Pre-election restlessness; race, politics, and advancement; differing job estimates without optimism; situational social issue calculus; old media as the election’s big loser.
The most accurate summary of today’s national employment numbers from the BLS might be “a mixed-but-still-tepid (and strange) picture.” Overall results are of modest, insufficient improvement, but employment results are inexplicably rosy.
Mainstream reporters chat; the unknown cost of economic development; improving higher education by dumbing it down; a lawless society.
Campaign finance & incumbents; where the buck stops for the bad economy; Obama follows Chafee on a Commerce Czar; and the storm should be a warning.
The calm before the storm provides opportunity to consider the effect of legislation on behavior during and after an emergency, as well as the priorities of the people who create laws.
The ballot question on bonds for affordable housing illustrates how too much unanimity among representatives of government, advocacy, and media can lead to incremental deterioration of public policy.
Mainly on government’s bad incentives: bad housing spending in Providence, unlearnable spending lessons for the governor, stimulus corruption, and Medicaid reform.
Johnston mayoral candidate Peter Filippi presents the Ocean State Current with copies of the mailings that have been send to his home. Filippi is convinced that is opponent, Joseph Polisena, the incumbent Democratic mayor, is at least partly responsible. Polisena denies the allegations.
A brief analysis of the referenda questions that will appear on this November’s ballot in RI suggests that the state would be better off reordering its priorities, rather than expanding debt and doubling down on casinos.
RI’s seasonally adjusted employment in September saw the largest one-month increase in the state’s recent history and led the statistical national boom, but there’s reason to question the results, and the Ocean State still has a long, long way to go.
The Republican mayoral candidate in Johnston says he’s being pushed out of the race; others say he’s raising legitimate question about union benefits.
Employment statistics would seem to suggest that RI’s economy is booming. Readers (and voters) should be wary.
The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity held a press conference, Thursday, to draw attention to an alternative approach to turning around the state’s economy, titled, “Get Government Out of the Way.”
Travis Rowley correctly notes that deregulation didn’t cause our woes, government backing did, and Justin suggests that such is the inevitable outcome of too-large government.
Ted Nesi’s suggestion of government borrowing now based on the inevitability of borrowing later is indicative of a deeper problem within a culture accustomed to economic growth.
Observing the VP debate from within; flight from a failing region; surprising beneficiaries of a government bailout; a fable.
Rhode Island has received national attention to implementing pension reforms that address unfunded liabilities. But the action has not been matched at the local level where retirement plans are set to implode
Updated single-family house sales statistics for August show some improvement, but mostly a mixed picture from town to town.
Contaminated drugs raise the choice between chasing the regulatory tail and beginning to analyze the larger causes.
Employment leaped up in September, giving President Obama a nearly miraculous hand in his campaign for reelection.
West Warwick for all; the essence of education reform; declines in people births; declines in business births; the easy street to dependency.
Controlling prices across a continent; a look back at erroneous polls; Matthews in the echo chamber; excuse #2 for Benghazi.
Economic development options, from all-government to government-dominated; the heartless-to-caring axis in politics; Southern New Englanders’ “independence”; solidarity between Romney and his garbage man; the media coup d’etat.
Economic development difficulties in Rhode Island begin with flawed thinking, and so residents are finding themselves turning to Massachusetts for jobs, housing, and even free-market commentary.
Bob Plain’s petit four of class warfare; CA’s bid for more pension fund dollars; a martial metaphor for regionalization; a downturn for the never-recovered; Coulter v. View mention of RI.
The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s General Assembly Freedom Index shifts the good-government-advocate spotlight, with some results that run across the grain of public perception.
RIPEC’s report on reshuffling the EDC was worse than useless, providing insufficient substance and offering cover to elected officials who wish to pretend that its recommendations count as “doing something.”
Mainly on media culpability and the economy: RIPEC’s unquestioned report; skewed polls; the president’s reportorial zombies; and the reluctance to invest in the economy.
The Quonset Development Corp.’s denial of a business plan by Iceland shipper Eimskip sparks controversies, and different explanations of the reasons.
Returning RI to its natural state; RI as a playground for the rich; the gimmick of QE; the gimmick of digital records; killing coal/economy; when “Mostly False” means true.