by Ashley Muchow Pew Center on the States and the Public Policy Institute of Californiareleased a comprehensive study this morning zoning in on the public’s opinion of state fiscal management. The study, Facing Facts: Public Attitudes and Fiscal Realities in Five Stressed States, polled residents from five fiscally distressed states: California, Arizona, Florida, New York, and our very...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Recently, the Heritage Foundation released “Obamacare in Pictures,” a presentation that details the future impact of the new health care plan using charts and other graphics. Want to know how Obamacare will impact the national debt or health care costs? Check out the slide show below to find out. Obamacare Obamacare in...
by Collin Hitt Trib columnist Clarence Page got some $@%^ with his recent book purchase: “Oh, that (expletive) movie is so full of (expletive),” the young woman [who worked at the bookstore] muttered. “Waiting for Superman,” said the book’s title. Page was purchasing the companion book to the movie of the same super title. “Waiting for Superman”...
by Kate Piercy Although Recovery.gov promised transparency on how the government spends every dollar of stimulus money, USA Today reports “there’s $162 million the website doesn’t disclose,” finding: Recipients of 352 federal stimulus contracts, grants and loans have failed to report how they spent the money, the status of their projects or how many jobs were funded, according...
by Collin Hitt Bill Ayers – state employee and university professor in Illinois for 25 years – is retiring. He’ll get the normal pension perks due to state university professors, but he won’t get the ornamental emeritus title. When the decision was considered by the board of trustees last month, University of Illinois chairman Chris...
The Problem Do you know why there are so many single-parent families in Illinois? Not enough fishing! Believe it or not, that’s part of the rationale behind the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Urban Fishing Program. According to the program’s website, “much of Illinois has been transformed from a quiet rural setting into an urban...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson As the debate over whether or not to extend the Bush tax cuts continues, Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center adds some much needed perspective by comparing the size of the tax cuts to the amount of spending over the next decade. In The American, the journal of the American Enterprise Institute, Dr. de...
by Mark Cavers Last week the President was campaigning in Iowa when he was asked about his administration’s perpetual push to increase taxes. His response: “Your taxes haven’t gone up in this administration. Your taxes have gone down in this administration. There’s a notion that, well, he’s a Democrat so your taxes must have gone up....
Apparently Bill Gates, Sr. is not smarter than a 5th grader because he seems to think the correct answer is 74. Mr. Gates is advocating for a progressive income tax increase in Washington state. He has put $500,000 of his own money into the initiative campaign to impose this tax on the people of Washington. That data...
by Ashley Muchow Arthur Laffer addressed a core issue regarding the economic impact of state income taxes in the WSJ today. Laffer addressed the often ignored negative impact income taxes have on state economies. Illinois’s personal income per capita decreased from 133 percent of the U.S. prior to its 1969 income tax levy, to just 106 percent...
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s deputy chief of staff, Carla Oglesby, has been accused of rigging contracts. The story in the Chicago Tribune described the details. “A bond hearing is scheduled today for a top aide to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger accused of steering hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts to her own...
The Illinois Policy Institute and Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released a new report shining the spotlight on state spending: If You Build It, Debt Will Come: A Closer Look at the Illinois Capital Spending Spree. The latest piglet book identifies a series of egregious spending examples included in the $31 billion capital bill that is...
by Wesley Fox Like many states, Illinois faces severe budget problems resulting from the economic recession. Illinois’s budget problems are made worse by the massive cost of its Medicaid program. According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, Medicaid represents approximately 30% of the Illinois budget. Only two other states (Maine and Missouri) commit more of their...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Over the weekend, unions in France protested pension reform plans, which include raising the retirement age from 60 to 62. The reforms are an effort to maintain France’s AAA credit rating and limit the growing public debt. But the reforms are rubbing some the wrong way. Reuters reports: The unions and the left-wing opposition say the...