Hello world (really)
“Hello world” is the name, if I remember correctly, of a dummy post that appears when you first set up a blog with WordPress. In this case, “hello world” is simply a greeting that I’m using to update this site. Obviously, it’s been a while since I wrote anything original here. That’s because my interests have taken toward writing stuff that isn’t related to public […]
Initiatives and referenda: The overlooked part of elections
Initiatives and referenda are often overlooked in the red shirt/blue shirt post-game analysis. But I find them fascinating. USA Today has a quick review of some ballot measures across the nation. I see that Mary Jane did well, winning approval in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington DC, though not in Florida. Oh well. It’s getting to the point that when our economy tanks, we can all […]
Minnesota in the bottom 5 for tax climate, again
How is Minnesota like the Chicago Cubs? They’re both “lovable losers.” Another season of Major League Baseball will soon expire, and the Cubs will have failed, again to even make it to the World Series. And as another year has passed, a tax-policy organization has once again said that Minnesota is a cellar-dweller. The Tax Foundation recently released its annual State Business Tax Climate Index, […]
Political speech prolongs policy difficultiles
One benefit we can expect from Tuesday’s election is that some misleading, hyperbolic, and outright fraudulent advertising will come to an end. Granted, political speech is an essential part of our form of government, so you might say it’s a cost of democracy. Unfortunately, though, campaign speech shapes the political culture, making it that much harder to fix outstanding problems. I would give some examples, […]
The practice of medicine
Today I received a political mailing, targeting a candidate on healthcare. “Who should be in charge of YOUR healthcare decisions?,” it asks. “Politician [name] OR Doctors?” The flier then criticizes the politician in question for votes to create a state insurance exchange. It’s a legitimate criticism, but nothing new. The political process has been making health-related decisions for a long time, including scope-of-practice laws, certificate-of-need requirements, […]
Pensions “could be adjusted,” says bankruptcy judge
Across the country, states and cities face difficult fiscal situations, aggravated by the fact that they have over-promised and under-funded pension plans. As cities and other units of government consider bankruptcy, judges and others must ask whether those promises have a superior standing over promises made to vendors, bondholders, or citizens as a whole. The city of Stockton, California, is in bankruptcy court, and offered […]
Ideas versus people
Remember the cliche about stopped clocks? When it comes to public policy–or anything involving some thought, for that matter–we ought to keep that in mind. Three recent incidents illustrate some unhealthy habits, in which we focus on people and not the ideas they express. The first incident involves the Common Core States Initiative. There are reasonable arguments to be made for and against it, and […]