Last night's Senate vote to move forward with the debate on the universal health "don't-care" bill left me deeply pessimistic that this monstrosity could be stopped now. The margin of resistance - mere four senators -- appears too thin for a filibuster. All Comrade Harry Reid had to do, it' [...]
In an attempt to increase oversight over state contracting, some members of Louisiana's Commission on Streamlining Government are proposing a well-intentioned—but ultimately counterproductive—recommendation that would thwart competition and undermine the sensible procurement reforms already underway in the Louisiana Division of Administration. On Monday, the Streamlining Commission will consider [...]
Early Thursday morning a computer glitch disrupted the nation’s system which handles flight plan processing for air traffic controllers. For nearly four hours, flight plans filed by many pilots had to be entered into the National Airspace Data Interchange Network by hand. The problem occurred at the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure [...]
I have a new commentary posted at Reason Online looking at how Sen. Dodd's new Agency for Financial Stability would be the financial equivalent for the FBI seeking to take down La Cosa Nostra:
Perhaps Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) thinks of himself as a modern day John Sherman. [...]Systemic risk oversight is on tap up on the Hill. (Though you wouldn’t know it with all the health care talk.) The House is laying the groundwork for a new division of Treasury called the "Financial Services Oversight Council" to monitor systemic risk. The Senate Banking Committee is going to [...]
Now Congress really is out for blood. Yesterday, the House Financial Services Committee moved a step closer to giving regulators the power to break apart companies if they are considered too big to fail. The Committee is currently discussing the creation of a Financial Services Oversight Council that would [...]
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the federal government's watchdog agency, has taken a look at the numbers and found 10 percent of the jobs claimed as "saved" or "created" by the so-called stimulus program didn't have any spending attached to them. In other words, the reported numbers are so' [...]
I reported yesterday that the Netherlands is proposing to replace its vehicle taxes with a distance- based charge closer to a real user fee. Today, I found an English language explanation published by the Dutch government of the new approach that is well worth a quick read. Perhaps [...]
Republicans are trying to defeat ObamaCare by arguing that its public option -- or government-run insurance plan -- will drive private insurance companies out of business, leaving Americans with less - not more - options. But the fudmental problem with ObamaCare, I note in my latest Forbes column, is not [...]
Several hundred people gathered in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday (November 17, 2009) to hear ideas and thoughts on the federal level transportation policy reform.
U.S. Senator Thomas Carper (D-Del) started out the forum hosted by the National Journal with an engaging, humerous and telling commentary on the state of climate change [...]
As the holiday travel rush approaches, air travelers grounded by delays should take a moment to think about why they're stuck in airports or on the tarmac. There's a good chance Washington is to blame.
"The air traffic control system in the United States is technologically obsolete," says Robert W. Poole, Jr., director of' [...]
In a Fox News interview with President Obama to air later today, the president will make an interesting remark:
"It is important though to recognize if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the" [...]The evidence of the strikingly poor data provided to the federal government on jobs "created" or "saved" from the stimulus continues to mount. Ohio Watchdog reports that according to recovery.org, the federal web site tracking stimulus dollars, ten new Congressional Districts spent $5.3 million and created 11 jobs. [...]
Got to love transparency. Building on Sam Staley's post from earlier today—pointing out how MPI discovered the government was reporting job creation numbers in 12 districts that don't exist—there is now a slew of reports pointing out bogus job creation numbers. An ABC News report highlighted several of' [...]
The Montana Policy Institute decided to check out where the federal stimulus package was "creating" jobs in the state. Much to its surprise, the number of Congressional districts in Montana has expanded, from one to thirteen!
According to MPI's press release written by Michael Noyes and distributed on the web:
BOZEMAN - [...]
As our roads crumble, the U.S. continues to put transportation policy on the back burner. Meanwhile, the Dutch government is moving forward with a wholesale remake of approach to financing transportation infrastructure. The Transport Ministry has forwarded a proposal to parliament that would replace vehicle taxes with a fee based [...]
Job retraining without job creation is, um, pointless. The federal government is banking heavily on job retraining to help those who lost jobs in this recession, as are many states. But job retraining is taking a beating these days. As my colleague Brian Doherty summarized for Reason magazine:
The federal [...]
