An example of civil asset forfeiture in Northern Massachusetts adds punctuation to Justin’s concerns about the local forfeiture windfall taken from Google.
38 Studios has brought into stark relief the problems of government-run economic development.
Government and public administration has moved up to 2nd on a list of fraud-prone industries, with health care and education climbing quickly.
The specter of a double-dip recession brings into stark relief, for Justin, the lack of vision among those leading the state.
In keeping with past experience, Kauffman/Thumbtack study finds RI to be dead last in the nation for small business friendliness.
RI requires licenses for the 14th highest number of lower-income occupations in the U.S., imposing the 22nd greatest overall burden, disproportionately affecting men and minorities, whom the recession has hit hardest.
Justin liveblogs from a Tiverton School Committee that promises controversy over tactics used while advocating for particular budgets.
Tax breaks for artists raise the question of why all Rhode Islanders shouldn’t have more control over their own destinies
The New York Times’ claim that President Obama has shrunk government shrivels under examination.
RI’s income tax reform affected taxpayers with little income beyond what they pay for medical care. As the state seeks to fill in the gap for low-income Medicaid recipients, the gravity of government complexity grows.
The intricate machinations suggested by Gary Sasse in the “tax-the-rich” debate raise the question of whether RI can afford the risk (or the wait) involved with technocratic designs.
Pension actuaries use the word “liability” differently than the layman would. The total actuarial accrued liability of Providence’s pension system has been given as $1.3 billion, with about $0.4 billion in assets, but the liability as most people would probably conceive of it is more likely $5.7 billion, with the same $0.4 billion saved up to date.
The House Finance committee hears a variety of tax proposals, mainly concentrating on taxing “the rich”; Justin writes live.
Inflated assumptions for pension system rates of return mean that the budget that Providence Mayor Angel Taveras unveiled this evening (and all current RI budgets) amounts to an accounting trick to disguise future tax increases and pension cuts.
Is it the bull or the bear for Rhode Island? Justin suggests that if Rhode Island is to cease to be a drag on its region, the model has to be quite different.
A consulting group under contract with two of RI’s most-struggling cities is sufficiently confident in its turnaround estimates to proclaim a specific dollar amount; Justin suggests they just go ahead and find the money.
RI’s unions are behind efforts to increase state revenue through gambling and “taxes on the rich” in an apparent effort to counter the effects of Massachusetts casinos, but the state will have to decide whether the consequences are worth the attempt.
Justin writes live from Don Watkins talk to the Brown Republicans on entitlements.
Argumentation about the concept of “legislation last” when it comes to municipal pension reform appears to be an example of two sides talking past each other.
Justin writes live and extemporaneously from the Senate Finance Committee hearing on Gov. Chafee’s municipal relief package of legislation.
A pair of articles point to the use of statistics in public policy debates, and Justin encourages everybody not to lose sight of the points being made.
At this morning’s workshop, Treasurer Raimondo’s news that the state pension has only been earning 2.28% return on its investments jarred disconcertingly against the actuary’s projections of what 7.5% and 5.0% returns mean for the future.
Justin writes live from General Treasurer Gina Raimondo’s second comprehensive pension reform workshop for municipal leaders, Part II: Creating a Secure & Sustainable Pension Plan.
Objections that low state contributions to public institutions of higher education should mean low authority over their operational activities raise the question of what the relationship between the schools and the state actually is.
Justin writes live from the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources hearing, including (for one thing) creation of a new public consortium with powers of eminent domain.
Justin wonders why the concern of left-wing commentator Robert Reich that state-run gambling is a regressive tax receives no voice in Rhode Island.
Justin writes live from the Senate Committee on Special Legislation, with particular interest in casino-related legislation submitted on behalf of the attorney general.
Democrats in Congress are looking to slow the expanding cost of financing college while people are beginning to notice the questionable priorities of the institutions that ultimately collect their money. Justin suggests that it would be better to rethink the entire system.
Updated “budget to actual” numbers show that the extra state revenue once heralded as a sign of economic recovery continues to fade.
“On the go” video from the Central Coventry Fire District special meeting on 04/02/12.