Must-Reads for June 15
Chicago Tribune: Greeks bearing rifts
Voters in Greece head to the polls on Sunday, and even if the election goes as badly as it might, the results may have one positive side effect: prodding a do-nothing Washington to act on the crucial domestic issues of tax policy and government spending.
The New York Times: How Greece squandered its freedom
What I want to remember from Greece in 2012 is how laziness and years of intellectual sloppiness can waste the gift of freedom and leave open the gates of the city — how we allowed our leaders to pander to us until we had no one capable of leading us, no one next to us at the barricades.
Must-Reads for June 14
The Heritage Foundation: Delaying Obamacare tax increases key part of stopping Taxmageddon
Congress should permanently stop Taxmageddon, including a repeal of Obamacare and its harmful assortment of tax increases. If Congress cannot repeal it this year, it should delay Obamacare’s tax increases for as long as possible, whether that is one year, two years, or longer.
Chicago Tribune: Leaders of mayor's new panel talk transparency
The former city inspector general named by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to the new board that will help rebuild Chicago says he expects the panel to meet in public, comply with public records law and subject itself to scrutiny from the city watchdog office he once ran.
State Journal-Register: Quinn signs cigarette tax, Medicaid bills into law
Gov. Pat Quinn achieved one of his top legislative priorities Thursday, signing a $2.7 billion package of cuts and taxes designed to repair a long-term deficit in the state's Medicaid program.
Must-Reads for June 13
Chicago Tribune: Can Chicago teachers win a strike?
The success of Mayor Emanuel's administration hinges in large part on his ability to restore fiscal sustainability, and in the immediate future, that means curbing the costs of public employees. He has to win this battle. I hope the teachers see reality and spare themselves and the rest of us the cost of fighting it.
National Review: Why the private sector isn't doing fine
Any business owner looking down the road, and seeing debt four to five times the size of his or her company, is likely to decide that this is not a great time to expand or hire new workers.
Must-Reads for June 12
National Review Online: 'Austerity' versus 'growth'
If politicians talked not of “growth” versus “austerity” but of “borrowing and spending” versus “fiscal discipline,” then there would be very little public support for their disastrous agendas.
State Journal-Register: Opinon - Some state jobs should be non-union
It goes without saying that labor unions exist as a check on management. But what happens when management is part of the union?
The Wall Street Journal: Laffer and Moore - Obama's real spending record
Keynesians, of course, are advising more deficit spending and easy money. But the most amazing feature of the nearby chart, which is rarely ever noted, is that when spending declined sharply the economy boomed under President Clinton, and when spending soared under Presidents Bush and Obama, the economy tanked.
Must-Reads for June 11
State Journal-Register: Do all pension reforms in one bill
From our perspective, there really is one issue that has hamstrung the whole process. That is whether and how the state will discontinue making pension contributions for school districts in Illinois outside Chicago and pass those costs on to the local districts.
Arthur C. Brooks: Entitlements - The moral case
It is wrong to make a promise you cannot keep. For decades, politicians have promised to support their constituents in old age, to provide their medical care and to pay for the medical needs of the poor. While the government has a duty to provide a minimal safety net, the current entitlement system creates dependence but still leaves 10 percent of American seniors in poverty.
