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...
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