullet with this. They will feel it could have been worse."

Just ahead of the report's release, the Institute for Policy Innovation issued a statement reacting to yet another health insurer's decision to pull out of Obamacare. "Democrats sold Obamacare as a way to expand access to health insurance and lower the costs. Just the opposite is happening," said Merrill Matthews, IPI resident scholar. "What we are seeing is a collapse of the individual insurance market."

Its business model was welcomed by the music industry which has suffered losses in revenues and album sales due to music piracy over the Internet. Spotify allows users to either stream music for free if they are willing to listen to advertisements, or pay a subscription fee for a premium service, meanwhile paying royalties due to artists and record companies.