Max, I think I can do you one better (well, worse actually). Try this report from the National Center for Policy Analysis: "The 2008 Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports show the combined unfunded liability of these two programs has reached $101.7 trillion in today’s dollars! That is more than seven times the size of [...]
Monthly Archives: April 2008
- Apr30
Government Jobs: Broken Windows Fallacy
This is the saddest thing I’ve read in a long time. The worst is the quote from Mike Walden, an economist at N.C. state who actually does stuff for JLF! "Government jobs are an important cushion for the economy when the private sector falters," says North Carolina State University economist Michael Walden. Huh? Somebody please [...]
- 1Apr30
UNC: Economic Engine?
North Carolinians have long considered the state’s public universities to be an engine for economic growth. For most of us, a college education is the key to a better job and the means to a more fulfilling life. Such thinking in part helps to explain the ever-rising government appropriations for public higher education — even [...]
- Apr30
Taxes: Common Sense to Rockingham County
Jeffrey Sykes has a piece up in the Reidsville Review today that makes a lot of sense. Apply it statewide.-Max Borders
- 2Apr30
Healthcare: Making Prices More Transparent
Check out this release: "Chicago, IL, April 30, 2008 – OutofPocket.com, a technology startup dedicated to promoting health care transparency and competition, announced today the launch of its new search engine. The search engine enables consumers to look up prices and comparison shop for health care services by searching for price data across different websites. [...]
- Apr29
IBM: Pocketing Your Money
Gotta love the timing of the Triangle Business News when it hit my Google Reader today. First message: IBM wins NC incentive to add 600 Charlotte jobs.Very next message: IBM to boost dividend 25%. (and do a $12 billion stock repurchase). So why exactly do they need $10 million of our tax dollars to add [...]
- Apr28
Jim Hunt: Pot Meet Kettle
Good ole Gov. Hunt is on WRAL today "decrying" the use of negative ads in the Governor’s race. Him trying to preach to others on this subject is laughable at best, hypocritical at worst. Negative ads were perfectly fine for him to use during his many runs. But now he says that candidates should stay [...]
- 8Apr28
Time for Voter ID in NC
The Supreme Court did the right thing today: In its decisive 6-3 decision, the justices upheld a lower court ruling in the combined cases of William Crawford, et al. v. Marion County Election Board, et al. and Indiana Democratic Party et al. v. Todd Rokita, et al. The plaintiffs in the case challenged a 2005 [...]
- Apr28
Candidates on Immigration
The N & O is running a piece that discusses the various — presidential, gubernatorial, etc. — candidates’ views on immigration. A few initial observations: While immigration is one of the top concerns for voters, our polling indicates that concern over immigration has become less important as the economy has worsened. This indicates, of course, [...]
- Apr28
Incompetent Teacher Protectionism
There’s a good debate about the state of education on Cato Unbound. I particularly liked this thread from Michael Strong. A slice: The salient question is will we do more harm, on average, allowing parents and students greater decision-making powers in education than we are already doing. It seems unlikely that parents and students would [...]