Theodore Kim at the Dallas Morning News highlights the growing trend of municipal privatization/outsouring in North Texas cities:
Plano decided to eliminate its city printing and graphic design staff in September, farming out the work to Office Depot and Ricoh.
At Plano's Douglass Community Recreation Center, Kennedy Estrada, 10, [...]
This summer I was on a driving tour around the Turkish capital city, Ankara. About half way through the day, an economist friend of mine pointed out a rather imposing structure: “That’s the Bureau of Economic Planning.” Internally reflecting on some of Turkey’s recent economic troubles, I quipped back, “And [...]
The National Journal is holding a lunch forum on transportation policy at the Liaison Capital Hill hotel, Metropolian Ballroom, beginning at 11:30 pm on Tuesday, November 17th. U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) will be the featured speaker and will be followed by a panel discussion on the role transportation [...]
The Federal government's approach to its proposed takeover of subway and light rail safety regulation is an all too common way it approaches problem solving: Identify a problem, identify a political solution, but the federal government in charge. Secretary Ron LaHood says as much based on statements reported in [...]
Last week, the drug maker Pfizer announced it would close its research and development facility in New London, Connecticut. The Pfizer facility was at the heart of the city's decision to use eminent domain to seize and raze an entire neighborhood to make way for the development project [...]
The NGA-NASBO reports issued yesterday—which predict a fiscal "lost decade" for states—weren't the only source of bad news for state policymakers. The Pew Center on the States also released a new report—Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril—profiling the fiscal disasters in the worst-hit state, California,' [...]
...Nick Gillespie?
Before our 2009 webathon ends next Friday (November 20), We're looking to get 500 new donors to Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason magazine, Reason.com, Reason.tv. Like all magazines of ideas, we don't fully cover our production costs via subscriptions, ad sales, and other revenue streams, so we [...]
In the "Highly Qualified Teacher Dodge," the New York Times editorializes that the Obama administration has failed to drive reform that would give poor students better teachers.
The rules for the Race to the Top Fund, which is designed to reward states that embrace reform and bypass those that do [...]
The Boston Globe has investigated the number of jobs supposedly "saved" or "created" in Massachusetts by $4 billion in stimulus money, and--surprise!--they found huge errors, omissions, and flat out wrong numbers. In some cases, such as rental subsidies, money that would have normally gone to agencies and landlords [...]
Politico reports this morning that President Obama has decided to keep his promise to be fiscally responsible... next year:
President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay [...]Some privatization news highlights from the last week that haven't been covered elsewhere on the blog:
FEDERAL
"White House push to reduce contractors is at odds with expanding role of agencies," Government Executive "Former Defense acquisition chief warns against 'global war on contractors'," Government Executive "Federal procurement nominee outlines agenda," Washington' [...]Every special interest group knows that in Washington, "you are either at the table or on the menu." Big Pharma seems to have taken this motto to heart as Obama & Co. proceed to make mince meat out of the American health care system. And it is coming out a [...]
States' fiscal crises are going to stay put for some time. That's the word from the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers, who released two reports today forecasting continued fiscal woe for states over the next decade. From the press release (emphasis mine):
The weakening of' [...]This is sure to brighten your Thursday evening: according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) numbers, motor vehicle output accounted for 47.78% of GDP growth in the third quarter. The Cash for Clunkers program had a huge impact on sales in the third quarter, leading to a huge spike [...]
Get ready for some spin from the White House on the supposed cost savings of insourcing (or de-privatizing) federal work, writes Professional Services Council president Sam Soloway in an excellent column at Washington Technology. As Soloway notes, these claims will have been based on fuzzy math that utterly underestimates [...]
Free Minds and Free Markets Don't Come Free!
For the next week, Reason magazine Editor in Chief Matt Welch and I will be asking you to please help us keep Reason.org, Reason.com, Reason.tv, and Reason magazine going stronger than ever by giving a tax-deductible donation to Reason Foundation, the nonprofit publisher' [...]
