What Can Educators Do Besides March in Rallies to Cope with School Budget Cuts?
As the Los Angeles Times reports:Thousands of students, teachers and parents in California and across the country are expected to stage rallies, demonstrations, walkouts and other actions Thursday to...
View ArticleChicago's Pointless Handgun Ban
When Chicago passed a ban on handgun ownership in 1982, it was part of a trend. Washington, D.C. had done it in 1976, and a few Chicago suburbs took up the cause in the following years. They all...
View ArticleSchool Districts Can Control Spending: Murrietta "Pay Cuts are Better than...
On this "Day of Action" for public education Murrietta Unified in Southern California offers up a positive example of facing the reality of shrinking education budgets. The governing board and top...
View ArticleHigher Education Reality Check: California Rally Edition
On this "Day of Action" for higher education with students marching and sitting and what not, let's consider once again the case of higher education in California.A small positive unintended...
View ArticleRenters Priced Out of Homes In Heavily Planned Montgomery County (MD)
The Washington Post reports on a new study by a tenant advocacy group in Montgomery County, Maryland arguing that renters are being priced out of homes. The problem is likely to get worse as the...
View ArticleRussia's Winter Games of Discontent
Russia's biggest moment in the Olympic spotlight this year was also its most embarrassing: Figure skater Evgeni Plushenko's 'we wuz robbed' act after being awarded the silver medal in Vancouver....
View ArticleProfane, Pointless...and Profound
It may have taken over 30 years, but punk music and fashion, once a grim specter threatening Western civilization (or at least adult eardrums and aesthetic sensibilities) have gone totally...
View ArticleBulldozing Fannie and Freddie
Yesterday, I had an op-ed published in The Washington Times on the reasons why we need to get rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:Taxpayers have already spent more than $111 billion bailing out mortgage...
View ArticleAmid Illinois' Fiscal Woes, Chicago Proves Tax Hikes and Service Cuts Aren't...
A recent Chicago Sun-Times article painted an accurately bleak picture of the fiscal challenges facing Illinois and its local governments. Yet they only suggested two solutions—tax hikes and service...
View ArticleWhen Smart Growth Comes to a Small Town
John Semmens over at Transportation Research Digest flagged this study of Smart Growth's potential transportation impacts in two small towns in Maine. The study is useful because it provides a glimpse...
View ArticleNews Links on Mobility and Transportation Policy
The American Dream Coalition newsletter has carved out a few useful recent newslinks for those following transportation policy issues:Federal dollars for federal roads– Robert Poole, Washington...
View ArticleBulldozing the American Dream
The Washington Times Taxpayers have already spent more than $111 billion bailing out mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and that's going to be just the tip of the iceberg. Instead of limiting...
View ArticleFree Market Land Use and Transportation Policy Conference Dates Set
One of the best places to learn about free-market approaches to land use, transportation, planning, and other urban policy issues is the annual conference organized by the American Dream Coalition....
View ArticlePrivatization Saving Puppies, Hungry D.C. Pols, and Libyan Camel Breeding
Over at Governing, Harvard research fellow and former Reasoner John O'Leary takes a tongue-in-cheek look at a few privatization stories—including the privatization of Kansas City's animal shelter, the...
View ArticleWhy We Can't End Fannie and Freddie Today, Though I Wish I could
A reader wrote me this morning to ask why we can't just shut down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac today. I share this frustration, but believe it would not be the best policy choice, as much as it would...
View ArticleThe Other Broken Windows Fallacy
One of the central themes of the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire was the pressure politicians put on police brass, who then apply it to the department’s middle management, to generate...
View ArticleA Sorry Complaint About Obama
Don't you miss the days when we had a Republican president who was not afraid to speak up for America in the face of foreign criticism? The kind of president who didn't feel the United States is always...
View ArticleMarch 15-19: Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey
Coming March 15-19: Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey, an original Reason.tv series featuring The Mistake on The Lake's most famous native.The six-part series comes just as Cleveland has been...
View ArticleProgressive Urban Dreams: Central Planning
The city of Detroit is thinking about downsizing, and in the process is revealing a progressive dream that would erase any meaningful housing or neighborhood choice for residents in the city. Detroit...
View ArticleObama and the L-Word
Here’s how predictable the president’s slippery relationship with the truth has become: Hours before the State of the Union address, Washington Examiner reporter Timothy P. Carney posted a “pre-emptive...
View ArticleCounty Government Wants Authority to Invest in Private Businesses
WTOP news reports on a bill in the Maryland state legislature that would allow Montgomery County, Maryland to invest tax dollars in private equity companies:"Delegate Brian Feldman, who leads...
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Sea Turtle Tastes Like Veal
Grand Cayman Island—If sea turtle tasted like chicken, I’d fess up, but it really does taste like veal. I grew up occasionally eating mud turtles pulled out of the ponds on my family’s farm. And mud...
View ArticleGreek Debt Crisis: Watch RT Tonight at 6pm
I will be back on RussiaToday tonight at 6pm eastern to discuss the Greek debt crisis. Click here for a live feed. I'll be the first guest, probably on air at 6:10pm.
View ArticlePhiladelphia Needs Competition for Waste Collection
Prior to a conversation with a local reporter yesterday, I was unaware of the extent to which Philadelphia remains stuck in the 20th century when it comes to residential waste collection services.For...
