Cuts Won't Stop the Crony Capitalism or Corruption in the CDBG Program
Last month, House Republicans introduced a $44.1 billion transportation and housing bill which includes a $1.3 billion cut to the federal Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG). While the cut...
View ArticleCrony Capitalism and Sallie Mae
In the last decade total student loan debt has grown nearly fourfold. Much of the focus on this growing problem has concentrated on the increasing cost of higher education. This brief looks at another...
View ArticleThe Crony Capitalism of Sallie Mae
Reason Foundation released a new policy brief today, looking at the crony capitalism of Sallie Mae. This is the second in a series about crony capitalism, the first being a brief examining the...
View ArticleL.A. Becomes Latest to Pass Nanny-State Plastic Bag Ban
First, the environmentalists wanted to get rid of paper grocery bags because they were the result of destroying too many trees. Then the market developed a lighter, stronger alternative in the form of...
View Articleâ??Race to the Topâ??sâ? Pricey Centralized Effort to Improve Teacher...
Updated teacher evaluations are a key facet of the Obama Administration's "Race to the Top" school reform agenda. Schools across the country have implemented new methods of teacher evaluation in order...
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Considering the Not-So-New Normal for Unemployment
In case you missed it with a burger belly and hangover from a long day of patriotic festivities, the June (un)employment report was released last Friday morning with little fanfare. The lack of...
View ArticleDC City Council Passes Law Likely to Kill 1,000 Jobs
Today the Washington, D.C. city council voted 8-5 to force Wal-Mart to pay their workers no less than $12.50 per hour if the world wide chain continues with plans to build stores in the area. The Large...
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Unpacking the June Unemployment Report
Last Friday, while most of America recovered from a long day of stars and bars reverie, the latest indication that the American economy is not in recovery dropped in the form of the June unemployment...
View ArticleIs California Going the Way of Detroit?
I suppose it was not surprising when Detroit announced recently that it was going to default on $2.5 billion in debt, raising the prospect of becoming the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nation's...
View ArticleAnother Bullet Train Boondoggle Bites the Dust
Some good news. My colleague Wendell Cox writes:The application for a $5.5 billion federal taxpayer loan to start construction on the proposed Victorville California to Las Vegas high-speed rail line...
View ArticleCalifornia E-Cigarette Bill Not Based On Evidence
Electronic cigarettes, commonly known as e-cigarettes, are battery-powered devices that vaporize liquid solutions containing nicotine and sometimes additives for flavors. Unlike cigarettes, no...
View ArticleA Red Line That Shouldn't Be Crossed
When the Maryland Transit Administration first proposed a new light rail system for Baltimore, the plan was to add 66 miles of track on six lines at a cost of $12 billion. More than ten years later, as...
View ArticleSallie Mae Using a Federal Line of Credit for Private Gain
Sallie Mae appears to once again be reaping the benefits of crony capitalism. This time it's in the form of an $8.5 billion low interest line of credit from the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) in Des...
View ArticleReason vs. Streetsblog on annual state highway performance rankings
Reason recently published the 20th Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems. Over at Streetsblog, Angie Schmitt took exception to the report, claiming it "works against urban areas."...
View ArticleMassachusetts Governor Vetoes Transportation Bill Because Tax Hike is "Too...
Last week, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick vetoed $240 million in transportation funding from the $34 billion state budget. While MBTA and state transit agencies continue to be plagued by...
View ArticleNorth Carolinaâ??s Rural Economic Development Center Operates in a Crony...
A recent report from North Carolina's Civitas Institute has brought to light the culture of waste and crony capitalism plaguing the states nonprofits in charge of rural redevelopment. In an effort to...
View ArticleDon't Cry for Detroit's Bondholders
For all practical purposes, Detroit has been bankrupt for years. Yesterday, the city's state appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr took the first step in making the Motor City's insolvency official,...
View ArticleBaltimore Local Hiring Law Will Hurt Locals
In a misguided effort to reduce unemployment, cities around the country are legislating local hiring mandates. Baltimore's city council recently passed a law mandating that companies awarded city...
View ArticleCalifornia Legislators Trying Really Hard To Raise Taxes
They don’t call it Taxifornia for nothing. California is a national leader in overall tax burden on individuals and businesses. A 7.5% statewide sales tax, a 39-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax, some of...
View ArticleCalifornia's Latest "Blitz" Against Unlicensed Contractors
On Friday, July 19th, the California Contractors State Licensing Board (CSLB) announced it had completed a “summer blitz” sting operation against 79 unlicensed contractors in six California cities. The...
View ArticleCalifornia Doesn't Need The Board of Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapists (OTs) and occupational therapy assistants (OTAs) help clients develop, maintain, and recover skills necessary for daily living or for particular purposes. From helping elderly...
View ArticleReason Foundation Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief In Schuette v. Coalition...
Amici believe that the Petitioner’s argument is in keeping with the legal profession’s admirable traditions of restraint and civility. Yet, the decision below is a travesty of justice, and the task of...
View ArticleNo More Energy Subsidies
Orange County Register If you’ve listened to environmentalists the last few days, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear you’re worried that rising sea levels will put Laguna, Huntington and Newport beaches...
View ArticleOccupational Licensing in California
IntroductionOver two million Californians must apply for permission to work in over 200 occupations from one of 42 government bureaus and boards. In the process, job seekers may have to spend thousands...
View ArticleOccupational Licensing in California
Occupational licensing requires individuals to get government permission to work. Aside from being an overreach of government in the economic affairs of individuals, licensing requirements tend to be...
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Coloradoâ??s Contract City, Part 2: Innovation and the Future of...
