Socialist Hungary Cuts Spending, Plans to Cut Taxes
Here is a story a bit out of the twilight zone. Hungary is taking bold actions to combat its recession. Today, the parliament passed a tax law that will cut personal income tax rates to 17 percent rate...
View ArticleDan Walters on California Prison Privatization
Columnist Dan Walters dismantles California's prison system in yesterday's Sacramento Bee piece, "Maybe it's time for prisons to go private." Here's an excerpt (emphasis mine):California's cost of...
View ArticleFirework Sales Are... Booming
Yes, I said it. The Real Time Economics blog didn't want to go there, but I will (which is probably reflective of the reason I don't write for The Wall Street Journal). In any case, there are hints at...
View ArticleTransit Lease-Back Deals Bite Metro
The recent Washington, D.C. Metro disaster that left nine people dead also brought back into the spotlght the role of lease-back agreements used by transit agencies to generate cash years ago....
View ArticleGovernment to Examine Exclusive Cell Phone Deals
If you want an iPhone you need to be an AT&T customer. Sprint is the sole supplier of the Palm Pre. Are these exclusive deals between wireless phone companies and handset manufacturers...
View ArticleIs It Your Right to Own an iPhone?
My new column takes a look at the Senate calling on the FCC to investigate cell phone exclusivity deals like AT&T's iPhone arrangement. Excerpt:The FCC will have a tough time proving that exclusive...
View ArticleLift Restrictions on School Outsourcing in California
Faced with a $24 billion budget deficit, California voters seem to finally be calling for an end to out of control state spending. And Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is actually looking for opportunities...
View ArticleCalifornia Schools Could Save $750 Million by Outsourcing Janitorial,...
My new column takes a look at the California budget deficit and why the state's school districts aren't able to save money by outsourcing non-instructional services: If California legislators are...
View ArticlePerformance-Based Maintenance Contracting: Another Tool
The Transportation Research Board released a report on June 12, 2009 about Performance-Based Maintenance Contracting (PBCM). The report looks at the practice world wide, explores the potential to...
View ArticleCalifornia to Ship Inmates to Michigan Prisons?
Following up on my post yesterday, California officials are considering sending inmates from its overcrowded and overburdened prison system to Michigan facilities. Per the Sacramento Bee...
View ArticleContrary to What Congress Thinks, It's the 'Summer of Handsets'
As influential lawmakers such as Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) seek to end to exclusive handset agreements in the name of protecting consumers from an erstwhile AT&T-Apple...
View ArticleShould Reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled Be a Federal Policy Goal?
National Journal's Transportation Experts blog is looking at the federal government's goal of reducing vehicle miles traveled. As I previously wrote, this is a very bad idea:Vehicle miles traveled...
View ArticleNew South Wales (Australia) Parliament Report Supports Prison Privatization
Prison privatization is not just a U.S. phenomenon, but rather a management tool used in numerous other countries, including Australia and the U.K. And while the location may vary, the public policy...
View ArticleThe Sports Stadium and Arena Debacle
Anyone following the plight of America's sports stadia and arenas should take a look through this article in the New York Times chronicling the debacle we've created with public subsidies. We have more...
View ArticleOn the Very Idea of the Agricultural Committee
The Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill has turned into a feeding frenzy for special interests, as Reason’s Ron Bailey warned back in April. Prominently elbowing its way to the public trough, as usual,...
View ArticleFederal Highways Report on HOT Lanes
An excellent report about high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes has just been posted on the Federal Highway Administration website. HOT lanes operate beside existing highway lanes and offer users choice....
View ArticleArizona Privatization/Efficiency Board Bill Falls Victim to Toxic Budget...
Having passed the full Senate and the House Appropriations Committee in recent weeks, Arizona's SB 1466 (see here and here for details) came two votes shy of passage in the full House yesterday...
View ArticleThe Cost of Doing Something
On the eve of what would be a 219-212 House of Representatives vote in favor of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the New York Times editorial board argued that whatever the bill's eventual...
View ArticleMore Casualties of Internet Tax Overreach
Overstock.com is ending its marketing affiliate program in four states that have passed dubious legislation declaring online affiliates the equivalent of a brick-and-mortar shops, thereby making...
View ArticleObama's Not-So-Noble Health Care Lies
Obama came to office, not as a mere mortal - but a near deity who was going to elevate the cesspool that is politics by always telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you...
View ArticlePublic Pension Shortfall is Worse than You Think
A new research paper, "Public Pension Promises: How Big are They and What are They Worth?," from the University of Chicago looks at nationwide public pension obligations and funding. The author's...
View Article(Un)Happy New Fiscal Year: Tax Hikes, Missed Budget Deadlines, State...
Today, forty-six states begin Fiscal Year 2010, but ongoing fiscal woes and the widespread rollout of economy-dampening tax and fee hikes promise to make this one of the more challenging budget years...
View ArticleLet's Do Something—Anything
Facts. Costs. Consequences.Who cares?We're in the middle of pretending to save the planet, baby.If it's about helping "the environment," suspend reason and salvation is yours. As I'm sure you've heard...
View ArticleMore Legislative Roadblocks Over Private Toll Roads in Texas?
Just hours into a special session called in part to address the need to extend and modify the state's authority to enter into private toll road contracts, the Austin American-Statesman reports that the...