View ArticleDeflating Chinaâ??s Bubble
Last year, Chinese authorities impressed Western leaders by turning China’s falling growth rate around through stimulus programs designed to boost domestic investment. However, as China’s massive...
View ArticleVideo Interview: The U.S. Shouldn't Bailout Greece or California
I was back on RussiaToday last night talking about the Greek debt crisis, where it stands, and whether the U.S. will bail them out. We also discuss Greece's claim that short sellers are causing the...
View ArticleInsurers Gone Wild!
"We allow the insurance industry to run wild in this country," President Obama declared on Monday. "We can't have a system that works better for the insurance companies than it does for the American...
View ArticleRepeal ObamaCare? Unlikely
There seems to be growing optimism among some Republicans that if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finagles the votes to pass Obamacare, the GOP triumphantly will sweep into power and immediately repeal...
View ArticleThe Children of George Metesky
Here we go again. Almost immediately after a former mental patient named John Bedell opened fire outside the Pentagon last week, the usual suspects rushed to suggest he was "inflamed by far-right...
View ArticleThe Decade's Ten Most Expensive Transit Projects
The Infrastructurist on-line magazine ("America under construction") has put together a revealing list of the decades 10 biggest transit projects in North America. It's worth browsing through the slide...
View ArticleTales of the Absurd: Minnesota Public Employee Union Says 'We'll Embrace...
Public employee unions must think taxpayers are just plain stupid. If there's anyone out there that still holds the fantasy notion that public employee unions represent unselfish servants of the public...
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Stimulus Supports Mostly Teachers
Via Matt Welch at Reason's Hit & Run:According to Reason Contributing Editor and certified chart-monster Veronique de Rugy, more than two out of three jobs that Recovery.gov reports as being funded...
View ArticleVideo: CNBC's Power Lunch on Privatization
I was featured in a short segment on CNBC's Power Lunch today that focused on the potential for privatization to help drive down costs for cash-strapped local governments in New Jersey, followed by a...
View ArticleNJ Gov. Chris Christie Creates Privatization Commission
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie deserves major kudos for signing an executive order today creating the New Jersey Privatization Task Force, which will "develop recommendations for a comprehensive...
View ArticleEnhancing Democracy by Banning Speech
Imagine how life will be now that giant corporations may spend as much as they want on political campaigns, as the Supreme Court recently decreed. All they will have to do to get their way is ask...
View ArticleThe Right to Work
The people of Louisiana must sleep soundly knowing that their state protects them from ... unlicensed florists.That's right. In Louisiana, you can't sell flower arrangements unless you have permission...
View ArticleFive Lies About the American Economy
The ongoing recession has raised a troubling question for otherwise resurgent Keynesian economists: How can the American economy keep getting worse under the intensive care of an interventionist...
View ArticleObamaCare's Other Nemesis: Undocumented Workers
The so-called Stupak amendment concerning federal funding of abortion has commanded all the attention of bean-counters on ObamaCare. Michael Barone this morning in the Wall Street Journal does some...
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Looking at a Projected Double Dip
Nouriel Roubini, aka Dr. Doom, has a tough outlook on where the economy stands right now. His most recent assessment:A slew of poor economic data over the past two weeks suggests that the U.S. economy...
View ArticleMass. Hysteria
It was only 11 a.m. on Sunday, two days before Massachusetts voters were scheduled to choose Ted Kennedy’s successor in the Senate, and the bartender at 99 Restaurant in Charlestown was already...
View ArticleThe ObamaCare Quagmire
Even if Democrats extract the votes to put ObamaCare over the top, it will at best be a Pyrrhic victory for them. Regardless of the outcome, this monstrosity might cost the Democrats the Congress this...
View ArticleWhy the Federal Government Is Broke (Census Edition)
Earlier this week, I received in the mail an envelope marked "United States Census 2010." Thinking that this must be the infamous 10 question survey the federal government will send out as part of the...
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Financial Crisis Forces California Government to Lay Off Employees
I received the following in an e-mail recently and couldn't resist posting it here.This financial crisis is forcing California state and local agencies to make some tough decisions. If things continue...
View ArticleKrugman Blues
This is about a month old now, but I just saw it and wanted to post it. Loudon Wainwright III plays "The Krugman Blues" off his new album "10 Songs for the New Depression." It's actually pretty decent,...
View ArticleTen Ideas to Fix Cleveland's Schools
The Cleveland Metropolitan School District suffers from severe financial and academic issues. The district has a $53 million deficit for the 2010-2011 school year, has lost close to 40,000 students...
View ArticleFix the Schools
The essence of this policy brief's recipe to fix failing urban schools: close failing schools, open new charter schools, give principals control of their budgets, let parents choose schools, replicate...
View ArticleDying People Shouldn't Have to be Beggars
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. … Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the...
View ArticleInternet Turns 25 Years Old!
Twenty-five years ago the first .com was registered, and the Internet was born. Or, so say the folks over at the Information, Technology, and Innovation Foundation. To commemorate this "birthday," ITIF...
View ArticleReason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey
Cleveland was one of America’s 10 largest cities in 1950. By the 2000 Census it wasn’t in the top 30. And from 2000 to 2007, only New Orleans - devastated by Hurricane Katrina - lost more of its...
View ArticleThe FCCâ??s Broadband Plan: The Devil Will Be in the Details
Politico’s Playbook earlier today released what is described as “a late draft” of the executive summary of the FCC’s Broadband Plan, due to be delivered to Congress Wednesday. The document is long on...
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