Innovators in Action 2013 In the June 2013 edition of Innovators in Action, we profiled Mayor Cathy Noon and City Manager John Danielson of Centennial, Colorado, a Denver-area suburb of more than...
View ArticleInnovators in Action: Innovation and the Future of Public-Private...
The latest interview in Reason Foundation's Innovators in Action 2013 series is the second of a two-part series focusing on the contract city of Centennial, Colorado, a Denver-area suburb of more than...
View ArticleComparing the Travel Times, Environmental Impacts and Costs of Traveling by...
This analysis prepared, by M.J. Bradley & Associates for Reason Foundation, Taxpayers for Common Sense and the American Bus Association, compares customer costs (fare, travel time) and societal...
View ArticleDetroit Seeking to Privatize Trash Collection
In a new commentary today, I discuss Detroit's new initiative to cut the costs of residential solid waste and recycling collection and disposal through privatization. Here's an excerpt:In the wake of...
View ArticleRichmond's Bad Idea to Use Eminent Domain Against Underwater Mortgages
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Bay Area city of Richmond is implementing a new idea for helping homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. Not only is this an unnecessary project that...
View ArticleA New Private Delegation Doctrine?
On July 2, 2013, in Ass’n of American Railroads v. DOT, the D.C. Circuit struck down a delegation of authority to Amtrak in § 207 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, holding...
View ArticleRethinking Federal Policy on Transportation Infrastructure
My name is Robert Poole, Director of Transportation Policy at the Reason Foundation. For more than three decades I have been researching privatization and public-private partnerships at local, state,...
View ArticleSasha Volokh on Court Decision Striking Down Delegation of Regulatory...
Sasha Volokh has a new article on Reason.org discussing a recent decision by the D.C. Circuit Court striking down a delegation of authority to Amtrak under the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement...
View ArticleCalifornia Prison Hunger Strike Raises Challenging Questions
Today marks the 25th day that hundreds of California prisoners in nine facilities have refused state-issued meals in protest of the practice of long-term segregation of prisoners in Security Housing...
View ArticleCronyism Threatens California Condors
Orange County Register From Solyndra, the failed solar company that cost taxpayers over $500 million, to Fisker, the car maker that could cost taxpayers $170 million, the federal government is spending...
View ArticleObama Administration's Wind Energy Subsidies Have Birds Very Frightened
Forbes.com In his recent climate change speech, President Barack Obama once again pushed for more wind energy. "The plan I'm announcing today will help us double again our energy from wind and sun,"...
View ArticleIf Cities Want More Affordable Housing, Let the Market Work
Across the United States, major cities are experiencing the gentrification of their neighborhoods and city officials are constantly calling for more affordable housing to halt this process....
View ArticleIf Cities Want More Affordable Housing, Let the Market Work
Across the United States, major cities are experiencing the gentrification of their neighborhoods and city officials are constantly calling for more affordable housing to halt this process....
View ArticleSen. Coburn Cites Reason in CDBG Bill Amendment
Congress may be on recess for the rest of August, but come September an interesting bill worth keeping an eye on will be House bill S.1243, the annual Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and...
View ArticleOregon Leading the Way with Mileage-Based User Fees
For more than a decade, Oregon has been at the forefront of efforts to find a replacement for declining gas tax revenues. Earlier this month, the legislature passed a groundbreaking bill to begin...
View ArticleMore Thoughts on Plastic Bag Bans
A couple of months ago, I wrote a column for the U-T San Diego on the proposed statewide plastic bag ban in California (which, thankfully, ended up going down to a narrow defeat in the state Senate)....
View ArticleCalifornia Legislators Propose $11 Billion In Higher Taxes And Fees
While refusing to take responsibility for over $100 billion in unfunded pension and retiree health care obligations, California legislators spent the current legislative session coming up with new ways...
View ArticleYet Another Pointless Contractor Sting Operation In California
The Contractors State License Board (CSLB) has announced that it had successfully busted 15 unlicensed contractors in a two-day sting operation in Concord, California. The announcement comes just ten...
View ArticleTaxpayers, Pensioners Riding a Wave of Bankruptcies in Detroit and California
Orange County Register Taxpayers, government workers and retirees alike have been riding a wave of municipal bankruptcies all across the country in recent years. In places such as Detroit and...
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Pioneering Social Impact Bonds in the United Kingdom
Innovators in Action 2013 One of the most interesting trends in public-private partnerships (PPPs) is performance-based contracting—also known as payment-by-results—in which part of the contracting...
View ArticleInnovators in Action: Pioneering Social Impact Bonds in the United Kingdom
The latest interview in Reason Foundation's Innovators in Action 2013 series focuses on social impact bonds, a relatively new—and increasingly popular—type of performance-based public-private...
View ArticleWhy Do Non-Violent Drug Offenders Need Treatment?
Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement that the Justice Department will be easing the use of draconian mandatory minimum sentences for low-level, non-violent drug offenders is certainly welcome...
View ArticleIs Elon Musk's Hyperloop the High-speed Transportation of the Future?
CNN.com Elon Musk unveiled his much anticipated plans for the Hyperloop by releasing his 57-page technical white paper titled "Hyperloop Alpha."The Hyperloop is intended to become the "fifth" mode of...
View ArticleHow to Fix Air Traffic Control
RealClearPolicy America's air-traffic-control (ATC) system lags far behind the state of the art, with technologies and procedures still based largely on what was modern 50 years ago (radar,...
View ArticleWill Elon Musk's Hyperloop Doom High-Speed Rail?
The DeVoe L. Moore Center at Florida State University Blog Elon Musk unveiled his pneumatic tube inspired Hyperloop, a “fifth mode” of transportation that he hopes will revolutionize intercity travel...
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