View ArticleDefending Complex Contracts from a Consumer Protection Agency
The White House unveiled details on a key part of its regulatory reform plan yesterday, sending a 152-page draft bill to Congress to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The Washington Post...
View ArticlePittsburgh to Privatize City Parking Garages
The Pittsburgh Business Times reports that the Pittsburgh City Council has approved a five-year fiscal recovery plan that includes a section authorizing the privatization of the City's parking garages....
View ArticleVP Biden on Broadband "Information Overline"
You knew the White House was taking its chances sending out Vice President Joe Biden to talk up the broadband stimulus. And Old Joe was on form, as usual.This afternoon outside Erie, Pa., the veep was...
View ArticlePrivatization Leader Sandy Springs, GA Continues to Innovate
Regular readers of this blog are certainly familiar with the young city of Sandy Springs, Georgia, which seceded from Fulton County in late 2005 and, rather than creating a traditional city government,...
View ArticlePublic Option is an Economic Nightmare
In a town hall speech yesterday, the President made a pitch for his health care plan, arguing it makes economic sense. I am not a health care expert, but I do think about things in economic terms. The...
View ArticleHighlights from SF Fed President Yellen's Speech
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen spoke at the Commonwealth Club of California on Tuesday about the progress of economic recovery. There has been some speculation that she...
View ArticlePresident Obama's Top Five Health Care Lies
Forbes President Barack Obama walked into the Oval Office with a veritable halo over his head. In the eyes of his backers, he could say or do no wrong because he had evidently descended directly from...
View ArticleNew FDIC Rule Proposals Would Restrict Private Equity Investment in Failed Banks
Earlier today, the FDIC voted to move forward a proposal that would place restrictions on private equity groups seeking to participate in restoring failed banks. The WSJ reports:The Federal Deposit...
View ArticleUnion Against Union
Guess who is now expressing concern that scrapping the right of workers to hold a secret ballot before forming a union - as the so-called card check bill would do -- will lead to intimidation and...
View ArticleState Budget Woes Worsen
Fiscal year 2010 is already off to an inauspicious start, and it appears that things may get worse before they get better. New data released by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities this week...
View ArticleFreedom in 50 States: A New Study
The Georgia Public Policy Foundation's Friday Facts, point out a new report from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University entitled Freedom in 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom....
View ArticleDoes Bernanke Deserve a Second Term as FED Chairman?
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke's first term is nearing expiration, and many are wondering if he will be reappointed by Pres. Barack Obama to a second term. Some think that his willingness...
View ArticleHealth Care Sticker Shock
Whew, health care will only cost $611 billion! That's the line in Washington right now. An estimate from the CBO on the draft legislation from the Senate health committee is $1 trillion less than its...
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Friday Fun Graph: Record Unemployment
Here's your friday fun graph... happy 4th of July!Via: Ezra Klein
View ArticleFirefighters Unions Holding Taxpayers Hostage in Nevada
Our friends over at the Nevada Policy Research Institute are ruffling some firefighter union feathers in that state by daring to suggest that taxpayers may be being held hostage by fat and bloated...
View ArticleCalifornia Budget Follies: IOUs and 1-in-4 Debt Default Risk
Per Forbes, the markets are betting that there's a 1-in-4 chance that California will default on its debt payments in the next five years:What are the odds that California defaults on its debt...
View ArticleBroadband: The Next Stimulus Disaster
In its announcement of the broadband stimulus rules Wednesday, the U.S. government has defined broadband as 768 kilobits per second (kb/s) downstream, 200 kb/s upstream, signaling that any company...
View ArticleTexas Legislature Punts on Private Toll Roads
The Texas legislature closed its special session yesterday sidestepping the issue of extending the state's authority to enter to agreements with private firms to finance, build and modernize...
View ArticleU.S. Challenge to Chinese Export Subsidies Hypocritical
The U.S. recently launched a challenge to China with the World Trade Organization, arguing that it is actively subsidizing exports to protect domestic industries. This is more than a bit hypocritical,...
View ArticleIs the Honeymoon Over for Richard Florida?
Richard Florida is about as close as you get to a rock star in urban policy circles. He parlayed books on cities into best sellers, created a lucrative cosulting business, and recently was lured to...
View ArticleAre Government-Sponsored Job Training Programs Working?
A column by Christine Vestal at Stateline.org today notes that states are pushing job training programs as a major strategy for reducing unemployment during the ongoing recession:Since 1998, so-called...
View Article(Un)Happy New Fiscal Year
"Let's not go and get carried away and just look at California as the only state that cannot manage its budget."—California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to The New York Times, July 2, 2009Last Wednesday,...
View ArticleA Review of Niall Ferguson's PBS Special: The Ascent of Money
Did you know the bond market in Europe was a significant factor in deciding the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo? The historic defeat of Napoleon that set the tone for European politics in the 19th...
View ArticleNew at Reason: (Un)Happy New Fiscal Year
My new Reason.org column examines the ongoing state budget crises, which serve to highlight a systemic failure in fiscal management by state governments across the country. However, as I explain in the...
View ArticleDon't Worry, You'll Still Get Your Car Company
On Sunday night, Southern District of New York U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert E. Gerber ruled that the proposed sale of GM's good assets to a government owned firm should move forward. In his...
View ArticleLibertarians Do Care About Patients
Friday night, at a 4th of July-eve BBQ, I got mixed up in a health care debate as can tend to happen at social events in the greater Washington DC area. At one point a truly undecided individual...
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