PolicyGuy

Monday, January 31, 2005


Another Government Management Report Card.
In response to the last entry on Indiana's financial situation, a reader points the PolicyGuy to the Government Performance Project's review of Indiana. There's a lot of interesting material in there, with the final grade being a C+.

Here's the first few sentences of the report for the Hoosier state:

Just a few years ago, the major criticism of Indiana?s finances was that they were simply too conservative. The state had no longterm investments beyond its pension program and had accumulated a gargantuan $1.6 billion of reserves between its rainy-day fund and year-end general treasury balances. Critics were concerned that the state might be denying its citizens some affordable services or tax cuts because of its insistence on keeping money under the fiscal mattress.

Oh, to have such problems again.


Scores for other Midwestern states:

Michigan: B+
Minnesota: B+
Ohio: B
Iowa: B
Missouri: B
Wisconsin: B-
Illinois: C+

"Justice Louis D. Brandeis'?s metaphor of the states as "laboratories" for policy experiments ... had almost nothing to do with federalism and everything to do with his commitment to scientific socialism. .... To this day, it continues to inhibit a truly experimental, federalist politics." -- Michael S. Greve

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