Rhode Island to unionize daycare workers
Last week, the Rhode Island legislature passed a law to permit daycare workers who receive any subsidies from the state to either form a union, or join an existing union such as the SEIU. While they...
View ArticleLessons from North Carolina’s proposed budget
In today’s Room for Debate at The New York Times, I discuss what’s good and what is worrying about North Carolina’s proposed biennial budget. The good: a doubling of the state’s Rainy Day Fund and end...
View ArticleHow are the states doing with pension funded ratios?
The Tax Foundation has a new pension map. It shows the funding levels of plans in the states, based on a risk-free discount rate. The numbers were crunched by State Budget Solutions, using a yield on...
View ArticleNew resource: Mercatus Center’s 2013 State and Local Policy Guide
Are you interested in the practical policy applications of the kinds of research the State and Local Policy Project is producing? For an accessible and very useful review have a look at the inaugural...
View ArticleObama Administration will bailout Detroit
The Obama administration announced today it plans to send Detroit $320 million to “aid in its recovery,” according to The Hill. The dollars come from existing federal money that is being re-purposed....
View ArticleAmerica’s best pension system? The case of Milwaukee
NPR reports that while many municipal and state governments’s pension systems are suffering from deep underfunding, there are some outliers. One such city is Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With a funding ratio...
View ArticleMaryland’s “severe financial management issues”
Budgetary balance continues to evade Maryland. In FY 2015 the state anticipates a deficit of $400 million. A fact that is being blaming on entitlements, mandated spending, and fiscal mismanagement in...
View ArticlePension reform from California to Tennessee
Earlier this month Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) workers went on their second strike of the year. With public transport dysfunctional for four days, area residents were not necessarily sympathetic to...
View ArticleMedicaid Expansion: State Policy Challenges
Dr. Robert Graboyes, Mercatus scholar and expert on the Affordable Care Act, recently discussed the law’s impacts on Medicaid and challenges facing states considering Medicaid expansion on Mercatus’...
View ArticleCredit Warnings, Debt Financing and Dipping into Cash Reserves
As 2013 comes to an end recent news brings attention to the structural budgetary problems and worsening fiscal picture facing several governments: New Jersey, New York City, Puerto Rico and Maryland....
View ArticleHealthcare: Searching for Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs transformed technology, bringing affordable smart phones and personal computers to households across income levels and around the world. In a 15-minute podcast Dr. Robert Graboyes asks why...
View ArticleHow are your state’s finances?
Just how well do your state’s finances compare to those of other states? I sat down with our state policy group last week to discuss recent Mercatus research that ranks states’ fiscal condition based...
View ArticleDoes statehood trigger Leviathan? A case study of New Mexico and Arizona
I was recently asked to review, “The Fiscal Case Against Statehood: Accounting for Statehood in New Mexico and Arizona, by Dr. Stephanie Moussalli for EH.net (the Economic History Association). I...
View ArticleThe “pension tapeworm” and Fiscal Federalism
In his annual report to shareholders, Warren Buffett cites the role that pension underfunding is playing in governments and markets: “Citizens and public officials typically under-appreciated the...
View ArticleHercules, California’s Herculean debts
What lead the city of Hercules, California to default on its debts? Guest poster Marc Joffe, Principal Consultant at Public Sector Credit, finds a case of mission-creep in the “dynamic city on the...
View ArticleIs American Federalism conducive to liberty?
In new Mercatus research, Dr. Richard E. Wagner, Harris professor of Economics at George Mason University tackles a fascinating question: Is the American form of federalism supportive of liberty? His...
View ArticleMunicipal pension news: Baltimore to offer DC plan
Earlier this month, Baltimore’s city council approved a measure to give the city’s workers a choice between a defined contribution or defined benefit plan plan. According to Pensions and Investments,...
View ArticleStrong words from the SEC on Public Sector Pensions
As state and local governments begin to pull back the curtain on the true value of their pension liabilities with the implementation of GASB 68, Daniel Gallagher, Commissioner of the SEC issued an...
View ArticleDelaware Senate votes to bail out three casinos
Delaware’s state senate has voted to redirect $10 billion in economic development funding to bail out three gambling casinos. The measure now goes to the House. Two reasons the casinos are failing:...
View ArticleSome private sector pensions also face funding trouble
A new report by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp (PBGC) warns that while the market recovery has helped many multiemployer pension plans improve their funding there remain some plans that,”will not be...
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