The good news is that Fannie Mae lost $10 billion less than before. The bad news is that the GSE still lost nearly $20 billion and is asking for another $15 billion in "help us" money:
Last week, Fannie Mae posted a quarterly loss of $19.8 billion—which believe it or not [...]Henrey Kaufman presents a lot of questions that the Fed is dealing with right now:
Today, with interest rates near zero and the stock market booming, increased political pressure will be put on the Fed when it begins to shift away from its current posture of quantitative easing. What will [...]As Crain's Chicago Business reports, Midway Airport's strong economic performance of late is rekindling interest in a long-term lease:
Midway Airport is pulling out of the recession faster than O'Hare International Airport, as shifts in the air travel market boost Midway's fortunes and breathe new life into Mayor Richard M.' [...]As I've written recently, the Milwaukee County Board is where good privatization ideas go to die—in particular those proposed by County Executive Scott Walker, who deserves credit for his tenacity in trying. It's happened yet again, as the Board has just opted for higher taxes to avoid privatization of' [...]
Belize has privatized the management of its state-run lottery:
Following several months of rumored privatization, the Government formally announced today that it has awarded a 10-year contract to Brads Gaming Company Ltd. [...] to take over the management of the public lottery.In a book by Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames, How Capitalism Will Save Us, Why Free Markets and Free People Are the Best Answer, the question was asked: Didn’t deregulation wreck the airline industry? The resounding answer is NO! It actually greatly benefitted consumers. As the a short version in [...]
Rep. Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed" bill has been back in the national conversation the past week with news of an amendment offered by North Carolina Rep. Mel Watt (D). The Ron Paul amendment would have the GAO audit Fed monetary policy decisions, including the recent expansion of the Fed [...]
In a somewhat surprising decision today, former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matt Tannin were found not guilty by a jury of their peers in federal court. Nearly a month to the day after their trial began, the jury ruled that Cioffi and Tannin did not [...]
With the health care bill passed out of the House this weekend, and the cap and trade bill approved by Representatives earlier this year, Speaker Pelosi has more breathing room to bring financial services reform to the House floor for debate. Well, debate might not be exactly what will happen. [...]
Though it generated a lot of headlines in places like The New York Times, Arizona's ballyhooed proposal to turn over some or most of its prisons to private operators is revealing itself to be all smoke but no fire. According to the Arizona Daily Star:
Arizona's plan to turn [...]Since we at Reason have been celebrating the ideas of Ayn Rand lately (see here and the related articles and videos posted at reason.org and reason.tv), I thought I would share with you some of her thoughts on the economic crisis—in 1962. Unfortunately, it seems our national [...]
My colleague Bob Poole, in his most recent Airport Policy and Security Newsletter( # 51) highlighted the General Accounting Office report looking at airport security (or lack there of).
About the same day, the Washington Times also had a critical editorial citing many of the same [...]
In this weekend's WSJ, Mark Spitznagel, founder and chief investment officer of the hedge fund Universa Investments LP, writes that, in the 1920s, German economist Ludwig von Mises predicted how our crisis would evolve:
Taking his cue from David Hume and David Ricardo, Mises explained how the banking system was endowed' [...]Yesterday, the House passed a bill that extends the homebuyer credit an extra six months by a vote of 403-12. The Senate passed the same bill on Wednesday 98-0. Overall, the tax credit stimulus is expected to cost $24 billion:
Under the measure, an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers would [...]Unemployment continued to rise in October, a sign that the highly touted recovery isn't all the administration and Wall Street would like us to believe. From Reuters via Yahoo! finance:
The U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly jumped to a 26-1/2-year high of 10.2 percent last month, adding to pressure on the' [...]In England, gun crimes committed by youth gangs are becoming a big problem.
Footage of boys, hardly out of childhood, wielding revolvers, shotguns and jumping on police cars was posted on YouTube just two weeks after Rhys Jones was killed.
Yet it was the 11-year-old's murder during an unprecedented feud' [...]
Tibor Machan was one of the founding partners in Reason Enterprises, which began publishing Reason magazine in 1971, three years after its creation. He became editor in the spring of 1971 and worked with the magazine through the '70s and '80s as an associate editor and senior editor. In 1978 he [...]
Some privatization news highlights from the last two weeks that haven't been covered elsewhere on the blog:
FEDERAL
"VA will turn to a contractor to reduce backlog of GI educational benefits," NextGov.com "Senators express concern about administration's contracting guidance," Government Executive "OMB's new procurement guidance inadequate, lawmakers say," Federal Times "OMB'" [...]